Posts filed under Blackwing

Blackwing Illegal Pad Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The legal pad is one of the most iconic stationery items that comes to my mind. Even though I don't use them very often, I always have some around for when I need large sheets of paper to sketch or write out ideas. Whether you prefer white paper or the classic yellow paper, I'm sure everyone has seen or used a legal pad at least once in their lifetime. One common thing about the economical legal pads that you can pick up in bulk at the big box stores is that they don't use great paper. They work best with ballpoints and gel pens, but you can try your luck with fountain pens or rollerball inks with some brands. What about a legal pad with good paper that works well with all types of pen and ink? Well, the options aren't plentiful, but they do exist. One such option is from Blackwing, and I've really enjoyed using it.

The Blackwing Illegal Pad is a simple, no-frills pad of paper that comes in either blank, lined, or dot grid variants. The 50 sheets of 8.5 x 11 inch (21.6 x 28 cm) 80gsm ivory paper work well with all types of writing instruments, and it also manages to have a more premium feel than the standard cheap-o legal pad from the big box retailers.

The pad consists of only the 50 sheets, which are perforated for easy removal, the top binding, and the back cover. The back cover is a stiffer chipboard material, but I wouldn't say it's sturdy enough to provide a stable writing surface if you're holding the pad on your leg. It works, but there's a bit too much flex to write without making lots of mistakes. This is definitely meant to be used on top of another hard surface for support.

In typical Blackwing notebook style, the back cover and binding are matte black. The front side of the binding features a debossed Blackwing logo that looks great without attracting attention. The back cover — both interior and exterior — are completely blank. There's zero marketing or printing on the pad except for the debossed logo on the front. To me, this is a great aesthetic that nods to the strictly utilitarian origins of the humble legal pad.

Writing on the paper is a great experience. There's a slight amount of feedback when moving across the page, but it still feels really smooth and it's easy to control your writing instrument. In my testing, the paper does really well with all types of inks. I can't see any bleeding or feathering, and there's minimal show-through on the back of the page. I'd argue that with a legal pad, you typically aren't using the back of the page anyway. In most cases, a legal pad is used as scratch paper or drafting paper — not something you keep and store away. When you're done with a page, you either tear it out and do something with it, or you flip the page over the binding out of the way so you can continue writing on the next page. So simple!

While I love the utilitarian purpose of the legal pad, it only works if the pad is cheap enough to justify the ephemeral use. Once you cross a certain price threshold, it's harder to treat a notebook as something you use and quickly discard with each sheet. The Blackwing Illegal Pad comes in a set of 2 and costs $18 per set. That's $9 per notepad. You can easily find a 12-pack of legal pads from a big box retailer for about $30, or roughly $2.50 per pad. I think the threshold for determining if the Blackwing Legal Pad is a good value will be different for everyone. If you really enjoy the legal pad format and are looking for the same thing with better paper quality, the Blackwing option is superb and I think the price makes sense. If the price seems steep, then it's probably not the right pad for you. I think the target market for this notepad is people who already love and use legal pads, but who are looking for a more premium version and are willing to pay $9 per pad. If that's you, then you're going to love this pad. And, this product is really for those people who like legal pads and also want options outside of the normal lined paper. Dot grid or blank!

I've really enjoyed using the Blackwing Illegal Pad, and I think I'll be ordering more when I use these two up. The paper is a joy to use, and there's just something about the legal pad format that makes me happy and encourages me to keep using it. Some days, that's an invaluable quality for a notebook to have.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on March 26, 2025 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Blackwing, Notebook Reviews.

Blackwing Colors Colored Pencils Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

Stressed? Me, too! Coloring helps. I did a little coloring this week, and decided to try the Blackwing Colors Colored Pencil Set. I'm a big fan of their graphite pencils, as many are, so I was excited to see if I'd like these as much. If their graphite pencils are my favorite to write with, would their colored pencils be my favorite to color with? Sadly, no, but they are very decent--just not as superior as their daily writers.

The set comes in a box with a foam insert that has all the pencils safely nestled in their little cubby. The box opens like a book, which is nice for use while you're coloring. It's much easier to use than a top-opening box. You can see exactly what you're reaching for, and it helps protect the pencil tips. It's also magnetic, which helps keep the pencils safe in transport.

Speaking of tips, the pencils do not come sharpened, so your coloring session will need to be preceded by a sharpening session. They do sharpen very neatly, though. One pencil did not cooperate. The black pencil core broke when sharpening once, but then continued to break as I tried to use it. It was obviously broken in several places internally, so I gave up on it. But the rest never broke at all. I usually expect some breakage with colored pencils, so only one is not bad. The clay-based cores of most colored pencils are a lot more delicate than graphite pencils.

The cores of these colored pencils are very soft, and that's because Blackwing has created a wax-based core for them. I used a Kum Masterpiece two-step sharpener to put a pretty good point on these, but that point wore down very fast. These would not work well for those very detailed coloring books with lots of very tiny spaces to color in, which is most of what I have. But the soft cores are wonderful for blending and shading, so they'd be great for artists creating their own images.

The colors are well-pigmented, with even the lightest colors creating very vibrant tones. The bright colors and smooth texture remind me a lot of the Prismacolor colored pencils that were the Cadillac of my high school art classes. Overall a good coloring experience, though not as nice as the Derwent colored pencils that I've been using over the past decade.

One thing these colored pencils have that most don't is the signature flat Blackwing eraser. Erasers aren't usually as effective on colored pencils as they are on graphite, and that's still the case here. The eraser formula on these is different than for a graphite pencil. They're paler, more textured, and a little crumbly, because Blackwing has included sand in them to make them more effective. They work better than a regular pencil eraser would, but you can see that they still aren't removing much of the pigment from the page. A bit, yes, but the erased lines are still visible except in the very palest colors. The erasers are refillable, though, so if you find yourself erasing a lot, you can replace the end.

The set of 12 pencils is $30, which is on the high end of colored pencil prices. For comparison, a 12-color set of Prismacolor erasable colored pencils is $9. Price-wise, they're up there with the fanciest Faber-Castell colored pencils ... but I don't think they're as nice as those. They are very fancy, though, with fine cedar wood, wax cores, sand erasers, etc. A lot of thought did go into making them good pencils. Sales of these pencils also benefit music and arts education programs, so some of that extra cost is going to good causes. So if you're a Blackwing fan, these might be the perfect colored pencils for you. But if you're looking for a fantastic coloring experience because the world is falling apart around you, you might want to try some alternatives.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on January 23, 2025 by Sarah Read and filed under Blackwing, Colored Pencil.

Blackwing Slate Volume 710 A5 Notebook Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

If there's a notebook size that's even close to perfect for me, it's the A5 size. It offers plenty of space, but is still easily portable and can make do in a lap or spread out on a table. It's the ubiquitous size that works best for me — it's the ideal compromise of convenience and utility. Problem seems to be that every stationery company has at least one A5 notebook in their lineup, and it can be daunting trying to pick one that works well with a variety of writing instruments.

The A5 notebook that I've been trying out most recently is from Blackwing, and it's a limited edition of their Slate notebook line. The Blackwing Slate Vol. 710 features a colorful cover that uses Jerry Garcia's artwork — a blend of colors that remind me of a tie-dye shirt. The other accents of the notebook, like the spine and the elastic bands for both the notebook and the pen loop are a complimentary brown. The pop of color definitely catches your eye.

The covers don't have any branding, but there are a couple of debossed shapes that are honestly difficult to see. In the center of the front cover, there's an outline of a hand that is symbolic for Jerry Garcia's missing middle finger. In the bottom right of the front cover is another debossed shape of the Blackwing logo.

The covers are soft to the touch on the outside, but hard on the inside, making them feel nice while also staying rigid. The soft covers are sewn onto the hard covers with visible stitching along the spine edge. To match with the elastic bands and spine, the stitching is also a complementary brown thread.

Inside the front cover, there's some space for writing down pertinent information about the owner, as well as a single page for listing out the contents of the notebook. Since the pages aren't numbered, this is probably meant to be more of a guideline about what's included as opposed to a table of contents. Either way, it's nice to have the organization if needed, but it doesn't detract from the page count if you don't want to use it.

The inside back cover holds a slim paper pocket or sleeve that can hold some paper. Again, the paper is a nice brown that goes well with the colorful cover. The pocket feels flimsy and like it might tear easily, so I'd be really careful with it to avoid accidentally ripping it apart.

Getting to the main feature of the notebook: it has 160 pages of blank 100gsm paper that feels fibrous and a little rough like sketchbook paper while still feeling smooth enough for general writing use. The paper is a nice ivory color that helps to showcase your ink colors.

Since the paper weight is on the denser side, I was expecting zero problems when trying different types of inks with it. Unfortunately, this paper is not coated with anything and tends to cause inks to feather and bleed a bit. It's not terrible — I've certainly seen worse — but it's worth mentioning.

The part that really disappointed me was how much the writing shows through to the back of the page. Even with pencil and super fine gel pens, the back of the page is unusable for me. Some people may not mind the amount of marks that clearly show through, but I can't handle it. For me, this is a front of the page notebook only.

Writing on the paper felt somewhat scratchy with any fountain pen nib that was larger than a European fine tip. Writing with ultra-fine gel pens (like 0.38mm) was also a bit scratchy, as well as hybrid ballpoints (0.7mm and smaller) like the Jetstream and Acroball. Rollerball inks tended to create wider lines than normal, though they didn't seem to have issues with feathering.

While the ink tests weren't stellar, I was rather surprised with how good this paper feels when using pencils. Being that Blackwing is a pencil brand, this makes sense. Writing with the different Blackwing pencils felt smooth and responsive due to the fibrous paper, and other pencils felt just as good. This is a paper that excels when it comes to graphite-based writing instruments and tools. If only the pencil marks didn't show through to the back of the page so prominently!

Everything about the design and form of this notebook shows that Blackwing knows how to make a good notebook. Other notebooks that I've tried from Blackwing that use a different type of paper have been really impressive. It's a shame this one doesn't perform as well. The fit and finish of the notebook is fantastic. It's a joy to handle with your hands due to the soft but rigid cover, the fabric-covered spine and the snappy elastic. And including an elastic loop on the spine to hold a pencil is a nice touch. It's sized just right to hold a wood-case pencil perfectly. In fact, the notebook also comes with a limited edition volume 710 pencil that uses Blackwing's soft core (same as the standard matte black pencil). This is a product I want to love, but the paper performance has me holding back when I'm picking a notebook to use.

In a world where we are spoiled for choice, paper quality is a huge factor in choosing a notebook. For me, the Slate isn't one that I'll be choosing again, but I'm glad that Blackwing has other great notebook choices that use more accessible and fountain pen friendly paper. At $30, this limited edition notebook is something I'd only recommend to Grateful Dead or Jimmy Garcia fans as a collectible item. The standard Slate notebooks are $25 and also include a standard Blackwing pencil. If you're only planning to use pencils, then the Slate is a great option. Otherwise, I'd go with something else.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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