August of 2017 I had the unbelievable opportunity to visit the DC Fountain Pen Super Show, which was an amazing experience. Apart from being overwhelmed by all the stunning pens, the best thing about the show was meeting the wonderful pen people and seeing online friends in real life. One of them is Yen Yen, also known as @2Yens on Instagram. We talked pens and small business and she told me about her dream plan of selling the pen rolls she made herself. I loved the roll she was carrying with her and she asked if I would be interested in doing a review of one as soon as she was ready to launch her shop. I happily said yes and a couple of months after DC when Yen Yen was on the brink of launching Yenderings I had the opportunity to test drive the site, together with a couple of other insta pen friends. Her website is a joy to visit, beautiful pictures, clear, concise item descriptions and a lovely choice of fabrics. I chose a Toronto AM pen roll to try out and review because I love monochrome base colors with a good red pop of color to dress it up a little. I have had a good few months to try it out and I love it! So, let me tell you a little bit about it…
WHAT IS IT
The Yenderings Toronto YYZAM01 Ride the Rocket pen roll is a fabric fold-over pen roll to hold six or more pens or other stationery necessities that fit in the pen pockets. The back pocket holds at least two A6/Field Notes sized notebooks and has room for even more pens. The pen roll folds open to six pen slots, three on each side of the “spine”. The back has a slanted notebook slot. The stitching is very neatly done and the spine is stitched so that it provides a good support when the roll is folded. The fold-over flap is made with a nice contrasting leather. The inner material is a soft ultrasuede that will not be abrasive to your pens. The pen roll closes with a hand-sewn wrapping chord.
Apart from the Toronto model, Renderings also offers the London models which will hold an A5 sized notebook and more stationery supplies.
MATERIALS USED
Yen Yen gives nice comprehensive lists of the materials she uses for each of her models and choice options. The Toronto AM01 Ride the Rocket is made of a grey herringbone cotton/linen blend on the outside. The lining is of red ultra suede, a soft ultrasuede that will be very kind to your pens. A hand-sewn cotton chord is attached to close the pen roll when folded over. The feature fabric -as Yen Yen calls it- is the material used for the pen slots, a grey fabric with a graphic silver skulls pattern. The material used for the fold-over flap is a pressed leather. It gives the suit-like herringbone a nice little edgy oomph. I love the combination of materials, a neutral base with plenty of attention-grabbing elements. An EDC roll that is something quite different from what’s available from large-scale producers.
WHAT DO I CARRY IN IT
Because the Toronto in this color scheme fits perfectly with the A5 red leather diary I use for family matters, I have been carrying my diary and journaling supplies in it. Left to right above: a Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth 5.6mm lead holder aka mechanical pencil (a Dutch Pen Club gift from Dries), a Pilot Kaküno Clear and a Caliarts Ego that fit snugly together in the next pocket, four Faber-Castell colour grip pencils, an Aurora Optima, a Centroped Shark (kindly gifted to me by the lovely Mishka) and two Blackwing pencils. In the back pocket is an Ed the Cat Notebook, which is Field Notes sized. I have also carried small rulers and correction fluid pens in the pockets.
For watercolorists, I imagine the back pocket will easily hold a small pallet of pans and a small watercolor art book. Super nice for nature hikes or urban sketching!
WHAT’S IT LIKE IN USE
As I have been using the pen roll for my daily family diary, I have used it intensively over a couple of months and the one thing that I noticed is how nicely the materials have settled pretty quickly. It is like a pair of jeans, it warms up with wear and use and holds your stationery items with style and comfort. I was worried that I might find the roll too soft, being used to hard shell and leather covers and pen cases, but the double material layers and lining helps to give this pen roll sturdiness. The hardwearing stitching and having a notebook in the back pocket all add to the backbone of this pen roll. That’s what I enjoy about it: it is pettable practicality! It’s ideal for carrying your school, uni or office essentials with care and style. I love the combination of fabrics, colors and materials. I did have to get the hang of using the wrapping chord, but that is just me being clumsy. The chord is long enough for a wrap and tie. Sometimes I fold the chord one turn extra and tuck it in the back pocket for “quick release”.
SHOP AGAIN?
For sure! I love supporting small businesses and owning original things. Yen Yen will also take custom orders for special fabric combinations. The attention to design, use of fabric and color combinations make these rolls stand out from other pen rolls and journal covers. So a huge thank you to Yen Yen for reaching out to me and trusting me to try her design! Wishing you every bit of success Yen Yen and so hope to see you again one day!
DISCOUNT CODE!
Yen Yen is kindly offering a discount code for my blog readers. Use the coupon code Janine10 to get a 10% discount at check-out. Thank you, Yen yen for this gracious discount! Visit her webshop at www.yenderings.com.
Disclaimer:
I received this item for test and review purposes. I paid for shipping myself. I was not otherwise rewarded for this review. All views, opinions and pictures are my own. This blog post does not contain affiliate links.
The year calendar lay-out in the top photo is designed by Laura Krenk of @nerdy.teacher. I purchased her diary lay-outs through her Etsy shop.
ASAPens.in is a pen maker based in India who sells his own hand turned pens as well as Gama, Wality, Jinhao. The Galactic is one of ASAPens.in own series and it comes in the flat top and barrel design, such as the one I chose, as a cigar shaped (rounded) design. You can safely say this is a sizable pen. Capped it is 15.8 cm, uncapped 14 cm, the section tapers from 14 mm at the body to 13 mm near the nib. The broadest part of the barrel measures 16 mm. The cap can be posted, but that will make the pen suspiciously long. This pen was designed to be used as an eyedropper so cartridges or a converter are not supplied. I haven’t measured the ink capacity, but my guess is at least 6 ml. ASAPens.in offers free worldwide shipping, but the tracking details are not always accurate. However, the pen did arrive safe and sound in a nice blue velvety pen pouch in a bubble wrap envelope.
The pen is turned out of a transparent acrylic resin blank, the barrel and cap are treated so that they have an opaque, icy appearance. This contrasts nicely with the clear finial and barrel end. The barrel has the ASA logo and the word Galactic in cursive engraved on it. I have not been able (or patient enough) to screw the barrel on the section to get the logo in line with the nib. The sparse trims are chrome; the clip feels very limber. The #6 nib is decorated with scrolled banners on the tines and the ASA logo under the breather hole. The feed is plastic and flat like vintage feeds, with ribs along the sides. When I first inked up the pen, it burped ink blobs a couple of times, but after tipping over the pen a couple of times to let the air bubbles out of the feed, is hasn’t done so since. The tipping is a nice generous, true broad size. Together with the generous feed, this pen is a very wet writer, as you can see from the swiped ink scribble in the picture. The tipping is quite round, so the with a light touch you get minimal line variation, but because the tines have quite a bit of bounce to them, it is possible to get some variation as shown in the figure-8s. General opinion after a couple of weeks of use is that this is a nice, juicy writer. I love the transparent barrel end and the girth does not bother me, even though I have small hands. I especially love this Montblanc ink in the pen, and the barrel has easily gulped down the last few drops I had left as a sample. Will have to commit to a full bottle, I fear…
WoodshedPenCo is the nom de plume of Mike Allen, based in South Carolina, USA. He makes and sells pens of lovely acrylics and the above pen was on my mind for about a month before I decided to buy it. The pen was shipped together with a complementary home-made pen wrap, which was a lovely surprise. I chose the broad nib as well as a spare 1.1 stub. So far, I have only tried the broad nib. The pen came supplied with a converter, but it can also be used as an eyedropper. I am currently using the converter though. The pen is a lot smaller than the Galactic, but by no means is it a small pen. This is a size that will be comfortable for many a pen user. The measurements are: 13.5 cm capped, 12.8 cm uncapped, the slightly tapered section measures around 10 mm, the cap measures 16 mm and the barrel 13 mm. There is a step between cap and barrel as well as between section and barrel. It does not bother me, because I hold pens pretty close to the nib. The screw threads near the barrel are not sharp. The pen is rather straight in shape, which I like. The cap does not post, but I hardly think that will be a problem, even if you have large hands and hold the pen close to the barrel. The pen does not have a clip, which I don-t mind because that would only distract from the material. A subtle roll stopper would have been nice, though. The material is a beautiful taupe-cool brown with creamy white swirls and subtle golden sparkles. It looks like a cappuccino galaxy, I think. The #6 nib has the classic scrolls on the tines and the nib size stamped where the nib enters the section.
For its test run, I inked the pen up with KWZ Ink Cappuccino (yes, I mistakenly wrote Old Gold, still needed coffee, I think), I love how the smell of that ink combines with the look of the material. This nib is also true to size but with a slightly smaller tip than the ASA. The line width is a bit stubbish, with a broader down stroke than side stroke, which I appreciate. Especially since this nib is more rigid, this stubbishness gives just a nice hint of line variation. The flexed figure-8s show hardly any line variation. The smeared ink scribble also shows this is a nice wet writer, but a little drier than the ASA. General impression is that this is a very pretty and comfortable pen, the design and shape give the material the attention that it deserves. A beauty in an understated way. I love it! And I love the way these two pens look next to each other, especially with the ASA being inked up with a warm gray ink. I often air this pens when using them. So as a final picture, a capped side-by-side on my trusted Rhodia which I used for the above writing samples.
Janinescribbles 