Pilot Juice Paint Marker 8-color Set 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.)

With the Pilot Juice Paint Marker, Pilot brings their Juice brand to arts-and-crafts time. The versatile ink works on light or dark paper, or on nonporous surfaces such as glass or metal. It is water- and pigment-based, odorless, waterproof, and bleed-resistant. It is also meant to be opaque, though I had issues with that feature on all but white paper. The colors included in the 8-color set are black, red, blue, light blue, green, yellow, white, and pink. There are a number of other fun colors available as open stock or in other sets, including pastels and metallics.

On dark paper, some colors performed very well while others seemed watery. I tried shaking them and refreshing the ink in the tip, but they just didn't get to the level I was hoping for. They were really fun to use on glass. Again, some lacked saturation, but most worked well. They aren't permanent on glass, alas, so my now-lovely water glass will lose its luster when I wash it. But it does mean I can go crazy painting designs on my windows if I want (I do want).

The tip is bullet-shaped felt. It's firm, though I did get some fraying when I used them briefly on watercolor paper, which makes me question whether the tip will survive the lifespan of the ink supply. Only many hours of arts and crafts will tell.

The body of the pen is a wide hexagonal barrel in white plastic. The cap and grip section are the color of the paint inside. The grip is a little awkward in that it has four levels--the nose near the tip steps up to a narrow collar, which steps up again to the actual section (which is a bit short), which steps up again to the body. There's not an easy way to hold these without putting your fingers on an edge. None of the edges are sharp, however, and it's not the sort of pen you'd be gripping for very long periods of time, so an uncomfortable grip isn't a huge issue for these.

The cap slides in place, but doesn't click. It took me a minute to be reassured that it was securely closed. The cap does post, though not deeply.

They run a little pricier than other paint markers, but not by much. The sets are a little cheaper than buying open stock.

I'd say my biggest issue with the pens is their designation as a fine point. They're certainly fine if compared to a chisel tip, but they're among the broadest paint pens I've tried. I wouldn't recommend them for very fine detail work, but they're still fun for broader sketches. Especially on windows.

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

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Posted on March 23, 2017 by Sarah Read and filed under Pilot, Juice, Paint Pen.

Zebra DelGuard Type-ER Mechanical Pencil Review

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

Mechanical pencils come in all shapes and sizes, and it seems that most manufacturers try to introduce a unique angle or feature for their pencils to make them stand out from the pack. Some times, the features are pure gimmicks, but other times we benefit from the ingenuity of their design. In the case of the Zebra DelGuard Type-ER, it's the latter.

The DelGuard Type-ER looks like an ordinary mechanical pencil, but it has a couple of tricks up its sleeve. The first one involves the eraser. Many mechanical pencils hide the eraser under the click mechanism cap, which means you have to remove it in order to erase. Unfortunately, this makes the metal cap easy to lose. Other pencils use some sort of twist or push mechanism to show or hide the eraser when you need it. This is good, but the Zebra takes it a step further by relying on gravity and friction.

See, when you're writing with the pencil, the eraser is hidden inside the cap. But, when you turn the pencil upside down to erase, the eraser pops out. Once you apply some pressure to the eraser, the friction between the eraser casing and the pen body cause it to stay put while you erase. Brilliant. The only time this won't work well is if you're trying to erase in a position where the normal assumptions of gravity aren't true (say, upside down or up against a wall).

The other tricks this pencil boasts involve the lead system. We all know that if you press too hard on mechanical pencil pencil lead, it will break. Well, the DelGuard Type-ER has a couple of springs in the body that prevent that from happening. Are you pushing down on the lead too hard? Then the lead pipe will slide down to protect the lead until the pressure eases. Same thing is true if it detects too much sideways pressures on the lead. This is handy if you're tracing a ruler with the pencil at an angle and don't realize you're pressing down too hard. Very nifty indeed.

In my tests, this system works great. I'm more prone to put too much pressure on the lead from the side, so this feature is a lead saver for me. It also serves as a training tool to let me know (without wasting lead) that I'm pressing too hard while writing or drawing.

This pencil doesn't have a fancy click mechanism, a lead rotation device, or any of the other usual niceties, but the two features it does sport are down-right cool.

Apart from that, the grip on this pencil is extremely comfortable. Even without the lead protection system and cool eraser, this is a great pencil.

The Zebra Del-Guard Type-ER only works with 0.5mm lead, but it comes in a variety of colors (with an extra couple of erasers included) at JetPens. It will set you back about $12, but that's a sweet price for a pen with a couple of surprising tricks. I've been pleasantly surprised by it, and I'll be keeping it in my "top five" list of mechanical pencils for a while.

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

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Posted on March 22, 2017 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Zebra, Mechanical Pencil, Pencil Reviews.

The Aurora 88 70th Anniversary LE Fountain Pen with Flexible Nib: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

I was beyond excited when I first heard that Aurora was coming out with a flexible nib. I pre-ordered the blue 88 with flex nib as soon as I could. But then I started hearing some ambivalent feedback from pen shows, and my excitement waned. Fortunately, Kenro sent Pen Addict a test pen so I could try out the flex nib for myself.

First, a disclaimer: I am not an experienced flex nib user. I own two Omas pens with extra flessibile nibs and a few vintage pens with semi-flex nibs. I was not willing to push the Aurora test pen too hard (I have to return it, after all). So, keep this in mind as you read my review and look at the photos. It’s possible that users with more experience might get more flex out of the Aurora than I did.

This Aurora 88 70th Anniversary fountain pen is a gorgeous bright orange (a color that will be released later this year). It’s a typical Aurora 88 style, cigar-shaped, with the signature Aurora clip. The pen has a small ink window and is a piston filler.

Of course, what everyone wants to know is, “How is the flex nib?” Well . . .

The nib is solid 14k gold with super long tines. The test nib doesn’t have the usual Aurora scrollwork, but the photos I’ve seen of actual pens for sale show scrollwork on the nibs. The nib tip looks like a fine, though the size isn’t indicated anywhere on the nib itself.

I’ll be perfectly honest. When I inked up the test unit and started writing, I was immediately disappointed. The nib felt pretty stiff like a regular Aurora nib. And while I could get some line variation when I flexed the nib, it was slight.

I worked with the pen for several days, switched out the ink, practiced swirls hoping maybe the nib would loosen up a little, but the flex was still minimal.

I inked my Omas Ogiva Extra Flessibile fine with the same ink, Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo, to compare with the Aurora. What a difference. The Omas nib is springy and exhibits a great deal of flex without much effort. While neither pen flexes as much as a super-flex vintage nib, the Omas beat the Aurora hands down.

The examples below show how the two nibs compare:

Alphabet

Swirls

Sentence

I canceled my preorder after working with the Aurora. I really wanted to love the pen and the nib, I just wasn’t impressed. While it has some flex, it offers nowhere near the flex that the Omas extra flessibile does. At first I thought maybe I was being unfair comparing the Aurora to the Omas extra flessibile. But then I saw some websites advertising the Aurora as a “super flexible” nib. I think that, if people claim that the nib is super flexible, it should at least be as flexible as the Omas. Unfortunately, it’s not.

Does the nib flex? Yes. Does it flex as much as an Omas Extra flessibile nib? No. Does it flex as much as a vintage superflex nib? Definitely not.

And yet . . . after writing with the nib daily for a week, I have to say that, in spite of the fact that the nib does not flex as much as I’d hoped, it’s a wonderful writer. The long tines offer a different feel from a standard nib, and you can write without flex quite easily.

But here’s the deal. The Aurora 88 70th Anniversary LE fountain pen with a flex nib costs $650. These pens are made of resin. Yes, they are limited, numbered editions (only 188 of each color). Yes, they have special, long-tined, semi-flex nibs. Yes, they write beautifully. But $650 is a pretty steep price for a resin pen with a semi-flex nib. If these were auroloide pens with flex nibs, I wouldn’t hesitate to get one.

Vanness Pens will be stocking the Aurora 88 70th Anniversary Flex Nib Fountain Pen but you have to act fast. The first release in Blue is already sold out. Send them a message to inquire about future releases.

Pros

The Aurora 88 fountain pen is a terrific cigar-style pen. It’s a good size and weight for most users.
The flex nib is beautiful and has gorgeous long tines reminiscent of some vintage Aurora fountain pens.
The nib offers some flex and line variation, and when you write with it normally, it is smooth and the long tines provide a unique writing experience.
The anniversary pens will be released over the year in a variety of colors to suit many tastes.

Cons

The flex nib is certainly not a “superflex” nib. It isn’t even as flexible as an Omas extra flessibile. I would call it a semi-flex nib at best.
The anniversary pens are made of resin not auroloide, and, in my view, they are overpriced. If they were in the $350-$400 range I’d feel better about purchasing one.

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

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