Posts filed under Pen Case

Sun-Star Delde Slide Pen Pouch Review

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

The Sun-Star Delde is a stylish pen case that also serves as a pen cup on your desk or table. It's not the first time we've seen this design, but the Delde does have a unique aesthetic with plenty of color options that make it a fantastic contender for carrying your writing instruments and stationery supplies.

The Delde Slide Pen pouch is really a sturdy pen cup with a sleeve that can slide up and zip off to form a nice pouch. The lower half of the case is a dense foam covered in nylon material, which makes it sturdy and protective. When sitting on a flat surface, the cup is capable of holding a dozen or so pens and pencils with no issue. When on the move, the thick foam material acts as a premium protector.

When it's time to go, the thinner nylon and corduroy material slides up and zips closed to secure all your stationery belongings. This part is much thinner and not as protective as the base, but it still does a great job. Whatever you lose in terms of protection is more than made up by the convenience of the case turning into a pen cup when you unzip it. The zipper on top of the case is a light weight zipper, but it has a smooth action and never hangs. Depending on the color you pick, there may be a fake leather pull, some matching ribbon, or some other pull mechanism that matches the overall aesthetic of the pouch.

Speaking of colors and aesthetics, there are so many options with this case. According to JetPens, there are 26 to choose from. Even though the colors vary, they all function the same. The colorway featured in this review is the Camel and Khaki with a dark green interior fabric. It's a great color, but there are so many other tempting color combos available.

Aside from the main feature of this pouch (the ability to slide down the top half and use the pouch as a standing pen cup), there are a couple more notable perks. The sleeve portion of the case (the top half) has a pair of pull tabs on both sides of the case to make it easier to pull the top half down to transform the case into a cup. Surprisingly, the bottom half is sturdy enough that pulling down on these tabs is all the effort required to convert the case. I thought for sure it would crumple and require some reshaping, but it works beautifully.

The inside of the case also has a couple of pockets sewn in to the lining. There are two pen/pencil size pockets and one larger pocket which would hold a small sharpener, a lead case, cartridges, erasers, etc. quite easily, albeit just one of these items would fit at a time.

After using the Delde Slide Pen Pouch for a while, I'm really impressed by how effortlessly it functions. I thought for sure that it would be somewhat fussy in practice, but I'm happy to be proven wrong. It holds a good amount of stuff, makes it easy to grab things while you're at the desk, and it's easy to zip up for transport in two quick motions. Depending on what color you go with, you'll spend between $15 and $18 for this case, which is a great value. Chances are, you know immediately if this is something that you could use. Lucky for you, this case fits those use cases perfectly. The only difficult choice is deciding on what color you want.

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

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on January 2, 2019 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Sun-Star, Pen Case.

Kokuyo Shellbro Pen Case 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.)

Kokuyo has another new model for their lineup of innovative pen cases: The Shellbro, a horizontal zipper case that opens like a clamshell. It has a high capacity and interior mesh pocket, but I don't think it lives up to the same design standard as some of the other Kokuyo cases available.

To be fair, this is a perfectly decent case. It does the holding pens thing just fine. But we have a million options for decent pen cases, so when I ask myself "why would I pick this one?" The answer is, I probably wouldn't. There isn't anything about it that stands out, either in terms of innovation or functionality. Some of Kokuyo's other cases push design boundaries and explore some new pen case frontiers (sometimes even too far, in my opinion), but this case doesn't have that same excitement.

The case is made of lightweight polyester canvas that comes in both muted neutrals and bright colors. There's either a contrasting or matching zipper that opens from one back corner to the other. The top opens and stands upright fairly well as long as there isn't something too heavy in the interior mesh pocket. When open, it's a lovely trough of pens with a mesh pocket above. The layout and capacity does mean that you'll have to dig to get to pens on the bottom--not everything in the case is visible. The case holds a LOT of pens, so the ones on the bottom will be well buried.

A downside to the construction is that the mesh pocket doesn't really contain items that well, so they can easily slip out as the case is carried around, and then those items swim around in the pool of pens. A large or heavy item, like a roll of washi, may weigh the pocket down too much so that the lid of the case doesn't stay open on its own.

The zipper does have a double tab, which is nice, but the zipper itself feels a bit fragile, with shallow teeth and very thin fabric. It would hold up well enough with gentle use, but I don't think it would last long in a middle-school student's backpack.

While this case didn't win me over, there are a lot of other great cases from Kokuyo, most of them a buck or five cheaper than this one.

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

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on December 27, 2018 by Sarah Read and filed under Kokuyo, Pen Case.

Galen Leather Six Pen Case in Crazy Horse Brown: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Galen Leather makes gorgeous leather products and other accessories for the analog-minded. For my birthday, I asked my husband to purchase a Galen Six Pen Case in Crazy Horse Brown leather. I liked the design with the zip closure which I hoped would offer a better level of protection than a roll case.

The case comes in a Galen cardboard box. Included inside are a card with the craftsman's name, information about Galen leather, an evil eye talisman, a packet of Turkish coffee and a tea bag. I love these extra touches in their packaging.

The case is absolutely gorgeous. I really like the weathered look of Crazy Horse Brown leather.

The zipper is super thick with a leather pull attached.

Inside are three elastic pen slots on each side. Leather flaps cover the pens to protect them from knocking against one another when the case is closed.

All of this is fabulous--until you put pens in the case. The elastic slots hold the pens securely. However, I encountered several problems.

First, pens longer than 5.5 inches do not really fit in the case. For example, my Danitrio is simply too long (and fat) for this case.

Second, if the pens are large in diameter, the leather flaps don't completely cover the pens to protect them, and the pen case itself can't be zipped closed.

*In this photo, you can see how the leather flap meant to protect the pens is forced up. Even if you push it down, it doesn’t cover the bottom third of the pens.*

Third, even if you fill all six slots with pens of ordinary size, the case will not close completely—at least I wasn't willing to try to force it closed. When I say pens of ordinary size, I'm talking about typical-sized fountain pens, such as Platinum, Pilot, Aurora, and Sailor.

What I discovered is that this case works great with just three pens, but if you try to fill all the slots, you run the risk of the pens scratching each other since the leather flaps don't fully cover them. Worse, you can't completely close the case. While I realize that leather can stretch, I doubt it can stretch enough to make the case useable for me—and who wants to risk using their pens to stretch out the leather? Perhaps Galen could use some elastic along the zippered portion that would allow the case to expand to accommodate six regular-size pens. I'm not sure. But, in all honesty, I feel uncomfortable putting more than three pens in this case, which obviously means it's no longer a six-pen case.

That said, I looked at the reviews of the six-pen case on Galen's website, and most people were quite happy with it. One or two said that the case doesn't accommodate larger pens, but no one discussed the case not closing properly. Maybe those reviewers use smaller-sized pens. I will probably return my six-pen case and purchase a version that has pen slots on one side only.

Even though this six-pen case didn’t work for me, if you use smaller pens (I’d say pens equivalent to Pelikan M400 size), it should work well for you. The craftsmanship is truly exquisite--there’s no doubt in my mind about that. The case is reasonably priced at $45.00, and you can have it personalized for $10.00 more.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!