Posts filed under Pen Case

La Berlue Pencil Case Review

Like many of you, my email inbox can be a beast. But sometimes - sometimes - a real gem sneaks through that makes me sit up and take notice. That’s exactly what happened when La Berlue reached out to me.

Frédéric, the founder of La Berlue, shared with me his very unique take on the pencil case. And that’s exactly what this product is called: Pencil Case. But it is far from anything that you would expect hearing only the name.

The stated goal behind La Berlue is to reinvent everyday objects to make them fun. Pencil cases, in general, are a pretty basic object. A pouch with a zipper will suffice (I should know!) as long as it is long enough to hold unsharpened Blackwings. Even old school wooden pencil boxes, often made with a sliding wooden slat as the lid/cover, are reasonably common.

But this one. This one is different.

No matter how much I tried, I’m not sure I would have come up with the design that Frédéric did for his Pencil Case. And the thing is, it is very simple. It’s a long wooden cylinder with a cutout for a handful of pencils, covered by an additional wooden sleeve. The sleeve on mine is Walnut, but there is a Cherry wood option as well.

I’m enamored with it. When I first unboxed it, I got a huge grin on my face and thought “What am I supposed to do with this?” It’s not a carry case, that’s for sure. Technically, you could I guess. The 10.5” x 1.5” tube can slide into a bag or a backpack, but it is obviously not pliable. What the Pencil Case is to me is a beautiful desk object, standing at attention, ready to provide you with a sampling of your favorite pencils at a moments notice.

It can fit more that pencils, too. Mine shipped with a small wooden ruler, and I can easily fit an eraser and pencil sharpener inside the case as well.

The Pencil Case from La Berlue is a fun, functional, and unique product that represents everything I love about stationery. Thank you for reaching out Frédéric - I can’t wait to see what you come up with next!

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

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Posted on March 16, 2020 by Brad Dowdy and filed under La Berlue, Pen Case.

E + M Punched Leather Pen Case in Mocha: A Review

The E + M Punched Leather Pen Case is a single pen case with three decorative holes and stitched leather.

The case is quite small, measuring 135mm/5.3 inches in length, 3mm/1.2 inches in width, 2.5mm/0.1 inches in depth.

Although it is nicely made out of pliable leather, the case will not work with most fountain pens. I tried it with a Kaweco Student, which is a small pen, and it didn’t fit.

I tried it with a Kaweco Sport. With the clip, the pen didn’t fit. I had to remove the clip in order to fit the Sport in the case.

My Pelikan M101 Green Tortoise fit pretty well, although getting it in and out of the case was a bit of a hassle, and the top of the pen was slightly exposed.

I wouldn’t recommend this case for most fountain pens--only pocket-sized pens, and thin ones at that.

As for other writing instruments, the case fit my Retro Tornado perfectly:

And my Sharbo Multipen worked fine.

I thought that mechanical pencils would fit in this case, but the ones I tried (a Rotring 800 and a Platinum OLEeNU) are too long.

Unfortunately, I can’t find much use for the E + M Case since it accommodates only very small writing instruments (up to 5 inches in length but only 12mm in diameter). It does not include a clip or any means to attach it to a notebook, so it will most likely wind up at the bottom of your purse or backpack. But, if you want a simple, no frills case for a small writing utensil, it might suit you just fine.

The E + M Case is available from JetPens for $12.25.

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

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Posted on October 25, 2019 by Susan Pigott and filed under E+M, Pen Case.

Concise Bellows Pen Case 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 check out her first novel, The Bone Weaver’s Orchard, now available where books are sold!)

When you have a lot of pens to wrangle, there's no such thing as too many pen cases. I always like seeing innovative features and clever designs on cases, and this Concise Bellows Pen Case has lots of those.

It's made from a very sturdy nylon canvas and has a nice metal zipper. It unzips lengthwise, from mid-edge to mid-edge. Inside the case is a tri-fold pen roll, attached to the inside with nylon straps and metal rings. It is not removable. The pen roll has three pockets that cover the bottom third of the pens or pencils with another layer of nylon canvas, and an elastic strap that holds the tops of the pens in place. Each pocket can hold 4-5 pens, for 12-15 total. Inside the case is another mesh pocket with a Velcro closure. It's the right size for sticky notes, erasers, clips, washi, or lead refills. On the outside of the case is another pocket that can hold 2-3 more pens or pencils, for easy access.

All told, it's very well constructed and a good design. But I have a few pet peeves. For one, your pens are not just going to touch, they are going to cuddle. This is full-on pen canoodling going on in this case. For that reason, I wouldn't use it for my fountain pens. But do I need a tri-fold roll for gel pens? Not really. I think this might be good for pencils, if you don't want them rattling around damaging delicate lead cores. But for non-fancy pens, I'd rather just have a zipper case that I can stuff to the brim, without the extra fabric of the tri-fold taking up valuable real estate. And as much as I think this case is better suited to pencils, it's too short for Blackwings and other longer pencils.

As nice as this case is, it's not one I'll get much use out of, myself. If you're okay with your pens touching, or if you need a sturdy case for colored pencils, you may totally love this case. It's only $17.50, which is a very fair price for the quality. I have a feeling my eldest kiddo will steal this one. If it helps him keep his school pencils organized, it will have fulfilled a grand destiny.

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

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