The Pen Addict for St. Jude - That’s A Wrap!

Thanks to your support, The Pen Addict community raised over $36,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital this September. That’s nothing short of amazing, and helped pushed the Relay campaign over $1 Million Dollars this year alone! That’s mind blowing stuff, and I can’t thank each and every one of you enough for your support.

Winners of this year’s giveaways have all been emailed as of yesterday, and I will begin coordinating shipments this week, and into next. And finally, a special shout-out to everyone who donated products or services to help out this year. It is greatly appreciated!

Hello Tello Studio

London Pen Co.

Esterbrook Pen Company

And some amazing private donors!!!

Thanks again for another great year, and your continued support of this great cause.

Posted on October 3, 2024 by Brad Dowdy and filed under St. Jude.

Bellroy Tokyo Folio 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!)

I love bags and I love notebooks, so there are few things better than a bag for my notebook--or a good notebook case. And this is a very good one. Bellroy is known for their excellent bags and accessories. The only one of their products I've tried before is the lunch bag, which is the best lunch bag I've ever owned, so I was very excited to meet the Tokyo Folio.

The premise of this case is that it's designed to carry both your analog and digital tools in one handy package. Specifically, it's designed to hold an iPad Mini in the sleeve behind a slim notebook, and the pockets on the left are perfect for carrying cables, Air Pods, etc., and the pen sleeve is designed to fit an Apple Pencil. I don't have any of that stuff. So here's what I put in all those pockets.

The notebook: The case comes with a slim A5 notebook with a cardstock cover. It's decent, with good paper and nice binding. But you know I love a chonky notebook, and unfortunately this case only holds slim ones. I could fit a softcover Leuchtturm notebook--but that eats up too much of the space needed for the other pockets. So slim notebooks it is. While it won't work for bigger writing projects, it's still very useful for meeting notes or a commonplace book, which is closer to its intended design.

The pen: The pen loop, which is a long, narrow leather channel in the inside of the spine, is designed to hold an Apple Pencil, so it doesn't hold most pens. It's very slim. It does hold very narrow pens, like a Bic or a Pilot Precise. But it's not going to hold many of the pens that I prefer to use. That was a bit of a bummer.

The tech: This promises to hold an iPad Mini, so long as the tablet is not in a protective case. Happily, it holds my Kindle Paperwhite just fine, even with its case and pop socket on. The tablet sleeve is gusseted, so it isn't squeezing the device.

The accessories: The wee side pockets are also gusseted, so you can fit some handy tools there. Ear buds, pocket notebooks, a small pen case (yaknow, cause your pen won't fit in the pen sleeve) all fit nicely here. And the zipper pocket on the back is perfect for a phone.

Overall, it holds a great kit. It might not be everything I'd want for my own perfect gear configuration, but it's very well designed for what it's supposed to do. As a small, portable office kit, it's perfect. Take your notes, send some emails, keep your phone and music handy--fabulous. Personally, I'd trade the tablet pocket for a larger notebook capacity and expand that pen loop. Or maybe I just need to finally cave and get an iPad, just so I can carry it around in this snazzy case.

The case itself is very snazzy. The raven-colored nylon is elegant and practical. It looks office-y, but it's also waterproof. The zipper pulls are soft leather, and the wee silver owl logo delights me. This is totally the case Athena would carry to her meetings.

All that good quality does come with a price tag on it. The 8” Folio costs $119, while its 12.9" sibling costs $175. It's a bit on the steep side. I do have some folio cases that hold more but cost less. You can certainly feel the quality in this case, though, and I don't think the price is too out of line. It's nice enough that it's tempting me to try some of Bellroy's other bags, which is a dangerous path to tread, for my wallet. Of course Bellroy also makes wallets, so ...

Ultimately, this is a very good case and very well designed for what it is supposed to do. My only gripes with it are that it does not do what I wanted it to do, which is not what it was designed to do. I'm still going to use it, though, because I just like it. And it has a little owl on it.

(This product was purchased at regular retail price from Bellroy.)

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Posted on October 3, 2024 by Kimberly Lau and filed under Bellroy, Folio, Notebook Cover.

Laban Hermes Sky Blue Ink Review

Laban Hermes Sky Blue ink is an addition to my "didn't know they made ink too" list, but this is a list that I'm always happy to see expand. We definitely don't have a shortage of ink choices these days.

My only exposure to Laban in the past has been their fountain pens and other ballpoint/rollerball writing instruments. They're a luxury brand on the more affordable side that offer a lot of unique and attractive designs. Until recently, I thought that's all they did. But it turns out they also make their own ink.

Hermes is just one ink out of the Greek Mythology collection, all of which are bold and striking colors. Hermes is a bright sky blue that really pops off the page. It's just dark enough to be easy to read while still obviously being sky blue. Compared to other sky blues from other ink makers, it's definitely on the lighter side.

The ink shades easily from the pervasive sky blue to a lighter sky blue as it dries. It's not a large amount of shading, but it provides some character and flair to the ink. Once the ink dries, I can detect a very small amount of bright sheen in some angles. It's not enough to even name the color of the sheen, but it does add a dynamic look to the dried ink on the page.

Dry time is pretty average when comparing to other inks. Typical strokes from a medium nib are dry in around 15-20 seconds, while larger strokes from a wider nib take between 20 and 30 seconds to dry. Nothing to write home about, but decent. For left-handed writers, this won't be a great option since it doesn't dry fast enough to avoid hand smudges while writing.

The flow of this ink is a little on the dry side. It's not enough to make the nib feel dry or scratchy, but it does mean nib/feed combos that lean to the dry side might struggle to supple enough ink. It does fine in the nibs I've tried, but I can definitely tell that the ink feeds slower than most inks. Not a good choice for a nib that you know is already a little scratchy, but it feels fine in a well-tuned nib.

One thing I noticed pretty quickly is that this ink can behave a little erratically on different types of papers. It does well when writing on coated papers (like Rhodia), but can be splotchy or invisible in some areas on uncoated paper. There's a good example of this on the swatch card in the photos. There are a couple of spots on the card that look much lighter than the rest. This is likely due to some sort of small imperfection in the paper stock that the ink refused to soak into for some reason. I've noticed it on other papers that aren't coated, so it must be something in the ink formula that makes it less resilient on different paper types. Not a dealbreaker, but an oddity that needs to be pointed out.

At $25 for a 50ml bottle, Hermes Sky Blue is priced a bit higher than other inks of the same size. Not to single anyone out, but for comparison's sake, a 50ml bottle of Robert Oster ink is $18, and that's an ink brand that almost always delivers flawless performance. I'd rate the behavior of Hermes Sky Blue behind the Robert Oster inks I've used, so that's worth considering given the price. I'd be happier and more willing to recommend it if it were closer to the $15-20 mark. Since I've only tried one ink from Laban, I can't say yet if their other inks are on par with this performance, but I certainly hope they behave a little better than Hermes Sky Blue. I'm definitely keeping my eye on them and looking forward to trying other inks from their lineup.

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

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