#4 of 53: Molly and Rex, Zibaldone and Brinded Cats

Tags

alan bradley, molly and rex, sue gee, zibaldone

Hello! I’ve been working steadily moving my pictures over to Flickr. It is a long and boring process but I am so grateful to have found a way to keep my posts while reducing my media usage. Apologies for missing last Sunday. I’m hoping to double up at some point to get back on track.

It’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed a notebook and I must say I’ve been enjoying my Sunday morning taking photos and inking pens. Today’s notebook review is the Anything is Possible softcover notebook from Molly & Rex. The balloon and whale on the cover is slightly raised. I think the cover treatment is called linen embossed.

A good friend gave it to me as a going away present when I left Alberta for the Nova Scotia adventure. The cover reminds me of her as she and I worked together and would often be the first ones in the office. We would often watch the sunrise together from our lofty perch on the fifth floor of our office building. She would educate me on what kinds of clouds we could see. There was even a scary (but exciting!) afternoon when we watched the path of a funnel cloud (that ultimately came nowhere near us). She knew of my passion for notebooks and chose this beauty for me.

The back cover mirrors the front.

The inside covers. I love the whimsy. Wouldn’t this be fantastic as wallpaper in a child’s room?

One of 4 spreads, and I think my least favorite.

This is definitely my favourite!

 

These journals are produced by Molly & Rex.

These beautiful journals are available on Amazon and Chapters, and from the company directly. And their website! Beautiful stationery. They love animals, penmanship and illustration and their products definitely show that. Michaels also carries some of their items. Love the stickers!

I tried a number of pens and the paper is definitely fountain pen friendly.

The fountain pen ink did not feather. All of the pens were very smooth on the paper. This notebook is not in my current rotation but I look forward to it when it’s time comes.

In other news I was tickled to learn a new word this week: zibaldone. In the Italian vernacular it refers to a commonplace book, and in translation means “a heap of things” or “miscellany”. Of course this is what we do in our journals. I really enjoyed this article, detailing the history of the form, and in particular a young poet named Giacomo Leopardi, who created a 2,000 page “zibaldone di pensieri” with his sketches, lists and frustrations. It’s good to know we are in good company and keeping such a long tradition of authors and scientists. Lots of good stuff to be copied into my journal.

And finally on to reading news. I’ve been getting into e-books from my local library and just finished Alan Bradley’s Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d. His books follow the adventures of the precocious twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce, amateur sleuth and chemist extraordinaire. I’ve read all of the Flavia books and I was thrilled with this one, number eight and not just because the title is from my favourite Shakespeare play. All of the books have been set in a delightful English village, Bishop’s Lacey, with the exception of number seven, which was set in Toronto after Flavia is sent (or in her words, banished) to Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy (As Chimney Sweeps Come To Dust). It was not as satisfying as the others, and Thrice is a wonderful return to the tried and true. Number nine in the series has just been published (The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place) and I hope the library gets a copy soon.

Next up is Sue Gee’s Trio, a novel set in 1937 England in which a young man lives in a remote moorland village and mourns the loss of his young wife to illness. He takes up with a small band of musicians and starts to fall under their spell. As war approaches a decision is made that will call all of their lives into question. It was recommended by one of the booktubers I’ve been following. Hopefully I enjoy it as much as they did.

Happy journaling.

 

 

A new pen and notebook from Amazon

Tags

blue myosotis, blue upon the plains of abraham, clairefontaine, fuliwen, j. herbin, lamy blue, noodler's, paradise blue, parker blue quink, straffen, valery, waterman serenity blue, x-fountain pens

Last week an Amazon package was delivered to my door, which is always exciting. I had ordered a Fuliwen pen after seeing a Youtube video, and a Valery refillable notebook which I had found when browsing notebooks.

I am unfamiliar with the Fuliwen brand. Amazon says this pen was made by a “famous company in China called Fuliwen”. I thought the barrel and hardware was very pretty, although now that I see it in person I am not a fan of the pearl bead on the clip.

The section is an interesting shape, one which I have not seen before. The material is advertised as celluloid but I would be surprised at this price point: $19 Cdn.

The medium nib is on the small side for the size of the section I feel. It is stamped Straffen, which I read are made by X-Fountain Pens. I cleaned it and tried to find a blue ink that would match the barrel.

Clockwise from top: Noodler’s Blue Upon the Plains of Abraham, Parker Blue Quink, Paradise Pen Blue, Waterman Serenity Blue, J. Herbin Blue Myosotis, and Lamy Blue. I chose Parker Blue as the best match to the barrel.

And here’s the writing sample. I chose a Clairefontaine notebook. The pen is very smooth with no skips or hard starts, and it started writing as soon as it hit the paper. I was using it in my regular journal later on that day, and it suddenly went dry. I shook it a few times and it resumed writing. But it will never be a favorite pen of mine. That pearl bead is ugly, as I mentioned before, and the pen can’t be posted, which this pen needs, due to it being super light. It just doesn’t fit well in my hand either. But I can’t fault it’s performance, other than running dry once, which was soon fixed.

I also purchased this notebook and cover, made by Valery.

It’s not leather but a very nice imitation. I really like the white stitching and the tree motif on the cover and in the charm bookmark. There is another charm on the spine of an eagle with wings unfurled. It doesn’t seem to fit in with the tree motif; kind of sinister really. But luckily it can be removed.

Here is the inside of the notebook cover. The cords could easily be loosened to release one or both of the charms if needed.

The notebook is pretty standard, lined with very thin paper. I do not know the gsm. I didn’t have high hopes for the pen test but it stood up fairly well.

I’m just realizing now I deleted the photo of the opposite page. Oh well there was no bleed through and just a touch of ghosting. And very little feathering. Safe for our fountain pens.

Overall I am happy with the pen and notebook. Taking a chance on unknown products can be fun.

Happy writing everyone.

Avery Mini Binder and Accessories

Tags

avery mini binder

Hello! On a beautiful fall Sunday I am putting a new system together to keep track of my work tasks. In my August 14 post I talked about enlisting a notebook to help me keep track of work tasks. And it has worked somewhat but not perfectly. I find I have tasks that have many stages to them, if that makes sense, and I need to know what stage each task has achieved. So I found myself thinking of a binder system, like my ARC notebooks or my William Hannah notebook, so that I could organize the pages and move things around as needed. Currently I cannot find my ARC notebooks (still buried in a box somewhere) and my William Hannah notebook is not going out of the house. I am obsessed with keeping it pristine and beautiful for my personal journaling. So I resigned myself to the hunt for my ARC notebooks. But before I could find them I came across an Avery Mini Binder in green, with some accessories, that I purchased at WalMart a few weeks ago and forgot about. And I think it will work perfectly!!

I had heard about these mini binders first from the Pen Pixie on YouTube but only saw them in real life recently. I can’t remember the exact price I paid but you can find them on Amazon, Staples and WalMart.

I bought the green binder; on Staples’ website it is “chartreuse”. It is 1″ thick, with 1″ rings, of which there are 3. It measures 5.5″ x 8.5″. I’ve seen black, white, blue and purple binders on the Staples site.

One of the great features of these binders is how flat they lay when open. Very comfortable to write on either side of the paper, despite the rings.

Lots of accessories with these binders. I bought, from right, Sheet Protectors, Filler Paper, Insertable Dividers and Binder Pockets. On Amazon there are A-Z dividers and calendar pages available as well. This system could give Filofax a run for their money as a planner system! Speaking of Filofax, these pages do not fit into my current planner, my Finsbury. But I could not check them in my Franklin Covey planner, as it is still packed away.

Helpful printing instructions are included with the tabbed dividers. I just wrote on mine but it’s nice that they included these.

I think this will work better for my needs, as I can organize my notes and keep my tasks separate. Right now they are all jumbled together. So I will spend the next couple of hours going through my faithful notebook and transferring tasks and notes to this new binder. I must go put the kettle on. Happy planning!

Custom Notebooks from Bookblock Original

Tags

bookblock.com, castelli, custom notebooks, gf smith, moleskine, monsieur notebook, waterman

Hello everyone! Apologies for the two weeks between blog posts; it’s been a busy couple of weeks. But I really wanted to share this post with you today. I’m really excited about the product so couldn’t wait to share it with you, after it finally reached me (due to moving, sigh).

Imagine being able to take any photo or piece of artwork and turn it into a journal cover! That’s what the folks at Bookblock in the UK do. They’ve been offering custom notebooks to brands and agencies since 2013. They recently added a new offering, Bookblock Original, which allows individuals to create a completely unique, one off notebook on their website, with full bleed digitally printed covers. And they have created custom notebooks for this website!!

For about the same price as a Moleskine anyone can order a notebook with any artwork digitally printed onto the covers. The notebooks are printed in the UK on recycled paper. And the price includes shipping: $26 US or thereabouts. You can add your own photos or artwork plus graphic details such as stickers or speech bubbles. You can choose the colour of the elastic and the colour of the background (spine and edges). You can choose the type of paper: Ruled, Plain or Dot Grid on 90gsm ivory, or Sketch on 140gsm Cartridge.

Back in February of this year the folks at Bookblock contacted me, to see if I would be interested in reviewing one of their notebooks. I agreed and the process began. We discussed artwork and ended up with them designing something around my blog name. I really love the finished product.

Image Bookblock sent me during the customization process.

It took awhile for the books to reach me. A LONG while. As I’ve mentioned here before we had some major problems with our mail forwarding. And the customer service at Bookblock were really fantastic about it. The three books shown above were sent to my previous address as we were starting the move process. And when I still hadn’t seen them by the end of May Phoebe at Bookblock sent me two more. So generous of them and I really appreciate it. In a crazy twist, BOTH packages arrived at my new address on the same day! Strange how the postal system works sometimes.

First let me say the notebooks are gorgeous. The soft-touch, vegan leather covers are smooth and lovely to touch. They have collaborated with a bookbinder in the UK to create the hand-crafted notebooks in small batches. And the quality shows.

Image from Bookblock. You don’t often see a white elastic and I quite like it!

The binding is excellent; the book lays flat out of the box. I received two lined and three blank.

There are several different kinds of custom notebooks you can choose from on the website: Monsieur Notebook, Moleskine, Castelli, GF Smith, and of course the Bookblock brand. The digitally printed notebooks look to be exclusively Monsieur Notebook (sound familiar? Check out my review of their notebooks here); all of my journals are Monsieur Notebook.

Each notebook has a place for your details, but no index.

The Moleskine A5 is slightly smaller than this notebook, which comes in at almost 6″ x 8″. Both notebooks are 0.6 mm ruling. The Moleskine has a pocket in the back cover; these notebooks do not. (It is a feature you can add with a custom order.) Both notebooks have an elastic and a ribbon but of course you can add your own combination with Bookblock, which I think is super cool. Blue and Green, Green and Pink, or Orange and Orange, it’s up to you. They actually have a long list of add-ons: in addition to the pocket you can add a custom presentation box (always an elegant touch), pen loop, belly band, and printed inserts. You could also have a full colour logo, foiled or debossed logo. These customizations are not all available for the one off notebooks.

Now my poor photography looks even poorer against the beautiful images from Bookblock! But you can see in this photo the Bookblock notebook is slightly wider than the Moleskine.

The ribbon on my much-loved Hobbit Moleskine is definitely fraying, compared to the brand new ribbon on the Bookblock notebook. Time will tell if this ribbon will remain so pristine.

No notebook review would be complete without the ink test!

The paper is 90 gsm as mentioned previously, and it takes fountain pen ink relatively well. You’ll notice I smeared the ink on purpose to test the drying time and it is about 4 seconds. The Waterman Kultur pen didn’t show feathering but the other fountain pens definitely did.

The blue ink above is Waterman Serenity Blue in a Waterman Kultur. I was very impressed with the performance on this paper. The gel ink of the Pilot Coleto was perfect but then again it’s always perfect! And actually every other writing instrument (gels and highliter and pencil) looked flawless on this paper.

I was surprised at the feathering with the TWSBI and the Visconti, inked with Waterman Absolute Brown and Paradise Pen Vineyard Burgundy respectively. It’s not terrible but definitely noticeable.

Arguably the Jinhao is the wost for feathering, and understandable I guess because it has the wettest nib of the three pens. Again it’s a Waterman ink: Inspired Blue.

A bit of show through but not the worst I’ve seen, that’s for sure. 

Undeterred by feathering I wrote three pages with my Waterman Kultur (review coming) and I think the writing looks great. Really enjoyed the writing experience; paper is smooth and the Kultur sailed over it. The messy bit at the very top of this page was created by me, trying to get one of my pens to start writing.

I was disappointed that the fountain pen ink had such varied results in terms of feathering. I also would have liked an index. As a notebook collector I have a number of A5 journal covers, it being my size of choice. It’s too bad that these notebooks are an inch too wide to fit in a standard A5 cover.

Having said all that, I do not hesitate in recommending this company. They did provide me with free notebooks but that did not sway this review. My words and thoughts are my own. They wanted honest feedback and I have given it. I like how individualized these notebooks can be and I do not think the price is too high, considering it includes shipping. The customization possibilities are vast and if there is something you want but can’t figure out on the website their customer service team is excellent. And the books are excellent quality that take fountain pen ink reasonably well.

If you want one custom notebook or one thousand, check out bookblock.com and bookblock.com/original.

 

William Hannah Notebook #Becausewritinghelps

Tags

arc system, liberty, the pen and inkwell, william hannah limited

I first saw a review of a William Hannah Notebook on YouTube, on the Pen and Inkwell channel. First there was the unboxing video and then about a month later the full notebook review. I was really impressed with the design and the colours. I went to the website and subscribed to the newsletter, and talked about it briefly in this post. After that post a correspondence began between myself and David Round, the man behind William Hannah Limited. David was good enough to offer me a generous discount on the price of a notebook of my choosing, and I couldn’t pass that up.

I placed the order and then patiently waited for it to arrive. It took longer than expected and I have to say David’s customer service is outstanding. He emailed me often, concerned about the time it was taking for that particular shipment method, and how he was considering going with another carrier. I was getting ready for my move so was perhaps preoccupied but he was very quick to offer to send another notebook, exactly the same as the one I ordered, to replace the one that had seemingly gone astray. Luckily on the very day he was ready to ship the new one, the original one arrived and I was able to let him know. We were both thrilled that it had finally arrived. The situation cemented his decision to use another supplier for international shipments.

Right from the beginning the experience of these notebooks is pure luxury. And David assured me this presentation is what anyone who orders a notebook can expect. The box reminds me of the boxes Filofax binders used to come in. Beautiful cloth box that opens to the left, embossed with WH for William Hannah. I must ask him what ink he used in his note – beautiful green.

It looks and feels like unwrapping a high end leather good; a little piece of heaven. I ordered one of the off-the-shelf combinations; you are also able to fully customize the cover, lining, stitching and type and colour of paper. More on that later.

There she is! The Whiskey cover. I fell in love the minute I saw it on the website and in real life the colour is just glorious; a very deep, rich brown with light undertones. The covers come in the following colours: Agave, Black, Bordeaux, Red Chili, and Whiskey. Bordeaux is a beautiful choice too; the lady from the Pen and Inkwell ordered the Bordeaux cover with the Petrol lining.

Here is a close-up of the pin, which is laser engraved with WH. The company has just introduced a pen loop that hooks into this pin, and future accessories could attach in a similar fashion. The stitching is perfect. And you can just see the gorgeous Kingfisher lining!

OMG that turquoise blue! Italian suede lining with flawless stitching. The linings are available in the following colours: Lime, Petrol, Fuchsia, Kingfisher, Navy, Orange, Royal Blue, Ultra Violet, and Crimson. All of them are vibrant, saturated colour. And you can customize any cover with any lining.

The binding system will remind you of the ARC system, which is fantastic, as it lets you easily add and remove pages, and move the sections of your notebook around. The rings are engineered in England from 303 gauge stainless steel, which means they will last a very long time and never tarnish. They look great and the paper moves easily around them. And for first-timers a handy instruction page is included. I do not know if William Hannah is planning to release a punch to allow you to add your own pages to the notebook, as the ARC system does. I don’t have my ARC punch with me to see if it works with this system. I will experiment with it once it and the rest of my belongings arrive!

And the paper! The heart of any notebook. William Hannah uses 100 gsm paper, which fountain pen users will appreciate. Just as the cover and lining are customizable, so is the paper. They offer lined, 5 mm dot grid, 5 mm grid, plain, printed week to a page, undated week to a page, and to do list, in 50 and 100 page packs. And the dots, grid and lines can be in the colour of your choice! I love that feature. You can match your paper to your lining or your cover or have a contrasting colour.

Here’s a closeup of my lined paper. When you place your order you have 60 pages to design. I chose 30 lined with Kingfisher coloured ink; 10 dot grid in Crimson; and 20 grid in Lime.

Here’s a close up of the Lime grid.

And here’s a close up of the Crimson dot grid.

David also included a sample pack so I could see the other inks on the different papers. Love that Kingfisher ink in the grid pattern.

The different inks lend themselves to high customization, to make the notebook uniquely yours. You could even coordinate the ink to your colour-coding system in your planner. The possibilities are endless.

And now for the all important ink test! I love writing on this paper. All of the pens and pencil I tried were super smooth. And there was no ghosting or bleed through. Here’s a closeup – no feathering on the fountain pen ink.

The blue ink is Waterman Inspired Blue and a perfect match to the lining and the line colour. Beautiful!

Even Halley approves! And don’t forget to check out William Hannah on various social media; their Instagram posts are truly inspirational.

These notebooks are expensive: £95. In my opinion, worth it. I bought mine with a healthy discount in return for an objective and honest review. All of the thoughts in this post are my own. My experience was amazing from start to finish, truly. From the outstanding customer service to the amazing product, I cannot recommend this company enough. You will not be disappointed with this notebook.

I remember reading in one of the newsletters that the company got the chance to show Liberty’s of London their notebooks, in the hopes of reaching a merchandising deal. From what I understand Liberty is a very popular and high end store, specializing in luxury goods from many different manufacturers. And they were extremely interested in these notebooks, but to make a profitable deal, William Hannah would have to down-grade the material and mechanisms. No agreement was reached because William Hannah would not compromise on excellence. And that commitment to their product and your satisfaction is evident in everything they do. I’m not being paid to say that – I just really love a company that makes a fine product and stands by their convictions.

Thank you William Hannah Limited and David Round for this beautiful notebook, which will become a family treasure I’m sure.

Some Journals and a Planner for Christmas, Part 1

Tags

ex libris, leuchtturm, purse notebooks, reading journal

Christmas is over for another year and I feel grateful for all of the gifts I received, and wanted to share some of them with you in this post.

Here are some goodies I found under my tree. I also got some fairy lights for Christmas and just can’t seem to put them away… 🙂 Clockwise from top left: Ex Libris reading journal by Leuchtturm, unnamed journal, Manufactus leather refillable journal, unnamed journal and Pocket Pal diary. Sorry for the “unnamed” journals; there are no identifying marks on these books but my friend said she bought them because they are just so beautiful, and I totally agree.

I love anything Leuchtturm does and the Ex Libris Private Reading Journal certainly doesn’t disappoint. It is hard cover, and measures 8.25″ x 5.75″. My sister gave this to me, after we discovered it in our favourite stationery store earlier this year. I already have a reading journal but fell in love with this the instant I saw it. Can you have too many? Of course not!

A view of the back cover. The red paper cover comes off and the journal itself is all black.

Inside the front cover. Lovely thank you from the Sturken family (I presume they own Leuchtturm) and details on the history of the company.

It’s hard to see all of the fields but there is space to indicate whether it is a book or an audio book (no box for ebook I see, which is odd), title, author, when and where did you read it, date of publication, original language, genre (this is something I do not currently track and it is an interesting idea), notes/quotations, appraisal from 1 to 6 (checkboxes), gift from/discovered by, and gift to. The paper, as with all Leuchtturm products, is amazing. Each page is numbered. There is no Contents page but rather an index at the back, which I will get to. Most of the book is made up of these pages; they go to page 156. And that’s where the page numbers end, which is not what I would have expected. Then there are three sections, with about a dozen pages each: To Read, To Give (great idea), and Lent To/Borrowed From, followed by about 20 pages of simple lined paper, for whatever you want.

At the very back of the journal is an index. It looks like an address book and you can file books by title and/or author using the lettered tabs. I think this is a fantastic space saving idea, as I currently have a Title Index and an Author Index in my reading journal, which is my own design.

There are also stickers included, as with all Leuchtturm notebooks, for labeling the front and sides of the notebook. All in all it’s a very beautiful and useful reading journal, a great gift for the reader in your life. Or for yourself!

Let’s move on to some stunning smaller notebooks, which measure 5.5″ x 3.5″. I love using this type of notebook in my purse for quick notes.

Gosh the lighting makes it seem to glow! When I first saw these I thought they were Paperblanks. I don’t think they are, although they aren’t labelled as anything. The gilded pattern is raised, so it feels embossed. The material feels like a vinyl or thin plastic. The pages are blank and the paper is really great quality. And each notebook has a ribbon bookmark.

The pattern continues on the back cover.

This one is definitely a cloth binding. Such an amazing cover! And the pattern is once again continued on the back.

I tested eight fountain pens and found no feathering at all.

There is significant show-through but that matters much less to me than feathering. I generally only use the right-hand side for writing in these smaller notebooks anyway.

This is a good place to make a break. Part 2 will follow next Sunday, when I will discuss in detail the Pocket Pal diary and the Manufactus leather journal.

Until next post, happy writing!

New Ink and Some Wreck This Journal Pages

Tags

audacious red, diamine, harmonious green, inspired blue, matador, pilot iroshizuku, reid's stationers, sailor jentle, waterman, wreck this journal, yama-dori

A couple of random things for you today: I have two new bottles of ink and I have made some progress in my Wreck This Journal, and I thought I would share.

Yesterday we celebrated my sister’s birthday by going out for lunch and then shopping at Reid’s Stationers! (She actually loves the place too; I wasn’t being selfish!) We were on an ink mission of sorts and the staff were really wonderful and swabbed a bunch of inks for us. Diamine Matador Red is really amazing; think the red flags in a bull ring, or the colour of blood – vibrant and bright. And the Sailor Jentle inks are lovely; we looked at swabs from the Colors of Four Seasons collection. My sister settled on a bottle of Yama-Dori, which is a breathtaking turquoise. We both bought bottles of Waterman Inspired Blue, and I picked up a Harmonious Green as well.

I’ve said this before but buying French ink is like buying French perfume; I feel spoiled and fancy. And in comparison with other inks it is affordable; Reid’s sells Waterman for $11. And they sell Pilot Iroshizuku bottles for $40. I will probably buy a bottle of Iroshizuku one of these days but at that price you REALLY have to love the ink. I should buy some samples from Goulet before taking the plunge.

Anyway this morning I updated my ink journal and swabbed both of these. When we were comparing swabs at Reid’s yesterday I was struck by how bright the Waterman inks are. They swabbed the bottle of Waterman Audacious Red and I know I will never buy that ink. It’s too bright and pink for my taste. But I loved the blue and green.

The blue reminds me of Bleu Pervenche by J. Herbin, which I love. It’s such a gorgeous turquoise. And the green is very close to Monteverde Green. Love them both and I know I will use them in many of my pens.

So that was yesterday, and we did a lot more than shop for ink; I didn’t get her back home until past 6pm and I picked her up at 11am! More details will follow in my post on Wednesday because I’m writing it all down in my journal. 🙂

This morning I was up early (those darling cats of ours!) and I started catching up on my Youtube video subscriptions. The very first video was an update on the progress made in a Wreck This Journal. So I was inspired and for the rest of the morning I worked on mine.

I had so much fun! It was hard to “wreck” a journal in various ways but I managed it and it was great.

I actually did this, although you can’t really tell from the picture. My feet didn’t need to be wiped and they were clean as I was inside so there’s no evidence I jumped on it, but I did. I invited David to do the same but he declined. He laughed watching me do it though! As I said, so much fun.

Yup did what the instructions told me.

This was the last page I completed and I’m really happy with it. I’m feeling the effect of this journal already; much more liberated and free with journaling. Maybe I won’t be so precious with my other “fancy” journals. That’s the aim anyway. I will share more as I progress through the journals.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

 

A Box from Nanami Paper

Tags

fauxdori, hold-on clever pen loop, nanami paper, post-it, seven seas writer, tomoe river

Nanami Paper is an online website that specializes in fine Japanese stationery. They are famous for their Tomoe River paper notebooks and writing pads. The website is a treasure-trove of stationery facts, including a notebook buyer’s guide, a notebook value calculator, and pdfs for improving your letter writing. Even if you buy nothing the site is a fun place to spend time reading about notebooks and paper.

I first mentioned Nanami Paper in this post from Aug 2014. Since then I have heard great things about the Seven Seas Writer notebook. It’s a lined notebook, with 480 pages of Tomoe River paper. I’ve checked periodically and they have always been out of stock. But a month ago the notebook was in stock so I jumped at the chance to get one. And I bought a few accessories too.

I ordered the notebook plus 4 other items on April 22 and it was on my desk at work by May 1. Shipping was $18 US. The entire order came to just under $70 US.

The items were packaged very well in foam and kraft paper, and then within these kraft paper envelopes.

From left to right: The yellow Seven Seas Writer slipcase, with the notebook inside; a blue Hold-On pen loop; a clear plastic writing mat with grid; a brown vinyl notebook cover; and a clear plastic notebook cover.

The Seven Seas Writer comes in this slip case. The pink paper you can see peeking out is blotting paper.

The notebook, on the left, is bound with a simple heavy cardboard cover, in black. Nice and plain, but a cover is recommended.

The notebook is thread bound and so lays flat upon opening, with no stress to the spine. Gloriously flat!

This is the MF Faux Leather A5 Notebook Cover. It is more expensive than the Cheap Notebook Cover (which I will discuss shortly) but considerably less expensive than the Gfeller notebook cover, which is Kip Leather and wonderful, I’ve heard. I chose the MF because of the price: just under $20. It has a bookmark and looks pretty good. I also bought the Cheap Notebook Cover because of the price: $2.50.

Here is the MF cover open. I couldn’t help but think what a great piece to start a Fauxdori with. And the Seven Seas Notebook slips in beautifully.

And here is the filled MF cover. I quite like the double row of stitching. And of course the bookmark.

Here is the notebook inside the Cheap Notebook Cover (sorry for the glare). It’s fine too but let’s face it: the MF cover looks better. This Cheap cover fits standard A5 notebooks so I’m sure I will find a use for it, as I have a few of those (ahem).

I also bought the writing mat, which is exactly that: a mat upon which to write. You can slip it in between the pages of the notebook as they are super thin, one of the characteristics of Tomoe River paper. And when you are close to the bottom of the page you can use the mat to rest your wrist. The Nanami web site suggests using your smart phone to the same end if you don’t have a writing mat.

I have a thing for pen loops. I want every single one of my notebooks to have a pen loop. And this Hold-On Clever Pen Loop for Notebooks just might be the ticket. Too bad you can only buy 5 at a time. Seeing how great they work I should have bought more.

They are $3.60 US. And the website shows you how to make a “hack” for it, if you don’t want to get the sticky adhesive all over your notebook cover. A non-permanent solution, if you will. Luckily I had some Post-It Tabs handy and followed the instructions.

I stuck the tab on the inside of the back cover. I then stuck the Hold-On pen loop to the tab. To truly avoid sticky residue I only removed the backing from the pen loop to the width of the tab (got out the old craft knife). The sticky back of the pen loop is super sticky and will not come off the tab very easily. Whereas the tab is easily removable but not so easy as to fall off. Ingenious!

Here’s a quick ink test on the back page. Notice how sharp each example is. The paper is smooth like glass and there is no bleedthrough. There is a bit of a wait for drying time but that’s what the blotting paper is for.

There is definite show through but as my sister says, “I LIKE show through!” I realize some don’t and if you don’t just use one side of the paper.

I am thrilled with this new notebook. The service from David at Nanami was excellent and the products are superb. The feel of the Tome River paper is exquisite; smooth and buttery. There’s a reason it’s so popular with fountain pen enthusiasts. And if you want to try a sample David can help you out there too; he offers 6 sheets (3 white, 3 cream) of Tomoe River paper anywhere in the world for $3 and free shipping. Yes you read that right. You really should try it out because it is amazing.

No wonder there is a purchase limit of 5 for the Seven Seas notebooks. Get one while they last.

Treasures from the Island

Tags

andy everson, de atramentis, fountain pen, leather pen case, pen holder, qualicum stationers, vancouver island, william shakespeare, zebra

A couple of weeks ago we were on holiday on Vancouver Island. I wrote, read and sipped tea. And shopped just a little bit. 🙂

I bought two pens, a pen case and a journal. Let’s take a look at the journal first.

This is the Spring Finale Journal by Andy Everson. Andy is a First Nation’s Artist and you can learn more about him and his breathtaking art on his webpage. I actually found this journal on my last day, at the airport gift shop. Couldn’t pass it up at $15. Such beautiful artwork and the journal is well made too.

It’s a spiral journal but the spirals are protected by the binding. The dragonfly motif is repeated on the inside covers.

Lined pages. Paper is a medium weight and very creamy feeling.

Details about the artist on the inside back cover. I love his work and these journals are an affordable way of having some of his art to look at. I mean I could frame the cover it’s so beautiful. Here’s an inspiring quote from the description of this journal on Andy’s webpage:

 ‘Spring’s Finale’ represents a brief moment in time in which the dragonfly has stopped from its regular activity to rest on a cattail in a swamp. It also represents the crescendo of beauty that is the end of spring. Colours vivid with life have lived on rain and are now rejoicing in the ever-warming sun. ‘Spring’s Finale’ is but a moment in time that encourages you to reflect on the past and prepare for the future.

To purchase this and other Andy Everson journals, check out this link.

Next up, a wooden fountain pen.

I don’t have a lot of information about this pen. We went to Qualicum Stationers in Qualicum Beach. They had a huge art supply section and framing section, and a small stationery supply section. In their display cabinet at the cash they had some of these wooden fountain pens for $25 each. I was told they are made by a woodworker in Victoria. The barrel and cap are wood, with gold coloured accents.

The section is plastic I think, and the medium nib is gold coloured steel.

The nib had some false starts and skipped when I started to write, which you can see in the writing sample above a little bit. But it disappeared the longer I wrote. It was like it needed to warm up. It came with a standard international size cartridge but I wanted to see what De Atramentis William Shakespeare would look like in it and I really like it. It matches the barrel beautifully, which I like to do. Maybe with more use the nib will even itself out.

I also picked up this Zebra V-301 Fountain Pen, which I’ve never seen before. The package came with two refill cartridges as well. The pen does not take standard international cartridges but I can always fill them with a needle when they run out.

Very smooth writer, no hesitations or blobs. No leaks. Very comfortable in the hand. One thing I REALLY like is that it snaps to cap but also snaps to post! As a post-er myself I love a secure post on a fountain pen. 🙂

And lastly this blue pen case.

I spied the pen case right away in the display case, as I’ve been looking at them online for a long time. Real leather ones start at around $50 which is reasonable when you consider the amount of work that goes into making one. I couldn’t believe it when the salesperson said the price was $14.95. We actually went to this stationery store twice because on our first visit I bought one pen case. I thought about it overnight and took my husband’s advice and went back the next day to buy two more cases. And the interesting thing is, they came from the same fellow who made the fountain pens; his wife is a leather crafter. How cool is that?

I can fit both pens in comfortably; there is a leather strip down the middle that protects one pen from the other. Unbelievable deal. And such a great colour.

So that’s it for my holiday treasures and the memories they bring back. Can’t wait to use them all!

Paperblanks Maya Blue Filigree Ink Test

Tags

blue filigree, cadence, eclat de saphir, endpaper, hero 6021, j. herbin, jinhao x450, maya blue ultra, paperblanks, plum, private reserve, silver filigree

I have to apologize for the lack of blog posts this week (Thursday and Saturday). I’ve been quite ill with a ferocious summer cold; I lost my voice on Tuesday and I really haven’t recovered it yet. Lots of coughing with very little sleeping makes for one grumpy girl. But I wanted to write something tonight and I was reading JJ’s comment to my Stamps, Boxes and Filigree Blue post of June 1 and I thought why not do a quick ink test on my Paperblanks journal. So here it is.

I started out with fountain pen ink and then tried a few others. The Hero 6021 is running out of ink and I didn’t take the time to refill before starting to write; sorry about that. But you can still make it out.

I was really impressed with all the fountain pen ink I tried. The only one that showed the slightest feathering was the J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir in the Jinhao X450 with a broad nib.

Above you can see all the other fountain pen inks I tried showed no feathering whatsoever. I think they all look amazing, with the exception of the Eclat de Saphir in the Jinhao Broad, and even then the feathering is not overwhelming. You can disregard the small blue dots; they were the result of some scribbles on the facing page which apparently I did not allow to dry before closing the journal.

I had a happy accident with the Private Reserve Plum in the Cadence pen. I couldn’t get it to write so I coaxed some extra ink out and then a big blob came out. I quickly wiped it away but the damage, as you can see, was done. Surely that will show through! Well…

Nope! This is the back of the ink test page. You can barely see a whisper of the ink that is on the other side.

And here is a close-up of the page which corresponds to the ink drop on the back. Sorry for the blurriness but as you can see there is no sign of the ink. Amazing.

So to sum up the paper in the Paperblanks journals is very friendly to fountain pen ink. I searched for info on their paper on their blog, Endpaper: The Paperblanks Blog and found this post titled Our Paper Quality. It seems in 2008 they changed their paper to a higher quality paper to improve how fountain pen ink took to it. And as you can see from my first photo above, with one exception every ink I tried took to the paper wonderfully. Rest assured your favourite pen will take to this paper too. Try them out and let me know what you think!