I spent the day today at the 2012 National Stationery Show checking out some new office supply related items from all kinds of different vendors, so I wanted to share some of them with you quickly here today.

Overall I have to say there was not really a ton of new stuff to be seen at the show this year as compared to previous years and I felt like there were fewer of the vendors I typically see there.

Miro Journal Display

One of the brand new items that I came across were the line of Miro journals and notebooks.  The journals that you see pictured above looked great in person for the simple fact that they have that nicely contrasted coloring on the edges of the paper.  They felt great in terms of the smoothness of the paper and their covers seemed pretty sturdy as well.

Miro Notebook Chalkboard Display

In addition to the Miro journals, they also have these coil bound notebooks with super soft (but sill pretty sturdy) feeling covers.  These only come in black and red.

Miro Notebook Displays

One more shot of the Miro journal and notebook display.  I am expecting to get some samples of their notebooks and journals sometime soon, so once I do I will be sure to share the reviews here with you.

Moleskine Pens in Colors

It seems that Moleskine always has some exciting new products to put on display at the National Stationery Show.  Today I saw these see through Moleskine pens that look like they will come in pink, green, orange, and yellow.  They are essentially the same shades of those colors that you would associate with highlighters, making these potentially good study aids.

Moleskine Snoopy Boxed Set

The thing that caught my eye the most at the Moleskine booth (besides the incredibly nice girl that answered my question about these boxed sets)  were these boxed sets of product that they are coming out with.  This is a set of Peanuts themed journals, post cards, and stickers.  They look very well done and as you can see there is also a Le Petit Prince version as well.

Moleskine Snoopy Boxed Set Notebooks

Here is a peek at some of the journals from the Moleskine Peanuts Boxed set.  I think these will probably be a big hit based on how nicely they were presented here at the show, and how well the previous Peanuts branded Moleskine stuff seemed to do.

Writersblok Woodpecker Notes

The last place I saw that had some new and interesting stuff was at the Writersblok booth with their Woodpecker Notes line of journals.  Each of these journals has a textured cover depicting a different type of tree.  The imagery on each is fantastic and vivid with such great texture to it as well.

Writers Blok Red Thread Notebooks

Writersblok also has this line of Red Thread notebooks which look like those envelopes that wrap a red thread (see what they did there) around two red cardboard circles to close the flap of the envelope.  These notebooks are pretty solid feeling,a s the covers are pretty thick and sturdy, and they also have a very chunky texture to them, which unfortunately does not show up well with my amateur photography.

There are a few other items that I don’t have pictured here that I hope to review over the next few days.  Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the stuff that wont be released until later this year, it is always fun to get to go to the National Stationery Show to get to see some of this stuff before it is officially out.

© 2012, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

© 2012, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite Open Bottle

The premium line of Pelikan Fountain Pen ink, branded with the name Edelstein has been an instant favorite ever since I first tried the Aventurine color back in early 2011.  I recently saw on the Goldspot.com website that they came out with a new color, Tanzanite which is essentially a blue black shade…so now we have one of my favorite inks also in my favorite color, making it a no brainer of a purchase.  For full disclosure this purchase came with a small bloggers discount from our friends over at Goldspot.

Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite

One of the great things about the Pelikan Edelstein line of fountain pen ink is the 50ml glass bottle that they come in.  Each glass bottle has its own unique shape to it, and the way that the ink sits encased inside kind of floating there has such a great visual appeal.  Because I tend to like darker colors for ink, its hard to see here, but it really does have such a vibrant look to it, the first and main photo in this review showing the uncapped bottle are probably better representations of how vivid the color is.

Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite Box

Even the box that the Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite comes in looks great.  The right hand corner of the box is kind of scalloped out and indicates the color of the ink.  Additionally you can see that the word “Edelstein” written in an embossed metallic silver font has a gemstone dotting the “i” which reinforces the branding around the fact that these are all named after gemstones…hence the edelstein name which means gemstone in German.

Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite Writing Sample

Each of the Edelstien inks have special ingredients designed to help care for your fountain pen and also provide for an extra smooth writing experience.  So far my writing experience with any of the Pelikan Edelstein ink (including the tanzanite now) has been nothing short of stellar.  There is such a smooth and consistent flow of the ink that comes from the nib when I use this ink that it really does make it seem like the couple of extra dollars for this premium fountain pen ink is really worth it.  In all of my writing with this color and the other colors, I have yet to see any feathering and/or bleeding and have only seen very minor show through to the other side of the paper.

Besides the super smooth feel, there is also the fact that the color is so great.  On a blue black ink like the tanzanite, it doesn’t usually come out on paper as a very vivid ink, however it does have its own very intricate and distinctive look to it.  This ink looks slightly different than some of the other blue blacks I’ve used, as it has more of a stone gray hue to it in my writing sample above.  You can see a difference between writing with it where I used a Pelikan M215 with a fine nib, as compared to the q-tip swab of ink I laid down on the paper where you can see more of the blue shade coming out.  I would imagine that using a wider nib like a medium or bold would get a similar effect, but since I don’t own any fountain pens with larger nibs like that I was not able to test it out.

Overall I’m a huge fan of the Pelikan Edelstein Topaz fountain pen ink because of its outstanding and consistent performance, and the fact that it is one of my favorite ink colors…not to mention the cool looking and elegant bottle that I enjoy having displayed on my desk.  If you don’t like blue black, I highly recommend trying one of the other various colors in the Pelikan Edelstein line to experience the super smooth and well behaved performance of this ink.

© 2012, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

The Doane Paper Ideal Journal

Time to announce the winner of our Doane Paper Idea Journal…lots of entrants for this one which is not surprising considering how popular and how awesome Doane Paper is.

The winner was:

Thanks to everyone for entering and spreading the word about this.  If you are Joni,  just leave a comment here to claim your prize, and use the About/Contact link on the top of the page to email us your shipping info.

© 2012, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

Sailor Professional Gear Imperial Head On

So the other day I shared a review of the Sailor Professional Gear Imperial with you which is the all black fountain that even has all black metal accents and nib.  For me, the all black look is always something that I like, so the first half of the review focused more on the looks of the pen itself, and today we will take a look at the actual writing experience.  Just as a reminder, this pen was purchased from our friends at Goldspot with a slight bloggers discount.

Sailor Professional Gear Imperial fine Nib Writing Sample on Doane Paper

This pen has an extra fine nib which for a Japanese fountain pen is actually really narrow as compared to nibs from other European manufacturers.  The above writing sample shows a comparison of the Sailor Professional Gear Imperial Fine Nib next to multiple Gel Ink Pens and Ballpoints ranging from .18mm to .7mm as well as some other non-Japanese Extra Fine fountain pen nibs.

Personally I thought that the Pilot G-Tec-C was the closest of the bunch to the writing experience as compared to the Sailor Professional Gear.  They both laid down similar width lines, and both had a similar silky smooth feel as they glided across the surface of the paper.  The Sailor Professional Gear is a very nicely balanced pen and it is comfortable in the hand to grip which makes it fantastic for even the longest of writing sessions.  I managed to use it to take about 4 pages of notes the other day at work and not once did I find any discomfort or fatigue with the pen.  Obviously some of the smooth writing experience can be chalked up to good quality ink and paper, but even having tried this pen on a few different papers and with one other ink, the writing experience remained very impressive.

In the writing sample above you can see that even when flipping the pen over and writing with the back of the nib, it laid down a very clean and consistent line.  Often if you write with that side of the nib on a fountain pen, the line breaks a bit and you get a very scratchy feel.  Definitely not the case with the Sailor Professional Gear Imperial.  Just like with the front side of the nib, its very smooth and very consistent…mind you not AS smooth as the front of the nib, but still impressive.

Many people on lots of the pen related blogs and message boards that I read talk about two different things that I think this pen addresses:

1. Fine and Extra Fine fountain pen nibs are inconsistent across manufactures – Now while this is a true statement, it is easy to see that it is geographically related in that Japanese pens tend to have more narrow nibs in comparison to their European counterparts.  For a close comparison, click on the photo above and you can see that the EF nibs on both the Lamy Studio and Pelikan M205 are both noticeable wider than that of the Sailor Professional Gear Fine nib.

2. Fine nibs are scratchy – While this generally comes down to a personal preference, I don’t feel this nib as being any different than the Lamy Studio or Pelikan M205 that they were compared to above.  Now this doesnt mean that you might not think they are still scratchy, however it is just a relative comparison to the two.  Quite honestly I wish this pen came in an EF nib beccause for how smooth it is, I can definitely see going down even one more size and probably not suffering any degradation in the writing experience.

Overall this is a fountain pen that is going to be a staple in my rotation for a long time to come.  In addition to the pure good looks of this pen, it just writes like no other fountain pen I’ve used before, and it comes the closest I’ve seen yet to that super narrow line that I enjoy getting from my sub .5mm gel ink pens.  If the money isn’t an issue, I honestly cant imagine why someone would not absolutely love writing with the Sailor Professional Gear Imperial.

© 2012, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

METAPHYS Notebook Cover

If you missed the review of our Metaphys Pocket Notebook, head on over and check it out.  Chances are if you are here today though you probably entered the contest to win it, so without further delay….

Charles Hadden was the winner with this comment…

And just to prove that we didn’t just pick him because he asked so nicely:

If you are Charles, use the About/Contact link at the top of the page to contact us with your mailing address, and also leave a comment on this thread letting us know that you are claiming your prize.  Thanks as always to everyone that entered and spread the word about the contest.

© 2012, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

The Doane Paper Ideal Journal

So as I’ve mentioned a few times over the past couple of weeks, I’ve recently moved, and if there is one thing you realize when you move is that you have too much stuff.  I stumbled across a few “extra” Doane Paper Idea Journals, so I thought I’d share the wealth with one of them.

I really love this notebook and I’m kind of annoyed that I just found them now and have not been using them, but thats what happens when I have so many notebooks around to test and review.  Check out our Doane Paper Idea Journal Review and go ahead and enter to win your own:

Rules are the same as usual, but here is a reminder:

Rules:

• Contest is open to US residents only
• Winner will be selected by using the random # generator at Random.org
• Each entry method requires a separate comment, do not combine your comments into one comment
• You will have until 10 PM on Tuesday May 15th  to complete your entries
• Winner will be announced on Wed., May1 6th

© 2012, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

The All Black Sailor Professional Gear Imperial Fountain Pen in Box with Cap On

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I picked up a brand new fountain pen that I was pretty excited about, so today I’ve got a review of that fountain pen for you.  It is the all black Sailor Professional Gear Imperial that I picked up from our friends over at Goldspot.com with a slight bloggers discount.  Generally I don’t like to mention prices since they tend to change, and because different people have different views of “expensive” vs. “affordable” but it is definitely safe to say I won’t be tagging this pen in the beginner fountain pen category.  This will be part one of two, and while this part of the review takes a look at the aesthetics of the pen, the second part will focus on the actual writing quality and experience.

Sailor Professional Gear Imperial Open Box Uncapped

I’m pretty much a sucker for anything all black, and I had been wanting a Sailor fountain pen for quite a while, so this pen was pretty much the perfect storm for me.  As you can see in the previous photo, not only is the body of the pen black, but all of the metal accents from the clip down to the nib are also all black….and to top it all off, it comes with black ink, in a black box with black satin-like lining.  I would imagine that if a ninja was going to use  a fountain pen, this would probably be the only logical choice.

Sailor Professional Gear Imperial Cap and Clip

A close look at the ring on the cap shows the imprinted “Sailor Japan Founded 1911″ text around it, and the clip has a very nice and subtle stepped line that runs down the length of it.  The thing that makes this black pen even more different though is that matte or non-gloss finish of the entire body instead of the usual high-gloss finish that you see on many pens.  The Interesting thing about that though is that you do still manage to get finger prints on it left by the oil from your hands and fingers.  As with any other pen though, the fingerprints can be buffed away with a soft tissue or towel.

Sailor Professional Gear Imperial Nib and Cap

If you take a close look at the nib in this picture you can see that even for a fine point, it is very narrow as compared to other fine and even extra fine nibs that you may have seen.  The second part of this review that I will post on Wednesday will focus on the writing sample and compare it to some other fine or extra fine nibs from other manufacturers.  Besides the size of the 21kt  nib, you can also see in the larger picture how intricate the artwork on the nib is.  Depending on the lighting situation and the angle that you hold the pen at, the nib (and other black metal accents) can range anywhere from having a light silvery gray tone all the way to looking pretty dark black.

Sailor Professional Gear Imperial Head On

Above is a second shot to show how narrow the nib is and that gives a better view of the nice black color of the nib.  The pen measures almost exactly 5″ long with the cap closed and about 5 15/16″ with the cap posted.  Although you can see in all of the photos, the cap is a threaded cap that just twists on and off pretty easily.

Sailor Professional Gear Imperial Top Down

The only part of the pen that isn’t black is the sailor logo and circle around it on the top of the cap.  I’m not sure if this was an oversight or on purpose due to some strict branding rules about the logo, but it would have been nice if this had the same look as the rest of the metal accents on the pen…not that this part is actually metal, but in my opinion, it should have been at least made to look like the other parts.  Obviously this is an incredibly minor thing, but it is something I noticed and does bug me a little bit.  Regardless of that minor visual design flaw, I absolutely love the look of this pen, as well as the feel of the matte black body.  As I mentioned earlier, the second part of this review on Wednesday will focus on the writing sample and experience as well as a comparison to some other nibs of similar sizes.

© 2012, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

Aurora Ipsilon Satin Orange Extra Fine Point Fountain Pen Full Body

We had a huge response for this giveaway which was nice to see, so thanks to everyone that entered and spread the word.  Here is the info on the winning comment:

And the proof from Random.org:

If that was your tweet and comment, just use the “About/Contact” tab at the top of the page to send us your full name and mailing information.  Thanks again to everyone for entering and don’t forget to check out our other qiveaway right now.

© 2012, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.

Oxford Flingbook Cover

I’ve had a few of these Oxford notebooks hanging around for a while now, and I really like them but unfortunately they are hard to come by here in the US.  By “hard to come by” I pretty much mean impossible, and although I hate sharing stuff that I know most readers wont be able to find, I really like this notebook so I thought I’d share anyway.

Oxford Flingbook Movable Tabs

This is the Flingbook by Oxford, which is the same company that makes one of my all-time favorites, the Black n’ Red Notebook.  The thing that makes the Oxford Flingbook so unique is the tabbed divider you are looking at in the above photo.  Similar to the Levenger Circa notebooks, the plastic tabbed dividers on this notebook easily pull out and can be moved to any position in the notebook.

Oxford Flingbook Colored Page Edges

Much like the Oxford Meetingbook that we reviewed here before, the pages in this notebook are an A4 and are very fountain pen friendly.    You will also notice that theese pages are gridded, and they also have color coded edges, which in this case you can see are red.  In other sections the edges of the pages are black, red, or yellow.

Some of the specific details on the Oxford Flingbook are:

• Gridded squares measure 5×5
• Paper is A4 sized
• Comes with 3 plastic movable tabs
• Pages are perforated for easy ripping out
• 90g paper
• Durable cardboard cover

I have been using these notebooks for extended note taking sessions where I don’t feel like cluttering up my Circa notebook with lengthy notes, and I instead consolidate my ideas into the Circa notebook later so they are more clear and concise.  I really enjoy writing on this paper though, which is why I use it for long note taking sessions because it is so smooth and so fontain pen friendly.  I wish I could recommend that you go to a particular store to pick these up, but they are not available here in the US to the best of my knowledge.

© 2012, OfficeSupplyGeek. All rights reserved.