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Review: Update Pentel Pocket Brush Pen to Eyedropper

I wrote about the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen here. I suggested in the post that perhaps the pen could be converted to eye dropper fill rather than use the carts. I find that the pentel carts are pretty pricey, though it is awesome ink. They range from $2 for 2 ($2 per cart whoa!!!) to $ 11 for 6! (Jetpens has about the best price I could find.) Converting this pen to eye dropper amount to a massive savings. I found I went through a cart pretty quickly in regular sketching and using the black to fill in the background.

 

I loaded it up with some Omas New Gray. Which is a nice pale silvery gray that layers well, perfect for sketching. It is not a lightfast gray so it should stay in the journal and not on the wall. I’ve posted here about turning a pen like this into an eyedropper and this pen is no different. I used a blunt syringe to fill the barrel with juuust under 3ml of ink. That’s 3 carts of ink, in one fill. While I used a dye based ink I could fill it with a pigment based ink as it’s designed for that, which mean it’s even more awesome.

After letting the ink get to the brush I noticed that the ink flow is a little faster than with the Pentel ink. This could be because the Pentel ink has pigment or is thicker than the dye based ink. The Omas Gray ink has good flow even in a fountain pen. I’ll be trying out more inks once I run through this one. The other good thing is that I can fill my black pen up with Noodler’s Heart of Darkness once I run out of carts of black. (Scored 2 more with this pen.)

 

The best thing about turning this pen eye dropper? It’s simple. All you need is a little silicone grease from the plumbing section of home depot and an eye dropper or a blunt syringe. Money saved? Each fill will save you about $3 over using cartridges.

 

 

Review: Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen

I have been coveting a pocket brush pen for awhile. I have a brush pen but it has a incredibly long handle and is a pain because of that. I was comp shopping Michael’s when I came upon this pen. Imagine my horror when I got to the counter and found I’d left my 40% off coupon at home... I put the pen back and came back later. With my 40% off coupon I snagged this pen for a measly $10.83, which is less than I could find it online.

 

It’s sold on a blister pack like most other markers and pens are at Michael’s. Once out of the packaging its a nice looking shiny black pen. It’s comparable in size to most pens on the market. It’s very light weight even with the cartridge plugged into the pen. After wielding a TWSBI 540 for an extended writing session earlier in the day, this is like writing with a cloud. The pen is all black except for a Kanji character on the cap near the clip and the pentel name on the opposite side of the cap.

 

 

After installing the cartridge the ink descends into the brush rather quickly, the brush was fully loaded with 60 seconds of installing the cart. The tip is soft, flexible but springs to a point immediately after pressing it down fully. It is capable of giving a hair thin line or a swath of ink 5mm wide. The ink flow is generous and kept up with some very quick line work. The line variation is quite nice and relatively easy to control.

 

 

 

The ink in the cartridges is reported to be in water resistant. Something that I found interesting is that the back proclaims that the “fittings” are leak proof. This tells me that with some silicone grease this pen could EASILY be converted to eye dropper fill. For me, this is a VERY VERY interesting thing. In my testing I found that the ink is water resistant once dry on paper and when wet gives a very nice wash effect with a nice even gray tone. In effect you could take just this and a water brush sketching and you could do the sketch, allow it to dry, add more ink, add water and get a nice gray tone for your shadows. The ink is not water resistant on acrylic paint until it is FULLY dry. It writes without issue on acrylic, no skipping or beading up. It does take quite some time to dry on acrylic paint- to get to the fully dry point it needs a few minutes.

 

 

 

This pen is a very good price when 40% off but at full price at Michael’s I’m not sure. I’d rather put together a $25 order with Jetpens.

I'll probably do an update to this review once I run through the 2 carts that came with the pen and convert it to eyedropper style.

Reg $16.99 at Michael’s $14 at JetPens

Review: FlexiSketch Sketchbook

I picked up this sketchbook on sale at Artist & Craftman. It was super affordable, more so than usual. It usually runs in the $10 to $15 range. The 8.5x11 inch sketchbook feels weighty in hand and looks nice. The green color is a soothing soft mossy green they call "Fern." I’m annoyed that the 25% more FREE stick is stuck to the cover and doesn’t peel off easily. I’ll be hacking at it with a knife to get it off. After opening up the package I notice it’s Smythe Sewn like a moleskine so it will open flat and flatter the more I use it. The binding is nice and flexible but the wrap around cover on the spine is less so.

The paper is bright white, thick and sturdy feeling, 75lb/110gsm. There are 300 pages or 150 sheets. It has a soft texture and is nice with pencils. Wider nibbed pens glide over it’s surface but narrow nibs sink into it’s surface a little. The paper is absorbent with ink and watercolor. I didn’t notice any feathering with ink but most pens looked to be about a size larger than on other paper. I noticed some ink soaking through as I sketched and wrote. Nothing major since I didn’t plan on using both sides of the paper anyway. This isn’t a deal breaker if you use dry media like pencil or charcoal. The fact that the paper soaks ink up like a paper towel is annoying, and if I were using expensive ink, would annoy me.

 

The cover is thick cardstock with a glossy finish. It scuffs easily, but I don’t mind that. If you are the sort who would like to decorate your art journal you’ll need to sand the surface to get gesso to stick. I managed to pop the glue that holds the back cover to the block off. Rather annoying but it also let me see the spine and that it’s glued sturdily and will survive a lot of abuse. This also makes me think I could cover this journal with little work

Overall my verdict on this is that this sketchbook is a great value. The paper isn’t optimum for ink but it’s thick and sturdy enough to withstand pretty much anything an art journaler can throw at it. The paper has a nice surface for a variety of media. While pen does soak through in some spots it looks fantastic on this paper. I’d buy it again.

 

Review: Loew Cornell Simply Art Fine Tip Marker 4 Pack

Loew Cornell Simply Art Fine Tip Marker $5.99/ 4 pack @ Joann's

 

 

I was doing some comparison shopping for my upcoming class on pen and ink drawing and I stumbled upon the Loew Cornell Fine Tip 4 pack at Joann’s for $5.99. They claim to be water resistant and non- bleeding. One look at the package and you can tell they are clearly a knock off of Pigma Micron pen put out by Sakura. The short cap, metal clip, and cap post on the end of the pen gives it away.

 

 

The markers are sold in a blister package with some claims and suggestions. The first claim is that they are water resistant. The second they won’t bleed. The back of the package suggests that you can use them with watercolors and other markers. I’ll get to these claims shortly.

The pens have a matte black barrel that is comfortable to hold. The pen is very lightweight. The cap posts securely to the back end of the marker with a satisfying click. While writing with the marker I found the ridge where the nib section meets the barrel to be quite sharp and uncomfortable. I suspect that this will be the main reason I stop using these markers.

 

 

 

 

 

While writing I found the fiber tip to be quite smooth on all pens but the largest, .08, and that nib was dry, as if it had dried out in it’s packaging or was out of ink. The sketching experience was not bad at all, the line was smooth and consistent for each tip. There is no line variation unless you switch pens. The ink is black but seems to gray out as it dries, leaving behind a dark gray line rather than a black line.

 

An additional flaw is that the cap is the only part with a size designation and it’s easily missed so caps could easily be put on the wrong pen. The barrels are only marked with the Loew Cornell name.

As for the water resistance, they are, sort of. I found that a lot of the ink lifted with a fast brush over with water. Leaving behind a strong gray area in any spot that was damp. There was a LOT of bleeding that would discolor any watercolor wash applied over it. This also washed out the lines. I went over my test area with another brush load of water and worked the area with the brush, nothing that would be called a scrub, and with a soft brush. The thinnest lines lifted almost completely and black lines were left grayer than before. The gray that is left is a very nice color. Knowing that these create a wash like this is actually pretty useful, one could throw these into a sketch kit with a waterbrush and get some pretty nice sketches with a wide range of tones of gray.

All in all these aren’t a bad value for $6 as long as you take the negatives into consideration- the grip itself, that one of the 4 pens I got wasn’t working properly, they are kinda water resistant, and that only the cap is marked for size. On the good side of things, you get 4 markers that write a lot like a Micron for a lot less, make wonderful washes, are all black and write pretty smoothly.

I’d recommend these for anyone who is interested in trying out this style of pen- very fine fiber tip. I don’t think these will sell you on the style though, they are too uncomfortable to write/sketch with for long periods of time.... Though a nail file might take the sharp edge off the grip area... Might try that, if I do I’ll let you know all about it. I want to suggest these for kids, but I don't want people to assume that I'm saying they are only for kids. I guess I'd say these are good for older kids- teenagers who are sketching for art class, or are writing or for someone who wants to test this style of pen out. you won't get the same performance as you would with a Micron but it's a good point to start.

 

Papers I've Been Using

I've been testing out a variety of papers for my automatic drawings. I'm not being very scientific about this, just trying things out with my style of working. I have done a large amount of them in a Canson Universal Sketchbook. It's a great sketchbook, the paper is sturdy and accepts light washes with ease. The paper cockles when I use more watercolor. With ink it's perfect.

So I taped down some pieces of Canson XL Bristol. I like this for ink too, in fact of all the papers the ink really pops off this page. It's bright white and after watercolors dry the paper is smooth and flat. It's really great but I didn't like how watercolors behaved on it's surface. It was absorbent and dried very fast.

Next up I tried another Canson paper, Montval, not or rough watercolor paper. It's one of my favorites with watercolor. I love the nooks and crannies of it's rough surface, it makes watercolors blend in amazing ways. Ink also looks great on it, but the pen tends to skip across it's surface. It's a little harder to draw on than the other papers. When it dries, it's perfectly flat.

I think what I'll end up using is a cold pressed watercolor paper. The hard part with this whole thing is that I never know what I'm in the mood for, I let these images grow organicly and the end result is that I never know if I'm going to cross hatch the hell out of an image or flood the page with watercolor, so I need something that can handle both.

Review: Exacompta Plain Journal

 

I was given the Exacompta plain (unruled) journal to review by Karen and Stephanie of Exaclaire,the US distributor for Clairfontaine and a variety of other French stationary products. I like to put journals through a few paces before I do a review and since it took me a full year to get through my last journal, it’s been awhile.

The paper is off white, a very nice cream color that I really like a lot. The paper is laid textured on one side and much smoother on the other side. For some this would be a detraction, personally I like it very much and feel it opens the journal up for a variety of media I wouldn’t normally consider. Dry media does much better than expected- things like charcoal and soft pencil really like that laid texture. Though it is textured fountain pens love it’s surface.

Wet media also does admirably on this paper. I was pleasantly surprised when I soaked the paper down with water and color that it held up. It didn’t just hold up, it out performed the luxury of the Rhodia Webnotebook. When it dried the wrinkles (cockles) relaxed. While the paper is not perfectly smooth it’s less cockled than I’d have expected. I was able to lay down a nice wash of watercolor on BOTH sides of the page and have not one drop show through or soak through to the reverse side. That is pretty amazing.

Even my wettest writing pens don’t soak through. Occasionally you can see dark colors through the pages, but that is the case with most any journal. I’ve painted pages with ink and it doesn’t soak through to the reverse side, which again, is pretty amazing. I haven’t been interested in doing any collage in this but I’m sure it would take to it well.

In summary:
100 Laid Textured Ivory pages 100gsm
5.5x8.5 inches
Ribbon Marker
Soft Covers with a fabric spine, meant to go inside a leather cover, many companies make them
Price $15.50 at gouletpens.com

It handles wet media like a champ and is wonderful for a fountain pen. Pencil does amazing textural things on the textured side but doesn’t smudge as much as would be expected on the smooth side.

It’s not cheap but it’s a better value than the moleskine sketchbook, it’s got more papges that behave better and respond better. I’d rate this 2 happy thumbs up and would recomend it to anyone looking to get a nice journal that they can write in, sketch ink, test watercolors in, and abuse.

Art Experiments: In Search of a Gray Ink

 I've been workingon the automatic drawings, and one of the directions I've wanted to take them is to use a very fine pen with a nice gray ink as the first layer of the drawing. I considered using pencil but really don't want to be able to erase the lines. Part of the automatic process is that the lines stay from start to finish. I wanted to use the gray ink with my extra fine RapidoCraft pen to get a fine hairline that fades into the background when a darker color is put of the top.

I searched the network's archives to see if I could find a gray ink that fulfilled my needs. I found a few reviews, but gray inks don't seem to be too popular. I then went to Gouletpens.com and checked out their swab shop tool to see the colors of the grays they had in stock. Still nothing definitive. Instead I ordered 5 samples of gray colors. Each was from a different brand and most I'd seen mentioned at some point on the network.

The 5 colors I ordered were:

    Omas New Gray
    Private Reserve Gray Flannel
    Diamine Grey
    Noodler's Lexinton Grey
    Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun

And my 4 needs are:

    That it survive being wet and not bleed too profusely. A distinct line must remain.
    It not foul pale watercolors like yellow.
    It not foul shades of blue, turning them muddy or green
    It recede to the background when black is put over the top in a drawing.

I performed a test on each of these criteria with each ink on 3 types of paper:

    Clairefontaine Graf It
    Canson Universal Sketch 65lb
    Exacompta Plain Journal

The results were the same across all papers, though with the Graf It there was additional lifting across the inks when lifting was noted.

Diamine Grey was too dark to be a grey I would use for my drawings and it lifted the worst of all the inks.

Private Reserve Gray Flannel was also too dark for my use. I can't say that I actually like this color either. It has a green cast to it that I do not enjoy. It was also the second worst for fouling the pale watercolors. It was also barely discernible from black.

Noodler's Grey was the only ink that did not lift at all. Thus colors floated over it's surface and were not fouled nor muddied. However, it is very dark when in a pen running wet. It might be a contender if it were in a dry pen. I will be loading this into my  freshly cleaned RapidoCraft XF to see if it will work. I'm not convinced. It does hands down win on every other test.

Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun was a good shade that is easily discernible from an overlay of black. It did lift, though not badly. It slightly muddied the pale colors, though not too badly. I really like the color. It does not fit the bill because it is too blue. It's also REALLY expensive.

The perfect shade of gray is the Omas New Gray. It perfectly matches the pale silvery line of pencil. It's clearly gray without a green tinge or looking like I added a bunch of water to my black ink. It's just a cool clear gray. It's pale on the page and black ink pops on top of it. It does however lift. It muddies the pale yellow but mixes well with the pale blue. Even when it does lift it leaves behind a discernible line.

I have one last test. It will require me to leave the inks on the page over night to see if time will allow them to bond with the paper more. Given how I work the more immediate test is the better indicator of how the ink will respond to me and my methods of working but the additional information will be useful. Click any of the images to see these tests in hi-res glory.

The above images is the Canson Universal Sketch paper.

This is the Clairefontaine Graft It pad.

This is the Exactompta plain journal.(review on this to come.)

 

Review: The Artist's Way (BOOK)

I am seemingly one of the few artists (journalers) who is not in love with Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read it, I’ve got it on my bookshelf, complete with the bookmark exactly where I left off. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who isn’t telling everyone else what a great book this is, recommending it every time someone I know hits a block.

It’s not that I don’t get it or that I don’t think it’s a wonderful book, it simply didn’t resonate with me. Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m just not that into TAW. Someone once told me that to follow TAW was a commitment, and I have to agree. There are groups online to help you get into TAW as well as a workbook, and at some community colleges you can take a course in TAW.

Reading TAW or taking a course in TAW can be a transfomative experience for some people, at the end of the line, the real message behind TAW (and all it’s look alikes) is that you need to spend time making and thinking about art.

If you think this might be a good book, pick it up. Maybe I'll revisit it, or not.

Review: Golden Coarse Pumice Gel

Golden Coarse Pumice Gel

I purchased a 6 pack of Golden Mediums about a year ago and other than using the gloss gels I haven’t used them. The list price for 8 ounces is $13.49 and it comes in a tub. In the tub it is gray in color and looks much like cement.

I used an old discount card to spread it on my binder’s board. It lays down a very thick and heavy layer. I found it pretty difficult to lay it down thin. As I was laying it down on the board I had moments where I didn’t think it would stick. It’s a very dry gritty material. It does stick. It helps to work slowly. Because it is so gritty I would recommend using an old brush or a metal palette knife to spread it.

When dry it still retains that cement like look which could make a very cool texture in a journal. It retains its flexibility so it could be used on a journal page with no issue. It can be used as a base much like gesso but keep in mind it’s very gritty and its surface is much like 60 grit sandpaper. It’s very rough. When coloring my pages it wore holes in the rags I was using to apply glaze and color.

(On the left is the Golden and the Right Liquitex.)

This is a very intense texture gel that can definitely make a statement when used on canvas or page. It took a full ounce to cover an 8.5x11 inch page completely. The deep crevasses and graininess of it is very neat. With color added it’s even more interesting.

 A quick comparison of the Golden Coarse and the Liquitex shows that the golden is muchmore coarse, the liquitex is more like 100 grit sandpaper where the golden is like 60 grit. The difference is noticable and visible.

Review: Liquitex Basics Coarse Texture Gel

The last time I was in AC Moore I noticed that Liquitex had released the Basics line of mediums again. This time in 200ml squeeze tubes. I’ve gone on record by saying that the Liquitex Basic Gel Medium is my favorite, and I can’t wait to take my 50% off coupon in and get another tube. This time around the tubes, all of them retail for $7.99, where the old versions retailed for $5.99. Higher gas prices= higher paint prices.

All of these mediums come in tubes. Which I like. I can squeeze a very tiny amount of paint out onto my palette and not waste a drop. They have  modeling paste, gloss gel medium, iridescent medium,coarse texture gel and one other I can't remember. I've purchased gloss gel, coarse texture gel and the modeling paste.

I’ve been obsessed with texture lately so I picked up a tube of coarse texture gel. (Next week I’ll review the Golden version.) Out of the tube it had a heavy body and held its shape well. I used an old credit card to scrape it around on my board. It was wet enough that it stuck down easily and I felt like once it was down it was staying down. The grittiness of it was about like 100 grit sandpaper. It looks like fine beach sand embedded on the page. It held every shape I introduced to the page with my old credit card. I’d shy away from putting this on with a good brush, I did mention that it looks like sandpaper right? This will wear the tips down on just about any brush, especially a good natural hair brush. Stick to your gesso brush or an older synthetic while using any coarse sand filled texture gel.

Clean up was easy, warm soap and water took the still damp gel off my hands with ease.

It’s been about 8 hours since I scraped a relatively heavy layer of the stuff onto my binder’s board and it’s still not completely dry. Granted we (the North East) are sitting in the midst of a incredibly high humidity cloud right now, but it has taken an incredibly long time for this to dry. It was dry to the touch with some hair drier action and I was able to gesso over the top of the gel in about an hour. If I wanted to sand or carve into the gel I’ll need to wait for it to be completely dry. Gessoing over the top of the gel is not necessary it’s ready to go as a base as is, but I wanted to add another layer of texture to the board. Like most gels this one should dry flexible, but I’ve not tested that yet.

This is a fun additive and I can see it having many applications both for an art journal but also for paintings on canvas and board. It’s got a coarse but not overly coarse texture, like fine beach sand. If you want additional texture you could add more sand. If you are looking for something that looks like cement right out of the tube you might want to look at Golden’s Coarse Pumice Gel, which I’ll be reviewing next week.

 

FYI: I purchased this product for review and was not compensated by any of the companies mentioned in this review.

Review: Poppin's write-now Notebook

A few weeks back I read a post on notebooklovespen about poppin.com a company that intends to sell color coordinated and stylish office supplies. A quick look at their product range shows a variety of cool looking and inexpensively priced items. They were offering a giveaway and I managed to snag 2 of their notebooks; one each of red and black. The packaging they arrived in was a nicely sized and colorful box with branded air bubbles and a cardboard piece that said “pleased to meet you” in a speech bubble above a staple remover. That packaging reminds me of the heyday of the dot com boom where a company would send you a giant package of branded product to try and get you to sign up for their particular product. Does anyone else remember AuctionRover?*

The notebooks measure 5x8.25 inches (129x210mm) and is filled with ivory lined paper. The cover is made of textured pleather and feels like a cross between the soft cover moleskine and an EcoSystem notebook. The elastic is a nice shade of gray and while snug stretches enough to allow for stuffing of the notebook. In the back is a roomy pocket and attached to the spine is a silvery gray place marker. The flyleaf has a series of boxes for you to put your name, address, title of the volume, and other assorted information.

Inside you find ivory colored pages with pale gray narrow ruling and some unusual margins. The for edge side of the paper has a very narrow margin, perfect for those of you in the GTD camp who like to check off your to do list as you move down it, or those of us who like to date our to do list. This would actually make a fantastic planner for someone who works off a task list. (Like the Pig Pog PDA) The header is ruled off with 3 boxes, one large and 2 small. It is an unusual and interesting ruling combination, and I like it.

The paper itself reminds me a lot of my old moleskines. It does feather with many FP inks and broader nibs will bleed and soak through like crazy. The ruling is ever so slightly raised and it does resist fountain pen ink. I do like the ruling because it’s so pale that it’s unobtrusive when a page is filled with text. Similar to the pale gray dots on a Rhodia Dot pad, these pale gray lines seem to disappear when the page is filled. The paper itself is smooth and really nice to write on, my other ink pens work just fine with this paper. In fact my broad nibbed lamy filled with Noodler’s Black didn’t soak through the page and only bleed through in places where I allowed my nib to rest for too long. My Platinum Preppy M nib did fine on this paper and did not show any bleed or show through.

I’ve been testing my toner transfer technique in this notebook and find the pages are taking to the technique very well. I’m getting crisp and clear transfers. I’m going to test out doodling and sketching in here to see how it responds. I suspect that like my fountain pen testing I’ll have to be careful with my selection of inks on this paper but I won’t let that stop me.

I’m not sure on the price point of these notebooks but I expect them to be in synch with the rest of their product line, ie a little higher than regular office supplies but not outrageous.

Take a look at some of the pics below:

 

 

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poppin.com goes live in June, so check their site out then.

 I've read that teh small version of these will be $5! If the large size is inline with that it will be a winner and trump, in my opionion, the Moleskine.

 

Review: PensnPaper Pen Pouch aka Chris Davis

A quick review. Chris of @pensnpaper hooked me up with a custom made leather 3 pen pouch. It’s made of golden colored buck hide that is soft and supple. It’s sized to hold my 3 largest pens; a Danitrio Cumlaude, TWSBI 530, and the Lamy Safari. It is roomie, well constructed with hand stitching and looks like it’ll survive just about anything. He provided a rawhide strap for it and I punched a small hole in the flap to secure it.

Chris definitely under prices his stuff, I’d say that the value of this pouch would be in the $20 to $25 range. He occasionally puts stuff on ebay and he’s got a shop online.

The pouch isn’t lined so if you are someone who uses seriously collectable pens you might worry about the leather damaging the metal and what not of your pen, if you are like me, and use user grade pens for writing and sketching, Chris’s pen pouches are a wonderful investment.

Working with Chris was easy too. We used DM on twitter to exchange some basic info about my 3 pens, height and diameter and he made the pen pouch perfectly. He was easy to work with and makes a great product.

Check him out on twitter, flickr and zibbet.

 

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Lamy Nibs

I wanted to show everyone what the Lamy nibs looked like so I shot a few pics. I'll load these to the review as well:

 

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Review: Lamy Safari and Joy

I had resisted my urge to buy a Lamy pen for quite some time. I didn’t want to just buy another pen that everyone said was great. The selling point for me is it’s ability to swamp out nibs even when fully loaded with ink and start writing almost immediately.

The Lamy uses a proprietary cartridge system. This annoys me. So I searched for ways to turn it into an eye dropper style pen. I found a simple solution- buy a fountain pen and roller ball set and swap the bodies. Then fill the end of the roller ball body with silicone caulking and let it dry. The body of the pen will hold 3 ml of ink.  Otherwise you need to buy the cartridges or refill used ones with a syringe.

I bought a glossy black set and it’s been great. A friend gifted me with the Lamy Joy with a black body and a red wire cap with a 1.5mm tip. To swap the tips you can grab the tip with a rag, piece of rubber or tape and gently pull the nib off. I find the nibs swap out pretty effortlessly but the first time was a little tougher. The new nib simply slides onto the section and in a few seconds is ready to write.

Depending on where you buy your nib they cost around $10 each. But considering that they can be used on any of the Safari, Al-Star, Studio, Accent, or Joy series pen bodies, it’s a pretty sweet deal. I’ve got a medium, broad and 1.5mm tip. The broad nib flips over and easily writes a fine line. With some smoothing it would be fine for writing. With this assortment of nibs I can easily do a variety of sketching. The medium is my usual nib of choice for regular sketches and writing. It’s thick enough that my lines look deliberate and not wimpy. I can also use it fill in a decent area of color without too much work. If I’m looking for something a little more bold I can switch to the broad nib and really lay down some bold lines. The 1.5mm nib allows me to get calligraphic lines and fill in a lot of area fast.

 

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I keep this pen filled with Noodler’s Black. It’s the only pen I’ve got that I match the ink color to the color of the pen. It makes sense for me to keep this pen filled with black in as it’s my go to pen for quick on the go sketches. The body of the pen is made of ABS plastic and tough as nails. This is one of the few pens I’ve got that I’m not that careful with. I’m not that worried about breaking it or causing harm to it. It’s tough. I’ve dropped it, on hard cement flooring and into dirt.

This is considered a beginner’s pen in terms of fountain pens. It will set you back about $30 no matter where you purchase it. Unless you chose to buy one used, in which case I suggest you check out the Fountain Pen Network’s for sale section. You can occasionally find one for sale for around $20. These pens are all over eBay as well. Gouletpens and Jetpens both carry the pens themselves as well as the nibs.

The downside of the Safari, Al-Star, and Joy pens is that they have a triangular grip which forces you to hold them tripod style and can be somewhat uncomfortable if you are like me and hold your pens in a variety of styles. This can be solved by purchasing one of the other pens that the nibs fit but those are significantly more expensive. But if you can tolerate the triangular grip of the Safari et al it’s a winning pen for sketching that will survive even very tough conditions. The Joy has an elongated body shape that is similar to a desk pen. Normally pens like this do not post but the Joy does post, which is good if you like that but I don't tend to draw with my pens posted.

Anyway, check out some of the drawings I’ve done with this pen.

 

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Review: things that make me go Meh

 When I started doing reviews on here I debated the smarts of posting negative reviews. I have to tell you, there are things I don’t like. There are tools that I hate and will never use again nor recommend to my friends but they are few and far between. I decided to do a round-up of stuff that made me go, meh. These aren’t bad things they just aren’t stuff I’m raving to my friends about. You may have different feelings.

Noodler’s Nib Creeper Fountain Pen

The nib is fine to extra fine with no other option other than flex. You have many color options including clear. The colors all have that vegetal resin smell that to me, frankly it smells like fecal matter. I have read several reviews that this offensive odor is not offensive to all people, I happen to be of the group of people, like those that think cilantro tastes like soap, that think this stuff smells awful.

The pens themselves are nothing special, a rebranded Indian (Dollar)made pen that sells for less without the Noodler’s branding. They are light weight and feel pretty cheap. They hold 1ml of ink, almost exactly, and lay a wet even line. There is a tendency that if you are writing fast for the nib to dry out and will require a dangerous shake to get ink to flow.

Noodler’s Luxury Blue Ink

This is a blue that is nothing to write home about. It’s blue, like a ball point pen and it flows. It’s not special. It does dry mostly waterproof. I found that in EVERY pen I used it in there was a tendency for nib creep. Which is just messy.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice enough blue but for a 1oz bottle at the regular 3oz prize I’d rather get another blue that I like.

Moleskine 3x5in Graph Notepad

I bought this. Yeah, I have a drawer full of moleskins I was given for doing a giveaway on my blog years ago and I bought this because it had GRAPH paper in it. I love the look of the moleskine; the lovely black covers, the great bindings, the pocket and the place marker. I love everything BUT the paper. This paper sucks. Even my EF pens filled with well behaved inks soak through its paper, everything feathers on it and well, MEH!

Strathmore Visual Journal Bristol 3x5 size

Sturdy spiral binding and very sturdy covers filled with nice paper should make this a winning journal. I just can’t seem to bond with it. It’s nice, just not for me.

Sanford Peel-off Magic Rub 1960 Eraser Stick

I used to buy these in college for detail erasing. They were the only stick erasers available then and did its job well enough. I saw one at Artist& Craftsman and picked it up. It’s just like a Magic Rub but in stick form. It’s soft and is prone to smudging stuff. Magic Rub Erasers are not a favorite of mine for this reason. It will also lift some ink and smudge that too. Meh.

Mio Paper 146x87 mm Campus blue label

This is one of the most expensive notebooks I’ve ever bought. I picked it up on jetpens because I’d heard the MIO paper was amazing for fountain pens. Guess what? It’s is, smooth, perfect for writing and nothing soaks through it but the wettest pens and there isn’t even a hint of feathering at all. Ink DOES take forever to dry on it and smudges even when the ink looks dry. The cover is cool with subtle texture and coloring. It’s small enough to slip into a back pocket, purse, or where ever. This is another one of those notebooks I should love but I haven’t bonded with and thus it sits in a drawer mocking me for the money spent on it.

Sharpie Pens

I don’t like ‘em. I bought a couple of packs of them when they first came out and liked them for quick notes but they seem to dry out fast and I break the tips and they are too fine for me. It’s okay, everyone else loves them.

So that's my round up of stuff that makes me go meh.

 

Review: Pilot Parallel Pen 6mm

I’ve been looking for a pen that would let me lay down a wide swath of ink without dipping a brush into my ink bottle. I’d seen the Pilot Parallel pens for sale through John Henry Booksellers but I haven’t placed an order with them in awhile. On my latest perusal of the GouletPens.com site I noticed they were carrying them for $10 each. That is a great price. I decided on the 6mm pen for the widest line of ink possible.

The way this pen works is like a fountain pen with a feed that flows between 2 sheets of thin springy steel. You can use the full flat side of the pen for a wide stroke or the corners for a very fine line. The pen feels a lot like a brush and lays down a very wet line. The fine line is very fine and adds a lot of versatility to the pen.

So far I’ve done about a half dozen drawings with the 6mm pen and frankly, it makes me want them all. It’s easily one of the most versatile pens I’ve used in a long time. It lays down a wide wet line of ink that covers anything well. The pen is really great especially when you look at the fact that it was only $10. Essentially it’s like getting a extra fine pen and a 6mm in one pen. In short it’s a good value.

Here are some examples of what I’ve done with this pen.

 

 

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The negative aspect of this pen is that it feels really cheap. Its pearlized gray plastic is light and is very slick in the hand. The grip area is also very smooth but clear. The cap is a funny shape and does not post. The corners of the nib do tend to lift fibers and can get blocked. They provide a special cleaning sheet that does a good job of cleaning the nib.

I’m not sure if the pen is a good candidate for turning into an eye dropper due to the threads. There is a gap on one side. I’m not sure that silicone grease would fill it well enough. I will try this and see what happens.

I got mine from GouletPens but it’s also available from JetPens and Pilot’s online store.

Review: Clairefontaine Graf It Pad

One of the other sketchbooks I received from Exaclair was the Clairfontaine Graf It pad. I’d seen these on several occasions at Artist & Craftsman and passed them by due to the cover being… well, kinda lame*. In addition to the plain black grainy text and images, each cover is made with various colors of card stock that folds behind the staple bound pad. The back is supported with sturdy heavy chipboard. Each page is microperfed for easy removal. The perf is sturdy enough that you can turn the page and it won’t tear out, unless you want it removed, it stays. The pad is often sold on American websites as “6x8.” That may be the outer dimensions of the pad but the actual sheet size is 5.75x7.5 inches. There are 80 sheets in each pad.

I did my usual battery of tests on this paper and it withstood them all. I have to say that this paper is amazing. Though it’s only 90g (41lb) it’s super sturdy and accepts a lot of media without issues. It takes some serious effort to get stuff to soak through. When I say stuff I mean ALL the stuff I’ve tossed at it. See the pic below.

With watercolor it accepts the color well. The paper cockles as is expected with paper this thin. I find this to be a great paper to experiment with techniques and color. It responds well to puddles of water as well as thin washes. Color stays true and doesn’t get muddy on the page.

While drawing with ink I was able put down multiple layers of ink without cockling and bleed through. Heavy layers that would have bleed through many other heavier papers did not bleed through on this paper. Noodler’s black bonded with the paper well enough that I didn’t worry about it lifting much with my water brush. Colors seem to pop off the page.

I did try gessoing the page but I don’t see the point as the paper is tough enough to survive most stuff without the gesso. I also scrapped acrylic paint over the page to see how it would work, and it worked just fine. This paper is also amazing for pencil. It has just enough texture and tooth that pencil feels really good on it and it hold a lot of graphite, so darks are really dark.

My final verdict on this pad is that it’s great. The paper is awesome. The format it’s served in is where it is lacking. I hate perforations (my own little quirk.) I prefer a pad that allows the pages to stay together. The staple binding is crap for keeping stuff together, I made a little folio out of a USPS priority mailer to keep my drawings together. For art journaling it would be a great pad to do drawings in and then cut out and glue into your regular art journal. The paper is thin enough that if you draw a face and cut it out the edges won’t be all that noticeable.

The pad is pretty cheap. I found it online for $4 to $6 the larger size is pretty reasonably priced too at around $9. These are prime pad for binding into a sketchbook. If this came bound like a moleskine or a Rhodia Webbie I’d buy it. I know that the reason this pad is so inexpensive is that its bound inexpensively, 2 staples straight through to a sturdy backer. I like this paper a lot, in fact the next time I’m at Artist & Craftsman I’ll be picking up another one of these in another size. Perhaps I’ll bind the large size into a nice art journal!

Review Redux: Rhodia Webbie

I never managed to get the images up for my Webbie review. So I'm putting them up here (and probably in the actual review.)

You can see here how the page takes watercolors and then ink over the watercolor.

And here you can see where I scraped the acrylic and painted on some gesso and then layered ink and watercolor crayons over the top.

I wasn't kidding around when I said I was having a hard time putting this journal down. I have 2 more I need to review and I really don't want to stop using this beautiful thing. I guess I'll have to fill it!

Review: Rhodia Webnotebook aka Webbie

Stephanie of RhodiaDrive hooked me up with Karen of Exaclair, the American importer of several very fine French made stationary products so I could do some reviews. I received a box in the mail and I felt like a kid at Christmas. There is nothing quite like opening up a box of sketchbooks to get my heart racing, well pen products would be a close second. Anyway, one of the products contained in that wonderful box was a Rhodia Webnotebook. It’s the larger size, 5.5x8.25 inches (I14x21cm) with blank cream colored pages. There are 96 sheets or 192 pages.

When I first opened the covers the color reminded me of oak tag; creamy, warm and lovely. The paper is 90g (roughly 24lb) which seems kind of thin when you’ve been working on 140lb watercolor paper for the last few months. When I ran my hand over it felt glassy smooth. Clairfontaine paper is known for this feature and is sought after by people who use fountain pens.

The cover is black with the Rhodia logo inset into the center of the front cover. Like all notebooks of this style there is an elastic to hold the whole thing shut. The plastic/vinyl of the cover is soft, like fine leather. I have a journal made of deer hide and the feel of this pleather rivals its softness and feel. I handed the journal to someone to check out and she actually said “Ooohhh, that feels nice that feels really nice, what is it?” Like, leather the cover does show greasy fingerprints, unlike leather those greasy fingerprints wipe off with a damp rag. Yes, I tested this by eating French fries at my desk and picking up the journal and having to wipe it clean.

Review: Quo Vadis Bookmark

This week’s review is a little different. I’m reviewing, drum roll please, a bookmark. Wait, don’t go away. I promise, it’s a special book mark, so special in fact that it’s simplicity made me over look it when I opened my box of goodies from Exaclair.

The Quo Vadis bookmark is a 5x 1.75 inch piece of cardstock coated in plastic with a brown and tan elastic loop attached. Non-descript and utilitarian in appearance as some of the best ideas are. The brown and tan is not pretty, a nice black elastic loop should be something they consider on their next run.

Simply you hold your place with the bookmark and loop the elastic around your journal to hold it shut. Ridiculously easy and remarkably efficient.

 

 

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You know how I said my miquelrius notebook was going to fall apart before I was finished with it? Way back here? Well it is, and I’m not even half finished. This bookmark holds it together, with ease. It also holds all the stuff that I’ve stuffed it within it. Nothing falls out. The elastic is remarkably secure, adapts to a variety of journal sizes and is cheap. You can get one here on GouletPens.com* for $1.50. I’ll be ordering a bunch with my next order. Brian even did a little video on them here.

Seriously, if you are ordering ink or paper, add one of these little wonders to your cart, you’ll thank me later.

Read another review of them here.

An excuse to buy.... More ink!

Christie’s highlighter* broke so I used that as an excuse to order a few samples of ink and a full bottle of Private Reserve Electric DC Blue. Private Reserve is another American ink company that seems to specialize in colorful saturated inks. I’ve been impressed with all of the samples of ink I’ve purchased enough that I’ve gone on to purchase 2 different shades of blue- Sonic Blue and the Electric DC Blue(EDCB.)

The sonic blue borders on teal but is really a lovely saturated blue black ink. It’s sedate enough for pages of writing and sketching but interesting enough that people will wonder what shade of ink it is but also professional enough no one will judge you on your ink choice. I’ve been using this as a sketching ink for a few weeks.

Way back in the dead of winter I ordered a sample of the EDCB. Right off the bat I was in love. It’s a dark midnight blue that in a wet writing pen with the right paper has a red sheen. It is amazing. Not only do the dark areas of a sketch look deep and dark but they also pop with a mesmerizing red. I have to say I’m a sucker for the red sheen. I’ll see if I can get some pics of this, it’s amazing.

I also purchased a sample of Noodler’s Bay State Blue. How could I NOT buy a sample of one of the most controversial blue inks in history? Preliminary results? Meh. It’s a nice solid bright blue with a hint of magenta in some light and on some papers. Maybe it’s because I’ve got it loaded into a EF Noodler’s Nib Creaper pen but I really don’t see what the hub bub is all about. It’s bright and it’s blue and there are ten tons of controversy surrounding the ink. The worst truthful controversy is that it doesn’t mix with other inks and it stains pens and possibly sinks. The only thing I can report about is that yes, it does stain skin, I got a small amount on my fingertips and well, they are stained, but it’s no worse than any other ink.

I’ll get a proper review of the inks up at some point with a few pictures.

Review Redux: Piccadilly Sketchbook

I’m one to admit when I’m wrong, and my initial review of the Picadilly sketchbook, while accurate was incorrectly negative. I have grown to adore the Piccadilly sketchbook precisely for all the reasons I hated it. It’s worthless paper and cheap construction are in this case benefits. Sure the paper is about as absorbent as toilet paper and drawing on it with ink is a cockling nightmare and too much ink will soak through. That absorbency forces me to work fast, loose, and with little care.

THAT is exactly what a sketchbook should be- worthless until it’s filled. The inexpensive nature of this sketchbook is what makes it perfect for sketching. It’s $6 (or was it $5) give me little pause when I simply turn the page when I hate a sketch or it doesn’t turn out right. I flip the page and move to the next. I leave the bad behind and start working on something better. If I only spend 5 minutes on  a page, who cares? The sketchbook has 100 pages of crappy paper. Move on.

I’ve filled dozens of sketchbooks over the years, some with great wonderful paper, stuff that was a joy to work on. Stuff that came out to 50 cents or more per page. I’ve filled my hand bound journals with expensive and cheap paper.

This little sketchbook in its inexpensive glory caused me to work with abandon and that is it’s secret perfection.

Review: Marseilles Studios Sketchbook

I like cheap, who doesn’t? When I was in college a decent black sketchbook was expensive. I used to seek out plain black spiral bound sketchbooks for my notes, ideas and sketches. A favorite was Utrect 6x9. Small enough to be shoved into a bag, inexpensive enough I didn’t mind taking class notes in my chicken scratch or testing out materials on its pages. All in all they were what a sketchbook should be- inexpensive enough to not care too much about its safety but something that eventually became precious and meaningful through its use. To this day I still look for plain black spiral bound sketchbooks, though I loathe spiral bindings and detest perforation.

While thrifting I headed to my local Ocean State Job Lot. It’s a surplus and salvage store where you can find brand name irregulars to junk from closed out stores. Sometimes you hit a massive score and sometimes you find nothing. One of the interesting things that they always carry is a line called Marseilles Studios. This line of cheap art supplies includes: brushes, paints, canvases, pads of paper, easels and the ubiquitous spiral bound black sketchbook in a variety of sizes. Given that they are based out of Providence, RI a selection of super cheap art supplies is not surprising as it's also the hometown of RISD.

I purchased the 9x12 inch sketch book for a total of $4.99 plus tax. Inside are 80 off white 65# acid free pages. The covers are black textured plastic that looks nearly identical to the cover of a moleskine. The covers are hard and pretty stiff. I did manage to damage a corner by tossing the bag into the car rather roughly. The spiral binding is somewhat weak as well, as that dented with the toss. This is a minor gripe. Keep in mind my dislike of spirals. (Compared to the Picadilly spiral this is noticeably softer and warps more easily.)

The paper is textured. Visually it looks pretty rough for fountain pen use, but while there is feedback with the nib. It wasn’t unpleasant using a pen simply noticable. An interesting thing to note is that there was no feathering on this paper, with any ink, even the less well behaved inks I adore, like Noodler's Nikita. I was rather surprised about that as absorbent toothy paper usually feathers all over the place. With pencils this paper was great. The toothiness of the page really allows for deep darks and light lights. I tested a few watercolor washes on the page. The paper is VERY absorbent. I was able to blob watercolor on the surface but blending or lifting after putting it to the page wasn’t happening. The color soaks in and stays put. The color is not intense because of the absorption of the page. While using the page the paper did cockle, like crazy. As it dried the cockles relax and aren't noticable.

I didn't test it but can tell that the page would take gesso

The pages are perforated for easy removal. BAH! I hate perforations. They have no place in a sketchbook! The good and the bad should stay! One good thing about these perforations is that they aren’t very good. When I was tearing the test page out it simply tore at the rings rather than at the perfs. So I won’t be losing any pages to the perforations.

I’m nearly finished with the Picadilly sketchbook* and can’t wait to put this one through it’s paces. Hell for $4.99 you can’t really go wrong. I was only able to find it online from one vendor and as I don’t know the site I’d rather note link to it. Using your Google-Fu I’m sure you’ll find the same vendor as well as others.

Review Redux: Canson XL Watercolor Pad

I reviewed the Canson XL Watercolor pad a few weeks back, mostly with inks and scraping of acrylic paint. I determined through that use that it would be #1 a great paper for binding into a journal #2 great for watercolor crayon and acrylic. I didn’t put it through its paces with watercolors.

I did this weekend.

I use a variety of watercolors from Holbein to Academy. This paper holds the colors true. For a cold pressed paper the paint absorbed just enough to dry quickly but allowed for easy lifting of color when needed. Some “student grade” watercolor paper sucks. Its cockles, it’s as absorbent as a paper towel, which is not the case with this paper. It’s good stuff.

Check out some of the images below, all are done on the XL watercolor paper. Vibrant saturated colors throughout.

I can without reservation recommend this paper for watercolors. It’s cheap enough for throwaway sketches and nice enough for finished work.

Review: Noodler's Black Ink

I bought a couple of Noodler’s brand inks after reading reviews on the Fountain Pen Network (head over if you want to start a whole new addiction to pens and ink or enable your pen lust.) The most interesting thing that I read about this ink was that it was “bulletproof.” Nathan, the owner and creator of Noodler’s goes into that at great length over on his page here. It also appealed to me in that Nathan lives in Massachusetts and his product is made here.  The product is local to me.

I draw with fountain pens and then use a waterbrush to move some of the ink around and add tone. I was looking for an intense black, like India ink, but one that wouldn’t kill my pens over time and one that was waterproof when dried. Noodler’s Black fits that bill. It is HIGHLY saturated. It lays down deep rich black lines that bond with the paper. It reacts to cellulose and becomes waterproof. Unlike India ink which has shellac in it, once it dries, ANYWHERE, it’s waterproof. Noodler’s will wash off pen parts with ease but once on paper (or clothing) it dries to a waterproof black.

This ink is highly saturated. That means when it lays down a line it is deep, rich, and BLACK. It also means that sometimes not all of the ink bonds with the paper. When not all the ink bonds and you add a wash some of the ink will lift and cause some muddiness. Depending on what kind of sketching you’re doing this can be a bonus or detraction. I like to use the additional black to add shading to my images. If you are trying to add a pure clean yellow wash to a page, well it can be an issue. A work around for this can be diluting the ink with distilled water. I’ve done this to great success. I’ve found that about a 20% (1 part water to 4 parts ink) addition of water to Noodler’s Black yields a perfect waterproof deep black with no lift of the color.

I love this ink so much that I always have a pen inked with it. Sure it’s black and many people look at black as a boring ink color, especially when you see that Noodler’s has something like 90 different colors. But it’s a good solid black that responds well in all of my pens and lays down a lovely line. At $13 for a 3 ounce bottle it’s about the same price as good quality sumi or India ink but has the added benefit of being waterproof but being able to be washed off pens easily.

Not all of Noodler’s ink offerings are waterproof. You’ll have to look for the words bulletproof, warden, or eternal to be assured that other colors are waterproof. Even in those cases some components of those colors will still lift. Nathan at Noodler’s is mostly interested in a group of inks that are forge resistant not lift resistant for artists. Personally I think he’s missing out on a niche market that could yield him rich results.

What I’ve done for the images is run 2 samples of Noodler’s on 2 different papers. The first paper I chose was the previously reviewed Canson XL. It’s a cold pressed paper and I know from experience hot pressed causes issues for the Noodler’s due to sizing. (Because of the sizing on the paper the Noodler’s can penetrate into the paper and thus doesn’t bond with it.) For each I test the ink in 5 minute increments to see how much lift there is across time. I found that after about 20 minutes the lift in even full strength Noodler’s was minimal and I don’t think would cause much of an issue for watercolors. The 20% dilution was fully “cured” on the cold pressed paper even after 10 minutes and after 5 the lift was minimal. On the more absorbent Piccadily paper the ink absorbed immediately (this paper is like stiff TP0 and showed little lift after 5 minutes. However the feathering with my EF point Noodler’s Nib Creaper pen put me off of it.

Check out the image gallery below for images of my tests. Click on the image to get a full sized his res image to open.

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Where can you buy Noodler’s? It’s available on eBay, Amazon(see link below), at Jetpens.com and from Gouletpens.com

I ordered my first jar through Amazon, service was good, shipping a little pricey but not bad. I’ve also ordered pens, pencils and ink through Jetpens.com and their service was great and shipping was free after $25. My favorite place to order ink is from GouletPens.com, they have top notch customer service, fast shipping and good prices. They also offer sample vials of ink for sale, which is the BEST way to test out ink colors to see if you like them or not. It's also a lot cheaper than buying an entire bottle of ink. If you want to try drawing with Noodler’s but don’t want to spend a ton of money head to Goulet Pens, buy a Platinum Preppy M nib fountain pen, a tub of silicone grease, and a bottle of Noodler’s Black. Follow the instructions HERE (don’t bother with the O ring it’s not needed) to turn that pen into what is called an eyedropper and sketch for HOURS with the ink. When it’s empty, fill it back up and keep on going.