pen 26: marvy uchita le pen

today's pen, the le pen, is in direct contrast to yesterdays in terms of thickness. where the uni-ball jetstream is rather bulky, the le pen measures in at a svelte 0.5 cm diameter and a tip that is around 0.3mm standard.
its thin design makes this pen ideal for things like pocket books, check books, journaling, daily planners, and the like, in shore everything that most people use their phones or tablets for these days. still it's a good pen to have stashed somewhere when the inevitable moments where typing into a tiny screen isn't convenient.  

those moments seem happen to me quite often.

besides, even though i do own and use such modern tools as the cell phone and tablet, there is something to be said about the versatility of the physical writing tool. and just in case you haven't caught on yet, i'm kinda a fan of pens in general.

the first time i used this pen was when i was around ten or eleven, it was part of a present for having gone through one of those religious sacraments, or rites, or thingy. i remember thinking it odd that it was kinda french (franglish) name and made in japan... it didn't (and still doesn't for that matter) seem to make sense as far as the name went, but at the time i was writing a lot and liked that i could write really small and thus not have to worry about people around me being able to easily read whatever it was that i was putting on paper.

these pens come in eighteen colors, and are available as tome art stores and the odd office supply store from time to time. the best way to get your hands on one is from places like amazon (where they have earned much praise and scores in the four and five stars) or websites such as their official page, www.uchida.com or other places like www.dickblick.com which actually sells these pens for even less. if you spend more than three dollars for one you probably aren't making any effort to find a lower price, a buck and-a-half seems to be around the average. if you look around you will also see that they are available in sets of four, twelve and eighteen, at least that's what i found when doing a quick google search.

the pen has a nice fine tip that doesn't oversaturate and can take multiple passes to get a dark line (to be fair i the pen i used for this is grey) this makes the lighter colors good for sketching if you don't feel like using a pencil. i have read some complaints about the size of the pen making for a relatively smaller reservoir of ink. this might be true, however, the pen i used earlier today was purchased in 2007 and while it hasn't seen much use over the years it works just as well as the day i brought it home. the small tip size also makes it a great detail pen that is almost as good as a micron, the only drawback is that it comes in only the one size, 0.3 mm.

having reacquainted myself with this pen, i now remember why i like them so much growing up and will probably be adding the entire set of eighteen to my collection in the near future.