apieceofai

[apieceofai]

Stationery 1: A Overview on Pens

Hello hello~ Welcome to my first blog post! Stationery is another one of my loves, I’ve been adoring pens since childhood. I used to run a pen selling business back in middle school, where I ordered pens from Jetpens then sold the ones I didn’t like LMAO. Later on, when I actually visited Japan, stationery & pens were the biggest priorities  I won’t talk too much about it today though, rather I’ll go through the various types of pens & their ink in brief. Note, I’ll cite all the references and pictures at the end!

Overall, there are four main types of pens:

Ballpoint Pens

Gel Pens

Marker Pens

Fountain Pens

Ballpoint Pens

Ballpoint pens are distinguished by their tip mechanism, wherein the ink is disposed through miniature balls at the end of the tip.

 The ink is then rolled out onto the paper via the rollerball. Due to the nature of this mechanism, most ballpoint pens are oil-based to prevent the ball from becoming dry & stuck. Due to this, the pen ink is high-viscosity indicated more thick and sticky-like ink occasionally. However, it is very versatile and reliable for most everyday use.  Advantages:

Versatile, writes consistently

Easily accessible

Affordable & large variety

Tends to be water resistant, no ink-bleed through

Disadvantages:

The ink tends to be lighter

If the ink becomes dry, ball mechanism gets stuck

Requires more pressure to write

Tends to smudge from ink build-up

Common Examples:

Bic Round Stick Ballpoint Pen

Uni Jetstream Ballpoint Pen

Zebra Z-Grip retractable ballpoint

Gel Pens

The main difference between ballpoint & gel pens are the ink cartridges. Ballpoint pens utilize high-viscosity oil-based ink and gel pens utilize gel-based ink with pigments that enable ink viscosity during movement. This enables the gel pen to have darker and smoother ink however it takes longer to dry and can smudge easier. Many students like using this type of pen for the ease of writing and the clarity. 

Advantages:

The ink tends to be much darker, and less pressure to write

Thinner tip sizes are available

Available in a wide arrange of sizes and colors

Water resistant 

Disadvantages:

Usually takes longer to dry than ballpoints, easier to smear

The thinner tips are usually mostly Asia-based, more difficult to acquire in other countries

Slightly more expensive than ballpoints

Common Examples:

Zebra Sarasa Clip Gel Pen (the 0.4 in Black Blue is my favorite <3)

Uni Pilot G2 

Muji Non-Retractable Gel Pens

Marker Pens

These types of pens are radically different from the first, as these pens do not use the ball mechanism but rather, they are closer to a marker. They utilize fiber or plastic tips that vary a lot in sizes, shapes and usage. These are much more popular in the artist realm for details and are great as a multi-purpose pen for writing on various surfaces. Rather than their tips or shapes, these types of pens are sorted by usage. Fineliner pens are used typically by artists for detailed linework. Brush pens are used similarly but also are used to create more dynamic works due to the flexibility of the tip. Multi-surface and paint markers are used as they are described, used to label and write on various surfaces. 

Advantages:

Usually archival, which means they will last for long amounts of time

Usually has the darkest ink & also smooth flowing

Multi-use, can be used for almost all occasions

Disadvantages:

The tips tend to be more delicate

Too many options, difficult to dabble in initially

Lacks refills most of the time, have to typically refill ink via syringe

Some can be v e r y expensive (looking at you copic smh-)

Common Examples:

Sakura Pigma Micron

Tombow Dual Brush Pens

Uni Posca Paint Marker PCF-350

Fountain Pens

We’re finally on the last one! Now, this one is for the vintage and retro folks out there or those who love historical drama- These pens utilize nibs that channel ink supplied by the feed, which is basically a filter that manages the ink flow. The way ink is refilled is by either cartridges or converters, but some people can actually refill ink straight into the barrel depending on the model. 

These pens are infamously expensive but you actually can buy more affordable options and still have a high quality writing experience. These pens tend to attract more of the pen aficionado crowd but with a little research and info-reading, these are genuinely a joy to have. 

Advantages:

The most reusable, as most parts are built to last and you can just buy cartridges or ink to refill

Most customizable as well, with many parts being modifiable

It’s definitely the coolest looking (okay maybe that one is a personal opinion-)

Disadvantages:

E X P E N S I V E

The pens can definitely be sensitive, needing specific paper to write smoothly

Ink probably takes the longest to dry

Common Examples:

Pilot Platinum Preppy

Kaweco Sport Fountain Pen

TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen

Final Note

That’s all four main types of pens down! This is an overview only, so sadly I didn’t go into too much detail (also it was getting long-). However, in the future, I’ll definitely go into highlights of each one and go into much more detail as I love pens very much! Overall, pens are much more than just a writing instrument and in an age where digital media rules all, the rustic charm of handwritten materials grow more precious. Naturally, I don’t ask you to convert all your documents and notes into physical media, but maybe keep a small journal or planner for miscellaneous writing. You’d be surprised to find how much joy or help it brings you. Below is the references if you’re interested in reading more! That’s all for today, have a nice one! -With love, Ai

References:

Images: 

1st image: https://wallpaperscraft.com/download/pen_ink_metal_background_68019/1600x1200

Following Images: All taken from the Jetpens articles below

https://www.jetpens.com/blog/Types-of-Pens-How-to-Pick-a-Pen-with-the-Right-Ink/pt/334

https://www.jetpens.com/blog/How-Fountain-Pens-Work/pt/776

[apieceofai]

Introduction  (´｡• ω •｡`)

Hello! Before I officially start this blog, I feel like an introduction is in order- 

So, hello! Nice to meet y’all, I’m Ai, just a regular college student who can’t keep her blabbing shut. I wanted to make this a summer project where I upload a post/article on random topics once a day but uh, that went out the window quickly. Instead, I’ll resolve to hopefully uploading this once or twice a week even after summer ends.

This blog is going to be an accumulation of all my hobbies and interests in a journal/article format! I’m hoping to cover various topics and subtopics about my favorite interests and hobbies in both a personal and informational format. Mostly, I hope to start the 1st half of the blog informational and then add my own thoughts and opinions afterward, so it won’t be solely informational or biased ahahaha-

What are my hobbies and interests then? Well, it would take a millennium to go through all of them but here are most of the ones I can think of in the current moment.

Anime 

I especially enjoy slice of life and fantasy with a hint of romance!

Cooking! 

Mostly Japanese but tbh anything simple for a tired college student might come up too-

Cleaning and Organizing 

I know some of my friends are going to say I’m messy but I said I liked it not that I’m a master-

Music 

I love most genres but I’m especially into J-Pop/Rock and Vocaloid at the moment  <(￣︶￣)>

Video Games

Casual ones like Animal Crossing & Tetris are my main! and maybe a secret love of otome games but shhhh-

Fashion

This one has both my heart and wallet- I love mainly classic and urban styles with a bit of prep but I love looking at all the different types!

Those are just some of my interests, and I love learning about other things too such as finance (aka my major-) so you’ll get to see a lot of variety on this blog. 

My main goal on this blog is to learn more through both research and maybe even you guys! I’m always open to learning and finding new things so feel free to teach me! I also hope I help you guys out if you ever had curiosities in a topic I write about and it ends up with you learning more. You’ll get to learn more about me through this blog so I’ll wrap it up here! I hope to see y’all soon and lemme hope I don’t procrastinate on this blog like i do everything else-  

I’ll see you all later! Signing out,

-Ai  ♡