(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 check out her first novel, The Bone Weaver’s Orchard, now available where books are sold!)
When you have a lot of pens to wrangle, there's no such thing as too many pen cases. I always like seeing innovative features and clever designs on cases, and this Concise Bellows Pen Case has lots of those.
It's made from a very sturdy nylon canvas and has a nice metal zipper. It unzips lengthwise, from mid-edge to mid-edge. Inside the case is a tri-fold pen roll, attached to the inside with nylon straps and metal rings. It is not removable. The pen roll has three pockets that cover the bottom third of the pens or pencils with another layer of nylon canvas, and an elastic strap that holds the tops of the pens in place. Each pocket can hold 4-5 pens, for 12-15 total. Inside the case is another mesh pocket with a Velcro closure. It's the right size for sticky notes, erasers, clips, washi, or lead refills. On the outside of the case is another pocket that can hold 2-3 more pens or pencils, for easy access.
All told, it's very well constructed and a good design. But I have a few pet peeves. For one, your pens are not just going to touch, they are going to cuddle. This is full-on pen canoodling going on in this case. For that reason, I wouldn't use it for my fountain pens. But do I need a tri-fold roll for gel pens? Not really. I think this might be good for pencils, if you don't want them rattling around damaging delicate lead cores. But for non-fancy pens, I'd rather just have a zipper case that I can stuff to the brim, without the extra fabric of the tri-fold taking up valuable real estate. And as much as I think this case is better suited to pencils, it's too short for Blackwings and other longer pencils.
As nice as this case is, it's not one I'll get much use out of, myself. If you're okay with your pens touching, or if you need a sturdy case for colored pencils, you may totally love this case. It's only $17.50, which is a very fair price for the quality. I have a feeling my eldest kiddo will steal this one. If it helps him keep his school pencils organized, it will have fulfilled a grand destiny.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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