House of The Rising Sun is the latest ink release from Papier Plume, stalwarts of the New Orleans pen scene. This shade is as hot as fire itself, and will look great in any of your fountain pens. I have one bottle to give away, courtesy of Papier Plume, so read the rules below and enter away!
Tombow Play Color Dot Marker 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.)
The prospect of dotting all my stationery with perfect little bright circles delighted me to no end, so I was excited to try these new Play Color Dot Markers from Tombow. The colors are fantastic and the dots are definitely charming, but ink issues severely limit their usage. Alas, I cannot dot all the things. These markers only work on goldilocks paper--coated enough to prevent massive bleed-though, but not so coated as to prevent drying. The design is brilliant, and with a recipe change I think these would be a staple product for me. But right now, I can't use them the way I want to.
These pens have two ends--a 5 mm round felt-tip marker that works as a fat line, or as a highlighter, or as a circle stamp. The stamping is tricky to get the hang of. You can't just do a vertical drop like you would with a rubber stamp--you have to lightly press, do a little wiggle so that the full circle makes contact, and then peel it away from the page at an angle. This prevents the pigment from pooling at one side of the circle making it uneven and causing it to bleed through. You can see on my test page a variety of circle fails before I got the hang of it. Once I did, however, the circles came out really nicely.
The pigment is bright enough to be seen when used as a line, but pale enough to use as a highlighter as well. Because it is water-based, though, be careful about what you highlight over. And be mindful of the paper you're using, too, because of the bleeding issues.
The other end of the pen is a very fine .3 mm plastic tip. It's nice for writing or coloring in fine spaces, though the water-based ink does give it that over-pigmented area where lines overlap. In contrast to the very wet broad end, I did experience some dry-out of the tip during longer coloring sessions.
The pen body is plastic, and colors are very well indicated all over it. The broad end has the cap with a clip, while the fine point has a small cap. Bothe caps click closed securely, and both caps post on each other, which is a lovely clever thing. The clip is nicely flexible and sturdy. The side of hte marker includes instructions for proper stamping technique both in Japanese text and in a small graphic. If it hadn't been for that graphic, I'd be making blobby circles, still.
The 12-pack includes brown, grey, lilac, blue, sky blue, mint green, apple green, honey yellow, orange, coral, sakura, and cherry red. The colors are all vibrant and fun--I really like the palette chosen. It includes practical staples and a few fun accents.
Now, those bleeding issues. The wide tip causes some ink to pool, and it's in those pooled spots that bad things happen. If used carefully, the pooling can be mostly avoided, but not entirely. On cheaper paper, even the lightest touch soaks right through. And if the ink really concentrates, it can bleed through even Tomoe River paper. And it has some drying issues on heavily-coated papers as well. The two best papers I found for these markers were Kokuyo and Rhodia--and I still had to be careful (and still did get some faint bleeding). It's a shame, because these would be SO useful for planners and bullet journaling, but no one wants to make a confusing mess of their planner. I sincerely hope that this design might be revisited in the future with a revised ink recipe. They're nearly perfect, but the flaw is a fatal one.
I'm still going to use these, though. The colors are too good, the dots are too fun. If I can't dot all the things, at least I can dot some of them. It's better than no dots at all!
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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Lamy Vista Ballpoint Review
(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
Back in 2012, I was just beginning to develop an interest in fountain pens and the plethora of options that come along with this versatile writing instrument. Toward the beginning of that slippery slope, the Lamy Vista fountain pen found its way to me. It wasn’t the first or second pen I bought, but it was definitely in the first five. That being said, the Vista has always had a special place in my collection.
Like so many of Lamy’s products, it’s available in several different versions. While the Lamy Vista fountain pen was my intro to this product, I recently picked up a ballpoint version. While my first thought is that the ballpoint pen is "less than" the fountain pen version, I soon realized that my assumption was way off-base. The Lamy Vista ballpoint is a fantastic ballpoint pen that echoes the quality feel of its fountain pen cousin.
On the outside, the Vista ballpoint looks similar enough to the flagship fountain pen version, but there are some noticeable differences that pop out. For one, this is a retractable pen, so there is no cap. Instead, there’s a funny looking click mechanism on top that is covered by a soft, flexible rubbery material—and it’s so much fun to press. The nock mechanism has an incredibly satisfying sound, and the spring requires a decent amount of pressure to operate the click mechanism. You will not accidentally extend or retract this pen.
Like the Vista, Safari, and AL-Star pens, the Vista ballpoint also has a contoured grip section. While not as aggressive as the capped fountain pen variants, the finger positions are the same and will likely divide people based on opinions in the same way. I like the feel of the grip, but I use a "standard" three finger grip when writing. Your mileage may vary due to this opinionated design choice, but it’s nothing new for the brand.
The clip on the ballpoint pen is a bit shorter and smaller than the capped version, but it’s still strong and useful. Finally, the tip of the pen unscrews to give you access to the refill. The only branding on the pen is on the barrel opposite the clip. The shiny "LAMY" logo is sometimes hard to see against the translucent barrel, but you can also see the branding on the refill inside.
So, how does this thing write? As far as ballpoint refills go, this one is great. I love the Lamy Pico as well, and this feels like the same refill, albeit just a bit shorter. It’s a smooth writer with just enough feedback to keep you informed of your pen strokes. The ink is dark and consistent. I haven’t had any issues with ink globbing up, skipping, or thinning out while writing. It’s a truly enjoyable ballpoint experience. I’d hope so since the refill is a quarter of the price of the pen!
Overall, the Lamy Vista is a stylish ballpoint pen that I’ve really enjoyed using. The translucent barrel is an eye-catcher, and the click mechanism is addictive. Throw an excellent refill on top, and you’ve got a great $20 pen. You can usually pick it up for a few bucks cheaper, though.
(Vanness Pens 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!
