2015 - Page 11 of 18

Label Roll

3 Comments / Uncategorised / 26 June 2015 / 3M, Label Roll, Made in China, Made in USA, Post-it, Tesco

In the last few days I had more visitors than usual, so I had a look where they came from. Turns out that both the Pen Addict Podcast and Erasable linked to my blog, with more than 100 visitors coming from the Pen Addict Podcast and more than ten visitors coming from the Erasable Podcast. Thank you.

Anyway, this blog post was supposed to be about something else: about the Label Roll I bought in my local Tesco homeplus for £4 (~$6.30; €5.60). Not cheap, 3M products never seem to be, at least not here in the UK, but they always seem to be useful and last a long time. Post-its don’t seem suitable to label things, the glued area on the back is just too small and won’t last long enough – and their labels, which have the whole back glued, are even more expensive.

One of the main advantages for me is that the labels are much bigger than what you get from a embosser / demo label maker, so it is easier to read on big items. So, despite the expensive price tag quite a nice new item of stationery.

Price and exchange rates: June 2015

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I lost my Perfect Pencil

8 Comments / Faber-Castell, Graf von Faber-Castell, Pencils / 20 June 2015 / Castell 9000, Cult Pens, Faber-Castell, Made in Germany, Perfect Pencil

It looks as if I lost my Perfect Pencil. My trusted companion since February 2009. With me nearly every single day since I bought it. I guess there is a small chance I will find it again, but that seems unlikely at this stage.

The Castell 9000 version is, in my opinion, by far the best version. I don’t like the look of any of the other Faber-Castell versions and the Graf von Faber-Castell versions are on the one hand a bit too ‘show off’ and they are also very heavy …which makes them feel unbalanced – plus I know from experience that if both of them fall from a meter or so on tarmac the Castell 9000 version will usually survive unharmed while the Graf von version will get a corner chipped off, because its weight made the fall so much worse.

The picture is from an old blog post about the Pencil Cedar – when I still had my Perfect Pencil.

The big question: should I buy a new one, the green one again? They got more expensive in the UK. I bought mine from Cult Pens where they now sell for 12% more (when taking VAT out of the equation). On the other hand the refills got nearly 50% cheaper! ^[1]I used to use the long eraser-tipped 9000 in B to save on refills. Letter colour is different (gold vs silver) and the layout is different, but otherwise they seem identical except length. Even though a 12% price rise seems reasonable they are only half of the UK price when bought at Müller, a German drug store chain.

In the past I was tempted to get the black version. The black version looks as if it would look good with a Noris as a refill, but the only place where I have seen the black version for sale is in Japan, so it does get quite expensive – and currently I shouldn’t really spent money on expensive ^[2]>£10 stationery.

I’m not sure yet whether I pay the more expensive UK price, wait for a one from Germany or pay the premium to get the black Japanese version.

References[+]

References
↑1	I used to use the long eraser-tipped 9000 in B to save on refills. Letter colour is different (gold vs silver) and the layout is different, but otherwise they seem identical except length.
↑2	>£10

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The Pen Rest

1 Comment / Pencil stands / 15 June 2015 / Davie Frieslander, The Pen Rest

The Pen Rest

As mentioned in a previous blog post I stopped buying expensive stationery for now, but there is still some stuff coming in that I ordered in the past. One of these arrived this weekend: The Pen Rest.

You might remember my blog posts about The Pen Rest from January and March.

I backed The Pen Rest on Kickstarter and chose the £41 (~$64; €57) rewards for two pen rests and a top. I think the price has changed since I backed this Kickstarter, but I got the price that was valid when I backed the project. I chose the silver blocks, but they are also available in gold.

My impressions

My first impressions: Great! The packaging is really nice and the pen rests came in gift boxes with the lid held in place by a magnet.

The blocks and the top look even nicer than I imagined. The two blocks have a perfect friction fit when you slot them together. The top is a bit loose though. I might put some blue tack in to provide some better hold. The blocks came with a non slip mat, too, but in my opinion it doesn’t look great and is a bit too thick.

Altogether a great way of storing pencils and pens. I hope they will be available for many years to come in case I want to add to my existing pen rests.

Exchange rates: June 2015

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Original and Copy

4 Comments / Fountain pens / 11 June 2015 / Fountain Pen Revolution, Made in Germany, Made in India, Pelikan

A quick non-pencil blogpost – this time: Another Original and Copy one.

A bit more than a month ago I bought the Indus from Fountain Pen Revolution (the one on the right in the picture) for $20 including postage.

I didn’t realise that it is a Pelikan copy. I also ordered the wrong nib by mistake. I guess that’s what’s happening if you order late at night.

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Noris shavings

3 Comments / KUM, Pencils, Sharpeners, Staedtler / 10 June 2015 / KUM, Made in Germany, Masterpiece, Noris, pencil, sharpener, shavings, Staedtler, Staedtler Noris

I like the Noris shavings from KUM’s Masterpiece ^[1]I guess officially it should be ‘KUM’s The Masterpiece’ so much, I took them out of the waste bin to take a photo.

References[+]

References
↑1	I guess officially it should be ‘KUM’s The Masterpiece’

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