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Fauxdori Traveler's Notebook System, Fiscally Responsible?

A classmate took note of my fauxdori a week or so ago in class. After some discussion, she brought up something that I’m really surprised I didn’t think of, or consider about these things, she asked me if I saved money with the fauxdori over new notebooks/journals/sketchbooks. I had never thought of it that way.

I considered my sketching and journaling method previous to using the fauxdori. I either made or bought a Moleskine pocket sized sketchbook. These have 60 pages and around here cost about $10. As for written journaling I usually did that within the moleskine or in a separate moleskine Volant ($4.50 each) or Cahier ($3.30). * The Volant has 56 pages and the cahier 64. My daily carry cost was between $12 to $15.

 

My current sketchbooks are BanditApple Carnet (BAC) PeeWee. These have 64 pages each. These cost between $3- $3.50 each depending on where I purchase them. For writing I use a Field Notes book and these run about $3.30 each. So I’m spending about $7 on inserts. Clearly there is a savings in just one bundle of inserts.

My current rate for filling a BAC is 1 a month. Considering that they have a few more pages than a Moleskine Sketchbook. I’m already saving. If I were purchasing one Moleskine or HB a month  I’d be spending $120 to $144 on sketchbooks alone in a year. I’m filling a Field Notes every 16 to 20 days, depending on to do lists, journaling, and assorted school type stuff. A Field Notes is only 48 pages compared to the volant’s 56 or the cahier’s 64. that being said I always had issues with the last pages of my cahiers falling out and the spine of the my volants tearing and needing repair. I’ve yet to damage a Field Notes to that degree. Part of that is I’m not carrying them around outside of a cover but also, they spend less time in my pocket due to the fewer pages. I’d call this aspect even.

 

The answer to my classmate’s question of a fauxdori being fiscally responsible is, yes, it is. I save about $80 by not buying a moleskine/handbook every month. I also save myself a lot of aggravation. The cover allows the books to really be treated quite roughly. I’m able to carry both books in my back pocket, sit on them and generally abuse them more than I would be able to otherwise. So I’m saved from glueing up spines, falling out pages, and other nuisances.

It’s probably humorous that I turn around and spend that saved scratch on other things, like sketching pencils and pens… Right?

Review: Kum Ellipse Pencil Sharpener

I am excited to report that AC Moore stores are carrying KUM brand sharpeners and the prices are fantastic. I spotted my favorite KUM Automatic Long Point for about $6. Even though the long point is $6 on Jetpens, getting it locally for $6 is worth it because there isn’t any shipping. The other thing about AC Moore is that they offer monthly coupons. These coupons can be for 40%, 50%, and even 55% off. Taking any of those percentages off means that the price of the sharpener is even lower. They carry other KUM sharpeners. I snagged an Ellipse in orange. They are available in pink, yellow orange, green, and blue.

The Ellipse is a small smooth sharpener. The caps fit onto the sharpener securely on each end. inside is a small KUM wedge sharpener. The sharpener is plastic with a quality KUM blade secured with a screw, which makes it replaceable. (You can get replacement blades here.)

The sharpener gives a medium sized point, somewhere between a small blunt point and the KUM long point. The point is good for writing and drawing. But it does leave the point with a long needle point that breaks off, so you have to keep a close eye on the point to prevent over sharpening. It sharpens quickly and easily. A few twists in this sharpener and the point is sharp and ready for action.

The long smooth curves of this sharpener along with the secure caps make it ideal for pocket carry. It won’t poke or gouge into your thigh when carried in a pocket. For that matter it’ll be really great to carry in the pocket of a backpack or bag. It’s a terrific compact pencil sharpener.

Mine was purchased with a 55% off coupon for $1.70, which is a great deal on a good pocket sharpener. While this isn’t the best KUM sharpener (that would be the KUM Long point) it’s a good one for daily carry.

Back Pocket Stress Test Field Notes Shelterwood Part 2

I've been carrying the same Field Notes Shelterwood in my back pocket since April 15th. I posted my first stress tests on April 27th. My initial results showed wear and tear that was not much different from any other Field Notes carried in a back pocket. The results after almost a month aren't much different. Generally speaking I don't carry a Field Notes for longer than 20 days, so I'm now 5 days past my general carry length. Honestly, I can't say that the wear and tear, even after 25 days, would suggest that these notebooks are anything but sturdy. Yes, there are some chips and splinters at the spine, but when compared to other Field Notes the wear is decidely similar.

Though I have reached the limit of how long I carry a Field Notes, I'm going to carry the Shelterwood longer and see how it fairs. Gardening season is here, so be prepared for dirt and grime.

Here are some images of the spine, the cracks, chips, and wear on corners. You can also see the transfer of indigo from my jeans to the cover.

Review: Palomino Golden Bear

The Palomino Golden Bear is my second review of the pencils.com Palomino pencil pack pencils. The Golden Bear pencils (GB) are in the mid-range grouping of the pack. The are available in blue and orange. Like all of the Palomino pencils the finish is crisp and perfect. the ferrule is brass with an orange stripe in the middle, on both colors of pencil. It is fitted to the pencil sturdily and without any wiggle, even after repeated use of the eraser. The blue eraser is fitted with an orange eraser and the orange pencil has a blue eraser. The erasers are okay, but not great. For sketching one will need a block or stick eraser to do a job. For just writing, the included eraser is just fine.

The GB is made of cedar and as a result sharpens easily and smells great. Using any of my sharpeners, like the KUM long point or wedge. the lead itself holds a point well. The lead is an HB so it’s a good balance of soft and hard for writing. It won’t need to be sharpened every 5 seconds of writing and drawing. The lead is a nice dark shade, but won’t give you deep darks as you draw. It gives a decent range of shades for an HB but to get true dark shades you’ll need to switch to another pencil.

This is a completely enjoyable pencil that looks great and is great to use. A 12-pack on pencils.com is about $3. Not a bad price for a pencil that performs as well as this one. The pencil was made in this US.

Review: Palomino Prospector

The first of my full reviews for the Pencils.com palomino pencil pack is for my favorite of the mid-range pencils, the Palomino Prospector. The prospector is available in 2 different finishes clear and bright green. The ferrule on both is a light golden color and holds a white eraser. The imprint is gold foil. The quality of these pencils is top notch. On both my pencils the finish is flawless, smooth and crisp. The ferrule is fitted strongly to the pencil and even after repeated use doesn’t get loose. The eraser is okay but not great. For writing the eraser does okay but for sketching you’ll need a block or stick eraser to do a good job.

I’d rate the pencil an HB when compared to sketching pencils. For writing this is a fantastic pencils. I used it for note taking during class and was quite happy with it’s performance. It’s just hard enough that I’m not sharpening it after every written word. For sketching the pencil is quite nice. Again, it’s HB so it won’t give you deep darks or huge range of shades but it does quite well. It’s a good starting pencil for drawing. After getting the bones of a drawing down with this pencil you can shift to a darker pencil.

The pencil sharpens well with every sharpener used. It holds a long point from the KUM long point sharpener well. It also does well with wedge sharpeners and other sharpeners.

These pencils are fantastic. I’m quite taken with the natural clear finished pencil. The clear finish is thick and smooth. Not only is it a great looking pencil it performs really well. These are my favorite of the mid level pencils in this pack.

These pencils were once produced in Thailand but are now made in the US. The wood of the pencil is Basswood which is soft and sharpens easily. It doesn’t smell as nice as cedar but looks great. At $1.95 per 12-pack these are an affordable HB pencil that is fantastic for writing or sketching.

Back Pocket Stress Test Field Notes Shelterwood

I’ve read a few comments that people think the Field Notes Shelterwood edition won’t hold up to everyday wear and tear in a back pocket. I decided to carry a shelterwood in my back hip pocket, without a cover, until it falls apart. It’s now been 12 days.

 

The first week was uneventful. So far, I find the wear and tear on the book minimal at best. The creases are the only damage that is noticeable. There is discernable wear on the corners and edges of the book, but again you need to look close for this wear.

Here are a few pics of the Shelterwood after 2 weeks in my sweaty back pocket.

Review: Palomino Pencil Pack

I’m on a pencil kick lately, (as if you hadn’t noticed) and I recently purchased the Pencils.com mixed palomino pencil pack. This is a pack that contains a selection of 9 of the most popular Palomino pencils. Included in this pack are one each of: Blackwing, Blackwing 602, Blackwing Pearl, Orange Palomino Premium HB Eraser Tipped, ForestChoice #2 (FSC-certified), (the rest are all made in the USA) Green Prospector #2 , Natural Prospector #2, Orange Golden Bear #2, and Blue Golden Bear #2. I have previously reviewed the Blackwing and the Blackwing 602, which are both great pencils for sketching. I hope to review all of the pencils in the set but for now this is a general review of the set.

The Blackwing pencils included are obviously the high end of the lot. As such they perform flawlessly and will not disappoint in appearance or use. Read my review of the Black wing and the 602. The orange Palomino Premium HB with an eraser top sits in the premium grouping. Without a complete review, it’s a very nice pencil.

The next group of pencils are the middle level, the Palomino Prospector and Golden Bear. Their bright colors and smooth finish are also very nice. I really enjoy the clear finish on the naturally colored Prospector. It’s darn near perfect. The lead in all of this group of pencils is similar. The pencils in this grouping will also be satisfying.

The final pencil is the Forest Choice. It’s a very nice pencil but not my favorite.

In terms of sketching, these pencils are mostly HB. So they are great for starting out a drawing but won’t give you a huge range of shades or deep darks. The Blackwings are an exception to this, as they are all softer and darker than an HB designation. I’d put them in the range of 2B.

After doing a little rough math, the price for the 9 pack is not bad when you consider that buying a package of each of these pencils all together would cost about $90. It’s a great way to test out a great group of pencils without investing in 12-packs that you might not like. Overall these pencils won’t disappoint and it will help narrow down what you like, or don’t like, in a pencil.

I hope to get reviews of the rest of the pencils in the next few weeks.

Review: Staedtler Wopex

Another extruded pencil mentioned on the Erasable podcast is the Staedtler Wopex. These are $5 for 18 pencils at Staples. That’s 28 cents a pencil.

These pencils are nice bright lime green in color with a silver imprint on one side. The other side has a barcode and assorted other info printed. The silver doesn’t flake off or scrape off. The black barcode is easily scraped off with a fingernail. The lime green coating is soft and can be marked with a fingernail. These are slightly smaller, roughly 1 millimeter thinner than a regular pencil. Again like the allXwrite it does not fit into a bullet pencil. The ferrule fits the pencil well and the eraser is white plastic.

In terms of use, this pencil has a waxy feel. It’s not slick but unlike other extruded pencils this feels more like a regular pencil to me. Additionally, the pencil is stiff and not flexible like older extruded pencils. It does not like the KUM long point sharpener. Rather, it works best in a sharpener that produces a shorter point. The points are somewhat crumbly but not overly bad. When sharpening the plasticized wood peels off in long curls. It’s weird and rubbery feeling.

In use the pencil is perfectly average. It's nice and smooth without a hint of scratchiness. For writing, I found it to be relatively comfortable. After writing up case notes for a paper, my wrist, hand, and fingers were less sore than with the allXwrite.

For sketching this is a lightly colored pencil. It is not going to product nice deep darks, rather it does nice even shade of gray. I was able to get a nice variety of the lighter tones of gray. Again, I have to point out that this is a pretty average pencil in terms of color and lead. it’s a very pencil colored pencil. You are not going to get deep darks out of this pencil, no matter how many layers of pencil you put down or how hard you press.  

I did find myself sharpening this pencil pretty often while writing. Because it cannot be used in the long point sharpener I found myself have to get the wedge out to keep my point pointy. Unlike the allXwrite I didn’t feel like I was constantly writing with a blunt instrument, but it wore down quickly. though this pencil is supposed to last longer than other pencils, I’m not sure that’s the case. I’ll have to get a Palomino out to test against it.

On the whole, I liked this pencil for writing but not as much for drawing. It was a pretty blah and unresponsive pencil for sketching. For writing it works just fine and I’ll throw a few into my pencil cup to use for case notes and other various school duties. At 28 cents a pencil it’s not a bad choice for writing.

Review: Staedtler allXwrite Pencil

I’ve been listening to some podcasts as I work on my papers and one of them that I’ve been listening to is Erasable, a podcast about pencils. One of the pencils that was mentioned was the Steadtler woodless allXwrite. It’s an extruded pencil with no wood case. They cost about $4 for 5 pencils.

The look of the pencil is very cool looking. It is graphite colored. Unlike most all graphite pencils it is not cased in plastic or lacquer. Rather the process and what is extruded creates something that doesn’t leave marks on your hand. The imprint is silver and the reverse side has a white print with the bar code. The pencil itself is slightly narrower than typical pencils, by about a millimeter. As a result it is not a candidate to be put into a bullet pencil . (Insert frowny face here.) The fit of the ferrule and the eraser is tight and looks great. All in all it’s a very good looking pencil. But looks alone won’t make me buy a pencil. Well, looks alone will get me to BUY the pencil, but I might not like it, or buy another pack.

In use, I found this pencil to be, in a single word, weird. The pencil feels plasticy in hand. But that isn't a problem, the problem is the drag as I write or draw. The tip is almost sticky on the page. To combat this I found myself using additional pressure, which didn't seem to stop the sticky feeling. The mark the pencil makes is lighter but the same color as a regular number two pencil. But at regular pencil writing pressure, it was light.

While drawing I was able to moderate my pressure to get a variety of shades, but I could NOT get deep darks. The maximum darkness available is not all that dark. For quick sketching or under sketches it would be fine. I would be worried about the plastic, wax and clay content and if acrylic would stick well. I have not had a chance to test this out.

The best way to describe the feel of this pencil is to compare it to a medium priced colored pencil. It has that same drag and feel.

 

Sharpening this pencil was also weird. It does not like the KUM long point sharpener. I was able to force it through but it took way more effort and the point was crumbly. I was better off using a KUM brass wedge sharpener that kept a shorter point. I did find that I was sharpening this pencil ALL the time. The point would chip off leaving me with a blunt point. Rotating the pencil as I wrote or drew didn’t help keep the point sharp for very long. Sharpening with a knife was possible but again, sharpening a long point was not very useful as the point would break off. While drawing I sharpened less, likely because I was using the blunted point to make specific marks.

Is is one I’d suggest for art journaling? Not really. It’s an interesting pencil but not that great for art or art journaling. As for writing, ehhh, I didn’t like it for that either. I used it to write up case notes for a paper and found it endlessly frustrating and by the end of writing 11 pages of composition page notes, my hand, fingers, and wrist were sore and tired. For 80 cents there are much better pencils out there. On a side note I did cut the ferrule and eraser off and fit it into my Stad one touch pencil holder, which made the pencil MUCH more comfortable. It still had that weird dragging sticky feel on the page and even WITH the holder I used more pressure than usual.

Review: Kikkerland Retro Pen

I tend to wax philosophic about higher end writing instruments while stating “You can make art with anything!” I also write more often about fountain pens, since fountain pens are a passion of mine and I enjoy using them I tend to shove that love into everyone’s face. In some sense I think that if you try a FP you’ll love it, but the truth is that sometimes, a ballpoint or rollerball pen will do just fine. My next few reviews are going to focus on the lower end of price spectrum, while one is for a fountain pen, it’s one I think is worth reviewing (but that’s next week.) This week it’s all about the cheap, old fashioned, clicking ballpoint pen. If you are of a certain age you remember a time when businesses handed out pens with their contact info on them. My Grandmother always kept a cup of them handy near her phone. Because we lived in the country and we frequented places that sold feed and seed a good number of them were for that sort of location. The gas company, gas stations, electric company, and other places handed these out. At one point you could order the Bic Clic or Papermate pens in school colors. These pens were ubiquitous. They were the business party favors from the 50s to the 80s. In the mid 80s everything switched over from the refillable click pen with a metal clip to the Bic Clic Stic. You can still find the old metal clip Bic Clic online, if you want to order 300 of them you can get them for about 75 cents each, less if you order more. Well I don’t have about $200 laying around to buy cheapo pens, but I did have $6.

Kikkerland, the company known for selling the SuckUk and as being the former districbutor of Moleskine in the US, sells “Retro Pens.” For about $6 (less if you have an artist and craftsman near you) you get 5 made in China old school style click pens. They arrive in a hard plastic box, that is useful for storing the unused pens.

The five pens are mixed colors of dusty blue, cream, grey, green and black. Each pen has 2 colors, again a nod to the fact that most of the advertising pens you could buy had 2 colors with an imprint on the bottom half of the pen. In the middle of each pen is a slim metal ring with a matte finish. The clip and knock are the same matte silver metal. The clip is printed KIKKERLAND. The plastic is smooth and shiny. I noted a few scuff on each pen from being tossed about in the plastic box, but nothing that I really cared much about, considering this is a $1.25 pen.

The point deploys via a satisfying click from the knock. The point itself has a very small amount of wiggle at the tip. It isn’t noticeable as I write and draw. The knock does flop around loosely after the tip is deployed, but not an issue if you aren’t a pen spinner or jiggler as you think. Again it’s just not noticeable if you are writing or drawing.

So, how does it write? Not bad. As far as cheap pens go, it could always be improved with a better refill. But straight out of the box it does okay in writing and drawing. It flows smoothly and evenly. It also has what I call the ability to create a “sensitive”line. Which means it responds to the pressure I use as I draw or write. Low pressure= light line higher pressure= darker line. For the style of drawing I’ve been doing this is very useful. The ink is nice and dark.  Do I think i’m going to be drawn to start taking class notes with this pen? Probably not. I’ll keep using my fountain pens and gel inks for class notes. I got these specifically to draw on the subway and train. For that purpose they are wonderful.

I have to say that the variety of colors is nice, especially if you are into matching your pen to your notebook/journal cover.

You can get these on Amazon . You can also buy retro or vintage pens on etsy. Sometimes the sellers have rehabbed the pens to be in working order, and others you can get a few pens that need work or a new refill. 
  You can get refills on amazon or almost any office supply store. These are new pens so I haven’t messed around with refills yet, but when I do, I’ll keep you updated.

 

I've been using one of these non-stop for a little over a week. I've been putting it through it's paces as my EDC pen and thus far it's performing admirably well. While it's not as tough as an all metal bodied pen, I'm decidedly NOT careful with it. It's been getting shoved into my back pocket with my notebook and sat on, walked around, and generally abused. It's really getting the ass end of the deal... Anyway, sophomoric humor aside. The point is a little scratchy at a couple of angles. If I rotate the pen, the scratchiness disappears. This is, I think a function of the cheap refill. Which I've used over half while nearly continuously writing or drawing over the last week. I suspect that in another week I'll have killed the refill. As I've learned, I use a lot of ink. I might have to go hit up the refill display at Bob Slate again...

 

 

Ghosts of Bay State Blue

While I can say I've never been a big fan of the color that is Bay State Blue (BSB) I've never been a detractor either. Even though it stained my pen, sink and hands I shrugged my shoulders andfigured whatever, to each their own. I like Private Reserve Electric DC blue. Not everyone likes that.

I ordered one sample of BSB in 2011 and used it prretty much straight away in a Noodler's Nib Creeper pen. I  used most of it in a Rhodia Webbie. I noted that there was some show through and some bleed through, but not all of the time. I used it for journaling and for drawing.

Like my Fisher Space pen in red, it ghosts after a few years. What is ghosting? When an ink migrates through to the reverse side of the page and you can see a "ghost" of the image on the front. The ghosting with the Space pen red was dispersed and faded, very pink. Also each line had a halo of ink that had migrated away from the original lines. With the BSB The migration to the reverse of the page is intense and amazing. The original drawing or writing can be viewed (or read) in detail. I can see a slight haloing on the fron to fhte page. If I had filled both sides of the page with BSB it would no longer be legible.

Can anyone else report this effect?

Review: BanditApple Carnet PeeWee Notebook

I realize that I’ve been writing about the BanditApple Carnet notebooks for a year or more and I haven’t reviewed them. It’s time to fix that.

 

The BanditApple Carnet notebooks are available in 3 sizes: Handy (MTN size 8.5x4.33inches), PeeWee (3.5x5.5 inches), pocket book (4x6inches). They also offer a planner in the peewee size. The covers are available in red, green, tan and black. Inside you can get plain, lined, or gridded paper. This review is on the peewee plain, but they use the same paper inside all their notebooks. Some of the books have rounded corners and some do not. My most recent plain notebook with a tan cover had square corners. My previous black PeeWee had rounded corners.

They feature a machine stitched binding using heavy weight cotton thread. I’ve been using the PeeWee size for a couple of years now and can say that the binding doesn’t look worn on any of my notebooks. It doesn’t matter if I’ve carried them in a cover or naked in my back pocket. The notebooks are very sturdy and stand up to abuse. The covers have a lovely texture and the color is sold  throughout. The cover is plain, featuring no adornments, not even a company logo, rather that info is on the clear plastic sleeve that makes up the notebook’s package.

Inside the notebook are 64 pages of 80gsm “heritage” paper that is off white in color. I don’t know what heritage means other than “awesome.” The paper handles everything I throw at it from fountain pens to brush pens to light watercolor washes, and has the additional benefit of being lovely with pencil. This paper is amazing sketching paper for the price. I rarely get any bleed through. I’ve got one Japanese calligraphy brush pen that soaks through, but it soaks through every paper I own. It is also rare that I’m able to see through to what I’ve drawn or written on the other side.  The paper isn’t super smooth but gives just enough feedback with a pen to be nice. With a brush pen the pages don’t wrinkle, but with light watercolor washes they wrinkle a small amount. Not enough that i’m bothered by it, but I mention it because I know some people are bothered by wrinkles.

The big drawback to these notebooks is that they are only carried by a few online vendors and I’m not able to find them in person at all. Goulet Pens carries them as does Zeller writing company. But, it looks like Zeller has them on clearance. You can order a sample directly from the company in Seoul here. Turnaround time is roughly 3 to 6 weeks, I had mine in 4. For $3 you can’t go wrong.

The price for the 64 page PeeWee notebook is $3.50USD, roughly the same price as a Field Notes or Moleskine Cahier but with significantly better paper and more pages.

 

If you are outside of the US you can find a vendor on this list.

 

Review: Tombow Mono Zero Ultra Fine 2.5x0.5 mm Eraser

I love click erasers. I enjoy their plastic housing that holds a cylinder of wobbly eraser safe while I use the knock to ease out just a small amount of eraser. Inside the plastic housing the eraser stays clean, ready to clean up my drawings. Mostly, these click erasers work really well but are not all that easy to use to clean up detail areas. That is, until I picked up the Tombow Mono Zero rectangular ultra fine click eraser. This thing has a tiny slip of eraser, it’s 2.5x0.5mm in size (3/8x1/8 inches). In other words tiny.

The housing is also small. It’s black with a small tip of metal at the business end. The knock pushes out 0.7 mm of eraser per click. The eraser is Tombow elastomer eraser. It’s white plastic and the “crumbs” stick to one another and ever so slightly, the page, eliminating a lot of eraser mess. The crumbs can then be swept away with a soft brush or the side of a hand, depending on your preference. (A perfect use for those useless fan brushes IMO.) (This eraser also comes in a stainless steel or shiny metal looking body.)

 

This isn’t going to be the eraser you use to clean up large areas of page, rather this is going to be the eraser you use to clean the whites of the eyes in portraits, or reflections on glass. This is the eraser you’ll use to take care of the details. It might also be the eraser you use as an everyday carry with your pocket journal. This has been my use for this diminutive eraser. Because it is incredibly small and light weight I’ve been clipping it to the cover of my pocket journal and using it combined with a 2B mechanical pencil for sketching. The little eraser has been quite a workhorse for me. Cleanly removing pencil from the pages of my Field Notes and BanditApple Carnet. For small pocket sketching it’s been top notch.

As for cleanliness of the erasing, it does well on smooth paper. In Field Notes and BanditApple carnet minimal ghosting was apparent. However on rougher paper, like the Staples sticky note, which is quite rough, ghosting is apparent. Is it bad enough to not get one of these erasers? I don’t know. If you work on rough paper with graphite you might want to go with a rougher eraser, like the Papermate Tough Stuff  Eraser Stick.

While we’re at it, let’s talk price. I was able to pick up my eraser at Artist & Craftman for $5. I also bought a pack of refills for a few bucks, bringing my total to about $7. That’s pretty pricey, but I had been eyeing this eraser for a few months and in 2 weeks of frequent use I’ve used a very small amount of the eraser, about 2mm. The eraser is also available from JetPens for about $6 and Amazon for the same. Refills range in price from $2 at A&C to $5 on Amazon. Any way you look at it, it’s not a huge value, but it does a damn good job for what it is. In this case the function of this eraser makes it a worthwhile investment.

Over all, the minute form factor of this eraser is what really makes it worth the cash. Most other click erasers are encased in so much plastic that they are ten times thicker than the eraser encased inside. If you are putting together a pocket sketching and journaling kit, size matters.

Review: Parker Quink Gel Ink Refill

A few months ago I won a Retro 51 Hex-o-Matic retractable pen. The pen is perfect for sketching while I’m on the T. With all the lurching and sudden stops of the T, I’m afraid I’ll jam a fountain pen and break the nib, so rollerball pens work best. I managed to burn through the refill in a short amount of time. After looking around online I realized I needed to look at the refills to figure out what would fit the pen. Basically, I learned it takes standard Parker type refills which are available just about anywhere. I headed into Bob Slate Stationers in Cambridge, Mass to look at their rack of refills and figure out what I liked.

I ended up buying a package of Parker Quink gel refills and a package of Quink Flow roller ball refills. I’ve not yet tested the Quink Flow refills but the initial testing of the Gel Ink has been quite favorable.

First the ink is very black. The tip lays down a very even line of ink. There is very little skipping. The only skipping I found was when I was writing at an extreme angle and over areas where there were fingerprints on certain paper. It wrote flawlessly in my Field Notes, Staples composition notebooks, and on scrap paper. The only paper it skipped on was my BanditApple Carnet and that only occurred in areas where I’d held the paper in place while drawing, so over my fingerprints. There was some light skipping over pencil line, and only the softer pencil. It wrote well over H and even HB pencil but not well over 2B or 4B.

Once on paper, the ink is relatively waterproof. I was able to lift a small amount with a waterbrush to get some light shading. Which is really cool but it also means that watercolor washes will lift and be “dirtied” by the ink. I have to say that the ink is neutral black and won’t dirty watercolor that much. I really like the idea of adding a thin waterbrush to my on-the-go kit.

If you are looking for an ink refill that is a sheer joy to write with, this is a go to refill. I’ve been using it for note taking in my graduate classes. It’s smoothness glides over the paper without skipping or slowing me down. If the Zebra Sarasa is my go to gel ink pen, this is one step behind it. (I’ve recently found Zebra Sarasa refills on Amazon, so I’m now stuffing those into every pen body I own. Sadly, they don’t fit into my hex-o-matic.) I’ve found myself reaching for my hex-o-matic over my fountain pens for the last few weeks, that should tell you how great this ink is for writing.

Anyway, these refills are quite nice, very affordable, and available just about anywhere.

Now you just need to pick a  decent pen to put them in, they will fit into a great number of pens. The classic Parker Jotter, the Retro 51 Hex-o-Matic, and a great number of other pens. I could go on and on about how wonderful it is to have a refillable pen and how much better it is for the environment.

Review: Princeton Art SNAP! Brush

When I paint with watercolors I buy Princeton Art Company red handled synthetic rounds. Why? They hold a point well, survive my abuse the longest, and hold a great deal of paint. Lately I’ve been working with acrylic, and my usual view of working with acrylic is that I should buy the cheapest brush available because I’ll eventually abuse it by leaving paint in it for too long. i’m an acrylic brush destroyer. BUT! lately I’ve been working on things with small details that need a fine point… I’ve reached for my watercolor brushes… I’ve not destroyed any of them YET!

 

When I picked up my “Congrats, You survived your first semester of grad school” gift a couple of weeks ago I also snagged a new brush. Princeton Art company has a new line of brushes called “SNAP!” The rack had 2 sides- one with long handles and the other with short. On each side was a range of sizes at a set price point. 2 and 4 rounds and flats were $2.99 and 6 and 8 rounds and flats were $5.99 and so on. I snagged a #6 round with a short handle and white taklon bristles.

 

The brush is good looking, the handle is painted green and blue and then coated in varnish, leaving some of the natural wood visible. It’s pretty. (in the image below the SNAP! brush is shown with a #6 Princeton Art red handle water color brush as well as a Robert Simmons' Sapphire. Do not buy the Simmon's sapphire brush, it was over priced and has been a horrible brush frm the get go. I could go on and on about how horrible it is, but I'll just leave it at, don't buy.)

I’ve been using the brush for about 2 weeks.Thus far I’m very  happy. The bristles are snappy and spread the paint well. The point has survived my use for 2 weeks. This is a miracle. I tend to kill points quickly. The white taklon has stained with red and blue pigment but that’s expected with the colors I use.

 

Anyway, I’m very happy with this brush at this price. They are available in multi packs as well, also at a set price and very fair price- I saw a mixed group of brushes for about $11. (I wasn’t able to find a decent Amazon link for this product, they all had $7.50 shipping… for $5 items LOL.)

The images below are some faces on can lids. I used this brush for all of the image. Check out the fine detail you can see in the faces. Again nice point on a #6 round.

(These images are available at my Etsy shop. Faces on can lids!)

 

As a side note, with the introduction of these snazzy brushes and the new Catalyst tools I think that Princeton Art company is going after the mixed media market in a big way. These new lines of products are perfectly situated as affordable and USEFUL tools for mixed media artists. They aren’t doing it in a cheesy annoying way either. rather than flooding blogs and youtube with annoying ads (or getting bloggers to shill for them (looking at  you Brother)) they have introduced their great products and are letting artists use them and spread the word for them. I like this method, it doesn’t pander to us, or put goo artists and bloggers (looking at you Brother) into positions where to get to use or keep a product they have to copy and paste crappy copy that doesn’t fit the tone of the blog into their blog. You see, when a product is good, like the Catalyst wedge, it doesn’t need advertising copy forced down the throat of the blogger (again, looking at you Brother). A good blog post will write itself, that includes good and bad aspects of the product. /rant.

Review: Princeton Arts Catalyst Wedge Tools

Phew. My semester, the first semester of my grad school adventure is over! Grades aren’t in yet, but in one of my classes I’m pretty sure I snagged an A. As a sort of congratulations to me gift I snagged a lovely Catalyst tool. I went simple and got the basic wedge. (The color of the tool is more of a cool gray than taupe, can't get the colors right on screen.)

 

Catalyst tools are hefty silicone tools for spreading paint around a page or canvas. the full size tools are chunky and have a nice heft in the hand. The “handle” side of the tool is comfortable and conforms to the hand. The large size is just right for spreading a great deal of paint around a page. It’s about an inch wider than an old gift card on the wide side and half the width on the narrow end.

 

With that in mind, the tool I purchased (W-06) is easy to manipulate and control. With a short session of use I was able to use it to spread a thin even layer of paint or leave a rough uneven layer. I was able to adhere antique paper to the page with gel medium without damaging the paper and leaving a perfectly even layer of medium.

 

I’ve used a variety of other tools- from the procaulking tools (pretty good) to rubber potter’s ribs (not so good) and none have come close to being as useful as my beloved old gift and credit cards. The Princeton Catalyst tool is the first to approach the versatility of the old plastic cards. The first that allows for thin and thick layers. The first that gives me a similar look to my spread of paint over a page, and the first that let’s me manipulate mediums in useful ways.

 

The final great thing? With a bit of water acrylic paint and mediums simple slide right off the tool, leaving it’s surface as clean as the day I bought it.

 

The tools are available in a variety of shapes and sizes. they have a series of mini tools as well as on handles. The handle tools look like funky spatulas. Some have edges that aren’t smooth but have a series of divots in rounded or triangular shapes so that you can scrape shapes into your paints. While I have less of a use for those, I do think they would be VERY useful in mixed media work.

 

I’ve seen the tools in a variety of places, and at a variety of prices. It seems they are between $5 and $8 and the MSRP is $10 for the large wedge tools. I paid about $6 for mine at Artist and Craftman. Which I see as a fair price for the tool. I’m probably going to look into getting the other smooth shape in the future, as well as some of the tools on handles.

(get it on Amazon here.)

Here are a couple of cradled boards I’ve picked up and have started to paint. I’ll be adding something else to the middle, probably a face. But you can see how perfectly the tool worked. The way the paint spread is very similar to my usual tools. Very happy.

Review: Sargent Watercolor Crayons

I'm a huge fan of watercolor crayons I've tried a number of brands but keep coming back to Caran D'Ache. Why? They are creamy, loaded with pigment, and move with water excellently. They are however pretty pricey at just over $1 a crayon that can add up. When I saw the Sargent Watercolor Crayons I wanted a pack immediately. I couldn't decide between the 8 or the 12 pack. Eventually I went with the 8 pack. They were reasonably priced at $6.67* at Artist & Craftsman.
They are in a cardboard matchbox sliding box. No fancy tin here. You'll haveto excuse the paint that I got on the box, I had to use them to review them, and that included doing some of my usual watercolor crayon techniques.

The crayons themselves at first are a little stiff, I think the outer layer of crayon has dried out a tad. Once I used them for a few minutes and wore off the outer layer these crayons perform really well. I was really really surprised at how well they performed for inexpensive watercolor crayons. After the initial dried layer the crayons goes onto the page smoothly and looks like any crayon. The color is nice and deep so long as you put enough crayon on the page. The darkness of color can be controlled by how much crayon you lay down on the page. Color lightly- get light color; color heavily and get dark color. These really surprised me in how well they lifted and moved around with water and a brush. They really needed very little water and brushing to move around well and blend with one another. Really really impressed with their ability to move once wet. Unlike the Staedtler watercolor crayons these moved while wet like Caran D'Ache. I'm very impressed with this realtive newcomer to the watercolor crayon market. They perform really well for any art journaling need and are signifcantly less expensive than  the Caran D'Ache. Are these archival and lightfast? Probably not. I've not yet tested them. But like any student watercolor it's not likely. They do match the Sargent Watercolor magic liquid watercolors. So color-wise they match, allowing easy mixing across materials.

While I didn't purchase the 12-pack with a "free" brush I did look at the brush, flopping around loose in the cardboard box... It didn't look like it was a very high quality brush, but it would be useful for washes. It certainly looked like whatever point may have been on the brush was long gone. I don't know why manufacturers that include a "free" brush in a box of something haven't learned to put a small dab of rubbery glue to hold the brush in place to prevent damage. Common sense might cost the manufacturer some money.

A new addition to my review will be looking at the material's potential for use in my future art therapy practice, I'll keep it at the bottom of my reviews so people who aren't interested can ignore it, and those who are can find it easily. These watercolor crayons could be used with children or adults with success. They work as well as the "big" brand but at a much lower cost. Meaning, they can be purchased in a plentiful quantity that the client will never feel they are running out of materials and lending a sense of freedom to their use. If giving a client a new box is important, that can be done because the cost of these crayons is low. The crayons are non-toxic. There is, of course, the typical concern that one might have when giving "children's" supplies to adults.

More Composition Book Stuff

I decided to pick up a few more composition books while they are cheap at Staples. I noticed the made in Brazil books are fewerin numbers and mixed in with the Made in Egypt books. After digging through the stacks I noticed something.

See it?

The made in Brazil books are on the bottom and the made in Egypt books on top. The Books made in Brazil have a rounded spine. To find the Made in Brazil books I ran my hands over the spines of the book stacks and was easily and QUICKLY able to find the made in Brazil. Within seconds of figuring this out I have my stack of books and I was in line to pay. It took me a good 5 minutes or so to find the first made in Brazil book.

So all you fountain pen users who lova  a cheap notebook, look for rounded spines. Please note this may only be the case for the Staples branded notebooks as all my other composition notebooks- Mead and Norcom have rounded spines and are not good with fountain pens.

Review Redux: Scribal WorkShop Siren Blue Ink

I reviewed Scribal's Siren Blue ink a few months back. I used this ink almost exclusively in my recent grad school class. Except when my pen wouldn't write because it had dried out.

This is a perfectly colored ink, PERFECT. I would buy this ink in a quart size if only it's flow and lubrication were better. This ink makes my normally smooth pens feel scratchy and like I'm wearing off the tipping. It also makes my wet pens feel like they flow erratically and slowly, making them dry writers. It also makes every pen I've had it in a hard starter, even the pens with air tight caps. Pens that I've never had starting issues with, start hard, and often need water added to the nib to get them going. Frustrating.

Here are a few thigns I've tried:
5ml ink + 10 drops water (poor)
5ml ink + 2 drops dish soap (poor)
Decant 5ml of ink into a small container, add .5ml distilled water and 2 drops dish soap.(winner) This last option makes the ink flow much better but has worse performance on bad paper- more feathering and bleed. But it starts better, though not well or perfectly.

I am considering adding 1ml Camlin turq to 5ml Siren or 1 ml blue quink to 5ml Siren to see what I get. As is, nothing can flow as bad as the Siren on it's own.

I love this ink's color and qualities but damn if I can't keep my pens writing in grad school I'm screwed!

***UPDATE***
Immediately after writing this I mixed 1ml camlin turq + 1ml Quink blue + 5ml Siren. The color is indistinguishable from the original and the flow is better, dry out is gone, and my pens no longer feel like they are being sandpapered. Winner. I immediately mixed up 30ml of this blend. It iwll be my go to ink for school. Now I need another bottle of Siren.

Composition Book Show Down

I like composition books. A throw back to simplier rtimes I hated them as a kid becuase I could only find wide rule and I prefer college rule. As an adult I'm more likely to ignore the lines and just write where I feel like. I like to have one in the garage for my bike notes and to do lists. I keep them all over the house. (Not sure how C feels about this.) They have many uses doodles, sketching and writing. They are also dirt cheap. This time of year you can get them in Staples for $1 each and Walmart has some for 50 cents. The real question for me is , "How do all these comp books stack up against one another?"

A few weeks back I reviewed to much dismay the Staples Sustainable Earth comp book. It was a bummer because I really enjnoy the brown lines, the feel of the paper, and overall the quality of the book, but not being able ot use fountain pens with it makes it a deal killer. I won't buy another one.

So I'm searching out compbooks that work with my fountain pens. I've done a lot of reading that you need to keep an eye on where they are made, with Brazil as the best country of origin.

Let's start out with the rank and horrible.

Mead Five Star College Ruled with the plastic covers.
The paper feels nice, pens glide but feather and bleed like writing on TP. No country of origin listed. Was more expensive than the rest.

Mead Wide Ruled Fasion Pattern Covers Made in Vietnam
nice stiff covers in a variety of funky patterns, also available college ruled. Some inks did horribly on this paper others did well. Bleed through was intolerable but feathering was okay.

Norcom Fashion Pattern Covers Wide Rule Made in USA Walmart
Covers are flimsy but nice patterns. Paper feels smooth and nice but feathers and bleeds like crazy. even well bahaved inks don't do well on it. It's too bad I'd like to buy made in the US paper. These were on sale at Walmart for 50 cents.

Norcom Original Covers College Rule Made in USA Walmart
Covers are flimsy. Paper feels smooth and nice but feathers and bleeds like crazy. even well bahaved inks don't do well on it. It's too bad I'd like to buy made in the US paper. These were on sale at Walmart for 50 cents.

Now let's talk about the acceptable and good.

Staples Quad Comp Graph Rule Made in Egypt
Okay covers. Paper feels nice. Pens like it. Slight feathering with some inks but most fair better than average. Plenty of bleed through, making only one side of the paper usable. On sale at Staples for $1.

Tops Brand Standard Marble Cover Wide Rule Made in Vietnam
Flimsy cover. Paper is smooth and feels great under the pen. No feathering, no bleed through. Both side usable with right pen. Regularly priced at 97 cents at Target. (For what it's worth, I've been told I totally lucked out on the Made in Vietnam book being good, usually it's the Made in Brazil Tops that is good. So your mileage may vary on this one.)

Staples "Fashion" Cover Wide Rule Made in Brazil (Item number 19187)
Okay covers, not the most sturdy. Patterns are neat. Paper feels smooth and pens like it. No feathering even with my Ahab. Bleed through is acceptable. On sale for $1.

Staples "Marble" Cover College Rule Made in Brazil (Item number 40451)
Sturdy covers. Paper feels smooth and pens like it. No feathering even with my Ahab. Bleed through is acceptable. On sale for $1.

Have you used a composition notebook that you particularly loved? Let me know about it in the comments.

Review: Zebra Sarasa, A Pen for Doodling

I’ve been doing a lot of doodling. One of my all time favorite cheap-o pens for doodling is the Uni-ball Vision Fine Point . It’s smooth, dark black ink flows well and doesn’t bleed when wet. So I can flood a wash of watercolor over it when I’m done sketching and doodling. It’s a great pen. You can get them just about anywhere for about $1 to $2 per pen. Not a bad deal.

C likes to use a medium point pen versus my needle point pens. She likes a nice smooth point so I usually stick with the Uniball pens, but I happened into Staples and found they had the Zebra Sarasa retractable pens in 0.7 black ink on sale, so I bought a pack of 12. They came in a nice plastic case for storage. It would easily be useful for storing a pen assortment. I believe the sale was for $9.99. With no sale they can be found for about $1 a pen. They are also available in a wide assortment of colors.

Why do I like these pens? First off they are dirt cheap in the arena of waterproof/resistant pens. The ink is dark and doesn’t erase off the page when cleaning up pencil. The pen itself is as comfortable to use as any other clicky ball point, the build and construction is similar to the Pilot G2, but I find that I get skipping with the G2 but none with the Sarasa. In other words the ink is smooth, dark and flows well when compared to other gel ink pens. Also one of the issues I have with the G2 is that it develops bubbles in the ink and then doesn’t work. The Sarasa doesn’t seem to suffer from this effect, which is good.

In short a fantastic pen for art purposes, especially given the price.

Review: New Staples Sustainable Earth Composition Notebook

I’ve been debating whether or not I should make my own notebooks for school or if I should just buy them. I decided to pick up a few composition notebooks to see how the various brands fared with fountain pens. I’ve been a fan and have used the Staples Sustainable Earth composition notebooks for around the garage and workbench thinking notebooks for hacking out designs on my bike builds and other things. I’ve been a big fan of them for awhile. While out picking up some supplies I grabbed a new one figuring it was a safe bet for school. It seems that Staples has changed the composition of the paper just a tad. It’s now 80% bagasse, or sugarcane. I’m not sure what it was before but this paper has some major differences. I compared it to a page from an old Sustainable Earth legal pad.

The old paper wasn’t super smooth but it was nice and performance with a fountain pen was awesome. Line width was true to the nib, no feathering, no soak through but there was show through. It was a great inexpensive paper that was easy to find anywhere. 100 sheets was $2.49 anywhere in the US. It was available in legal pads too, which were a favorite of mine for taking notes while on the phone at work, and now for working on ideas for classes and my writing. This paper was awesome.

The new paper is not as smooth as the old paper. I tested both sides of the page and while one side is slightly smoother than the other, it’s not as smooth as the old. Line width is not true to the nib size. My medium pen looks like a bold and my EF a medium. Feathering was rampant with many inks. Noodler’s Eternal Brown feathered badly. Diamine Chocolate feathered so much as to be unusable. Private reserve Sonic Blue was a mess. Soak through was awful, many inks, normally well behaved inks, soaked through to the page behind, leaving spots on the unused page. Soak through was as bad as if I had used Sharpies to write. Given my enjoyment of ink variety this is a deal killer for me.

I decided to test the paper would with a variety of pencils and pens. Pencil was great on the paper, it was rough enough to take a nice dark line with mechanical pencils as well as regular wooden pencils. I tested out a Zebra Sarasa 0.7 in black ink. It soaked through. Yes, gel ink soaked through in some spots.

I deem the new Staples Sustainable Earth Composition Notebook to be the most useless notebook of the year, unless you use only pencil. Well, I might see if I can cut pages out to use as thin blotter paper, it might be useful like that, but I doubt it would do a good job at that either.

Review: Palomino Blackwing Pencils

I have been holding out on getting one of the oft lauded Palomino Blackwing pencils. I don’t know why I held out for so long. All my friends said they were great and I knew I loved the Palomino pencils I already owned.  I snagged a couple from a friend just to see what they were all about and not sure what to expect. I’m not going to go into the history of the pencil, you can read all about that here. I suspected going into this that this would be a good review. I've got many other Palomino pencils and I really enjoy their velvety smooth graphite core.

When I opened the package they were secured in some bubble wrap. When I peeled that away I was presented with some very unique looking pencils. The black paint on the Blackwing was matte and a nice black. the printing of the logo was crisp, though not indented and I could see where it was starting to flake off already. That doesn’t matter to me but occasionally I’ll notice a fleck of gold on my hand as I use the pencil. Like fairy dust...

The part of the pencil’s look that is the most noticeable is the ferrule that holds the eraser and the eraser itself. The Blackwing comes with a rectangular white plastic eraser set into a rectangular ferrule that turns round to attach to the pencil itself. It’s pretty cool and totally unique. (Of course the history lesson here will tell you it’s NOT unique, but I shall only say here, it’s unique to the market TODAY.) The eraser is easily removed and replaced should you wear it down to a nubbin. You can buy a 12-pack in white, pink, or black. I found the white eraser to work but was not the most effective eraser. I rarely use erasers on the end of my pencils but I found myself using these because they are cool.

The pencil sharpened easily with my KUM long point sharpener. It held that point through a sketching session without breaking at any pressure. The graphite was smooth and dark. Not a scratchy bit to be found during any of my sketching times. Light pressure yielded a nice result and heavy pressure a deep dark mark. Variation in tone was easily possible simply through varying my pressure and layering.

I also had a pair of Blackwing 602 pencils in my package. These have a nice gray paint job and black erasers. The graphite was slightly harder and lighter. It was just as smooth as the regular Blackwing. The black eraser seemed to be slightly gritty but erased much better than the white erasers. Sharpening was a breeze and thought I filled pages in my sketchbook I had no breaks nor crumbles.

I also did a little writing with these pencils, just because I had to. Little pressure produced a nice line. The regular blackwing produced a nice dark line even with little pressure. The 602 needed to be sharpened less often. Both were silky smooth to use.

Overall these 2 pencils are amazing for sketching or writing. They are attention grabbing that’s for sure. I know I saw someone in the coffee shop eyeing my pencils, so I made sure they were secured when I stepped away...

You can get these pencils from the European Paper Company here.

I purchased these pencils for review, they were not provided to me by European Paper Company, however if you purchase them through the provided link I will be compensated.

Review: Xtras for Creative Learning

This past Saturday I went to Xtras for Creative Reuse. It’s this place where you pay a small membership fee ($5) and then you can buy a full grocery bag full of stuff for $8. They have other membership levels taht allow you to buy full carts of stuff or several bags at a time. They get off cuts and useful waste from businesses and other things. They had the leftovers from an entire office that closed down, from footrests to paperclips. They also had leftover and miss embroidered items from a shop that makes patches. Large sheets of paper, fabrics and yarn. It’s basically a massive junk shop. If you think like me, it’s a toy shop.

To get there I had to travel into Lynn, MA and down a few side streets to a spot just off the Lynnway. I should have shot a few pics of the building. It was one of the huge old industrial buildings with high ceilings and 100 years of history. It was attractive in that old factory warehouse kind of way. The area is kinda rough and like much of Lynn kind of run down. Once I climbed the 3 flights of stairs to their suite I was surrounded by stuff. All kinds of great recycled cast off stuff. Entire offices had been dumped into this place, all of it mine for the taking provided I could stuff it into the shopping bag they provided. There was loads of old Reebok schwag, the kind of stuff company employees are given to make them feel good.

I found all kinds of great stuff for my art. If you have a place like Xtras near you you should check it out.

Next time I'm there I'll snag some pics.

Follow them on facebook!

Review: Piccadilly Primo Journal

I was happy to see that Barnes & Noble has picked up the Piccadilly line of notebooks after the closing of Borders. On a whim I picked up an orange colored medium Primo Journal. The primo journals come in orange, black, brown, blue, teal and red. Not all of the colors are available at B&N. They only come lined. The book is 4.5x6.75 inches in size and ¾ of an inch thick. This size fits perfectly into my jacket pockets. It is smythe sewn so it will open flat and be relatively sturdy.

The covers are a rubbery textured vinyl imprinted with a grid pattern of imprinted of squares. The vinyl is glued to a flexible fibery material that feels substantial and comfortable in hand. The cut of the covers is not totally square to the imprinted texture. The covers are not well glued either. A small amount of glue stick stuck it back in place. Holding the journal shut is a round off white elastic that is threaded through two holes in the spine. The elastic as it came was loose. Getting it tighter was as easy as pulling the elastic through the spine and tying a knot in the elastic. The place marker is the same color as the cover. It is not glued in place well and came loose as I opened and closed the journal. It was an easy repair with a little white glue.

The paper is relatively heavy and smooth. The lines are blue gray and not obtrusive. The color is a warm cream color. It’s easy on the eyes. gel ink, roller balls, and micro points do well on the smooth paper. Fountain pens fair less well. Ink glides on smoothly. I tested a variety of pens and nibs including a Pilot Prera M with Quink blue ink, a TWSBI 530 M with Diamine Chocolate ink, a Kaweco Sport M with Noodler’s Heart of Darkness. All inks and nibs feathered in the same weird spidery way they feather on a Moleskine. The larger nibs had plenty of show through and some soak through. I tested the inks on both sides of the page. One side was definitely smoother and showed less soak and show through than the other side.




The medium was $6.35 including taxes. Which I don’t see as a bad price for 288 pages of decent paper. With fine nibs the feathering isn’t a deal breaker, especially given the price. I really like the feel of the rubberized and flexible cover. This is a budget friendly journal good for scrawling down novel ideas or grocery lists. buying a journal for less than $10 isn't going to get you the kind of great quality spending $20 on a Rhodia webbie will get you but this is not a bad journal for the price.