Yoropens

Stationery alert! Stationery alert!!
I'm a self-confessed stationery-aholic and so my eyes were filled with delight when I set them upon these Yoropens. One of my fondest memories as a child was to go into the local stationers where the rows upon rows of pens, pencils and submarine shaped erasers lined the shelves and called to me to buy them. I am 27 now and my taste still hasn't changed - only I have diversified slightly as I now enjoy buying reams of craft equipment including fancy coloured pens and rubber stamps. Anyway, let me tell you a little bit about my latest find:

This pen is such a novel design - I had to have it when I saw it to try out. It claimed to:

• make writing easier
• help reduce writing strain
• be especially good for children, students, left-handers, dyspraxia and arthritis sufferers.

I first tested this pen out a few days back - I used it to entice Master Craftiness to do his homework. He shot to the table when I told him he could use it. On handling it for the first time, he informed me that it felt 'weird.' Obviously this is because it is a different design to a biro pen. If you take a look at the picture above you will see that it angles about an inch above the nib. This design enables you to actually see what you are writing and so is ideal for children learning to form their letters.

It will be interesting to see whether this design takes off, because as a nation we are all very used to the conventionally designed pen. Maybe if we were to see these pens introduced in to schools then we would see youngsters with less problems with writing. Interesting thought to ponder upon.......


Anyhow, after Master Craftiness's initial reaction of telling me it felt 'weird,' he then proceeded to write very neatly. Being a left-hander this is not something that usually comes easily to him (sorry if you are a leftie reading this, but all the lefties I have ever known have had messy writing). I observed him writing with the pen and it seemed to be easier for him to write because of the fact that he could clearly see what the pen was doing, because there was much more visual space than what you would get with a normal pen.

Another factor which I feel helped Master Craftiness was the adjustable grip on the pen. You twist the grip to the left if you are a leftie and it then encourages the correct hold on the pen.


After Master Craftiness had finished using the pen to complete his homework I retrieved the pen to have a go at writing with. I felt the same as Master Craftiness initially that it felt a little odd to hold, but after writing with the pen for five minutes my writing seemed to flow and 15 minutes later and it seemed so much easier on the joints in my hands. I tend to suffer with writers cramp as I do so much writing but this position of writing just seems so much more natural.


My verdict: A nifty little pen. Looks very modern. Comes in an array of funky colours. Biggest factor that swayed my opinion on this pen was the comfort of writing with it. And at £3.00 it hardly breaks the bank.

Available from www.penheaven.co.uk