#black but only from a pentel 0.7 needle tip

[autoclav3d]

ok jay tag game:

reblog with the last museum you went to, your favorite color of pen ink, thing you're most looking forward to this weekend, and the album you've been listening to the most as of late

[studyforwhatmatters]

uhh...when you spell the wrong “stationery” but are too lazy to redo the title...

Thinking about ordering some thinner pens (0.38 mm), but I thought I would go through some of the pens that I already have before I drop that extra moolah $$. And I figured that I could just share with you guys what’s in my pencil case/provide handwriting samples/review some of my favorites in the process haha :P if you have any recommendations/insight on 0.38 mm vs 0.5 mm pens please shoot them my way!

Firstly, I recently discovered #crayligraphy and decided to try it out for my title with some old crayola broad markers I had laying around the house, so please excuse the beginner struggles lol. Maybe I was so focused on the strokes that I spelled the wrong word LOL

The Pilot Precise V5 RT 0.5 mm replaced the Uniball Roller Stick Micro as my daily driver during my freshman year of college. It’s really smooth and pretty inky so when I write quickly I don’t have to put a ton of pressure which is nice. But it also produces a pretty thick line (imo) even though it’s supposed to be 0.5 mm. ALSO as a result of its inkiness and how often I use them, they run out pretty quickly :( sometimes I go through one in a week depending on how much I’m writing. The Uniball is more scratchy and lines don’t come out as consistently, but I still keep one in my pencil pouch for when I need finer lines.

Another one of my favorites is the Uniball Jetstream Color Series Ballpoint 0.5 mm. This is such a great pen! I love it so much that I only use it for special occasions lol. I want to save itttt haha. But yeah it writes super well. It’s really smooth and really thin even though its supposed to be 0.5 mm, which I don’t mind. It’s not super inky at all either which is a plus.

A ball point pen that I surprisingly fell in love with is the BIC Clic Stic Retractable Ballpoint Pen. (This one is actually a freebie from my school’s writing center so it doesn’t EXACTLY say the name of the pen on the barrel, but it looks like the Clic Stic and it has the BIC logo on it so that’s my best guess lol.) It writes so smoothly and it’s also a really nice blue color. It also gives you that thinning out at the end – idk how to describe it...like a flick? a tail? LOL But I really like that. I feel like it’s something you can’t really achieve with a thinner tip – or it’s too thin to be noticeable. My handwriting also tends to be rounder/happier-looking when I use this pen which I don’t mind. It skips occasionally, but it’s not super noticeable imo. BUT at my school’s writing center, the plastic barrels (not the ink itself) come in two colors – burgundy and gold. The burgundy one works like a charm, but the gold one tends to skip a lot more/ink is not consistent and the blue color is more faint. So, I’m not sure if it’s an older batch or if they changed the ink formula, but I’ll just stick to stealing the burgundy ones when I go keke

Two other ballpoint pens that I carry around are the standard BIC Round Stic and the Papermate Eagle Ballpoint. I do prefer the Eagle over the Round Stic though. The ink flows a lot better – smoother, more consistent/less skips, stronger black color, and I don’t usually have to scribble on another piece of paper to get it going.

I bought the BIC Atlantis Exact Ballpoint for my ochem lab notebook but I ended up not using it LOL I guess it was too thin for my taste? Or I’m just too used to thicker ballpoint pens. I still use it occasionally though. (It works really well on skin if you like to draw on yourself like me lul) It makes smooth, thin lines. Definitely smoother than the Round Stic and Eagle. When writing, the nib feels really hard though and the lines are not always super consistent.

Staples Strata 0.5 mm. The needle tips are insanely inky. The flow is actually ridiculous. One time I was super tired in class and I let my pen tip rest on the paper and it made a huge ink splotch. *cries* RIP notes. I got these years ago (without testing them tsktsk) because they were really cheap. I got both the conical and needle tips in black, along with conical tips in different colors. The conical ones aren’t too bad. They have pretty hard tips, write well on printer paper, and you don’t have to put a ton of pressure because it’s so inky, but on certain papers, the ink tends to feather and appears a lot thicker than 0.5 mm (see picture - i crey). I mainly use the colored conical tip pens which are actually great. They don’t seem as inky and don’t feather as much imo. I think I finished the black needle tips because I write really quickly in class and the fact that they don’t require a lot of pressure to write make them a great class notetaking tool.

The other colored pens I have in my pencil case are the Papermate Flair Ultra Fine 0.5 mm. I don’t use these pens for daily writing – they are more for highlighting important terms/headers. The nib doesn’t really appeal to me. Depending on how you hold it, there’s a lot of line variation. It’s also a little scratchy – you can hear the friction between the pen and paper when you write.

The Uniball Signo 207 Gel Pen 0.7 mm is also a pretty common classic. Forgot how well it writes until I did this stationery test haha. Inky pen, bold lines, & smooth writing. Overall a pretty good pen. I don’t use it a ton because the lines come out a little too thick for my liking. And sometimes when you use a little more pressure, you kind of “push” the ink to the outline of the letter...idk if that makes sense. But the inside of the letter becomes lighter while the sides become darker. lol sorry I can’t explain that very clearly. 

My main mechanical pencil of choice is the Pentel Graph Gear 600 0.5 mm. What I really love about this is that it has fantastic weight. I really don’t like super light pencils – I feel like they’ll just fly out of my hand lol. And with lighter pencils, I feel that you have to put a lot more pressure to get a strong mark. A heavier pencil body kind of does half the work for you haha. 

Another special occasion writing instrument: Pilot Uni Alpha-Gel Slim 0.5 mm. I think the lead really makes this pencil lol. I still have the original lead inside, which is super soft and easy to write with even though it has a lighter body. Really comfy grip too.

I also don’t use the Pilot G2 Roller Ball Pen 0.38 mm a lot. Maybe because I’m not used to thinner lines? But the G2 in this size is also a little scratchy. It does come in handy when I’m in the mood for something a little finer. My handwriting also becomes a little narrower and more “flick-y” when I write with a smaller tip – not sure if I like that or not haha (see the BIC Clic Stic handwriting for comparison). I also borrowed my sister’s MUJI Gel Pen 0.38 mm to try it out. Not too bad actually. Pretty smooth and very gel like haha if that makes any sense. Also has a smooth barrel so there’s not much grip.

wow...that was a lot longer than I expected lol. But I’m thinking of getting some thinner pens (especially as a daily driver) so if you have any recommendations please send them over! Or if you have any insight on 0.38 mm vs 0.5 mm pens please share ^^