Posts filed under Blackwing

Blackwing Volumes 574 Pencil 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 Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

Every time I use Blackwing pencils, I get picky about pencil quality. They spoil me. With good quality materials and endless interesting designs, using them is always a treat. The only hardship I run into is that they're so long that they don't fit in most of my pencil cases until after I've used them down a bit. So, I guess my complaint is that there's too much of a good thing.

This stunning edition is the Blackwing Volume 574, a tribute to Native American art and the 574 nations. Blackwing worked with Kaw, Osage, Lakota artist Chris Pappan to develop this design that pays homage to traditional geometric patterns. The orange, cream, and burgundy shapes are outlined by thin lines of gold and there's a gold colored ferrule that holds a black eraser.

This set of pencils contains Blackwing's firm graphite core, which still feels very soft to me. It lays down a bold, saturated line, and it wears down quickly, requiring fairly frequent sharpening (if you're writing a lot, which I usually do). It's a smooth writing experience, and I think it would also be excellent for sketching. It sharpens very well with the Blackwing sharpener, or any sharpener designed to give a long point.

The pencils come in a set of 12 in a nice lidded box with a pencil sketch of a Native American on the box band (also drawn by Chris), along with a larger version of the pencil's geometric art. The box of 12 sells for $32 at Vanness Pens, and while that's a lot for a box of pencils, these are excellent pencils, AND a portion of the proceeds is donated to the Cheyenne River Youth Project, which is a grassroots and woman-led nonprofit organization that provides enriching arts program to Lakota youth on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation. So, buy a box or ten, and have an excellent writing experience while supporting a good cause.

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Posted on June 25, 2026 by Sarah Read and filed under Blackwing, Pencil Reviews.

Blackwing Illegal Pad Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The legal pad is one of the most iconic stationery items that comes to my mind. Even though I don't use them very often, I always have some around for when I need large sheets of paper to sketch or write out ideas. Whether you prefer white paper or the classic yellow paper, I'm sure everyone has seen or used a legal pad at least once in their lifetime. One common thing about the economical legal pads that you can pick up in bulk at the big box stores is that they don't use great paper. They work best with ballpoints and gel pens, but you can try your luck with fountain pens or rollerball inks with some brands. What about a legal pad with good paper that works well with all types of pen and ink? Well, the options aren't plentiful, but they do exist. One such option is from Blackwing, and I've really enjoyed using it.

The Blackwing Illegal Pad is a simple, no-frills pad of paper that comes in either blank, lined, or dot grid variants. The 50 sheets of 8.5 x 11 inch (21.6 x 28 cm) 80gsm ivory paper work well with all types of writing instruments, and it also manages to have a more premium feel than the standard cheap-o legal pad from the big box retailers.

The pad consists of only the 50 sheets, which are perforated for easy removal, the top binding, and the back cover. The back cover is a stiffer chipboard material, but I wouldn't say it's sturdy enough to provide a stable writing surface if you're holding the pad on your leg. It works, but there's a bit too much flex to write without making lots of mistakes. This is definitely meant to be used on top of another hard surface for support.

In typical Blackwing notebook style, the back cover and binding are matte black. The front side of the binding features a debossed Blackwing logo that looks great without attracting attention. The back cover — both interior and exterior — are completely blank. There's zero marketing or printing on the pad except for the debossed logo on the front. To me, this is a great aesthetic that nods to the strictly utilitarian origins of the humble legal pad.

Writing on the paper is a great experience. There's a slight amount of feedback when moving across the page, but it still feels really smooth and it's easy to control your writing instrument. In my testing, the paper does really well with all types of inks. I can't see any bleeding or feathering, and there's minimal show-through on the back of the page. I'd argue that with a legal pad, you typically aren't using the back of the page anyway. In most cases, a legal pad is used as scratch paper or drafting paper — not something you keep and store away. When you're done with a page, you either tear it out and do something with it, or you flip the page over the binding out of the way so you can continue writing on the next page. So simple!

While I love the utilitarian purpose of the legal pad, it only works if the pad is cheap enough to justify the ephemeral use. Once you cross a certain price threshold, it's harder to treat a notebook as something you use and quickly discard with each sheet. The Blackwing Illegal Pad comes in a set of 2 and costs $18 per set. That's $9 per notepad. You can easily find a 12-pack of legal pads from a big box retailer for about $30, or roughly $2.50 per pad. I think the threshold for determining if the Blackwing Legal Pad is a good value will be different for everyone. If you really enjoy the legal pad format and are looking for the same thing with better paper quality, the Blackwing option is superb and I think the price makes sense. If the price seems steep, then it's probably not the right pad for you. I think the target market for this notepad is people who already love and use legal pads, but who are looking for a more premium version and are willing to pay $9 per pad. If that's you, then you're going to love this pad. And, this product is really for those people who like legal pads and also want options outside of the normal lined paper. Dot grid or blank!

I've really enjoyed using the Blackwing Illegal Pad, and I think I'll be ordering more when I use these two up. The paper is a joy to use, and there's just something about the legal pad format that makes me happy and encourages me to keep using it. Some days, that's an invaluable quality for a notebook to have.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on March 26, 2025 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Blackwing, Notebook Reviews.

Blackwing Colors Colored Pencils 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. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

Stressed? Me, too! Coloring helps. I did a little coloring this week, and decided to try the Blackwing Colors Colored Pencil Set. I'm a big fan of their graphite pencils, as many are, so I was excited to see if I'd like these as much. If their graphite pencils are my favorite to write with, would their colored pencils be my favorite to color with? Sadly, no, but they are very decent--just not as superior as their daily writers.

The set comes in a box with a foam insert that has all the pencils safely nestled in their little cubby. The box opens like a book, which is nice for use while you're coloring. It's much easier to use than a top-opening box. You can see exactly what you're reaching for, and it helps protect the pencil tips. It's also magnetic, which helps keep the pencils safe in transport.

Speaking of tips, the pencils do not come sharpened, so your coloring session will need to be preceded by a sharpening session. They do sharpen very neatly, though. One pencil did not cooperate. The black pencil core broke when sharpening once, but then continued to break as I tried to use it. It was obviously broken in several places internally, so I gave up on it. But the rest never broke at all. I usually expect some breakage with colored pencils, so only one is not bad. The clay-based cores of most colored pencils are a lot more delicate than graphite pencils.

The cores of these colored pencils are very soft, and that's because Blackwing has created a wax-based core for them. I used a Kum Masterpiece two-step sharpener to put a pretty good point on these, but that point wore down very fast. These would not work well for those very detailed coloring books with lots of very tiny spaces to color in, which is most of what I have. But the soft cores are wonderful for blending and shading, so they'd be great for artists creating their own images.

The colors are well-pigmented, with even the lightest colors creating very vibrant tones. The bright colors and smooth texture remind me a lot of the Prismacolor colored pencils that were the Cadillac of my high school art classes. Overall a good coloring experience, though not as nice as the Derwent colored pencils that I've been using over the past decade.

One thing these colored pencils have that most don't is the signature flat Blackwing eraser. Erasers aren't usually as effective on colored pencils as they are on graphite, and that's still the case here. The eraser formula on these is different than for a graphite pencil. They're paler, more textured, and a little crumbly, because Blackwing has included sand in them to make them more effective. They work better than a regular pencil eraser would, but you can see that they still aren't removing much of the pigment from the page. A bit, yes, but the erased lines are still visible except in the very palest colors. The erasers are refillable, though, so if you find yourself erasing a lot, you can replace the end.

The set of 12 pencils is $30, which is on the high end of colored pencil prices. For comparison, a 12-color set of Prismacolor erasable colored pencils is $9. Price-wise, they're up there with the fanciest Faber-Castell colored pencils ... but I don't think they're as nice as those. They are very fancy, though, with fine cedar wood, wax cores, sand erasers, etc. A lot of thought did go into making them good pencils. Sales of these pencils also benefit music and arts education programs, so some of that extra cost is going to good causes. So if you're a Blackwing fan, these might be the perfect colored pencils for you. But if you're looking for a fantastic coloring experience because the world is falling apart around you, you might want to try some alternatives.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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