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100 Pens - Pen Storage Solutions

Pen Storage Solutions

Grail pens. Vintage writing instruments. Pen collections. For those who love writing instruments — fountain pens or ball pens or mechanical pencils — storing, organizing, displaying, and transporting can become a chore. Stylophiles are generally organized people. So we find ways to keep things straight, a place for everything and everything in its place. Wouldn't it be perfect if one system could handle organization/storage/transportation/display all at once, and do it all economically? No transferring from drawer to zippered case, no elastics to fight with, no scratches from zippers, no repeated handling? Obviously! [Jump to Purchasing Page]

Anatomy of a 100-Pen Storage Solution

This is an industry standard jewelry tray (above). It measures 14 3/4" x 8 1/4" x 1"  and accepts standard inserts of many types. This is a great start for holding/displaying writing instruments, we just need a suitable insert.

Here are some examples of standard, full-size tray inserts (above). They are flocked (velvety) plastic and come in many arrangements, each with a type of jewelry in mind. These are for earrings or small brooches.

These are bracelet liners, with angled channels. The black insert is a soft velvet, and kind of works for pens, if they are thin to standard size. The white one is leatherette and built the same as the black one, but with a soft vinyl. I like the visibility of the lighter background, but I worry about the off-gassing or deterioration of the synthetic material. If you count them, each of these has 18 slots. They are also somewhat intrusive in the tray, taking up nearly half the depth, again making it so that large and over-size pens will not fit well. Below is an image showing that even a Kanwrite Mammoth will fit fine in the tray, but if I try to slide this tray in like a drawer, scraping would result for the two over-sized pens. Ouch! 

I also tried a 10-slot watch tray (above), which is deep and wide enough for the Kanwrite Mammoth, but (hopefully) you can see it is too short. I had to cut out some extra space at the top to make it fit :-( I also lost ten spaces in my tray!

But I don't give up. I finally found the Holy Grail (above). Deep, slotted, flocked inserts in a light gray, which shows off the pens without getting so dirty, like the white inserts.

Of course, I'm not willing to accept a single solution. I'm an American. I need options! So I came up with a customization option to accommodate those outliers (above), such as the desk pen or an extra chubby oversize. I added a high-density foam piece at the back of the tray/drawer so the user can make a custom cut-out. Can we call this "bespoke"? Nah, let's stick with "user adaptable". And how about if the trays were also drawers, with a pull handle and a label slot? Oh, and let's line the bottom of the trays with 1/8" foam so they can be used without an insert if someone wants to store other stationery items. Sweet!  [Jump to Purchasing Page]

At some point in the process, I said to myself, "Hey Dummy, you also collect Panther pocket knives. I bet those would fit in one of those liners just fine." Huh. I was right. So now we have six options shown in next photo (below) — how American is that?

  1. Twenty-pen full length
  2. 18-pen black velvet (+$10)
  3. 18-pen white leatherette (+$10)
  4. 10-slot flocked black
  5. 7-slot flocked black
  6. 20-pen w/customizable foam insert (+$5)

Now, obviously, the 100-pen solution is a case with five Twenty-pen inserts. Your system could have more or less, depending on what you choose for each tray. And yes, you can have a different liner in each drawer, of you like!

Plus, the beauty of this solution is that you can customize it differently any time you choose. These are standard-size trays that take standard inserts. Just acquire an insert you want to swap into the tray/drawer (many are available on Amazon) and swap it in.  [Jump to Purchasing Page]

All this goodness for a hundred American dollars? Well, maybe. I've set retail on these at $139.00, but during launch I'm running a special of $100, plus UPS shipping. [Isn't that special?] There are additional charges for each 18-slot insert ($10 ea), and I'm only shipping this inside the U.S. of A. for now. Jump over to the Order Page and get a couple of these bad boys right now :-)