(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 latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)
Midori has a great line of stationery accessories, and these dainty clip bookmarks are a nice addition to their collection. There are a few themed sets; this one celebrates different kinds of weather.
The bookmarks are very thin metal: .1 mm. They feel quite flimsy and delicate, but they're tougher than they look. They're as thin as a piece of paper, and a bit flexible, but I haven't bent any of them (yet) with careful handling. The thinness does serve a purpose--they're lightweight for metal bookmarks, so they don't weigh down or damage the paper that they're clipped to.
The clip function is a folded metal lip that pinches at the back. They're surprisingly grippy, and were, in fact, a bit tricky to slide on and off at first. Even after repeated use, they're secure enough that I know they won't slip off of a page by accident.
They work well as bookmarks or fancy bookdarts, but they also work as stencils for your notebook or planner. The metal cutouts are traceable to make cute designs on the edges of your pages. The weather ones are perfect for a planner or journal. Because they're so small, they are a bit tricky to trace. I tried a fine point gel pen, a fine rollerball, a mechanical pencil, and a marker on them. The marker didn't work at all (I thought I could use it like a stamp. Nope), and the gel pen was a bit tricky, but the very fine rollerball and the mechanical pencil worked great. Broad tipped pens won't work well, I suspect.
Because they are so thin and light, I have mine in my Hobonichi Weeks planner for next year. They don't add much bulk to the paper, but they still make it easier to flip to the marked pages. These are a great alternative to the ribbon bookmarks that are already in a lot of planners--the ones that dangle outside the book and get caught in planner cover zippers. $6.50 is a bit on the pricey side for such a small item, especially one that is too delicate to have a lifespan past that of the notebook you use them in. In other words, I think they should be viewed as consumable. I'm going to wear them out, eventually, like an eraser. I'll enjoy them while they last, though, and I hope they'll last long enough that I get to use the sunny day one.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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