May 23, 2012

My Favourite Pens in My Filofaxes


 A short while ago someone asked me about the pens I use in my Filofax - so here they come:

PICTURE 1: Pens I can't be without.

Let's go clockwise starting with the recognizable
- Bic Orange fine line (in Piccadilly),
- Uni Ball Jetstream in black (always in my current Filo),
- Filofax Mini Barley in black (in mini Balmoral),
- Online mini pen in black (in mini pink Baroque),
- Penac Chubby mechanical pencil,
- Parker Urban in black (always in my current Filo),
- Uni Ball Eye in blue,
- Maped 4 Colour pen (ALWAYS in my current Filo; I keep it in the rings and as it is chunky it stays there plus I really got used to the colours - therefore - no more Bic 2- or 4- colour and no Pilot Coleto for now), and
- a Betty Boop pen that my baby grabbed in a store which I only noticed at the counter - and was so proud of her for it! :)

Then there's PICTURE 2: Pens I love, but are mostly stay-at-home pens:

- Lamys in prune and pink,
- Pigma Micron 005,
- Schneider black and red - such a great shape!,
- Parker Jotter White and Emerald and
- Uni Ball Signo in blue and pink plus
-a Uni Ball Cricket in blue.













Need I say more about my favourites? I'm definitely a ballpoint pen person, gel-pens being close seconds as I think they improve my handwriting... and I definitely reccomend these as everyday pens:


I find Uni Ball pens absolutely a dream: they write smoothly, without bleed through on FF white paper, the inks are in beautiful hues, the barrels are a pleasure - and they are cute!

If you had to pick your top 3 Filofax everyday pens - which ones would you recommend? 


21 comments:

  1. Hi! I use a 0.7 purple Frixion refill in a 0.5 purple Frixion barrel - it's so important to me to be able to erase things! I also love the Bic 4 colour pens (used to use them all the time before I found the Frixions) and I've also used a Platinum Double R3 Action multipen which has a black refill, red refill and a mechanical pencil with rubber. I found the pens a bit scratchy in this one, but the whole package is so neat!

    Lovely pictures BTW. X

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    1. Thank you, Lucy!
      I loved the Frixions, too, but froze when someone on Philofaxy told the writing was disappearing under the summer sun...???

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  2. I'm a Uniball fan myself. I love the Style Fit inks and have put them in Pilot Coleto barrels so I carry 8 colors, plus pencil and eraser. The inks are smooth, don't skip and don't bleed on any kind of paper. They're pretty reasonable too from where I got them.

    I journal with a Lamy fountain pen. It feels nostalgic to write with them. And their performance is superb for the price.

    I tried the 4-color Bic in both fashion and standard colors but the nib was too wide (I prefer 0.4 or 0.5), they skipped, and they don't write immediately. It's a bummer because they're quite cute too.

    Heads up on more multi-pens: the Muji 6-barrels (count 'em, 6!) come in ballpoint, and their gel ink refills fit as well. There are 3 kinds -- long barrel with pink/orange/yellow/green/aqua + pencil, long barrel with black/blue/red/pink/orange/aqua, and short barrel with purple/pink/green/aqua/orange/red. As usual with Muji, unmarked clear barrels with sleek design.

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    1. I love your hack and Coletos which are nowhere to be found around here... but for now I don't even try to order them from outside of the EU - I once wanted to order Pentel Kerry from the US and the customs charge was between 30-40 Euro!!

      I've been hallucinating about Muji gel pens for a while now because of their minimalistic design exactly and almost fainted now reading about the multipens you described. :)

      But will have to find a collaborator in the UK first - the constant curse: if it isn't customs, it's the postage. Can you imagine that if I order Muji pens for up to 20 GBP, the postage would be around 25GBP? :)

      I must put on my Filofax To-Do's to check WHEN (NOT TO MENTION HOW) EXACTLY SLOVENIA WAS THROWN ONTO ANOTHER PLANET. Amazing.

      (Sorry about that. :) )

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  3. I am not so much into pens but one of my all time favourites is the orange Bic (sad I know, pen aficionados would reel in horror). I love the fine point, the pale blue colour of the ink and knowing it is reliable and if the paper gets wet it won’t run. They are a bit harder to find these days but I always go back to them. I also prefer blue ink, for some reason I never use black ink if I can help it.

    For my Filofaxes I have two Cross Masquerade pens, the black one and peacock green one but I swapped over the ink from medium black to fine blue however the blue is a really dull shade. I much prefer the blue of my orange Bics.

    I also have the 4-colour Bics and use them to add colour.

    After reading how fabulous the Lamy’s are I also have a couple of them though they are not much good on Filo paper so don’t get the use they deserve.

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    1. "pen aficionados would reel in horror"

      Surely not?! Bic biros are my all-time star biro, the texture and depth of colour in the inks, the functionality, ease of availability... anyone disliking them is writing off what (to my mind) is a superb piece of craftsmanship and the leader in its field. I bet if they cost 20x the price, and were only available in limited amounts, people would be going mad for 'em!

      Personally I like Bic Crystal ballpens, just for the look, and because my spidery writing looks better when not in fine-line!

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    2. The Bics were my favorite while in school. I saw some in some fun colors, but store assistant said with blue ink in them (I also don't like black). Maybe I should take a closer look (:

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    3. Yay, girls, I'm not alone in Bic Orange Club! :)
      I definitely agree, Shanananana: had they been more expensive and labeled as vintage...

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  4. I have a parker with a blue gel insert - but I have just spent the last 20 minutes trying to see if I can get those Muji 6-barrels here in NZ. I tried the Bic 4-colour ones, but they never seem to stay the same colour. Within a few weeks (or miles of use?) the blue goes a nasty shade.

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  5. I always use a Lamy Safari fountain. The 2012 apple green was delivered today and I plan to fill it with Noodler's Cactus Green Eel ink.

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    1. Apple green Lamy with Cactus Green Eel ink??!!

      *dashes off to find them both*

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  6. @pseudonz: I don't know if you found Muji in NZ. I got mine from a local Muji, but Muji UK delivers, here's their site

    http://www.muji.eu/index.asp

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  7. Uniball pens. My sons both have spiders they have trained to do their writing and Uniball pens actually make the script legible. I wish I could think they were already in training to be doctors, but, alas, I think they're just rubbish handwriters...

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    1. Uniball definitely makes the script legible...
      Well... I'm a rubish handwriter and work in medicine - I guess your sons have just passed the main exam! :)

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  8. I can't live without my Pilot G-2 (0.5). I always keep these in my filo. Love Uniballs too!

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    1. True, Kelly, both is such an everything-proof choice!

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  9. @vanjilla: Check your email. (:

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  10. I love my BIC 4 colour pens, and any other BIC biros that I have used - love the BIC crystals. I keep promising myself that I will get a decent fountain pen and start being a proper functioning adult, but all I can do is remember how much I hated writing with fountain pens at school. I bought a cheap one the other day but don't like it at all as it misses half of certain letters - and I don't think it is the pen that is the problem, I just think it's the way I write - guess I will have to stick to being a child :o)

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  11. LJ,
    when I was in school, we were only allowed to write with fountain pens - ballpoints were reserved for the last year and were considered as a cool sign of being grown up! :-)

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  12. I'm a big fan of the Uni Ball pens, they are great for giving my filofax some colour :)

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