Pilot Opt 0.5 Mechanical Pencil

This is a review I wrote awhile ago. I thought I’d repost it here on The Well-Appointed Desk where people might see it.

The Pilot Opt 0.5 mechanical pencil in “stardust blue”  from Jet Pens is a standard plastic-bodied mechanical pencil. It has a wide barrel and rubber grip for more comfortable writing, a standard click end to extend the lead (Oh, and I just discovered its also a shake pencil! Duh!!!) , a small eraser under a translucent grey cap and a spring loaded clip to attach it to notebook or pocket. There were two leads included and they write with silky smoothness. Its nicely weighted and reasonably priced at $3.30.

What really makes this pen stand out is the metallic, midnight blue case dappled with a sprinkling of silver “stars.” It makes the pencil look like you’re holding the cosmos in your hand. This pencil has earned favored nation status and is carried with me everywhere while other similar tools languish in drawers and cups.

[Tested on Moleskine blank notebook hence the slightly yellowish cast to the paper]

Last July, I featured a stack of Michael Beirut’s 80+ notebooks. He’s now filled 90 composition books over his 30-year design career and they are being shown in a new exhibition (along with some of the finished pieces) at the Esther Massry Gallery at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. The exhibition will be on display through January 22, 2012.

(via Notebook Stories and Pentagram)

I’ve been a big fan of the Rotring Art Pen for years. It was one of the first fountain pens I purchased, found in an art supply store for about $20. The Art Pen has a long paintbrush-like shape which gives it nice balance and an unusual look. It is available in several nib sizes including wider, chiseled calligraphy widths, M and B “lettering” nibs and F and EF “sketching” nibs. I own the EF which has worked well over the years despite the occasional year or two of neglect. It accepts standard ink cartridges and I’ve even been able to squeeze some of Levenger’s extra-long cartridges into the pen because of its elongated shape. Our friends over at JetPens carry the fountain pen converter which allows the use of bottled inks instead of just cartridges.

Rotring Art Pen

(via rotring)