Rants of The Archer

Fountain Pen Review: Sheaffer Taranis

2013-06-19T12:30:00.000+08:00

Sheaffer celebrates their Centennial Year - 2013 - with a fleet of writing instruments including super limited edition pens and two new series, Taranis and Sagaris. Here in the Philippines, both pens are sold at National Bookstore, the official seller of Sheaffer products (pens, inks, pen cases, notebooks) in the country.

Robby da Silva, Sheaffer's Brand Manager at National Bookstore has kindly let me borrow a Taranis fountain pen to review and this pen has really caught my interest. Robby sent me the Stormy Night finish with chrome plate trim, and despite my initial impression of the Taranis based on what I have read about it, this is one elegant-looking pen.

Sheaffer named this pen after Taranis, the Celtic thunder god, to emulate the titan's rule of the heavens, and have a pen that will stand out among other pens. American architect Charles Debbas (inventor of the Ergopen) designed the Taranis, and he successfully combined the classic look and modern details into this pen. The barrel of the Taranis has medium width, with both ends of tapering off neatly to a square. The Sheaffer White Dot® is on the controversial long clip that is similar to the clip design of another Sheaffer pen, the Intensity.

The Taranis is available in two plate trims, chrome and gold, and five different finishes including Stormy Night with Chrome Plate Trim (reviewed here), Icy Gunmetal with Chrome Plate Trim, Sleek Chrome with Chrome Plate Trim, White Lightning with Gold Plate Trim, and Stormy Wine with Gold Plate Trim. It is offered as fountain pen (nibs in fine, medium, or broad), rollerball, and ballpoint.

The Taranis fountain pen is 5.5 inches when capped, and 4.75 inches without the cap. Posted, it is almost 5.8 inches long. Despite the square barrel end, this pen can be posted. It has medium weight at around 35 grams with its cap, and only 26 grams when uncapped, which means that this pen can be used for extended periods of writing.

The section of the Taranis has chrome embedded into it, with SHEAFFER pressed on to the chrome. A lot of fountain pen users do not like this feature of the Taranis, including myself because I find it a little too much, but I realized that the chrome does not make writing uncomfortable at all. It does not get in the way of how my fingers hold on to the section while I write.

Sheaffer offers the Taranis with a semi-hooded stainless steel nib available in fine, medium, or broad. The pen on this review has a medium nib, but I find it too narrow, and I assume that is due to the small and thin nib of the pen. It writes smoothly, but it's not as wet as I want it to be. If I get one for myself in the future, I will definitely have it tweaked to the wetness I am used to with my other modern Sheaffer fountain pens.

The Taranis can be filled with ink using a Sheaffer converter, or cartridges. I filled this pen with Sheaffer Skrip Black, and I like the narrow lines that this medium nib produced. Again, it writes smoothly, but not as wet as my taste demands.

The Sheaffer Taranis is a well-balanced, elegant fountain pen for anyone. It's an eye catcher on any shirt pocket or pen wrap because of its clip, and a conversation starter when uncapped because of its unique grip section. I like the Taranis, but I wish the nib would be a bit wider, bigger, and wetter.

The Taranis pens (fountain pens, rollerball, ballpoint) are available in the Philippines at National Bookstore branches with the following prices:

Stormy Night (chrome plate trim): FP PhP 2,700 / RB PhP 2,520 / BP PhP 2,520
Icy Gunmetal (chrome plate trim): FP PhP 3,060 / RB PhP 2,700 / BP PhP 2,700
Sleek Chrome (chrome plate trim): FP PhP 2,700 / RB PhP 2,520 / BP PhP 2,520
White Lightning (gold plate trim): FP/RB/BP PhP 10,800 each
Stormy Wine (gold plate trim): FP/RB/BP PhP 11,500 each

Sheaffer Skrip ink in bottles and cartridges are also available at National Bookstore branches.

Size comparison: The Taranis (middle pen) with my other modern Sheaffer fountain pens.
On top: Sheaffer 300 Straight Line Chased Chrome. Bottom: Sheaffer Prelude® Black Laqué.

I found that the Taranis fits perfectly into the single leather pen case that my friend Rhona Carantes made for me. For more of her lovely leather creations, check her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/rhonacarantes?fref=ts.

Fountain Pen Review: 2013 Limited Edition Lamy Safari Neon

2013-06-11T18:00:00.000+08:00

I was not happy when I heard that Lamy's Safari color for 2013 is not purple but a vivid, bright, and intense neon. I was thinking that if I ever get one, what would I do with it? But Lamy always proves me wrong, and I instantly liked the neon Safari fountain pen the moment I saw it in its box.

NEON is Lamy's limited edition Safari color for 2013, and it is available as fountain pen, rollerball pen, or ballpoint pen. I received the fountain pen in this review at no charge from Lamy's authorized and exclusive distributor in the Philippines, Times Trading Company.

Neon Lamy Safari fountain pen comes in a self covered plastic box, and inside is a soft plastic clamp that holds the pen in place. The bed inside the box is felt, ensuring that the pen will not be scratched.

This Safari pen is truly neon! It is bright and intense, and that made it a bit hard for me to shoot photos for this review. I had to reshoot my exposures several times to ensure that I will get one where the pen doesn't appear to be glowing.

Lamy Safari pens are student pens, promoted for extensive use in school. For many fountain pen users, the Safari becomes their starter fountain pens, but these are made from sturdy ABSP plastic – the same material used in Lego blocks and inner walls of refrigerators – a thermoplastic used in many products for its hardness, gloss, toughness, and electrical insulation. The Safari fountain pen was first introduced during the 1980 Frankfurt exhibition, and has been in regular production since then. Wolfgang Fabian designed the pen.

The neon Lamy Safari's major parts, as with the other Safari fountain pens, include the barrel, section with converter, and cap. Safari fountain pens measure 5.5 inches while capped, 5 inches uncapped, and quite long at 6.5 inches when posted. It's a light pen, and anyone can use it for extended periods of writing. The cap with the oversized chrome-coated stainless steel clip is 2.5 inches long, the length from the nib to converter is 4.6 inches, while the barrel measures about 3 inches.

Lamy's proprietary piston operated Z24 converters are used to fill the Safari fountain pen with ink from a bottle, but the T10 ink cartridges are also available for use on this pen.

Lamy Safari fountain pens and rollerball pens have cap buttons, a truly unique feature of the series. Rollerball pens have a line, and fountain pens have a cross (or x) sign in their cap buttons. The previous two years' fountain pens (Aquamarine, Green) had cap buttons in the same color used in their caps and barrels, but the neon Safari has a black cap button similar to that of 2008's limited edition lime green, and those of Safaris in regular production (glossy white, glossy black, matte black, blue, red, yellow).

The changes in Safari fountain pens' cap buttons through the years. Lamy reissued pink and orange Safaris recently, and their cap buttons are of the same color as their caps and barrels, too.

Some users dislike Lamy Safari fountain pen’s triangular grip, because they find it uncomfortable and annoying. This feature, however, is designed to make writing easier – it is meant for users to have a firm and secure grip on the pen. Near the end of the section is the anti-slipping brake to prevent a user’s fingers from slipping into the nib while writing. I do not find the triangular grip uncomfortable at all. I actually do not notice it when I'm using my Safari pens.

The best feature of Lamy Safari fountain pens is the interchangeability of their nibs. A Safari fountain pen uses the same feed and nib as those on the Lamy Vista, Al-Star, Joy, Nexx, and Studio. The default nib on Safari fountain pens bought in the Philippines is medium, which is my preference, but other nib sizes are available: extra-fine, fine, broad, and left-handed. It can also be fitted with an italic nib ranging from 1.1mm to 1.9mm since the Safari shares the same section, feed, nib, and cap designs with that of the Joy, Lamy’s own set of calligraphy pens. I have seen a yellow Safari fountain pen fitted with a 1.9mm nib used as a highlighter pen. I will do the same conversion and make my own highlighter pen!

The Safari fountain pen’s barrel has an ink window that allows me to check on my pen’s ink level without having to screw out the barrel. Towards the end, neatly etched in clean, sharp lines is the Lamy logo.

I flushed this pen before filling it with ink to ensure that there is no factory residue in it. After filling, the pen wrote instantly and smoothly. It did not even skip as I wrote on my Banditapple notebook. I filled my neon Lamy Safari fountain pen with J. Herbin's 1670 Bleu Ocean. I used a dark ink for this bright pen to achieve some contrast. I wrote the quote with the default medium nib on my pen. The writeup below was written with a medium stub nib done by my friend Jose Reinoso.

This neon Safari is an awesome addition to Lamy's growing line of fountain pens. It feels good in my hand when I write with it because it is light, but sturdy at the same time. And it comes in many different colors! My green fountain pen from last year still looks new and now I have the 2013 neon Safari in my hands. Now it makes me dream again of a purple Safari. But don't let that keep anyone from getting one of this impossibly impossible to ignore pens. Go get yours now!

All of my limited edition Lamy Safari colors. From top: Lime Green (2008), Orange (2009), Pink (2010), Aquamarine (2011), Green (2012), and Neon (2013).

Which pen is the brightest of them all?

Lamy Safari pens are widely available in reputable pen sellers worldwide. For a global search of Lamy sellers worldwide, check this link.

In the Philippines, the neon Lamy Safari (and other Lamy pens and ink) is made available by Times Trading Company, through their kiosks at National Bookstore branches around Metro Manila. Lamy pens are also available at Scribe Writing Essentials, a specialty store offering fountain pens, inks, and paper products, located at Eastwood Mall in Quezon City. A Lamy Safari (including the neon pen) fountain pen sells for PhP1,499.75 (~USD35).

It's Carnival Time!

2013-05-07T00:00:00.000+08:00

It's Carnival time once again at Rants of The Archer! Everyone, welcome to the May edition of the Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper!

Pens

Millie Logica of Planet Millie presents a review of the lovely Platinum Kanazawa-Haku fountain pen with cherry blossom.

Azizah Asgarali of Gourmet Pens reviews three fountain pens: green Pilot 78G, Faber-Castell Ambition Pearwood, and Levenger True Writer Kyoto.

Photo grab from Gourmet Pens.

My friend and fellow member of FPN-Philippines Leigh Reyes featured the Sailor Nagahara Retirement Commemorative Takenuri fountain pen in her blog, http://www.leighreyes.com/

Photo grab from leighreyes.com.

Notebooks

TonyB presents Reporter's Notebooks Are Perfect For Everyday Carry posted at Tiger Pens Blog.

travisthetrout presents To Do List Notebook posted at Notes in a Book.

Azizah Asgarali presents a review of the Midori Traveler's Notebook STAR Edition - Passport Size.

Photo grab from Gourmet Pens.

Sandra Strait presents Review of the Midori B6 Bee Side Spiralbound Envelope Notebook posted at Life Imitates Doodles.

Photo grab from Life Imitates Doodles.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of pen, pencil and paper using the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.

Review: Unlimited Notebook by Rhodia

2013-04-25T19:00:00.000+08:00

When I received these Rhodia UNLIMITED notebooks that Karen Doherty sent to me last year, I asked her why they're called UNLIMITED. Karen said the name UNLIMITED refers more to a lifestyle with no limits on activities or ideas which could be noted in a stylish pocket notebook. And I thought she's right, these notebooks are aptly named UNLIMITED. This post will tell you why.

I've always preferred big notebooks and pads because I could write more in bigger pages and they take longer to run out of pages. They are heavier, though, and when I saw the pocket-sized Rhodia UNLIMITED notebooks, I immediately took one as my 'pen and ink test notebook.'

Rhodia's UNLIMITED notebooks come in pocket size only, measuring 3.5 x 5.5 inches, just like the size of a small index card. These notebooks are available in black or orange covers, with ruled/lined or grid/graph inside pages. What I really liked about this notebook is the cover which is not just ordinary laminated board, but a soft, velvety material called Verso soft touch.

Another feature that I liked about Rhodia UNLIMITED notebooks is their round page corners. I have always preferred round corners on my notebooks because they do not dig into my palms when I write, and I do not see frayed corners as the notebook gets used.

A bicolor (black with three orange stripes) elastic strap keeps this pocket notebook tidy, a feature that I do not often see in pocket notebooks available in the market. The strap is held tight by small grommets in the notebook's back cover.

What's clever with the elastic strap is that it covers the grommets while keeping the notebook closed. I just worry that these grommets may create bumps in the notebook pages, especially if I am near its last few pages.

Most pocket notebooks are either sewn or stapled in the spine, but Rhodia's UNLIMITED notebook has its pages glued to the spine. I tried pulling on the pages to test if they will fall off the binding but they did not. The glued binding in this notebook is definitely durable, but it prevents the notebook from lying flat.

Both ruled/lined and grid/graph notebooks are perforated so users can easily tear a page off when needed. This feature may be welcome to some, but I hardly tear a page off my notebooks, so I don't see this feature as useful to me. I still think it's thoughtful of Rhodia to include perforations in a pocket notebook.

These pocket notebooks have 60 sheets (120 pages) of 80gsm white paper. Both ruled/lined (right) and grid/graph (left) notebooks have double ruled margins at the top of the pages.

I noticed that the ruling of the UNLIMITED notebooks is gray instead of the usual purple used in most Rhodia pads. I prefer this color because it is more subdued and does not compete with the bright colors of my fountain pen inks.

Just like all the Rhodia notebooks that I've tried before, the 80gsm smooth white paper of the UNLIMITED is perfect for fountain use. I tested my daily writers on a page (left) - most of them have either medium or broad nibs filled with wet and saturated inks - and the paper held up well. Feathering has not been a concern for me when I'm using Rhodia paper, although I noticed that inks took longer time to dry.

I also tested other pens on the UNLIMITED notebook with ruled/lined pages, and again, the paper held up well. I tested a rollerball, several gel pens, felt-tipped pens, a ballpoint and highlighter, and Sharpie, of course.

The photo below shows the back sides of my pen and ink test pages. There is some bleed in the fountain pen and ink test page, and I attribute that to the medium nibs on my pen, and the BB stub nib on my Pelikan M205 filled with Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue at that time (bleed on top of the page). I believe it's understandable that wide nibs and saturated inks create messy show through and ugly bleeds, but for most of my medium nibbed pens, the paper held up well. The rest of the pens in the other test page did not bleed at all, except for the Ultra Fine Point Sharpie which bleeds on any paper.

Overall, Rhodia's UNLIMITED notebook is an excellent pocket notebook to use. It has a unique cover which comes in two colors, the elastic strap is tight and keeps the notebook together, the pages have rounded corners, and the paper is excellent for any pen type. It doesn't have a back pocket or page marker, but for such a small notebook, who needs those? I've been using my orange UNLIMITED notebook for pen and ink tests and I'm happy with it. It's a wonderful pocket notebook that can be used for different lists, fits in small pockets and bags, and it's a Rhodia. Why don't you get one for yourself?

The Rhodia UNLIMITED notebooks used in this review are from Exaclair, Inc. through Karen Doherty. The pens and inks used in this review are from my personal collection.

My Pens and Inks, March 2013

2013-03-14T17:55:00.001+08:00

The first 12 pens are what's in my pen wrap at work today. I saw the two Parker Vectors in my pen cup, so I included them here. I have other inked pens at home, but these below are my daily treats at work.

Love Orange Indien! And Sapphire Blue, too! Perhaps I'll write a review of that bright, happy blue ink soon.

Review: Daycraft's Envelope Folder

2013-02-23T18:00:00.000+08:00

Daycraft, a Hong Kong-based stationery and paper company, has been sending me notebook and diary samples to review for some time now. I have reviewed their Signature, Flower Wow, and Juicy notebooks, and though they are not meant for full fountain pen use, I still liked them very much. Daycraft's products are elegant, fun, and very contemporary. Shortly after the company was formed, their product selection expanded to include diaries, sketchbooks, and accessories.

Daycraft has three collections, namely: Signature, Fun and Funky, and Fresh and Collectible. I like the Signature collection the most because of its matching diaries and notebooks, and the newly-released range of accessories, including the Signature Envelope Folder.

I received the two-toned red A4 Envelope Folder and I have to say that it is beautiful. Available in five colors, it is made from Italian polyurethane or PU, a synthetic material that has the combined elasticity of rubber and toughness of metal. The material is smooth to the touch, but thick and strong enough to hold the documents inside the pocket.

Daycraft's logo is neatly pressed at the back part of the Envelope Folder.

The inner flap is cross-stitched for strength and durability, and the black thread is a beautiful accent to the flap.

The Envelope Folder's flap can hold 20 sheets of regular 70gsm bond. Here, I tried including a thin notebook and everything stayed neatly in place. This Envelope Folder is perfect for my presentation papers, case abstracts, and other documents.

Daycraft is now offering more products beyond their notebooks. Their accessories collection has a wide variety of color coordinated products including folding trays, iPhone pockets, iPad pockets, moneywraps, card pockets, desk calendars, and the Handy Pick Holder, a distant cousin of my beloved Midori Traveler's Notebook. If you're looking for tools to keep organized, visit Daycraft's website at http://www.daycraft.com.hk/.

The A4 Envelope Folder used in this review is courtesy of Daycraft, through their Retail and Marketing Manager, Mr. Foreal Lee.

Notebook Review: Write-Now by Poppin

2013-02-09T17:00:00.000+08:00

I received this red medium Poppin Write-Now notebook when the brand has just been launched. That's a shameful two years ago. I read about a notebook giveaway and I signed up to receive a sample to review here. Meredith Zenkel, Poppin's Director of Public Relations, sent the notebook to my friend in the US who then sent it to me here in the Philippines.

As a fountain pen user, there are two types of notebooks (or should I say paper?) for me: fountain pen friendly notebooks, and the not-so-fountain-pen-friendly ones. When I received the Write-Now notebook, I fell in love with its red soft cover, but cringed when I saw that ink bled profusely to the next page when I wrote. But I still kept it and made plans to write a review but I never wrote one. Shame on me.

Last month, while I was sick at home, I re-organized my notebooks and came upon the Poppin beauty still wrapped in its original plastic. I took it out and tried some of my inked pens on a page. I felt bad that again, there were the same nasty bleed and ugly feathering I saw before. But... When I tried my Parker 45 inked with Pelikan Blue Black, I was dumbfounded. I noticed that it did not feather on Poppin's paper. And... it did not bleed!!! Hurray! I can now use my Poppin notebook!

Apart from the not-so-fountain-pen-friendly Poppin paper, there's a lot to love with this medium Write-Now notebook. It measures 5 x 8.25 inches, and has a lovely, bright, happy red cover with Poppin's logo etched in the lower right corner.

The gray elastic closure is a happy contrast to the brightness of the cover. It's not too tight to cramp the notebook with its soft cover, but fits just right to hold the pages together. The gray elastic closure of Poppin's red notebooks has been changed to red now.

The Write-Now notebooks are thread-bound for flexibility and durability. Thread-binding ensures that the pages will not simply fall off. Below photo shows the signatures of this notebook bound together, and its gray ribbon bookmark.

One more feature to love with the Write-Now notebook is its round corners. Generally, I prefer notebooks with round corners because they are easier to handle. No sharp corner pokes or scratches, and no page corner curls. I understand that not all notebooks are created equal with round corners, so I bought a round corner cutter for notebooks with sharp, pointed corners.

Like most of my bound notebooks, the Write-Now has a back pocket to hold receipts, notes, cards, etc. But I have never used notebook back pockets for such purposes because once I fill the pocket with bits of paper, it starts to bulge, and the uncomfortable bump gets in the way of my writing. This is a useful feature, I just don't like using it.

Because of its binding method, this notebook lies flat when it is open. It has 192 pages of ruled acid and lignin free ivory-colored paper. But unlike most ruled notebooks, the inside pages of Write-Now are printed with boxes on the upper part of the page, and vertical lines in either outer left and right sides. These features make the Write-Now a very useful tool in record keeping.

As mentioned earlier in this review, I ran an initial pen and ink test on this notebook when I received it, but perhaps due to its thin paper, almost all of the ink I tested feathered...

...and bled. Two ink types did not feather then, but the rest bled heavily. I understand that this notebook wasn't even made for fountain pens, and that there are people who use rollerballs, ballpoints, or pencils and find it perfect. But I use fountain pens for everyday writing, so when a notebook comes to me for review, my tests are done using my ink tanks.

BUT...

There is a way I could use Poppin's notebooks! I need only to find the right pen and ink combination as I did when I tested my Pelikan BB-filled Parker 45. I know I can also use the old iron gall Lamy Blue Black on this notebook but I try to avoid that ink because of its corrosive properties.

Pelikan Blue Black behaved well in Poppin paper, with only a tiny bit of almost unnoticeable feathering. The ink also dried fast on this notebook's paper and that's good to know because ink dry time affects my writing speed. I know I wouldn't need to wait for an entire page to dry before I could proceed.

Pelikan BB did not feather on this notebook's paper and did not bleed, too. There is show-through, and the tiny dots visible on this side of the paper are due to my heavy handwriting. But whatever, this is happy enough for me because I know that there exists a pen/nib-ink combination that is nearly perfect for this notebook, and perhaps for my other not-so-fountain-pen-friendly notebooks as well.

As I said, there's a lot to love with this notebook. It has a lovely, bright, happy red cover; round corners; thread-bound; nice elastic closure; and an almost fountain pen-friendly paper. I'm happier with my Poppin notebook now! Thanks Meredith! (And sorry for the late review.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Poppin is a great company with an amazing tagline: work happy. They offer personalized school and office products (notebooks and iPad sleeves), lots of items for organization (storage boxes, folios, binders, inboxes, trays), furniture (chairs, desks, cabinets), and tons of pen and paper combinations! They also promote shopping by color for a heavenly color fix, and offers a design-a-desk contest, a fun play to dress up your own desk. They say they are a small company with big dreams, and they're here to give us products that will make work happy. Amen to that.

We can like Poppin in Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/poppin), follow in Twitter (https://twitter.com/poppin) and check their weekly pins at Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/poppin/).

The Write-Now notebook used in this review is through the kindness of Poppin. The red Parker 45 and all the inks used to test the notebook are from my personal collection.

Ink Review: Sailor Jentle Grenade

2013-02-03T02:24:00.000+08:00

O drops of me! trickle, slow drops,
candid, from me falling — drip, bleeding drops,

~ From "Trickle, Drops" by Walt Whitman

One of the joys from using fountain pens is the wide choice of ink colors for everyone to choose from. When I switched to full fountain pen use, I realized that there wasn't just one red or blue ink that I could use—there are a lot! In the last four years, I have built a collection of fountain pen inks including 13 red-based ink colors, and I'm still craving for more!

When Scribe Writing Essentials launched the arrival of Sailor products in the Philippines last September, I knew I had to test their ink offerings, and what better color to start the Sailor ink taste test—I chose red! Scribe sent me a bottle of Sailor Jentle Grenade to review, and I tested it on two different pens with regular and italic nibs, and on different paper types. Grenade did not disappoint, it gave me a blast!

My bottle of Grenade holds 50ml (1.7oz) of water-based ink and costs Php695 from Scribe Writing Essentials (for Philippine readers of this blog), while Goulet Pens (for international readers) sells it for US$12.50. This ink is a bit expensive, but it's worth the price.

Each bottle of Sailor Jentle inks comes with a plastic tube that serves as an internal reservoir to make filling pens easier. When the plastic tube is empty, just turn the bottle upside down and then right up again to let the ink into the plastic tube. Just make sure that the bottle's cap is tight and secure before flipping it to avoid spilling ink. The plastic tube is helpful especially when the ink level in the bottle is very low.

Grenade is a deep, dark red/purple/burgundy ink that is highly saturated, but has good lubrication and flows very well. It is smooth on all the paper samples I tried, and the shading is just amazing! While wet, it appears as dark red, but becomes dark purplish red when it dries. It is not difficult to read and looks beautiful either on white or non-white paper samples (ecru, beige, etc.)

For a saturated ink, Grenade dries fast (8mins) on the 90gsm Canson sketchpad and Kokuyo paper, but a little slower (12mins) on Rhodia paper from the Reverse Notebook I used in the written review above.

I did not have feathering and bleed through issues in the three paper types I mentioned, but Grenade bled heavily when I tried it on 70gsm copy paper.

Grenade shows unique shading when written from a wide-nibbed pen. The sample above shows Grenade (upper swatch) with J. Herbin's Rouge Hematite (lower swatch), or 1670 Anniversary ink, the only ink that I can compare Grenade to, for obvious reasons. Grenade has dark green shading, in a similar way to the 1670's gold flecks. The green shading is the reason I chose Grenade over Epinard.

Well, my red ink collection is growing, and though Grenade is only the first Sailor ink I reviewed, it is my 14th red ink. It will surely be on my top five favorite red inks because of its deep, dark purplish red color and amazing shading. Grenade is an excellent ink and I will get more of it when I finish the bottle.

Sailor Jentle ink is available in nine colors: black, blue, blue-black, ultra marine, sky high, epinard, grenade, apricot, and pêche. Sailor also offers two pigment inks, Kiwaguro (black) and Seiboku (blue-black), both quick drying and water proof inks.

The bottle of Sailor Jentle Grenade used in this review is courtesy of Scribe Writing Essentials, the leading contributor of high-end reading and writing accesories in the Philippines. The red Lamy Safari and Rhodia notebook are from my personal collection.

Review: J. Herbin Scented Inks

2012-11-03T23:15:00.000+08:00

A few months ago, I received a small box from Karen Doherty, Exaclair USA's Vice President for Marketing. Inside the box was a large Rhodia dotPad and a set of J. Herbin's Les Subtiles (The Subtle) inks. I wasn't aware then that those were scented inks and just stowed them away in my ink cabinet. When I rediscovered the set a few weeks ago, and realized that I have five bottles of scented ink, I knew that I had to write a review about them.

The J. Herbin website says that these scented inks are made from hydrosols (floral water) of rose, orange, lavender, apple, and violets. The hydrosols are from Grasse, France, a Provencal town long associated with the perfume industry and famous for its floral scents. These inks are safe for fountain pens as they are naturally scented and do not contain pigments.

The set has five inks with different scents and colors. Green apple for Vert/Verte (green), lavender for Bleue (blue), rose for Rouge (red), orange for Ambre (orange/brown), and violet for Violette (purple). The inks are presented in clear 10ml bottles with shiny, silver metal caps. These are also available in individual 30ml semi-frosted bottles.

The J. Herbin Les Subtiles sampler set, clockwise from top: Vert/Verte, Bleue, Rouge, Ambre, and Violette.

Vert/Verte. The green ink in this set is scented green apple but smells sweet like green apple Jelly Belly candies. It has a vibrant green color which is very similar to J. Herbin's Vert Pré — a happy, refreshing green that is not too yellow or too blue. In a wide and wet nib, it is a serious dark green, but changes into bright, highlighter green in a fine nib. I don't have many green inks, and I like this one, I will definitely include this in my rotation.

Bleue. An ink set is never complete without a blue, right? This set's blue ink is advertised to be lavender-scented, but I think its scent is a bit strong and quite pungent. When dry, this ink looks somewhat similar to J. Herbin's Bleu Myosotis, a light, grayish blue with hints of purple. I like this blue ink, but the strong scent put me off when I wrote using it. I know I will use it later, but to keep my pens from its strong scent, I will probably use it with my glass dip pen only.

Rouge. The red ink in this set is rose-scented and my favorite among the five for its scent and color. This red ink has a classic rose scent that reminds me so much of my late grandmother's perfume which she used to spray on me, when as a skinny seven-year old, I joined other girls during Flores de Mayo and offered flowers to the Virgin Mary. Whenever I smell this ink, I am taken back to those hot and humid days of May years ago. This ink's scent is not the only reason why it is my favorite. I am partial to red inks and this one became an instant favorite. It looks so much like J. Herbin's Rouge Opera, with the same deep and intense red that I fell in love with a couple of years back. I will definitely keep and use this ink.

Ambre. Next to Rouge, Ambre is also my favorite in terms of color, but I do not like its scent. Ambre is the orange/brown ink in this set and is orange-scented, but like the lavender-scented Bleue, I found the scent a bit strong and overpowering. The color is almost exactly like the brownish-yellow J. Herbin Ambre de Birmanie. This ink also shades well, and probably the only ink in this set to shade as beautifully.

Violette. This is the purple ink in this set and has the next best scent after the rose-scented Rouge. Scented like violet flowers, this ink has a very pleasant and delicate scent. The color, though, is very bring for me. It still looks lighter than most purple inks in the J. Herbin line, and I will definitely keep and use this ink next to my other purples.

All the five inks in this set wrote well when I tested them. They didn't have any flow or drying issues and all colors looked bright, vibrant, and happy in the 90g Clairefontaine GraF it sketch paper. Among the five inks, only Violette had minor feathering, while the rest behaved well. At first I worried that the scents will bother me, as I am sensitive to scents and perfumes. Surprisingly, they did not bother me at all as their scents are strong only while inside their respective bottles. As soon as they dry out on paper, their scents do not linger anymore.

I love these scented inks from J. Herbin, and I will use them to write to my friends and in my diary. I only wish that the 10ml bottles in the sampler pack had labels in them to indicate their colors (and scents?) and had plastic caps that are easier to twist than the thin metal ones used on them.

Aside from the Les Subtiles set, J. Herbin inks have other ink colors, including a set of their regular 30 ink colors. These water-based inks are non-toxic, have neutral pH and manufactured using natural dyes. A printable PDF of J. Herbin fountain pen ink swatches are available for download here.

The sample set of Les Subtiles ink reviewed here is courtesy of Exaclair, Inc. through Karen Doherty, and also the Clairefontaine GraF it Sketch pad.

Fountain Pen Review: Lamy Safari 2012 Limited Edition Green

2012-06-14T12:15:00.000+08:00

When I started using fountain pens in 2007, I was like any other newbie. I hoarded. I had no clear idea of what I really want and got pens I could just easily get. Lately, though, I decided to focus on pens that work well for me, rather than settle on what I just like. I let go of some pens, and now maintain a few sets that include my Lamy Safari fountain pens. I have 14 Lamy fountain pens as of this writing, and my most recent is the 2012 limited edition Green Safari.

Green is Lamy Safari’s 2012 limited edition color and is available as ballpoint, rollerball, or fountain pen. Lamy's authorized distributor in the Philippines, Times Trading, through the kindness of Charlene Ngo, sent me a fountain pen to review. When the pen was delivered to my office on a Monday morning, a lot of people were in awe of this vibrant, lovely pen.

The Green Lamy Safari fountain pen comes in a self-covered plastic box. You push the sides away from each other and the pen inside the box is shown, held securely in place by a plastic clamp. This box is so Lamy, don’t you think? It is simple, with Lamy’s logo as its only embellishment, but very functional. I like the plastic clamp because while it holds the pen in place, it does not scratch it at all.

Lamy Safari pens are made from sturdy ABS plastic, a common thermoplastic widely used in a variety of products. It is also used in Lego blocks and the inner walls of our refrigerators! The first Lamy Safari fountain pen, the Savannah, was introduced during the 1980 Frankfurt exhibition. It was designed by Wolfgang Fabian and the Mannheim Development Group under the direction of Prof. Bernt Spiegel. Lamy has kept the Safari in regular production since then. To read more about the Safari's history, visit Lamy's website here.

Below is the Green Safari fountain pen’s major parts: cap, section with converter, and barrel. The Green Lamy Safari fountain pen measures 5.5 inches while capped, 5 inches without the cap, and 6.5 inches when posted. It is a light weight pen, and I can use it for extended periods of writing. The cap with the oversized chrome-coated stainless steel clip is 2.5 inches long, the length from the nib to converter is 4.6 inches, while the barrel measures about 3 inches.

Lamy Safari pens, especially the rollerball and fountain pens, have cap buttons, a unique feature of this line. Rollerball pens have a line, and fountain pens have a cross sign in their cap buttons. The Green fountain pen’s cap button is green like the rest of its parts, though not as glossy, and similar to last year’s limited edition pen (Aquamarine) and the re-issued pink Safari. It is different from the black cap buttons of Safaris in regular production (glossy white, glossy black, matte black, blue, red, yellow).

Here is the Green Safari together with other limited edition Lamy Safari fountain pens in my collection. Farthest right is the earliest pen in the pack, the Lime Green Safari issued in 2008 with the black cap button and cross. Next to it are the Crème Orange (2009) and Pink (2010) Safari fountain pens that have simple dots as cap tops in the same barrel and cap colors, instead of the usual cross on black. The two pens to the left are the Aquamarine (2011) and Green (2012) Safari fountain pens. Last year's group photo is here.

Many fountain pen users frowned at Lamy Safari fountain pen’s triangular grip, finding it uncomfortable and annoying. The triangular grip in the pen’s section however, is designed to make writing easier – it is meant for users to have a firm and secure grip on the pen. Near the end of the section is the anti-slipping brake to prevent a user’s fingers to slip into the nib while writing. I do not find the triangular grip uncomfortable at all. I actually do not notice it!

The Safari fountain pen’s barrel has an ink window that allows me to check on my pen’s ink level without having to screw out the barrel.

Lamy’s proprietary Z24 converters are used to fill the Safari with ink from a bottle. T10 Cartridges are also available, but a Z24 converter comes when you buy a new pen. A pair of nipples on the converter’s sides fit snugly into the small grooves in the upper part of the pen’s section. They fit perfectly so that the converter will not easily turn inside the barrel or be accidentally pulled out of the section. Photos showing more details of the Z24 converter nipples are available here.

The other reason why I love my Safari fountain pens is the interchangeability of their nibs. My Green Safari fountain pen uses the same feed and nib as those on the Lamy Vista, Al-Star, Joy, Nexx, and Studio. The default nib on Safari fountain pens bought in the Philippines is medium, which is my preference, but other nib sizes are available: extra-fine, fine, broad, and left-handed. It can also be fitted with an italic nib ranging from 1.1mm to 1.9mm since the Safari shares the same section, feed, nib, and cap designs with that of the Joy, Lamy’s own set of calligraphy pens. I have seen yellow Safaris fitted with 1.5mm or 1.9mm nibs to be used as highlighter pens. Lamy’s nibs tend to write wide, but they write wet and smooth.

As an old practice with new fountain pens, I flushed this one before filling it to ensure that there is no factory residue or ink on it. After filling it, the pen wrote instantly, and did not need any strong pressure to start writing. It kept writing very smoothly and did not even skip as I filled a page in my pocket Venzi notebook.

Below is my writing sample of this vibrant Lamy Safari Green fountain pen. The ink I used here is an equally vibrant green ink, J. Herbin's Vert Pré.

I love how I can easily swap nibs in my Safari pens. When I received this Green Safari fountain pen, it was just in time for my 'Pentangelized' Lamy stub nib to arrive. It was a joy to have the stub nib on my new pen, as it is so much different from a regular round nib. Pentageli is a dear friend and fellow fountain pen user/collector Jose Reinoso. He is based in Manila, Philippines, and started doing nib work as special favors to his friends. He now accepts minor pen repair work and nib grinding jobs. He fixes barrel cracks using empty shell casings, and has amazingly converted a TWSBI 530 extra fine nib to a juicy, wet flexible! Photos of his works can be found here, here, and here.

Many followers frowned at Lamy's choice of color for 2012 because two green Safaris have already been issued previously: the original Safari (Savannah) and 2008's lime green. I only have the lime green fountain pen for comparison, and I think the new Green Safari is a beautiful addition to Lamy's growing stable of pens. Next to the new Green, 2008's lime green fountain pen looks more yellow than lime.

This Green Lamy Safari is another cool addition to Lamy's growing line of fountain pens. A beginner's fountain pen, with others even calling it a student pen, this plastic pen actually feels very good in my hand because it is light, but strong and firm at the same time. And it comes in many different colors! My Aquamarine pen still feels new and now I have the 2012 Green Safari in my hands. It makes me dream of the 2013 Safari color. Purple! I want purple! A purple pen would be a nice addition to the pens below, right?

Lamy Safari pens are widely available in reputable pen sellers worldwide. For a global search of Lamy sellers worldwide, follow this link.

In the Philippines, the Green Lamy Safari (and other Lamy pens and ink) is made available by Times Trading Company, through their increasing number of kiosks at National Bookstore outlets around Metro Manila. Lamy pens are also available at Scribe Writing Essentials, a specialty store offering unique paper products and writing tools located at Eastwood Mall in Quezon City. A Lamy Safari (including the Green pen) fountain pen sells for PhP1,499.75 (~USD35).

Notebook Review: Black Ocean 1.2 by Whitelines

2012-06-10T21:14:00.000+08:00

I'm still here! And I'm back after three months with a notebook from Sweden - Whitelines! When I started using fountain pens and writing reviews here, I read a lot about Whiteline's products and I have always wanted to try them. A Twitter DM finally helped, and after an exchange of emails with Whitelines CEO Johanna Ragnartz and Product and Brand Manager Anna Scherp, a package was on its way to me.

The notebook I am reviewing is the A5 Black Ocean 1.2, one of Whitelines' top of the line notebooks. The Black Ocean's front and back covers are made of sturdy board encased in a smooth, rich, rubber-like black material. It is soft to touch, like velvet, but delicate, too. If you are as fussy and finicky with your stuff like I am, the fingerprints and lint you will leave on the notebook covers will surely bother you. The cover also bears a debossed, unobtrusive Whitelines logo on its lower left portion.

Whitelines offers the Black Ocean notebook with either lined/lined or isometric/lined pages. Notebooks with lined/lined pages have the signature Whitelines orange for their inside covers and ribbon markers. The orange inside front cover is bright and happy, and has a single line of text that says, "Push it forward."

The inside back cover still has the happy orange theme, with a full page of text about creativity and how one can "push it forward". Notice something missing? Yes, the Black Ocean does not have a pocket in its back cover, a feature that I am happy not to be seeing because I do not like the bumps that these back pockets create in my notebooks' pages.

Black Ocean has 80 sheets of A5 (5.8 x 8.3 inches) white-lined 80g paper in Flexo binding. This binding keeps the pages secure and allows the notebook to easily lay flat when open.

A black elastic strap keeps the Black Ocean's pages tidy. The notebook covers and its pages have pointed corners, a feature that I do not like very much because these sharp corners sometimes cut into my fingers and palm when I write. But this minor issue can be easily remedied by my mini corner cutter, a nifty tool that easily makes pointed page corners round.

Did I say this notebook lies flat when you open it? It does. And I like that feature in any hard bound notebook. The Black Ocean's 80g paper is not the usual bright white or cream, or beige, but light gray. I think Whitelines used gray so the white lines in their notebooks' pages stand out. Field Notes did the same thing in their Northerly notebooks last year. Whitelines said this about the unique lines in their notebooks: "The lines support your writing and drawing without the distractions from conventional dark lines and the background disappears when you copy, scan or fax." I tried to copy a sample page, and true enough, the white lines disappeared! They should have included photograph in there, too! I had such a hard time shooting photos of the notebook pages because the white lines disappear in them! The photos below of my pen and ink test pages do not show the white lines. I needed to adjust lighting to get a photo that will at least show the white lines, such as below.

See? I told you the white lines disappear in the photos! I excitedly tried a page to test its friendliness to fountain pens that I regularly use. Most of my pens have medium to broad nibs, and I usually see them bleed and feather on a lot of paper types most of the time.

And the results? All pen and ink combinations bled, except for the Esterbrook and Pelikan Blue Black duo. This broke my heart, really. Through the years, I have accumulated dozens of notebooks, in my search for fountain pen friendly ones. I like the Black Ocean and would have been very proud to carry it around with me, but I have already established a rule (to avoid accumulating more!) that if a notebook cannot take fountain pens, then it goes to one of my nieces, or to my friends. But I was not letting go. Not yet.

I kept the Black Ocean for future review because I did not know what to do with it. Then an interesting discussion about iron gall ink in my local fountain pen collectors' board caught me. Interesting to me, but frightening for my pens. But what the heck, I want one! There are two available iron gall inks in the Philippines: Lamy Blue Black (Lamy BB, as I love to call it) and Mont Blanc Midnight Blue (MB MB, playfully). A search through all of Lamy's kiosks in Metro Manila for this 'endangered' ink (Lamy has changed the formula for the bottled blue black ink since last year) yielded a bottle, and my first test for the ink was on the Black Ocean! After writing my first sentence, I checked the back of the page. Now, could I just take back all the notebooks that I have given away?

After almost giving up on this notebook, I was given the chance to keep and use it. Now I am thinking of how I can make use of it. Probably in school, or at the office. I am always thrilled to see people taking second (and third) glances at my notebooks.

Part of the Whitelines Black Ocean that I received was a request from Anna that I take a photograph of the package when I receive it. Here it is, Anna. It got through quite a lot from Sweden to the Philippines, but it made through! Thank you, Anna! Thank you, Johanna!

(Don't you just love the stamps in this envelope?)

To buy a Black Ocean, and see the rest of Whitelines' products, visit the Whitelines Shop at http://www.whitelinesshop.se/.

The Black Ocean 1.2 used in this review is from Whitelines, through Anna Scherp and Johanna Ragnartz. The pens and inks belong to my personal collection.

Ink Review: J. Herbin Ambre de Birmanie

2012-02-28T12:59:00.027+08:00

I miss writing ink reviews, really. I was supposed to write one for Valentine's, but the occasion felt too frivolous so I skipped it and chose a different ink color. I saved the red ink for the dark rainy days. One Saturday morning, when the sun was out and shining, I dragged myself out of bed and arranged a photo shoot for this lovely J. Herbin ink called Ambre de Birmanie (Amber of Burma).

J. Herbin's Ambre de Birmanie is a bright yellow-orange to light golden brown ink that looks like Burmite amber, the gemstone that it was named after. Like Diabolo Menthe, it appears light while wet, but turns a beautiful gem-like amber once it dries. This ink is not highly saturated, has excellent flow and beautiful shading especially when used with a wider nib.

Ambre de Birmanie reminds me of the sweet caramel syrup on top of the tall vanilla ice cream that my niece Raiyah and I love to share at McDonald's on our Sunday afternoon dates. I also remember that it looks a lot like the raw honey on thick honeycombs that my brothers and I used to get from a hive in our backyard when we were kids.

I almost gave up on this ink the first time I used it. The pen I filled with it has a fine nib and the writing sample did not look any good. I tried it next on my yellow Lamy Safari with a medium nib, and it wrote so good!

Though Ambre de Birmanie is a lovely ink, very few reviews were written about it, and I think I understand why -- not everyone likes a bright yellow-orange ink on their notebooks' pages. And I feel the same way too, but I love using this ink to write notes on almost everything -- my modules, things to do, important dates, reminders, anything! Bright colors can quickly catch my eye and I like to use them in my planner and journal notebooks to complement the dark inks on their pages. It's also an excellent ink for calligraphy because it produces so much shading.

Clearly, Ambre de Birmanie works well with wide nibs. I wrote the Murakami quote with the 1.5mm italic nib on my Lamy Joy, and the shading I saw when the ink dried is just amazing! I didn't expect a light-colored ink to produce this type of shading.

And for my usual ink concerns regarding feathering and bleed, I am happy that Ambre de Birmanie did not feather at all on Muji paper. Here, the ink's yellow-orange color is simply outstanding!

But what's even more amazing is that even on a wide nib such as an italic 1.5mm, Ambre de Birmanie did not bleed! There is some show-through, but that's fine with me.

Ambre de Birmanie's drying time does not differ that much from most J. Herbin inks. It dries fast, taking no more than 15 seconds to dry on Muji paper, with the ink coming from a medium Lamy Safari nib.

I mentioned earlier that Ambre de Birmanie is an excellent ink for calligraphy so I tried it on a quote from Sir Winston Churchill. The color is very beautiful. When I look at the page, I pretend that I wrote it using my Herbin glass pen dipped in sweet caramel syrup.

Below are some macro shots of Ambre de Birmanie on Muji paper. These were written using a Lamy Joy with 1.5mm italic nib. This ink is beautiful on white paper. Its cheery color stands out of the bright white page. It doesn't look as good on cream or beige paper, though.

Amber is fossilized tree resin which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. It is primarily found in the Baltic regions, but also appears in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Burma (now Myanmar), Italy, Romania, Borneo, New Zealand, the Middle East, Alaska, Canada and the United States. Hilltribe women from the Kachin State are known to wear long, crayon-shaped pieces of the unique orange-red Burmite amber found there.

Could it be possible that J. Herbin passed through Burma during his travels? If so, it may be in Burma where he saw the beautiful yellow-orange color and named it Ambre de Birmanie -- Amber of Burma, after the land's beautiful amber.

J. Herbin inks are available in 30 beautiful colors. These water-based inks are non-toxic, have neutral pH and manufactured using natural dyes. Download a printable PDF of the J. Herbin fountain pen ink swatches here.

A 30ml bottle of J. Herbin ink sells for P475 at Scribe Writing Essentials here in the Philippines, and US$9.75at The Goulet Pen Company. (I am not affiliated with either companies.)

The bottle of Ambre de Birmanie reviewed here is courtesy of Exaclair, Inc. through Karen Doherty, while the Muji notebook and Lamy pens (Safari, Joy) all belong to my personal collection.

Notebook Review: The Northerly by Field Notes

2012-01-17T17:45:00.007+08:00

I have been reviewing pen and paper products for almost four years now. I've reviewed notebooks from Asia, Europe, and mostly from the United States, but I have not had a glimpse of a Field Notes pocket notebook yet. Back then, I didn't like small notebooks, and Field Notes was not available here in the Philippines. Last December though, a local online shop announced that they are selling the Field Notes Brand, beginning with the Winter 2011 Colors Release, The Northerly. I knew I had to get my own set the moment I saw the bright white notebooks. Never mind that I don't like small notebooks.

The Northerly by Field Notes. Winter 2011 release.

Thirteenth in the Field Notes Colors Series, The Northerlies, like other Field Notes notebooks, measure 3.5 inches x 5.5 inches. Small by my standards, but large enough for my notes. My notebooks (each order comes in a pack of three) came before the New Year and it was definitely drool at first sight. The bright show-white Kromekote cover printed with "Icy Silver" soy-based ink on the embossed Field Notes logo is sooooo beautiful. Even the silver-coated band holding the notebooks together is beautiful.

The back cover of The Northerly bears Field Notes' logo, including the proud declaration of where the notebooks were made.

The inside cover of the notebook is for its owner's personal details. I haven't filled out this page yet because I'm still searching for a pen that will write permanently on the shiny, coated Kromekote. Perhaps I'll use a Sharpie here.

The inside back cover, on the other hand provides extensive information on Field Notes' story, the notebook's specs, and some suggestions on how to use the notebook. I like that. My favorites are 'Things Done Right', 'Resolutions, As Yet Unbroken', and 'More Reasonable Resolutions'. The specifications part is a marvel to read. As a publications designer, I'm in the printing and publishing business and I understand all the printing lingo written here. As I read on, I can see tall stacks of Kromekote and Finch paper and hear the mechanical noise of the press, the Heidelberg stitchmaster, and the round corner machine. I can even smell the 'smell' I get when I'm inside a printing press.

Another beautiful thing about the Northerlies: round page corners! All Field Notes notebooks have round page corners, including The Steno. I've always preferred round page corners for my notebooks, especially those with thick cardstock for cover. Square, non-round page corners can sometimes cut into my fingers and palm while I'm writing, or get caught in the fabric inside my bag.

Unlike other pocket notebooks with the usual two staples for binding, Field Notes notebooks are saddle stitched in three staples to provide extra durability.

The Northerlies have the usual Finch paper that Field Notes use in their notebooks, except for a nice 'twist': the inside pages have 4.5mm x 4.5mm white graph lines on a cool, blue-gray background. I like this graph lines, except that I wish they were a bit thicker. The thin lines can sometimes be hard to see, especially when lighting is not very good.

A new collection? This is all your fault, Field Notes.

This is my 'test page' for my first Field Notes notebook. Notice anything new? The Pilot G2. But of course! I've always tested notebook paper using my fountain pens, and I did that with my Northerlies too. Initially, I was disappointed when I saw the amount of feathering and bleed on the Finch paper (see photo below). I put away my notebooks, not knowing what else to do with them. Then I realized that I could still make use of them — using other pens that will not bleed. That's why this notebook review has a Pilot G2 instead of a colorful Lamy Safari.

The Northerlies are clearly not for fountain pen use. I don't care. It's still cool, hip, and fun!

So now I'm going to wait for the next limited edition Colors notebooks by Field Notes. I wonder what color they'll come in next. Purple? Black? Gold? I can't wait!

Now, who else can think of a really cool slogan like this one? Everybody, come on! Let's all write everything down to remember them now!

Notebook Review: Banditapple Carnet

2011-12-12T19:15:00.008+08:00

I first read about Banditapple Carnet notebooks in June when my friend Julie wrote a review in her blog. Out of curiosity, I sent an email to Banditapple's creator and owner, Arnie Kim, to ask for sample products to review on the blog. Three months of waiting and chasing the guys at our Post Office, I received the lovely notebooks that Arnie sent to me.

Banditapple Carnet notebooks are sold by its creator and owner, Arnie Kim from Seoul, South Korea, though they are all hand-made in Vietnam. Arnie said that his notebooks are now available in stationery stores not only in South Korea, but also in selected stores in Japan.

The notebooks come in three sizes (Peewee, Handy, and Tablet) and two cover colors (Hanoi Red and Saigon Black). All Banditapple Carnet notebook sizes are available in either blank or ruled paper with 64 pages of acid-free, 80gsm off-white paperstock. The cover used on the notebooks is plain cardstock which makes them look very simple, and almost anonymous and unbranded. But I like that. I'm also glad that Arnie sent me samples of all available notebook sizes and covers, and that he sent me notebooks with both blank and ruled pages.

Peewee in Saigon Black cover with my first generation pink Lamy Safari.

Peewee is the smallest among the three available notebook sizes of Banditapple Carnet. It measures 3.5 x 5.5 inches, sized like a pocket Clairefontaine notebook, Venzi, or Field Notes. The photo below shows the Peewee on top, and all the notebooks I mentioned underneath it. All notebooks have the same dimensions, they just differ in either their binding (stapled or stitched) or corner cuts. Since I received the Banditapple Carnet notebooks, I've made the Peewee my 'ink diary'. It's the perfect thin, small, black notebook I can carry with me anywhere because it fits in the plastic zipper pocket of my Midori TN. When I need to see how a certain ink behaves in a particular pen, I just pull out my Peewee.

Handy in Saigon Black cover with my yellow Lamy Safari.

Handy, the 'middle' size, measures 4.25 x 8.25 inches. This notebook made me very happy as soon as I saw it. Why? Because it's the same size as my Midori Traveler's Notebook's refills! And what's better, the Banditapple Handy have round page corners.

Banditapple Handy in Hanoi Red cover on top, Midori Traveler's Notebook refill below.

See? Banditapple's Handy fits my Midori TN perfectly!

Tablet in Hanoi Red cover, with my LE orange Lamy Safari.

Tablet, the biggest Banditapple notebook, measures 5.125 x 8.25 inches. It is sized like a large Moleskine or Rhodia Webbie, or as shown below, a soft cover large Venzi notebook. I got a blank Banditapple Tablet, and I may just turn it into a sketch/doodle/calligraphy notebook later.

Banditapple Tablet in Hanoi Red cover on top, soft cover Venzi below.

The other wonderful feature of Banditapple Carnet notebooks is their binding — the pages are stitched — not stapled, not glued, but stitched. A single signature is stitched to the cover, and the notebooks' stitching match the color of their covers.

Neat stitching on spine...

...and on the notebook's pages.

And now, the best part about these wonderful notebooks: the paper. Banditapple uses 80gsm off-white (read: not-so-white), acid-free paper. Dr. Matthias Meckel, blogger at Bleistift, wrote that Arnie spent more than two years to find the right paper for his notebooks. And his efforts paid off. Banditapple Carnet notebooks have one of the best papers I've ever tried with my fountain pens.

Banditapple uses a .25 inch page ruling; top margin of .75 inch, and bottom margin of .625 inch. Ruling has been printed using soy type ink.

The pages have no side margins, though. The ruling extends to the edges of the page spread.

And I saved the best for last: the pen and ink tests on Banditapple's Handy notebook. Because the Handy is a tall notebook, I was able to test a couple of pens on a page, including fountain pens, a rollerball, gelpens, and a permanent marker. I like using different pen types to test a notebook's paper because it shows me instantly how the pens and inks react to it.

Banditapple uses paper that is not smooth and shiny white. But it is very excellent for fountain pen use, especially to very broad and wet nibs such as those on my Esterbrook pens. The Esterbrook LJ and Trans J pens below both have 9968 (firm broad) nibs and I did not see any feathering or bleed at all. Even the badly notorious bleeder called Noodler's Midnight Blue behaved so well on this paper. I also noticed that some ink types even showed better color in Banditapple's paper, like Edelstein Jade and J. Herbin Bleu Myosotis. Drying takes a longer time compared to other paper types, but that is just fine.

All in a page: 21 fountain pens, 1 rollerball, 9 gelpens, 1 permanent marker.

Banditapple paper up close. Ink is J. Herbin Café des îles. I love the pure, cottony goodness of paper on a close shot like this. And even at a very close view, I just don't see the ink feathering on paper.

This is how the back of the pen and ink test page looks like. Not one of the 21 fountain pens bled or feathered, but the Sharpie permanent marker just had to bleed very badly. But that's how Sharpie behaves on almost all of the paper types I have ever tested.

Lastly, here is the Peewee notebook that I have made into an 'ink diary'. Very cool. I like keeping an 'ink diary' because it's a way of keeping an informal inventory of my inks and pens. And I am very strict with myself that whenever I fill a pen, I have to write down the date, ink type, and pen used so I have an ink/pen reference.

If you need more information about these wonderful notebooks, Arnie Kim's contact details are on his site, http://www.banditapple.com/. Or you can email him using this email address: owner@banditapple.com if you want to discuss notebook orders. You can place orders for his notebooks in bulk and he will gladly give you a good price and a choice of whether to ship by air (faster), or water/surface (slower by 2 weeks, but then, the package gets to you). This is the best way of ordering from Arnie at the moment.

I am not affiliated with Banditapple Company, I am just a very satisfied owner of these wonderful and amazing notebooks.

The Banditapple Carnet notebooks used in this review are from the Banditapple Company through its creator and owner, Arnie Kim. The other notebooks, pens and inks used in this review all belong to my personal collection.

Notebook Review: Quo Vadis Keith Haring Artist Series

2011-11-20T21:15:00.000+08:00

I have a lot of notebooks. I actually have an insane number of them inside my 'notebook cabinet'. While some are from my impulse buys, most of them came from my silent sponsors, as samples for review. I'm fascinated by colorful things, but I have always been fond of plain-covered notebooks. I like using any black-covered ones for journal writing and note taking. I also use a small black notebook for the 'ink diary' that I keep (more on that on the next notebook review).

When I received the Keith Haring Quo Vadis Habana notebooks that Karen Doherty (Exaclair's USA VP for Marketing) sent to me a few months ago, it wasn't exactly love at first sight. Late last month, while I was sick and recovering at home, I saw the notebooks again and decided to try them out. That time, though, it was definitely love at first write.

Keith Haring Habana notebooks are the most recent addition to the Quo Vadis limited edition Artist Series that include the art of Pablo Picasso and Henry Matisse. Picasso's "Portrait of Dora Maar" and Matisse's "Icarus" and "The Creole Dancer" are the selected cover designs of their respective series.

Keith Haring's "Earth Day" and "Baby" on small Quo Vadis Habana notebooks.

These Keith Haring Habana notebooks, as with the other notebooks in the Quo Vadis' Artist Series, are made in France, with leather-like cover material which I love because they are soft, not very smooth, and not shiny either. This leather-like material is wrapped on what I assume is thick board, making the cover solid. The firm, solid covers of Quo Vadis Habana notebooks are made to provide writing support. Photo below shows the notebooks' back covers, printed with Keith Haring icons in the middle, while the Quo Vadis logo is etched in the bottom.

Quo Vadis made Keith Haring Habana notebooks in four designs and two sizes. The four designs are: 'Baby', 'Heart', 'Earth Day', and 'La Ronde'. They are available as either small (4" x 6") or large (6¼" x 9½") notebooks. Both Haring Habanas used in this review are small notebooks.

"Earth Day" is only available in small (4" x 6") size.

"Heart", though, comes in small (4" x 6") and large (6¼" x 9½") sizes.

The Keith Haring Habana notebooks have the same features as their regular counterparts: they have the elegant page ribbons/markers and elastic closures in matching colors. Soon I'll be tying the end of the page ribbons into knots to prevent ugly fraying.

Keith Haring's signature is printed in white on the notebooks' front covers. How elegant.

The small Haring Habana notebooks have 96 sheets of very smoooooth satin ivory paper. The pages have 5.5mm ruling, a welcome change from the wide 8mm ruling previously used on both large and small Habana notebooks. The pages have round corners too, which is great. I prefer notebooks with round corners because sharp page corners can sometimes cut into my fingers and palms when I'm writing. Round corners also look more elegant and stylish.

Round page corners of the Haring Habana notebooks.

Another wonderful feature of Quo Vadis Habana notebooks, including the Haring Habanas, is their sewn binding. This ensures more page security and flexibility, and also (again) adds to the notebooks' elegance. Sewn binding is so much better than most punch and bind methods because the pages are more secure and also tidy.

Sewn pages of the small Haring Habana notebooks.

These special Habana notebooks have lovely spines printed with Keith Haring's signature and icon. Definitely a welcome change from the old, plain spines of my previous notebooks.

The Haring Habana notebooks have printed spines.

The Habana's "small" is not the same in size as the "pocket" of other notebook brands, which is always misunderstood by many users who think that the two sizes are interchangeable. "Small" and "pocket" sizes are not the same. Several brands share the same "pocket" size, such as Moleskine and Rhodia, and Scribe here in the Philippines, while Quo Vadis uses the "small" size alone.

Size comparison: Two pocket notebooks on top, Moleskine and Rhodia.

The two notebooks below are regular Rhodia and Keith Haring Habana.

I mentioned earlier that the Haring Habanas have smooth satin ivory paper. It is really very, very smoooooth but I did not have any difficulty writing on it. In fact, the smoothness made writing very easy and comfortable, compared to other overly smooth paper types that make writing uncomfortable. I also noticed that while the ruling in the old Habana notebook pages went all the way to the binding, it has a certain margin in the new notebooks.

If paper can make people happy, the Haring Habanas' paper will.

I know because the smooth satin ivory paper made me happy.

Unlike the previous Habana notebooks with continuous lines, the Haring Habanas have dotted lines. But that's fine. The dotted lines didn't get in the way of my writing, or with the readability of what I've written. I actually think this is cool.

Haring Habana page up close. See the dotted lines?

Below is a page devoted to pen and ink tests, and I included gelpens, felt markers, and a permanent marker in the list to fully test the paper. All the fountain pen inks I tested on the Haring Habana fared very well. I did not see any serious feathering or bleed, even with the notorious bleeder, Noodler's Midnight Blue. I also used a couple of pens with broad Esterbrook nibs such as the Transitional J with Private Reserve Black Magic Blue and J pen with J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage. This is good news, and it made me very happy.

The "non-fountain pen" pens I used in the pen and ink test include Pilot G2s, Stabilo felt markers, Zebra Sarasas, and a Sharpie Ultra Fine Permanent Marker. All the other pens wrote well without feathering or bleed, except for the Sharpie which feathered and bled like an open faucet. But that's just okay. Sharpies bleed bad on most papers.

Inks on the Haring Habana up close: Waterman South Sea Blue, Pelikan Blue Black,

Private Reserve Black Magic Blue, and Pelikan Edelstein Jade.

The "non-fountain pen" pens: Pilot G2, Stabilo, Zebra Sarasa,

and Sharpie Ultra Fine Permanent Marker.

Shown here below is the back of the pen and ink test page. It's almost clean, without any ink bleed, except for the one on the bottom part of the page. which is the Sharpie pen.

Sharpie pen bleeds at the bottom of the page.

Overall, I am a very happy recipient of these notebooks and I am beginning to think of how to use them soon. A small journal? A notebook for my daily notes? Who knows? Being the fanatic that I am, I'm sure I'll find a way to use them sooner than I thought I would. Now you know where to get yours, right? All information about these lovely Keith Haring Habana notebooks are posted Quo Vadis' site here: http://quovadisplanners.com/notebooks, and also at the Quo Vadis blog here: http://quovadisblog.com/

The Quo Vadis Keith Haring Habana notebooks used in this review are from Exaclair, Inc. through Karen Doherty. The pens and inks used in this review all belong to my personal collection.

Notebook Review: Midori Traveler's Journal

2011-10-22T18:46:00.029+08:00

The Midori Traveler's Notebook has been one of my grail notebooks for the longest time. When I started collecting (and using) high-quality notebooks, I read about it at Patrick Ng's Scription site, and instantly fell in love with it. I wanted it, but I knew I could not have one. Yet. It was expensive and not available here in the Philippines. So I just continued to ogle at the thousands of Midori Traveler's Notebook photos on Flickr.

Unknown to me, the Philippines' biggest seller of fountain pen related stuff, Scribe Writing Essentials, has began stocking up and selling this highly coveted cultish notebook. After talking to its owner, Marian Ong, a notebook set was sent to me for review, pronto.

Marian sent me a large black Traveler's Notebook (TN) and I was instantly amazed by its Japanese packaging style, which is both presentation and function. Midori's packaging is minimalist and simple, yet elegant and classy. The notebook is packaged very well inside what looks like a thin box made from kraft paper, held together by a firm black elastic band. A small flyer about the notebook is also included in the packaging.

Inside the box are: large black leather Midori TN, cotton slipcase for the notebook, blank notebook refill (003), and a spare red elastic band to hold the notebook cover and refills. The soft cowhide leather of the Midori notebook/journal (sourced from Chiang Mai, Thailand), and the wide variety of changeable inserts, embellishments and other accessories give it a unique charm and magic.

The first thing on my mind when I saw my Midori TN is the paper used in the notebook refill. Paper is very important to me as I am a regular user of fountain pens. And I am ready and willing to forego any notebook if the paper cannot tolerate my very wet fountain pens and very saturated inks. Would it stand fountain pen use? Or would ink feather and bleed through its pages? Luckily for Midori TN, I knew that I can make my own refills, so paper is not an issue, but I'll discuss that towards the later part of this review.

The blank notebook refill has a kraft board cover and 64 pages of cream-colored paper . The inside cover page is printed with an upright rectangular box and the Midori logo.

As soon as the notebook was out of the box, it's customization galore!!! The first thing I did was to change the elastic bands. I opted to use the red band to give the notebook some contrast and brightness. The tiny round thing on the upper left corner of the notebook cover holds the elastic bands that keep the notebook inserts in place.

I rummaged through my boxes of stuff and found a small glass bead charm I could use to secure the end of the Midori TN's thin bookmark. Lovely, isn't it?

Next, I made my own refills using pages off my large Rhodia dotPad. I went to a printer, had them saddle-stapled several notebooks, and trimmed according to the Midori TN refill size. I recycled Starbucks paper bags as covers for my new refill notebooks. I had fun making Dymo tags for them too.

The first notebook is for lists of everything I have done and finished the whole day -- an inverted 'to-do' list.

The second refill is for my notes. Any notes. Blog ideas, project concepts, sketches, hand drawn maps, phone numbers, pen and paper stores, ink notes, restaurant bestsellers, etc.

Refill number three is a microjournal, called so because I have a full journal already. I just want to have a journal in my Midori TN. I have small writeups in this notebook about places I visited, postcards I received, books I've read, or movies I've watched.

I have also included Midori's plastic zipper pocket refill. This refill has one large zippered pocket and another pocket without a zipper. The zippered pocket can hold a lot of stuff, especially small pieces of paper such as receipts, stamps, business cards. Sometimes I put a pen or two inside and still manage to zip it. The pocket without zipper can accommodate bigger sizes of paper like postcards, prescription notes, etc.

Perhaps you've noticed that I've added another bookmark to my Midori TN with a new charm. I made one more bookmark for my "Finished/Done" notebook, as the original bookmark/charm is used on my microjournal. I love these charms!

But the customization does not end there for my Midori TN. It's now full of stickers and stuff (stamps, tea bag tags, postcards, etc. I know there will be more of these as the leather ~~gets more scratches and scuffs~~ softens with use and becomes more beautiful.

Finally, the paper test. The refill that came with my Midori TN is blank. As I have difficulty writing on blank pages, I went ahead and ordered a ruled/lined refill which is what I used in the pen and ink test below. The cream-colored paper used in the ruled/lined refill is Midori paper. There are two types of paper used on Midori's notebook refills. One is Midori Diary (MD) Paper, the other is Designphil Pocket Book (DP) Paper. A note in the Midori website (here) gives a full explanation on the differences of the two paper types.

Midori Paper is smooth and thankfully fountain pen friendly. Some ink types showed feathering, but not one of all the inks I tested here bled.

Below is the back of the pen and ink test I did. There is not bleeding at all. The tiny blob of orange is show through, but it is very mild and not very noticeable. I say I'll be using this refill for another microjournal when my own refills ran out of pages.

I've kept the red elastic band for now and rotate several black bands with different combinations of trinkets and charms. One band has a small pewter elephant, another has a series of different color beads with a drop of olive green Swarovski stones, rescued from an earring without a matching pair. I've also changed charms since, and I have ordered a batch of lovely charms from a local supplier. I have stocked up on black elastic band from a local crafts store and just yesterday, I got a set of vintage letterstamps I'll use for more fun of notebook customizations. Will I use this notebook for how long it will be serviceable? Yes. With a notebook as versatile as the Midori TN, who wouldn't? The possibilities with the Midori Traveler's Notebook is excitingly never-ending!

The large Midori Traveler's Notebook used in this review is courtesy of Scribe Writing Essentials, and the regular, passport size notebooks and their refills are all available in their Eastwood City Mall store. A regular/large Midori Traveler's Notebook set sells for PHP2,595 (~US$61), while a passport-sized notebook costs PHP2,295 (~US$54). If you are somewhere in Asia, and would like to try the possibility of ordering from them, give them a call at +63 2 487 6339.

On Review: 12 Red Inks

2011-10-14T12:00:00.008+08:00

Can you guess how many red inks are here?

I know I did not reveal the answer as soon as I have promised, but did you make a guess? Did you get it right? If your guess is 12, then you got it! There is a dozen red inks in this doodle and in this huge red ink review. Twelve! Some of them are inks I have reviewed here before, but most are new.

I remember that the first time I did a combined ink review was for my first set of J. Herbin inks – Bleu Pervenche and Rouge Opera. That was ages ago, and recently, I felt like doing one again. This time though, I got more than two, as my ink stash have grown quite a bit. And I love red inks, as much as I love brown and dark blue inks. So here are the 12 red inks in my current collection.

The 12 inks here are J. Herbin Rouge Opera; Diamine Poppy Red, Red Dragon, Syrah, and Oxblood; Parker Quink Red; De Atramentis Fuschia; Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink; Camel Scarlet Red; Styl' Honoré Cocktail ink Rouge Amaryllis; and Mont Blanc Bordeaux.

A group pic of all 12 inks.

And all of them again in swatches on Clairefontaine's Graf It Sketch 90g white paper.

PARKER QUINK PERMANENT RED

Parker Quink Permanent Red has a pale red hue that appears more like pink when used with fine nibbed pens. This ink looks better on pens with wider nibs such as the stub on the Parker Jotter I used here. It has very minimal shading, not saturated, and flows well. However, it is not colorfast, and fades after some time.

CAMEL SCARLET RED

Camel Scarlet Red is brighter and redder than Quink Red, but still leans on the pinkish side. On fine nibs, it appears more as bright pink than red, as it is on the writing sample above, written using a Pelikano Junior with a fine nib. On wider nibs, however, it looks better, brighter, and redder. Camel Scarlet Red is a saturated ink, but shows very minimal shading. It dries fast, though.

DIAMINE POPPY RED

Diamine Poppy Red is a bright, vibrant, 'orangey' red. Like most Diamine inks I’ve used and reviewed, this red ink is highly saturated, but has surprisingly excellent flow and is quick drying. I have tried it on several pens with different nibs - including a Waterman Phileas with a wet medium nib - and the results are the same – it has no shading at all. It is very flat, like Diamine Orange, but that's just fine. If I ever need a red ink for editing and correcting, I’ll choose Diamine Poppy Red anytime.

ROUGE HEMATITE/J. HERBIN 1670 INK

I’ve read almost everything that has been said and written about this ink, and it’s still one of my favorites. Never mind that J. Herbin’s 1670 Anniversary ink is way, way too saturated and slow drying. Never mind that it stained the converter of my Waterman Hemisphere. Never mind that it gives any pen filled with it with an ugly and horrible nib creep and dried yucky caked ink on the nib and feed. Never mind. Rouge Hematite, the correct name of this J. Herbin ink, is, and will always be a favorite. Its unique color of bright orange and earthy blood red with tiny gold specks is just wonderful. The gold specks give it the most amazing, and most unique shading.

STYL' HONORÉ COCKTAIL INK ROUGE AMARYLLIS

Rouge Amaryllis is among the very limited, highly coveted Styl’ Honoré Encre Cocktail Ink series. This ink has a lovely dark red color with strong hints of purple that makes it look almost like burgundy. It has excellent shading, especially in wide-nibbed pens such as the wet medium Parker 45 I used in this review. Rouge Amaryllis has medium saturation which ensured excellent flow and good drying time. The cocktail ink series were sold in a fountain pen boutique named Styl’ Honoré in Paris, made by the store owner Patrick Arabian. The cocktail inks have been described as the ‘best ink’ ever, but Patrick Arabian has stopped making them.

MONT BLANC BORDEAUX

Mont Blanc’s Bordeaux ink has the typical red wine color, but it’s not as dark as I want it to be. Still, it’s a unique red color with hints of purple, though not enough purple is present to darken it a bit more. Most inks are not colorfast, and Mont Blanc Bordeaux is sadly one of them. It easily fades after drying and fades even more after some time. It is not as saturated as my bottle of Mont Blanc Black, but it has excellent flow and dries fast even when used on a wet medium Parker Rialto.

DE ATRAMENTIS FUCHSIA

Fuchsia is a coveted color for me. It reminds me of little girls’ dresses and the long silk ribbons in their hair. De Atramentis Fuchsia has a vivid, strong, and deep reddish-purple color that looks lush and rich at the same time. It’s the perfect companion to my first run limited edition pink Lamy Safari with a smooth medium nib. This ink is very saturated and thus, takes a lot of time to dry, but it has excellent shading and a consistent flow.

J. HERBIN ROUGE OPÉRA

Herbin’s Rouge Opéra is among my first two inks from Exaclair. It was magical to finally get a taste of a non-Parker, non-blue, non-black ink for the first time. I was instantly drawn to Rouge Opéra’s dusky rose color, and the shy hints of purple is just perfect to give it a unique and balanced red-purple hue. Like most of J. Herbin inks, Rouge Opéra has excellent flow because of its medium saturation. On the Pelikan M205’s super wet medium nib, it’s like turning on a tap as soon as the nib touches paper, but it dries fast on most paper types. The most unique thing about this ink? It smells nice.

PARKER PENMAN RUBY

Parker’s Penman ink series has long been discontinued due to complaints that it tends to clog and eventually destroy pens. What a shame. Penman Ruby is one of the few unique red ink colors I’ve seen, and for that, I’ll try to forget its flaws. At times, it looks like reddish brown, but sometimes, it appears like burgundy. Both unique beautiful colors, and the shading is just excellent. But it is a very saturated ink and writes dry on a medium Parker 25. I have not experienced any issues regarding its flow, but the dryness makes writing uncomfortable for me. Then again, at times when I'm in the mood for a different red, I’ll pop a cart of Penman Ruby onto one of my Parker pens. Pronto.

DIAMINE SYRAH

Diamine launched Syrah, together with Red Dragon, Oxblood and seven other colors in 2010. Syrah's color was derived from Binder Burgundy, the famous ink color that Richard Binder developed on his own by mixing specific parts of Sheaffer Red and Waterman Violet. News said that Binder worked with Diamine to make a color that will exactly match his mixture, and that became Syrah.

Syrah and the two other reds are absolute favorites in my ink stash. Who wouldn't be attracted to Syrah -- to its wonderful deep red/burgundy ink color? The blue, purple, and red combination is perfectly attained in this mixture to produce an excellent burgundy that does not come strong as red or purple. (Yes, somewhere there's blue in this ink.) It dries a beautiful burgundy, (which is how I hoped Mont Blanc's Bordeaux would turn out to be when it dries) and shows beautiful shading, especially in wide nibs such as the medium nib on my TWSBI 530. It’s a very saturated ink too, and not fast drying (but it dries). For more details about this beautiful ink, watch out for the full review which I am soon to finish.

DIAMINE RED DRAGON

Diamine Red Dragon is a deep, dark red ink color that has similar qualities as Herbin's Rouge Hematite. The 'orangey' red and earthy tones make a red-blood color. Like Syrah, Red Dragon is a highly saturated ink, which is perhaps the reason why it has minimal shading only. It has excellent flow, and thankfully writes wet and smooth on the fine nib of my Pilot Non-Self Filling pen. Yet again, like Syrah, Red Dragon takes longer time to dry, especially on high quality papers such as Clairefontaine and Daycraft.

DIAMINE OXBLOOD

Diamine Oxblood is one of the few available inks in the market today to resemble the true color of fresh blood. It is a lovely deep dark red - darker than Red Dragon - with more brown in it. Oxblood is another highly saturated ink from Diamine with minimal but beautiful shading. On my Pelikan M205's medium nib, it does not show a lot, but on the 1.1 Lamy Joy nib, the shading is simply awesome! Oxblood, despite its high level of saturation has excellent flow. It just takes a while to dry, though.

I've been lucky enough to have all these 12 red beautiful inks. I'm drawn to the darker ones and my obvious absolute favorites are Herbin's Rouge Opéra and Rouge Hematite; and Diamine's wonderful triumvirate of Syrah, Red Dragon and Oxblood. I always have these beautiful inks in my rotation.

I love group shots! Here are the 12 pens I used for the review. Most of them are regulars, I just added the rest. For a glimpse of how the inks behaved in different pens, here they are:

Parker Jotter (stub, courtesy of Pentageli) with Parker Super Quink Permanent Red;
Pelikan Pelikano Junior (fine) with Camel Scarlet Red;
Waterman Phileas (medium) with Diamine Poppy Red;
Waterman Hemisphere (medium) with J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink;
Parker 45 (medium) with Styl' Honoré Rouge Amaryllis;
Parker Rialto (medium) with Mont Blanc Bordeaux;
Lamy Safari (medium) with De Atramentis Fuchsia;
Pelikan M205 (medium) with J. Herbin Rouge Opéra;
Parker 25 (medium) with Parker Penman Ruby;
TWSBI 530 (medium) with Diamine Syrah;
Pilot NSF FP (medium) with Diamine Red Dragon; and
Pelikan M205 (medium) with Diamine Oxblood

Lastly, I just want to acknowledge the kind friends who gave me the inks in this huge review. Diamine Poppy Red, Syrah, Red Dragon, and Oxblood are all from Diamine of UK, sent by Phil Davies; J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink and Rouge Opéra are from Exaclair's VP for Marketing Karen Doherty; Styl' Honoré Rouge Amaryllis is from fellow FPN-P member Carl S. Cunanan, and De Atramentis Fuchsia is from my best buddy in the western hemisphere, Tom Overfield. The rest of the 12 are mine.

Reds! Lots of Red Inks!

2011-08-19T00:00:00.000+08:00

Can you guess how many red inks are here?

The answer will be revealed very, very soon. :)

Go Online to Buy All Your Office Stationery!

2011-08-16T14:36:00.005+08:00

If you’re running a business and own an office space, then you will definitely need a wide range of office stationery items to ensure an organized operation. Such office supplies include desktop stationery, desk accessories, bags and envelopes, pens and pencils, diaries, calendars, labels, notebooks and notepads, packaging items, files and folders, etc.

With the advent of the internet, the best way to buy all these items without any hassle is to go online, where you will discover a number of trusted stationery stores such as Euroffice, an online store that offer all the office supplies you need at the most reasonable prices. Some of them provide low-cost delivery alternatives, while others give freebies such as free deliveries when you purchase products over a certain price limit.

Online shopping provides you with greater alternatives for your office supplies and lets you get them in amounts that not only match your requirements but meet your budget as well. Beloware some guidelines to make the most of your office supplies on the internet.

Make sure that the company you select is trusted and reputable in its field and has been in the business for a long period of time. In this manner, you are assured that in case you have any difficulty, or seek any recommendation, they have the knowledge and experience to assist you.
In the event that you need stationery items fast, you can always choose a company that facilitates quick delivery within 1-2 business days. Some may ask for an additional fee for this option, but you must be aware of it before your order is processed and even delivered. However, Euroffice always ensures next day delivery free of cost.
In addition, make certain that the online store you choose offers the products of the brand names you desire. If you have been using a particular brand for your copier paper and pens, then just persist with that brand name without being enticed with a low-priced product. If they don’t provide the brands you need, it is advisable to get in touch with them and ask first if these products can be delivered. Always keep in mind that other retail stores may accept your request.
Thousands of products from brands like Avery, 5 Star, Emgee, Leitz and Concord are on sale at Euroffice. So, make your selection for office stationery now!
This may seem like an obvious one, but check that you’re buying products at the best prices available in the cyberspace. Furthermore, ensure that the company you choose is offering excellent customer service. There are many web-based stores for stationery supplies and even if some may charge a bit higher than others, you may notice that the product delivery is without charge, making the ultimate difference in the product price.
If you own a big office and need huge amounts of office stationery, make certain that the online store is able to fulfill that need. A lot of stores do not maintain a large inventory, thereby resulting in non-fulfilkment of your order, particularly if you have to place one more order after a week or month.

When purchasing over the internet, you should know that if you need any suggestion or have a trouble with any item, there is competent customer support in place. An online contact form or an email address is not going to be sufficient; there must be a telephone number that you can call in case of urgency.

Ink Review: Diamine Orange

2011-08-01T20:45:00.007+08:00

When you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out ~ because that's what's inside.

- Dr. Wayne D. Dyer

(Internationally renowned author and speaker in the field of self-development.)

The past several weeks have been gloomy and dreary from where I am. A number of typhoons and tropical depressions have continuously dumped enormous amounts of water on most parts of the country; for days, dark rain clouds shadowed us in. But as I stayed indoors, I took out my box of inks and found Diamine Orange -- I got a bright, happy ink color for company!

I received Diamine Orange from the first batch of ink samples that Phil Davies sent to me. I didn't like it at first because it's too bright. Then again I realized, what orange ink won't be bright? Point taken, I found a use for it: underscoring my notes and lesson modules. I began filling my wide-nibbed pens with it and Diamine Orange became one of my two favorite ink colors for underscoring.

Diamine Orange is a bright, brilliant, vibrant ink. It is very saturated, like all Diamine inks, but has excellent, smooth flow. Despite its high level of saturation, feathering and bleeding occurs only on a few types of paper (but note that feathering and bleeding are affected by a number of factors). This Diamine ink is very bright orange while wet, but becomes just as bright when it dries.

Named after the ripe orange fruit, orange is a color between yellow and red in the visible spectrum. After several comparisons, Diamine Orange looked to be having just the right amounts of yellow and red, making it an almost-perfect orange color.

True enough, this ink reminds me of ripe oranges, tiny juicy clementines, fragrant satsumas, freshly squeezed OJ, and cold orange marmalade on top of hot, buttered buns.

I tried very hard to capture this ink inside the plastic 30ml bottle. These tall, rectagular plastic bottles are spill-proof because of a simple mechanism inside the cap. I carried Diamine Syrah in a similar bottle in my bag for a day and though it got jostled and tumbled, the ink did not spill at all.

I also noticed that this ink clings to the inside of the plastic bottle, unlike Woodland Green and Majestic Blue that just runs off. The lovely amber-like, orange liquid is just lovely.

In the photo below, the ink looks almost like a fragrant, sweet syrup waiting to be tasted.

Below is Diamine Orange on Kokuyo graph paper. I love Kokuyo paper and use it specifically for my Diamine ink reviews (here and here) because it is resistant to feathering and bleed. For this review, I used a Manuscript 1.5 crisp italic pen for calligraphy and my cadmium yellow Sheaffer No Nonsense with medium nib for regular writing.

When I did the shoot for this review, I needed to pull down the shades in the room to underexpose the following photos. I had to do that to capture the ink color properly. When shot under normal or bright light, this orange ink glows!

I wrote the quote using a 1.5 crisp italic nib, and though I noticed some very faint shading in the end strokes, I cannot say that Diamine Orange has shading.

And it is just the same in my alphabet set. There is very faint shading in the beginning and end strokes of the letters.

But with or without shading, isn't this the most vibrant, happy orange ink in the world? Here is Diamine Orange from my cadmium yellow Sheaffer No Nonsense with a regular round medium nib. This is a very saturated ink, but flows surprisingly smooth on the pens I used for this review. It also dries fast on Kokuyo paper.

Aside from Herbin's Diabolo Menthe, Diamine Orange is only the other ink I use for underscoring. It's such a joy to see my notes and module pages come alive with the different ink colors I use for underscoring and highlighting, though I mostly use my Pelikan M205 ink for highlighting.

I only have two orange fountain pen inks aside from Diamine Orange, and they are J. Herbin Orange Indien and Caran d'Ache Saffron, all happy colors! Orange Indien has more yellow and I use it to color some of my drawings. Caran d'Ache, on the other hand, has more red, and sometimes I use it to write entries on my diary.

Diamine Orange has just the right combination of yellow and red that makes it a bright, happy orange. On a page of white paper, the color just pops out! Aside from underscoring, I also use Diamine Orange to write headings on my notes and comments on my modules. If I need to write something for emphasis, I'll grab a pen with Diamine Orange!

And just because I got a Zebra Sarasa and Pilot Frixion gel pens with orange ink, I included them here too.

Among the Diamine inks I have reviewed, this is the fastest to dry. Both Woodland Green and Majestic Blue took around 26-28 seconds to dry on Kokuyo paper. Diamine Orange took only 13 minutes to dry, which is just half the time it took for either of the two inks to dry.

I like write-testing an ink on different papers. Doing so makes me see how the ink behaves on different masses of pulp.

Up close, here is Diamine Orange on Kokuyo paper.

There is slight feathering here but the ink did not bleed at all.

On Venzi paper. I'm happy to see how beautiful and neat the letters are. There is no feathering, and definitely no bleed! (Must get more of this notebooks.)

Lastly, here it is on Whitelines paper. It's my first time to use Whitelines paper and though there wasn't any feathering, I noticed that the ink bled.

I don't have favorite ink colors, and as I am drawn to brown, and dark shades of blue and red, I also gravitate towards bright, vibrant colors because they brighten my notebook pages. Diamine Orange is a bright, happy ink that I enjoy a lot and brings a smile to my face every time I use it. It makes reviewing fun for me! And though its brightness prevents me from using it for regular writing, I will always find ways to use it.

Founded in London, Diamine has been manufacturing inks since 1864. Diamine is one of the largest producers of a large range of fountain pen inks as well as the famous Registrar's Ink for permanent records. Diamine fountain pen inks are available from the Diamine site or from the Writing Desk in the UK. In the US, they are available from the Goulet Pen Company or the Pear Tree Pen Company. (I have no affiliation with any of these companies.)

Fountain Pen Review: Lamy Safari Aquamarine

2011-07-16T10:00:00.002+08:00

The 2011 limited edition Lamy Safari Aquamarine is now in Manila! The wait is finally over.

I read about the new 2011 Lamy Safari color from Goldspot Pens' announcement in early February. Like many avid collectors of this line of fountain pen, I was more than happy to know that another pen will join my collection. Fortunately, Charlene Ngo of Times Trading has kindly sent me one to review here on the blog.

The 2011 limited edition Lamy Safari Aqumarine comes in a neat and well-designed packaging. The pen is inside two boxes: an outer box and an inner box. The outer box, shown below, is made of silver-gray board paper without any fancy design. All it has is the Lamy logo printed on the lower right corner of the box. It is so simple and minimalist, yet very stylish.

The inner box, below, is made of gray plastic that splits open from the middle when the two sides are pulled apart, as indicated by the arrows.

The top sides are pushed under the bottom part of the box, and a hard plastic pen clamp holds the Aquamarine Lamy Safari fountain pen in place. This packaging is a lot better than those slim gray paper boxes that my earlier Lamy pens came with, as it offers more protection for the pen.

The Aquamarine Safari is the newest and youngest member of Lamy's Safari line of fountain pens. Designed by Wolfgang Fabian, the first Safari was introduced in 1980 and has stayed in Lamy's regular production since then.

The Aquamarine Lamy Safari fountain pen measures 5.5 inches while capped, 5 inches uncapped, and 6.5 inches when posted. It feels very light on my hand when I write with it, but then I don't post my pens.

Lamy Safari pens are made from sturdy ABS plastic, more technically known as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, a common thermoplastic that is widely used in a variety of products. You wouldn't believe it, but the Lego blocks you played with as a kid has the same material as the Lamy Safari you may be holding now. And did you know that the inner walls of your refrigerator has the same plastic as that of the Safari?

Below is the Aquamarine Lamy Safari's parts: cap, section with converter, barrel.

The cap of the Aquamarine Lamy Safari like other Safari fountain pens has the iconic flexible chrome-coated oversized paperclip-style clip.

The cap's top has a button cross, another unique identifying feature of Lamy Safari fountain pens. I noticed though, that this pen's cap top button is different from those of the previous limited edition Safari pens.

Below is the Aquamarine Lamy Safari together with my other limited edition Lamy Safari fountain pens. The earliest version is the lime green pen (2008) with the black cross cap top that is seen in almost all regular Safari fountain pens. The creme orange (2009) and pink (2010) Safari pens have simple dots as cap tops in the same barrel and cap colors, instead of the usual black cross. Note that the Aquamarine Safari (2011) has a cross cap top, but in the same color as the pen's cap and barrel – aquamarine. Interesting details.

The Lamy Safari's section has unique features to make writing easier. The triangular section has two recessed grips and the finger anti-slipping brake to prevent a user's fingers to slip into the nib part while writing. Some fountain pen users find the triangular grip annoying and uncomfortable. I find it helpful so I get a firm grip on my pen.

The pen's barrel measures around three inches, and the flat areas on both sides prevent the pen from rolling especially when it is uncapped.

Lamy's logo is boldly etched on the top/end of the pen's barrel.

An ink window near the barrel's threads allows me to check on my pen's ink. This is an excellent feature, not to mention a cool design, as I don't need to unscrew the barrel of my pen every time I need to check on its ink.

Like the rest of my Safari and other Lamy fountain pens, I can ink my pen in two ways: with Lamy's proprietary T10 ink cartridges, or from an ink bottle using the Z24 converter. The Z24 converter can also be used in other Lamy fountain pens including the Vista, Al-Star, Joy, and even the Nexx.

Towards the middle of the Z24 converter are two tiny nipples (can be seen in the photo above too) that fit snugly into the small grooves in the upper part of the section.

This is how the tiny nipples on the converter fit into the specific grooves in the section. They fit perfectly so that the converter, while filled with ink and inserted, will not easily turn or be accidentally pulled out.

Because my Aquamarine Lamy Safari is new, I could not pull out the feed from the section to show here, but it has the same feed as those on other Lamy pens (Safari, Vista, Al-Star, Joy, Nexx, and Studio).

Lamy Safari fountain pens have polished steel nibs available in a number of widths: extra fine, fine, medium, broad, and left-handed. It can also be fitted with an italic nib ranging from 1.1mm to 1.9mm since the Safari shares the same section, feed, nib and cap design with that of the Joy, Lamy's set of calligraphy pens. Lamy nibs have the tendency to run wide, but they all write wet and smoothly.

I usually use medium Lamy nibs on my Safari and Studio fountain pens, but I am very fortunate that Charlene sent me the Aquamarine pen with a broad nib.

Lamy's modern minimalist design extends even to their nibs. These polished steel nibs do not have the usual fancy engravings -- just plain, simple, shiny metal pieces with 'LAMY' and a letter for the nib's width to mark them. My pen's broad nib is marked 'B'.

I flushed this pen before I filled it to ensure that there is no factory residue or ink on it. When I used it, the pen wrote instantly, and did not need any strong pressure to start writing. It kept writing very smoothly and did not skip as I filled an entire page of my A5 Daycraft Signature notebook journal.

Below is a writing sample of this cool Aquamarine Lamy Safari fountain pen.

The Aquamarine Lamy Safari next to a Venzi cahier in A6 size. The ink used in this writing sample is Lamy Turquoise. Ink review to follow.

Here is the pen again with my limited edition Lamy Safari fountain pens.

This Aquamarine Lamy Safari is a cool new addition to Lamy's growing line of fountain pens. Touted as a beginner's fountain pen and a student pen, this plastic pen actually feels very good in my hand because it is light, but strong and firm at the same time. And it's available in many colors! So it's not only a reliable, sturdy, user-friendly fountain pen, it's fun to collect too! I just got my Aquamarine pen but I'm already thinking of the 2012 Safari color. Purple? Not bad.

My pen with a bottle of Lamy turquoise ink and a large Venzi notebook.

Lamy Safari pens are widely available in reputable pen sellers worldwide. For a global search of Lamy sellers worldwide, follow this link.

In the Philippines, the Aquamarine Lamy Safari (and other Lamy pens) is available from Times Trading Company, through their increasing number of kiosks at National Bookstore outlets around Metro Manila. A Lamy Safari (including the Aquamarine pen) sells for PhP1,499.75 (USD35), and a 50ml bottle of ink costs around PhP375 (USD9).

Notebook Review: Daycraft's Juicy Notebook

2011-06-24T06:36:00.001+08:00

The rainy season has definitely started here in the Philippines, but I'm stuck in summer's ambrosial delights - fruits! At home, we still get to enjoy these colorful, sweet, and juicy summer pleasures: plenty of bananas, cantaloupes, green and yellow mangoes, pineapples, and watermelons. Soon, most of these fruits will be gone from the stalls and we will all wait till next summer to enjoy them again.

Luckily for me, one watermelon has remained to keep me company until the next summer. It's Daycraft's Juicy Watermelon notebook that Foreal Lee, Retail and Marketing Manager of Hong Kong's Tai Shing Diary Ltd. sent to me a few months back. With a very apt tagline of 'Pick A Fresh One', Daycraft's Juicy notebook line comes only in A6 size, but has five 'delicious fruit flavors' to choose from: orange, watermelon, strawberry, pineapple, and honeydew melon.

The Juicy Watermelon notebook's cover is soft, fine Italian polyurethane (PU), designed to resemble the rind of a watermelon.

This notebook opens to a wedge of watermelon. You'd want to grab a juicy, wet bite when you see the front and back inside covers are watermelon red with watermelon seeds.

The Watermelon notebook, like the rest of those in Daycraft's Juicy line, have 128 pages of 6.5mm lined cream-colored paper with distinctive 'fruit' designs. The 'fruity' spread below has apples on the lower left of the page and watermelons on the upper right of the page. The 6.5mm spacing is just right for my handwriting.

Here's the watermelon design up close. I think the fruit designs are cute. And because they're printed lightly, I can write over them and still read the text I've written.

The notebook's back cover has the same watermelon rind design as its front cover, but bears the clearly pressed Daycraft logo centered at the bottom.

Like most of Daycraft notebooks, the Juicy line is case bound, so the pages are threaded and glued together to make it durable.

The pages have round corners which I like very much. Pointed/Squared corners are more likely to snag my arm while writing, so the rounded corners are safer and better.

And now the best part of the review is here: pen and ink tests! I always do a number of tests when I have a new notebook. These tests help me choose the best pen and ink combination for any particular notebook. I grouped the tests according to the ink brand this time.

The first page has the ink tests for J. Herbin, Diamine, and Caran d'Ache. There was no feathering on the page and all the inks dried fast. Most of my pens have medium nibs and put large amounts of ink on paper, which is why I am concerned about the inks' drying time. Surpisingly, they all dried fast, including the saturated J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink. I'm loving this Juicy Watermelon notebook's paper already. The Herbin inks looked bright and happy, but Diabolo Menthe is the runaway winner here. It looked so beautiful and yet so cool. Diamine Royal Blue appeared so bright that I instantly filled two more pens after seeing it again. And then there's Caran d'Ache Saffron which will always be the perfect orange ink for me.

I tried Private Reserve, Waterman, Pelikan, Noodler's, and Mont Blanc inks on the other page. This time, I saw some feathering in Private Reserve and Noodler's inks, but that's okay as I already expected that. PR Black Magic Blue is a gift from fellow fountain pen collector Karlo Tatad and it surprised me because of its close resemblance to one of my favorite blue inks, Diamine Majestic Blue. Pelikan Blue-Black is another surprise for me because I did not see any feathering even though it's on a BB nib. I also tried two of my Zebra Sarasas here and they looked good on this cream-colored paper.

Below is the back of the first page with ink tests. Note that there is only minimal bleed which is seen only as tiny blue dots. Again, that's okay. This is still way, way better than the first Daycraft notebook I reviewed last year.

The second page revealed more bleed. Private Reserve Avacado on my no-name Maki-e pen is the one bleeding here (on top), as is Noodler's Midnight Blue (lower part of the page).

Here are some macro shots of the inks on the Juicy notebook paper. I was surprised to see under a 10x loupe that the 1670 ink feathered. But Vert Pré did not, and even showed some shading.

I love the shading that Saffron produced, as well the Blue Sky; and both CdA inks behaved properly: no feathering, no bleed!

After all is said about this excellent little notebook from Daycraft, I realized I forgot to mention that this Watermelon notebook comes with a felt bookmark instead of the usual ribbon pagemarker - cool! It is shaped as a curled stem of the watermelon fruit. Other notebooks in the Daycraft Juicy line have their own respective bookmarks according to their fruit designs.

And what else is good about this notebook? It is sold here in the Philippines at Scribe Writing Essentials! Daycraft notebooks have been available at Scribe's flagship store in Eastwood Mall since last year, and in several PowerBooks outlets this year.

Daycraft products are also widely available now. Aside from Daycraft's distributors, their products can also be bought in stores from these countries: (click on country name to see retail stores) Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Macau, Poland, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand.

J. Herbin, Lamy, and Starbucks Go to CamSur and Caramoan

2011-06-16T12:16:00.014+08:00

Last year, my Rhodia pad and Thein the Sheaffer franky went with us to Puerto Galera. This year, I brought along my Starbucks planner and white Lamy Safari loaded with J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe to CamSur Watersports Complex and the beaches of Caramoan for some 'fun in the sun'.

Here they are next to a wakeboard in the deck.

And here's the set again on the beach in Matukad Island, Caramoan.

Throughout our three-day stay in Camarines Sur, the pen and notebook took plane rides, a couple of boat rides, and a looooot of land transfers. But we had fun! Pen and notebook were kept dry in layers of zip-lock plastic bags while I enjoyed the water, the sun, and the sand.

Ink Review: J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe

2011-05-30T18:06:00.001+08:00

In my part of the globe, summer is nearing its end as rains begin to pelt us from tropical storm Bebeng (Aere) and typhoon Chedeng (Songda). But before summer finally bids us farewell and this post becomes a weather alert, let me write my long-postponed review of the one ink that truly reminds me of summer, J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe.

I received this bottle from Marian Ong of Scribe Writing Essentials some time ago and though it wasn't love at first write, I developed a need for it. When I'd write headings and subheadings in my notes, I'd use Diabolo Menthe or Orange Indien. If I need to highlight or underscore my lessons and handouts, I'd use Diabolo Menthe. When I want to impress my nieces with calligraphy, I use Diabolo Menthe.

I understand that not much has been written about this ink, probably because not many fountain pen users find light ink colors suitable for daily, regular writing. Despite this, I find Diabolo Menthe a cool ink color from J. Herbin. It has excellent flow and visible shading especially when used with a wider nib. And though Diabolo Menthe is very light while still wet, it dries a beautiful cyan with highly visible green tones. Diabolo Menthe's tint belongs to the goup of cyan colors including aquamarine, teal, turquoise, and verdigris.

This ink color reminds me of the color the summer seas in Boracay, Anilao, and Puerto Galera.

Here is a macro shot of my poorly drawn Diabolo Menthe icon. I drew the outline with a Platinum brush pen and applied the ink used a q-tip.

The photo below shows excellent shading, which only enhances Diabolo Menthe's tint.

Because of its light color, Diabolo Menthe is perfect for highlighting. I filled my Rotring Artpen with a 2.3 italic nib with it and use it as one of my highlighters. On my white Lamy Safari with a regular medium nib, it's super perfect for underscoring.

Diabolo Menthe is simply incomparable to other turquoise (or light blue) ink colors. The photo below shows that it's not like J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche, Diamine Turquoise, and definitely not like an old favorite, Waterman South Sea Blue. I will not pick a favorite because I love them all, and definitely because Diabolo Menthe is so far away from the rest of the cyan colors.

Lastly, the drying time of Diabolo Menthe is amazing! It dries quickly and nicely. It took less than 15 seconds to dry which works very well when I use it for highlighting.

J. Herbin named Diabolo Menthe after the popular French drink of the same name, which is "simply mint syrup and white lemonade mixed with ice cubes."

(Diabolo Menthe/Green Mint Syrup in Lemonade.

Image from http://mog.com/Anna/blog/163548)

A 30ml bottle of J. Herbin ink sells for P475 at Scribe Writing Essentials, and US$9.50 at The Goulet Pen Company. (I have no affiliation with both companies, though.)

Review: Quiver Pen Holder

2011-04-19T12:35:00.024+08:00

When I saw this newly-released pen holder late last year, I was both curious and excited because of its name. Most people know I named my blog after the centaur with a bow and arrow that is my sign, but only a few knows that I am a former archer. Which is why the pen holder held my attention the moment I saw it. It brought back happy archery memories way, way back. When I was an archer, a leather hip quiver held my arrows, and now that I am a pen collector, a unique pen holder holds two of my favorite pens to a favorite notebook, and it is called the Quiver.

Quiver Global's Bob Koch kindly sent me one of their pen holders to review. I received a double/dual pen holder for large notebooks and I used it as soon I took it out of the envelope. It was love at first sight. Who wouldn't fall for these penholders? They are made from genuine soft leather and hand-stitched by Quiver's skilled leather craftsmen. It's perfect for my pens! I got a brown pen holder, but it is also available in black.

The Quiver pen holder is very easy to use because of its simple design. Just slide the pen holder over the notebook's front cover and move it according to the desired position. The photo below shows the wide elastic band that keeps the pen holder secure on the notebook's cover. This elastic band also offers maximum flexibility to the pen holder so it can be used on a number of large notebooks. Quiver's website has a list of Quiver-compatible notebooks.

The double/dual Quiver pen holder comfortably accommodates two pens. Its soft leather can be stretched a bit, so two large pens can fit in. I tested several pen combinations shown in the photos below, and I paired a big-sized pen with a thin one so they will not scratch each other.

On the Webbie: Haolilai and Esterbrook SJ.

On the Reecovid notebook: Lamy Safari and Sheaffer thin cartridge pen.

On my red Scribe notebook: Waterman Hemisphere and Lamy Safari.

Lastly, two birds on my 2011 Starbucks planner: Pelikan M200 and the yellow M205 demo from the M205 Duo set. Love, love, love this combo!

The pen and notebook combinations are great! I love seeing two of my favorite pens on the cover of my notebooks and it makes writing very easy for me. I don't need to open a long pen wrap to get a pen to write, I just need to get one from my Quiver.

Quiver pen holders are available for online purchase through Quiver Global site. Other Quiver products include:

single pen Quiver for small notebooks;
single pen Quiver for large notebooks; and
double pen Quiver for small notebooks.

Quiver also offers an adapter for use in softcover notebooks. Also available are a number of Combo Sets that include any Quiver pen holder paired with a Moleskine notebook of choice.

The Quiver pen holder used in this review is courtesy of Quiver Global. Webbie is from Exaclair, Reecovid from Reecovid, and Scribe from Scribe. Pens and Starbucks planner belong to my personal collection.