Ink Show Review Sailor Bung-Box Omaezaki Lapis Lazuli Sea @bungbox

Thank you to a kind reader for sending this (and some other) samples for me to review! I was SO excited to be able to try this ink! Now I need all of them, pretty much. So... thanks for that.

Image from Bung-Box

ABOUT

Color: Blue
Bottle: 50 ml
Price: 2,160 円
Where to buy: Bung Box

PROS

• Beautiful bottle, great label.
• A wonderful deep blue with faint green tint. 
• Nice, wet flow. 
• Great sheen.
• A unique blue!

CONS

• You won't find it everywhere, but it's worth looking for.

OVERALL

I really, really love the sheen, shading, and green tint in this color. It's beautiful. It's an interesting blue with more to it than just blue!

Review: Fisher Bullet Space Pen @AllWritePaper

The Fisher Bullet Space Pen has been around since 1948, and remains the most popular Fisher space pen today. Stay tuned! A review of the All Write waterproof notepad is coming up, along with a giveaway sponsored by All Write of two waterproof notepads and a matte black Fisher Bullet Space pen! Thanks to All Write for sending this pen for review!

ABOUT

Body Material: Brass/Chrome
Trim: Chrome
Length (capped): 9.6 cm
Length (uncapped nib-end): 9.0 cm
Length (posted): 13.7 cm
Section diameter: 8 mm
Barrel diameter: 9 mm
Price: € 32,75
Where to buy: All Write

PACKAGING

The chrome Fisher Space Pen was packaged in a hard plastic case inside a cardboard box. The case is small, with a plastic bed covered in felt, designed to accommodate the pen. The box is black and has the Fisher Space Pen logo in silver on the top. Inside and below the bed, there is a pamphlet folded up with information on the pen, including details to order refills, should you wish. (Yep, order by mail.)

APPEARANCE

The bullet pen is short and compact, but if you think of it like a bullet, it's elongated with rounded off ends. It has a minimalist design and I really, really like it. The clip is chrome and is quite small, sitting a third of the way down the cap, which looks good in terms of the balance. The cap sits far down the barrel and the cap is so thin (although solid) that it hardly sticks out. There is a black rubber O-ring to mark the barrel to section, and there are grooved rings descending down the section as it tapers towards the tip. Posted, the pen looks like a normal pen, although one on the smaller side.

I love how this pen looks. It's awesome. It's sleek, classy, and simple. There are many other colors if this isn't your thing, but I think the chrome is so classic.

PERFORMANCE

The refill for this pen is designed to write under a variety of conditions, hence being called the space pen. There is a gas plug at the back of the cartridge, with a sliding float that separates the ink and pressurized gas. The ink in the pressurized reservoir writes in conditions such as freezing cold, boiling heat, in a gravity-free vacuum, upside down, underwater, and over grease. Obviously I couldn't test all of these.

As for its performance under normal circumstances: excellent. The refill wrote as soon as I tried it, and even when I left it sitting around for days, tip up, it wrote. It's a solid, intense black with good ink coverage. I love how the ink smells.

I left it in the freezer, it wrote. It was cold. Actually, I did the drawing of the refill after it came out of the freezer. It wrote better after I had drawn a few lines, but it didn't not write. Intense heat terrifies me, so I am not testing the boiling heat thing. I can confirm the pen writes upside down, at weird angles, over grease, and through water.

Realistically, I will never need an ink that can do so much cool stuff. It's all a bonus though, because sometimes it will be really convenient, like writing through water (or ink), and over grease when scribbling a grocery list on a scrap of paper that happened to be sitting on the kitchen counter when you cooked a messy breakfast. For an on-the-go sized pen though, being able to write at any angle might be one of my favorite features - being able to write against a wall without the ink running dry is very handy. In addition, being able to leave the pen in a car in the middle of summer/winter that will still write is also convenient. So although I don't need all its features on a daily basis, overall, its features lend itself to being a great take-it-with-you-everywhere ballpoint.

IN HAND

Unposted, this is a pretty small pen. It's not mini, so it doesn't feel too thin, but it's short. It has a comfortable weight, but the cap posts securely by friction (and it's also very satisfying to post). Posted, it's great to use as the length, weight, and balance are very comfortable. The clip isn't the prettiest in terms of its appearance (at least for me), but it works. The pen isn't all that large or heavy, so the clip secures it well.

What I really like about this is not so much the pen in hand, but more so how it's really easy to slip it into a pocket, purse, bag, etc. It's very convenient.

PROS & CONS

There are a lot of threads to unscrew the barrel. Fortunately, there's no need to get into the barrel often, but it takes a long time to open. The upside to this is it isn't easy for it to unscrew on its own. 

OVERALL

The Fisher Bullet Space Pens are cool. I've always thought they were interesting, cute, compact, and come in such a variety that it's hard not to find one that isn't appealing. The ink performs very well under a variety of conditions. Overall, I'm a fan of these pens.

I received this pen free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion. There are no affiliate links in this review.

Review: Mebin A5 Meeting Notebook @MebinNotebooks

The Mebin A5 meeting notebook is up and available! I have one here to check out.

ABOUT

Size: A5
Pages: 188
Price: £10.00
Where to buy: Mebin

APPEARANCE

This A5 notebook has a pretty midnight blue cover with rounded edges, a matching blue elastic. Inside, there are two braided bookmarks - one in blue that matches the cover, the other in a cream that matches the paper. The front cover has a half pocket on the page, and the back cover has a full pocket. 

I think it looks really nice. I love the blue and cream, instead of the usual black and white notebooks. The blue is twilight-ish. 

I love the bullet point set up to indicate the status of each action - convenient for keeping track of meeting goals and the like. Each two pages are allocated to each meeting (94 meetings total).

PERFORMANCE & FEEL

First of all, for those of you who dislike strange textures, allow me to warn you about the sensation of cover-touching. The cover is indeed soft and velvety, but it's also slightly mushy. If mushy covers freak you out, this is mushy.

Otherwise, the notebook is nice. I enjoy the paper's smoothness, the two bookmarks, and the elastic closure. Personally, I do not really need the meeting set up, but you can see it! The notebook opens completely and lies flat,

Since the paper is soft and smooth, hard tips punch through and print on to the other side. I found that ballpoints and fine liners were the easiest to use, as well as fine-tipped roller balls. 

It is fountain pen friendly paper to an extent (95 gsm Japanese paper) - showing off shading and sheens well. With wet writers, there was feathering, show through, and bleed through. It seemed to depend on the nib and ink - some double-broads worked better than some mediums, for example. The fine nibs dried the fastest and smudged the least. Some inks even changed color a little - but only in really broad, wet nibs. Best to stick to finer nibs, but for a meeting notebook, that seems to make sense. 

Diamine Autumn Oak is not usually this washed out color. Check out the sheen on Yama-Dori though, and on the Platinum Carbon black below - it's glowing!

Drying times were long for wet nibs. because the paper is smooth and coated. 

PROS

CONS  

OVERALL 

This notebook is definitely geared towards users who need a meeting notebook - users who prefer ballpoints, roller balls, and fine nibs on their fountain pens. For those in meetings that prefer double broad nibs, that's not going to work so easily! The layout and set up of the notebook is handy and I think great for keeping track of employees and coworkers, especially if you're working on joint projects. The size is convenient - easy to slip into a bag, portable - and the entire thing is pretty to look at. Check them out at Mebin!


I received this item free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion. No affiliate links. 

Whiskers & Paws: June 2015 Edition

He really likes this spot.

He just looks so sad in his cone.

Review: TWSBI Diamond 580 AL Purple Fountain Pen @TWSBI @CouronneDuComte

Thank you to La Couronne du Comte for sending this pen for review!

ABOUT

Body Material: Plastic/Aluminum
Trim: Metal
Length (capped): 143.0 mm/5.63''
Length (uncapped nib-end): 130.2 mm/5.12''
Length (posted): N/A
Barrel Diameter: 12.3 mm/0.48''
Section Diameter: 9.4 - 10.9 mm/0.37'' - 0.43''
Nib material: Steel
Weight (all): 32 g
Weight (cap): 10 g
Weight (body): 22 g
Fill type: Piston-filler
Price: € 69,00
Where to buy: La Couronne du Comte

PACKAGING

I'm not really a fan of packaging, but I think TWSBI nails it with theirs. The cardboard box has the TWSBI logo printed on the top. Inside, a clear plastic case is foam-padded and houses the pen. There is a user guide included on top the case. The case is taped shut. After one battles with the tape, the lid can be removed. Then pen sits on a small display stand within the case. Next to it, underneath the white part, TWSBI includes a wrench and liquid grease for you to maintain the pen yourself.

It's attractive, solid, little waste packaging. I also like it because it's consistent across their pens, which looks organized and uniform.

APPEARANCE

I've had some iffy experiences with TWSBI but I cannot say this is not a pretty pen. The pen is clear, round, and has fairly flat, rounded ends. The finial is slightly raised and has the TWSBI logo in it. The shiny metal around it really highlights the red of the logo. The clip is simple and unmarked - it is nice and long, which I like. The center band is on the end of the cap; it is wide, with two grooves running around it. In between these, TWSBI Diamond 580 Taiwan is etched in the metal. Tidy, tasteful. The cap is clear, round, and has a grey inner cap that is a little clear still, so at least you can see your nib. While I usually dislike these inner sleeves because they often are solid and conceal the nib on clear pens, this one doesn't look terrible.

The barrel has long diamond facets around it. I really like how this looks - it almost glitters, and ink looks beautiful inside. There is a metal ring before the piston-turning knob. Inside, you can see the matte purple aluminum piston through the body, which matches the section.

The section is round, smooth, and tapers slightly towards the nib. There is a metal band before the nib, and part of the black nib collar sticks out at the very end.

I think this is a very attractive pen, so as long as you don't hate purple or clear pens, it's quite nice.

NIB & PERFORMANCE

The steel nib is a FINE. Yep. And I actually like it! It has a single slit and breather hole. It is engraved with the TWSBI logo, TWSBI, F, and some flourishes.

I wasn't really sure what I was thinking picking a fine. As it turns out, I'm really glad I did. The fine gave a little bit of feedback, and I love it. It was very pleasant and it offered that ''fountain pen'' feeling. The fine was also precise, crisp, and put down clean, consistent lines. It was not excessively wet, but I actually found it wetter than I was expecting. Drying times were not too long.

With some pressure, the nib produced a surprising amount of line variation. The nib snapped back quickly as well. Of course, it was not meant to flex, but this does make writing more fun.

The nib did not skip or hard start, and it was well-tuned upon arrival. Overall, I was quite pleased with the performance.

IN HAND

The clip is snug but springy, so it is actually pleasant to use.

The section is smooth, but the shape isn't my favorite. I ended up gripping the ridge right at the end, and that hurt a little. The threads at the back of the section are a little sharp, but not horribly so - easy enough to ignore.

The purple portion of the section rotated easily, which was noticeable during longer writing sessions, as I kept rotating the pen to readjust my grip. Not a big deal, but I occasionally had to tighten it.

The cap can kind of sit on the back of the piston-turning nob, but I would hardly call that posting. I found the pen comfortable and well-balanced unposted. The barrel and section are a good diameter as well - not too thick, not too thin. Not my favorite section shape, but that's okay.

PROS & CONS

OVERALL

I've had some negative TWSBI experiences prior to this (cracking on multiple pens, flow issues), so I was a bit apprehensive about trying another one. I'm really happy to have had this opportunity though because I'm pleased with the experience so far. I really like the 580 model, and the AL colors are a lot of fun. The packaging appeals to me as much as packaging can, it's a lot of bang for your buck, and so far, no cracking. Presumably, this new material has resolved this issue? I hope so, because I really enjoy this model.

I received this item free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion. No affiliate links.