The Crossfield from Nanami Paper

Tags

bullet journal, hobonichi techo, nanami paper, rhodia, seven seas crossfield, seven seas standard, seven seas writer, tomoe river

In July of 2014 I wrote this post on Bullet Journaling, and it has taken me this long to find a suitable journal to try it out with. I’m loving my Hobonichi Techo as my current planner, and it occurred to me that before I move to a Bullet Journal I would like to have the same paper. So I checked Nanami Paper’s website on the off chance they had an A5 journal like the Writer or the Standard. And there it was: the Crossfield.

These Seven Seas journals are magnificent, as I’ve said before. The Tomoe River paper is fantastic. They are not always available because of their popularity. And the folks at Nanami want to make sure that each journal is perfect so they examine a few at a time and then release them onto the site. As the instructions say, if one of these journals appears to be out of stock, keep checking. That’s what I did, over a period of about a week, every day, sometimes more than once a day. And I got one. They also get regular shipments in so if they are truly out of stock it will only be for a few months, usually. And they are well worth the wait.

So I ordered the Crossfield and it arrived in about a week. Each Seven Seas journal comes in a paper slipcover as shown above. The Standard (blank paper) is bound in brown, the Writer (lined paper) is bound in black, and the Crossfield is bound in a rusty-red colour. And each Seven Seas journal comes with a package of pink blotting paper to help with the ink remaining wet longer than you might expect on the Tomoe River paper.

The paper is actually not grid, but tiny crosses that form the corners of each square. It’s like the dot grid paper you see by Rhodia, but instead of dots we see tiny crosses.

Here’s a closeup of the paper. See, it’s a field of crosses!

From a distance it actually looks like dots. I really like the blue colour of the crosses. I did not do a pen test because I did one for the Writer in this post.

I don’t know when I will start my Bullet Journaling. Maybe when my Hobo is done (end of this year) I will start 2017 with a Bullet Journal. I just don’t know if I can wait that long – the Crossfield is very enticing.

Above you can see my progress in the Writer – these journals are great value because it takes a while to get through 480 pages. I recommend these journals and Nanami Paper in general. Great customer service and excellent products. Don’t be discouraged by the appearing to be out of stock-ishness! Just keep checking. 🙂

One Night in Portland

Tags

aurora, cartier, cross, edelberg, filofax, harmonious green, j. herbin, leuchtturm, lierre sauvage, montblanc, oberon, online switch, paradise blue, paradise pen company, portland, rhodia, schmidt converter, scully, vineyard burgundy, vintage trouble, visconti, waterman, wonder ballroom

As a birthday present to ourselves David and I flew to Portland, Oregon to catch Vintage Trouble at the Wonder Ballroom last week. It was a magical 24 hours which included staying at a fabulous hotel (the Crowne Plaza Portland), grooving with the band (we got to meet them!), eating amazing food and shopping. We crammed three days into 24 hours and just one of the many highlights was visiting the Paradise Pen Company, a retailer of “high-end writing instruments offering fountain pens, leather goods and accessories.” And when they say high-end they aren’t kidding.

The Paradise Pen Company is located in Pioneer Place, alongside Kate Spade, J Crew, Louis Vuitton and Michael Kors, just to name a few. Very swish. According to their website they have 15 locations across the US. We had great fun looking at the Montblanc, Aurora and Visconti offerings, as well as Cartier and Edelberg. I had never seen a Cartier and their fountain pens do not disappoint. But like their jewelry they have a considerable price tag ($1,000+). Lovely to dream and drool over though.

They had an impressive selection of notebooks and planners, such as Filofax and Rhodia. I got to fondle an Oberon journal for the first time and I’m so glad I did, because I have been considering purchasing one. Although the leather craftsmanship is breathtaking I am not a fan of the paper in their notebooks. And they don’t lie flat, which is disappointing. But at least now I know.

I was introduced to Scully notebooks and promptly fell in love. This beautiful “Old Atlas” journal has wonderful paper and lies flat as a pancake. But the price ($113) was just a little beyond my budget (especially when you consider the exchange rate these days). At least I am familiar with the product and can order one from their online site if I save my pennies.

Stephanie was very friendly and interested in our very quick trip and the reason for it. She was very touched that we took some time to visit their store in our whirlwind tour of her city. I had done some research on their site before arriving so I had an idea of what I wanted.

The pen is from ONLINE and is the Switch model. Designed for students, it has a medium fountain pen nib at one end and a stylus at the other. I thought it a wonderful metaphor for modern but elegant note-taking: casually surfing the net, finding something interesting, flipping your stylus round and writing it in your notebook with a fountain pen. And it was on sale! So I picked a green one. And amazingly Stephanie offered me a converter to go in it, a Schmidt. I did not know that brand of converter fit the ONLINE pens so that was a real bonus. I also found a Cross notebook in a size I have never seen before, so I chose one to match the pen. And finally I chose two bottles of ink: Vineyard Burgundy and Paradise Blue, made exclusively for the Paradise Pen Company.

It occurs to me now I should have purchased a bottle of green ink to match the pen but I thought two bottles were enough. I really love these two colours. I also enjoyed the label although Stephanie told me they had a new label, with some new colours just released (Vineyard Burgundy being one of them). I like the old label, shown below on the blue bottle; what do you think?

I haven’t inked up any pens with these inks yet. As for the new green ONLINE Switch I inked it up with Waterman Harmonious Green. I was thinking J. Herbin’s Lierre Sauvage would be nice too.

Here’s a writing sample on Leuchtturm paper. The slight shading in the ink comes through. The nib is a little hooked, much like my Waterman Junior, and is very smooth. The Switch is part of the Youth line and indeed, it feels very sturdy and puts down a solid line. It wrote right out of the sleeve with no skips or hard starts. It’s a fun pen to use.

I’m very happy with my purchases and will write more about the trip in my Journal Writing Wednesday post. Thank you so much Stephanie and the Paradise Pen Company for a wonderful experience. Check out their online shop and if you are in Portland include this little shop in your travels; you won’t be disappointed.

 

Mystery Ink #6

Tags

fpgeeks forum, monteverde artista crystal demonstrator, monteverde prima, mystery ink, rhodia, visconti rembrandt

I mentioned MI6 in this post, earlier this week. I was thrilled to be chosen to participate in this round of reviewing a mystery ink. Go to this link to check out the Fountain Pen Geeks forums and read the threads for MI1 through 5.

My sample arrived on April 1 and I couldn’t wait to ink up a few pens with this gorgeous purple ink and get going.

I chose my Visconti Rembrandt with a 0.5 nib, my Monteverde Artista Crystal with a medium nib and my Monteverde Prima in Purple Swirl with a 1.1 italic nib. I flushed all of them and put some of the mystery ink in them.

I used a syringe to fill each of the converters, as I didn’t think the nibs would fit into the sample vial. The Rembrandt and Artista took the ink just fine, but the Prima had an air bubble in the top that I could not get rid of. I spilled ink everywhere and didn’t end up getting much ink into the Prima at all. But I got enough to do this review.

I found this Ink Sampler & Review form online; not sure who to accredit it to but it is not my own design. I apologize for the images; I should have scanned the form in but the camera was all I had to hand.

Each pen started up quite quickly with the new ink, which is impressive. I was surprised how each nib delivered quite a different shade. The colour is a rich dark purple that reminds me of blueberries and lupins. The Antarctica quote (yes I just realized I spelled Antarctica with only one c on the form – horror!!) is an homage to the theme of MI6, as chosen by the organizers.

I do not have a lot of purple inks to compare it to, but I put 3 swabs on the form anyway. I probably could have identified them (one of the rules of the mystery ink game is not to guess what the ink is before it is revealed) as none of them would be a serious contender for an exact match to the mystery ink, but I kept their identity a secret too, at least for now. When the ink brand and name is revealed I will do another post, and reveal my comparison inks as well.

I wasn’t sure what “Spread” referred to in relation to ink so I left it blank. Please enlighten me if you know. I messed up the 3 sec dry time so I repeated the exercise. It is a pretty fast drying ink. Not especially waterproof but not too bad either.

It really is a beautiful ink.

The Andrew Denton quote was written using my Monteverde Prima with a 1.1 italic nib. It may be hard to see in the photo but there is some shading.

The Jon Krakauer quote was written with my Visconti Rembrandt with a 0.5 nib. Both of these quotes are written on the same page in the same Rhodia notebook, with the same lighting conditions. I do not know why one looks yellow and the other doesn’t. Thank my camera phone for having an attitude.

This was fun. I will probably do more ink reviews. And I will probably buy a bottle when the identify is revealed. Any guesses?

 

Lamy Al-Star Gift Set

Tags

goulet pens, j. herbin, lamy al-star, poussiere de lune, rhodia

When I was in Phoenix earlier this year, I placed an order with Goulet Pens which I talked about here. Inside the box were two Lamy Al-Star gift sets, in purple, for my sister and I, as presents from our father for Christmas. Tonight I inked it up and took some photos.

The super nice box it came in.

The set comes with a Lamy Al-Star in purple, with a medium nib, a Z24 converter, a package of black Lamy cartridges and a bottle of black Lamy ink. The pen itself comes with a blue cartridge. Lamy Al-Stars differ from the Lamy Safaris in that the body is made of aluminum and the section is somewhat transparent. As with other Lamy models you either enjoy the triangular section or you don’t. My sister and I actually had quite an interesting conversation about sections; she is very picky about them (as am I) and didn’t actually realize it until we tried a bunch of different ones. I would recommend trying out a Safari or an Al-Star at your local pen shop before purchasing, just to make sure you enjoy the feel of the pen.

I tend to like the ink to match the barrel colour so I chose J. Herbin’s Poussiere de Lune (Moondust Purple) for this Al-Star. And I really like the match, as seen in the above writing sample, on Rhodia paper. The pen started up almost right away, and the writing is very smooth and even. I think I enjoy writing with this one more than my Safari, but only just. Both are excellent pens.

Here’s a close-up of the beautiful body. I really love this colour. I seem to recall Brian Goulet saying this is the first time Lamy has released a purple pen but I’m not 100% sure on that. Either way this is an amazing colour and a joy to write with.

Lamy for Christmas – thank you Dad!

Scottsdale Pen and Knife, Part 2

Tags

jetpens, magnifier, manuscript, monteverde artista clear demonstrator, monteverde ink, pilot plumix, platinum preppy, rhodia, rhodia orange leather notebook cover, scottsdale pen and knife

So here is Part 2 of my visit to Scottsdale Pen and Knife. For the first part, click here.

I had a lot of fun with these purchases at Scottsdale Pen and Knife. The Monteverde Artista was a complete impulse buy. I had seen a couple of reviews and I’ve been wanting a demonstrator model for a while now. And when I held it I had to have it.

The nib is different from my Prima pens; instead of a stylized mountain range we have curlicues. The section is smooth which looks great but I had extreme difficulty untwisting the section from the rest of the pen so I could ink it up. I had to ask David to help me.

I decided to go with Monteverde Green because it’s a beautiful colour. Here you can see the ink in the barrel.

Here’s a close up of the feed, which is normally clear.

It’s a wonderful writer and very pleasing in the hand. It started up almost instantly (not as instantly as the Metropolitan) and I didn’t mind the smooth section, although I found my fingers grasping above the section naturally, even though with other pens I grasp the section further down. Must be a reaction to the smoothness.

Moving on to the folding magnifier. I bought one of these on the advice of SBRE Brown in one of his videos. I wanted to be able to see the super small writing on some of the nibs. And it was a bargain – I think it was under $5.

The second pen I bought is the Pilot Plumix. I was intrigued by the shape of the pen. To me it looks like George Jetson would  be using this thing.

And here it is with the cap off. The cap unscrews and posts tightly. It has two fins on either side to prevent rolling off the edge of the desk.

Here’s the writing sample. You can see how it has more of a stub nib. It makes for elegant handwriting; I’ve signed all of the Christmas cards with this pen so far. It’s more palatable than my Manuscript pen; I love it and will probably get another one as they are not expensive. I believe I paid $10 but JetPens has them for $7.25. They come in black and blue as well. I put the blue cartridge in this purple one by mistake; I like my barrels to match my ink but I chose the blue cartridge instead of the purple one. The cartridges are the Pilot Mixable Colour. One of the big draws about this pen is the huge ink capacity the pen would have once it is made into an eyedropper, which is easily done as the pen is all plastic. Might have to make that conversion.

And lastly (for the pen purchases) I picked up two Plantinum Preppy pens. Everyone raves about what a great value they are (usually less than $5) so I’ve been wanting to try them for a while. I must say I was not as impressed as I wanted to be. I enjoy the colour matching going on, with the nib colour matching the clip/cap colour, but the ink seemed dry and I found the pen skipped a fair bit.

The ink colour is a great shade of green. They are also candidates for making into an eyedropper pen.

Here is the Rhodia Orange Leather Notebook Cover. I love my notebook covers and couldn’t resist this. The leather is very soft and smells wonderful. I chose the orange because it is just so striking.

The holder comes with a pad and a pen loop. The pen loop is super snug so I had to resort to clipping the pen onto it. I didn’t realize at first that the pad I chose had graph paper; I prefer lined. But no matter. It’s such beautiful paper it will get used!

So that’s it for my visit to Scottsdale Pen and Knife. I’m sure it won’t be my last!

Scottsdale Pen and Knife, Part 1

Tags

clairefontaine, conklin, mark twain, moleskine, montblanc, monteverde artista clear demonstrator, pilot plumix, platinum preppy, quo vadis, rhodia, scottsdale pen and knife, visconti, visconti declaration of independence, visconti divina, visconti traveling ink pot

When I was on holiday in Phoenix recently my sister and I visited Scottsdale Pen and Knife. We had a great visit with Jay Sadow, one of the shop owners, along with his wife Karen. Click here for their beautiful web site and here for their excellent blog. And don’t miss the video; it shows lots more of the store than my few photos.

Look at that huge pen in the window!

This is what you see as you walk in the door. It’s a small but mighty shop. Beautiful Rhodia spinner that took my eye.

Mr. Sadow had a fantastic variety of pens, accessories and notebooks, including a pricey Montblanc Writer’s Edition Imperial Dragon 3 Piece Pen Set. We saw the box, straight from the factory, unopened. He explained if one is going to invest in such an item, one wants to be sure no other hands have touched it. Imagine knowing you are the first to break the seal and expose the wonder of such beauties to the air, for the very first time. It’s that kind of sensitivity to pen collecting that makes Scottsdale Pen and Knife a very special place to shop.

This beautiful Visconti display case is to the immediate left when you enter. I couldn’t take my eyes off the Jacques de Molay pen advertised in the poster; I’ve never seen it before. So beautiful. And the Viscontis in the case weren’t bad to look at either! In the foreground you can see the beautiful blue and brown Divinas.

Oh the famous Declaration of Independence Fountain Pen. Such a breathtaking set. And on the top shelf you can see the Visconti Traveling Ink Pot – very tempting!

Here’s a better picture of the ink pot. And in behind you can see the excellent display of notebooks, from Moleskine to Quo Vadis to Clairefontaine.

And this is the view from the other side of the shop.

For a while we had the shop to ourselves and enjoyed a lively discussion with Mr. Sadow. I am so grateful that he let me take a few photos. (Any mistakes there might be as to the pens I describe in the cases or indeed in the text of this post are mine alone.) I also learned from him that Mark Twain used a Conklin and was in fact a spokesperson for the brand in 1898. I felt my resolve falter when I saw the Conklin Crescent Filler Chased Rose Gold fountain pen.

I prefer it to ten other fountain pens, because it carries its filler in its own stomach, and I can not mislay even by art or intention. Also, I prefer it because it is a profanity saver; it cannot roll off the desk.

I told him what I was looking for and how much I wanted to spend and he showed me a few beautiful examples. In the end I chose the Monteverde Artista Clear Demonstrator with a medium nib; a folding 10x magnifier (on the advice of SBRE Brown); a Pilot Plumix in purple; two Platinum Preppy pens, in blue and green; another box of Pilot Mixable Colour cartridges; and an orange leather Rhodia notebook holder with notebook included, graph style.

I will elaborate on each of these items in Part 2.

I loved all of the displays, especially the Visconti. A wonderful morning spent in the company of pens, ink, and paper, and wonderful people to share it with. If you are in Phoenix and in the Scottsdale area do drop in and say hello. You’ll be glad you did.

Goodies from Wonderpens

Tags

1.1 stub nib, avacado, dc supershow blue, de atramentis, heather violet, kaweco, kaweco sport ink roller demonstrator, leuchtturm, monteverde, monteverde prima, private reserve, rhodia, wonderpens, world mail panel

I’ve been involved with World Mail Panel surveys since March of this year, and the money I earn from them (about $15 a month) has gone into the stuff I write about and love – notebooks, pens, ink, stationery, etc. Recently I spent my earnings on a special order through Wonderpens: the Monteverde Prima fountain pen with a 1.1 stub nib, in Purple Swirl. And on Thursday last the pen arrived, along with a few other goodies.

Amazing packaging – it was like breaking into a safe to remove all the paper and tape. Nothing moved on the trip from Toronto to Calgary that’s for sure.

The great folks at Wonderpens always include a note saying thank you for the order, and a Fortune Teller fish which intrigued my co-workers! They also wrote thank you on the bottom of my invoice.

The first tantalizing glimpse!

Monteverde Prima, Kaweco Sport Ink Roller – Demonstrator, two Leuchtturm notebooks, Rhodia notepad and two ink samples.

So I ordered ink samples of DC Supershow Blue and Avacado (sic) from Private Reserve. Both colours are really bright. I haven’t inked up any pens with either of these inks but I was still able to do an ink swab.

On to the notebooks: two Leuchtturm large softcovers, one lined, one grid. And one black Rhodia notepad in Black, lined, as my present one is getting low.

Next up is the Kaweco Sport Ink Roller – Demonstrator. Yes it’s true: this is not a fountain pen. It is a rollerball. I wanted another rollerball that took fountain pen ink cartridges; the Kaweco is much finer than the Online rollerball I purchased earlier this year.

I find the Kaweco packaging very appealing; it has a vintage feel. Kaweco is a German company; I always thought they were Japanese for some reason.

It’s quite a small pen but when posted it’s comfortable in the hand. The pen came with one ink cartridge whose ink I love; I will have to ask John and Liz (Wonderpens) the name of it. The cartridge snapped in very easily and the pen started up right away, with no skipping so far. Great writer; very smooth. I understand why people rave about Kaweco products; if their rollerballs are this amazing I’m sure their fountain pens will not disappoint. Below is a writing sample on my Rhodia pad (my old one).

Another thing I love about this rollerball is the Demonstrator quality; I really enjoy being able to see the ink cartridge. You can see the colour and how much ink is left.

And now for the star of the show….

Here she is, the Prima in Purple Swirl. The picture makes the pen look more purple than pink, which is misleading, because the pen definitely looks pink in real life, albeit a deep, dark pink. It’s more of a fuscia than a purple but that’s my opinion. Whatever colour she is, she’s beautiful and I love her.

I’m a fan of matching the ink to the barrel colour so I thought the De Atramentis Heather Violet would do the trick.

The pen comes with a glass converter.

Here’s a closeup of that incredible nib. It has 1.1 stamped on the side turned away from the camera. I ordered a special nib for this one – 1.1 stub – which is a first for me, and I LOVE it. I love how it makes my handwriting appear more elegant somehow. Very smooth writer. The ink didn’t start up right away but it only took a few shakes. I really enjoy how this nib shows the shading of the ink.

Trust me: in real life the ink is the EXACT same colour as the barrel but this photo doesn’t illustrate that. Very happy with this pen.

This is a bit blurry but I wanted a photo of my two Primas together. You can really see the detail on the barrel. There are five Primas in the collection: Turquoise, Purple, Green, Tiger Eye (Brown) and Black. I have the Green and the Tiger Eye in my sights next; I don’t think I will buy the Black because it is really different than the other two and I don’t find the design appealing. It’s essentially black with a green line running through it. You can see them here.

So that’s it from Wonderpens this time around. Many thanks to Liz and John for their excellent customer service. Can’t wait to have a big payday from World Mail Panel again….should be around November.