After two episodes of catching up with the history of the show, Myke and I roll back into current events. We update our current Kickstarter project - including a pen show state of the union - plus dig into a few new products. Plus, a Lunker of a surprise at the end!
This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:
Hullo: A simple, natural pillow designed for comfort. Try it for 60 days.
Kenro Industries: Announcing their new partnership with ystudio.
The Clairefontaine Triomphe notepads are one of those products that had a really difficult time getting my attention. They're incredibly well-designed and clean-looking, but that can also work to their detriment, getting passed over by more colorful and novel notebooks and notepads.
I'm glad I finally remembered to get these notepads out and try them out. They deliver everything I already loved about Clairefontaine paper in a handy notepad form. You can buy these notepads in other sizes, but the A5 is just so perfect for my needs. I haven't even tried the larger A4 version.
If you've never used Clairefontaine paper before, do yourself a favor and add some to your next stationery order. It's smooth, delicious paper that handles different types of pens with aplomb. The main downside to Clairefontaine's paper offerings always come down to the line formats they offer: lined and (less commonly) blank. No grid lines in sight with this brand! This is something that can immediately turn someone off of an entire line of paper products, and I don't blame them. I wish that Clairefontaine offered some more variety in their line formats. It's a shame they don't. But, if you can fight through the cringe-y experience of using lined paper, you'll be rewarded with a great writing experience.
I personally like using lined paper sometimes, and Clairefontaine is my go-to when I want to write long form stuff on lines. In the past, I've used various notebooks that they offer, but this was my first time to try out a notepad from the company.
At 50 sheets of 90 gsm acid-free paper, these notebooks are not large, but they're also fairly priced at just $6. The paper handles ink well enough that you can normally use the back side of the page if you want.
In my years of using this paper, I've had very little issues with bleeding and show-through. It really is a great paper and such a shame that it's not more prevalent, again due to the lack of line options.
The binding at the top of the pad is an adhesive layer that easily allows you to tear out a single page with little effort. The pages aren't perforated, so there aren't any tiny teeth at the top of the page after you tear it out. This makes the paper an ideal candidate for letters and clean notes. I'm also really content with how easy and clean these pages tear out. I've never had an issue with the sheet ripping when tearing it out of the adhesive binding.
These notebooks are very simple; they don't have any front or back matter, and the covers are very plain. If you order a lined version, you start at page 1 with normal paper. The blank version of the notepad comes with a removable line guide on page 1 that helps keep your lines straight when needed.
When writing, the front cover folds back onto the back cover easily to give you plenty of space to move the pad around on your work surface. The folding lines on the front cover are pre-folded for additional convenience. Even when these notepads are closed, they look really clean and professional. I love the white softcovers.
At $6, these Triomphe notepads are a really great deal as long as you like either blank or lined paper. They're infinitely useful due to their small form factor, and the paper can handle anything you throw at it. These are some of my favorite under-rated notebooks.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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Have you tried a capped mechanical pencil?
Change because things have changed, or change for changes sake? That’s what I’m thinking about while working on these Top 5 list updates. The lists I’ve updated so far were the easiest in my mind because there was enough change to talk about. With subsequent lists, things get a bit more difficult.
And, even if there are no real technical changes to the products in the list, my tastes change. My thoughts and ideas about how I use products change. The products I want to recommend change. So the deck can be reshuffled, if you will. Here are my current thoughts on the state of Mechanical Pencils.
(Notes: If I’m feeling frisky one year I may knock the Kuru Toga off completely and replace it with the Tombow Mono Graph Shaker. It’s one of the best bang-for-your-buck mechanical pencils on the market.)
My personal use ranking:
