Notebook Review: Quo Vadis Keith Haring Artist Series

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.

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Ink Review: J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage

It rained for four years,

eleven months,

and two days.

The sky crumbled into storms and hurricanes

that scattered roofs 

and knocked down walls

and uprooted every last plant of the banana groves.

- Gabriel García Márquez, 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'

In this part of the world where I live, the dry spell is over, having been banished by the typhoons of the now-officially declared wet season. I like this season of the year - not for the rain and wetness - but because I see green everywhere! What used to be dry, brown spots are now thriving with growth and greens. Now I can walk and run again! Isn't it refreshing to brisk walk after a heavy downpour? It feels so refreshing to be outside when everything has just been washed by the rain.

This may be a surprise because I am known to hate the rain. Well, I do. So I will stop rattling about it and just write about this wonderful J. Herbin green ink from Karen Doherty though Quo Vadis Blog's St. Patrick Day giveaway. And let's hope it doesn't rain for four days, eleven months and two days on this part of the planet. :)  

I received this bottle of J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage in early April, and that gave me enough time to use it before writing this review. I was reluctant to use it at first because green is not an ink color I am usually fond of, but I was so attracted to Lierre Sauvage's hue that I filled my (green) Chelpark Moti pen with it, pronto. And LS did not disappoint. I wrote an entry in my diary with it and I'm happy that it is indeed, a readable green.

I know much has been written about the J. Herbin ink box. I have written as much (read here, here, and here) so I will not do a repeat. But the Herbin bottle, though, is a beauty. Each Herbin bottle has an elegantly designed label and an integrated pen rest as shown in the photo below. I've always complained that the pen rest is too shallow/narrow to fit any regular-sized pen, although my white Unic fits in the groove perfectly, and this slim 1957 Sheaffer cartridge pen fits comfortably; I learned through Brian Goulet (of Goulet Pens Company and Ink Nouveau) that the pen rest is really meant for the Herbin glass dip pens. Now that makes sense. :)

I love playing around with the bottle, so here is another photo with the bottle turned upside down. Doing that shows the embossed print that says "J HERBIN PARIS".

Here's how the ink looks inside the bottle, which is very dark and almost black. But note that the ink on the bottle's neck (below) and walls (see photo above) somehow show the true green color of Lierre Sauvage.

And now the written review. Lierre Sauvage is a moderately saturated ink, that has excellent, consistent, wet flow. Writing is smooth for both round and italic nibs, and shading is seen in both. I enjoyed writing with this ink on my Sheaffer CP and 1.5mm cursive italic Rotring ArtPen. I had no feathering or bleed problems with the Rhodia Reverse notebook paper.

Below are macro shots of several portions of the page above, to further show how Lierre Sauvage behaved on Rhodia paper from two different nibs.

This doodle is written using the Sheaffer CP, which has a medium nib.

Text below was written using the same Sheaffer CP. Notice the evident shading.

Now SKY, taken from the quote was written using the 1.5mm Rotring ArtPen.

I love the clear shading seen here... 

...here...

...and here. In the slanted line of the letter N (and on the lower line of K from the SKY photo), look closely to see that it is subtly divided, made by the separation of the nib tines.

Lierre Sauvage is a green ink with traces of yellow, or orange, which contributes to its brightness. In the photo below, it is clear that this bright (but not neon-bright) readable green ink shows more yellow than blue (like Diamine Woodland Green - that's for the next ink review), black (like Private Reserve Avacado, my first green ink which I use sparingly due to its saturation), or gray (like the vintage, made in the Philippines Parker Super Quink Permanent Green).

Lierre Sauvage dries fast enough. After the 15th second, it has completely dried on paper, including the dots and end points of strokes. I did not do a comparison with the other green inks, though. 

Lierre Sauvage borrows its green hue and icon from the wild ivy, which is its direct translation. I am loving it, and currently has three pens on my pen wrap inked with it.

J. Herbin inks are available in 30 beautiful colors. These water-based inks are non-toxic, have neutral pH and manufactured using natural dyes. Dowload 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, and US$9.50 at The Goulet Pen Company. (I have no affiliation with either companies, though.)

J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage ink used in this review courtesy of Exaclair, Inc. through Karen Doherty and Rhodia Reverse Notebook from fellow fountain pen collector and budding business entrpreneur John Raymond Lim. The two pens used, the Rotring ArtPen and Sheaffer CP both belong to my collection.

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If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda

I love poetry. I've always have. In high school, I liked Christina Georgina Rosetti, and later in college, I devoured Sylvia Plath. A few years back, I read about the Italian film 'Il Postino', a fictional story about real-life poet Pablo Neruda. I was unlucky in my search for a copy to watch, so I consoled myself with the incomplete sountrack I received from a friend. Aside from the film's score, the soundtrack also includes Pablo Neruda's poems being recited by various artists including Madonna, who recited this lovely poem.

I've said that I'm new into calligraphy, and Chancery is the only form I could do now. I rendered the poem using four cursive italic calligraphy pens, inked with four different inks on a Rhodia Metallic Reverse notebook. I did this at 2 in the morning last Saturday, to loosen up after reviewing for my exam later that morning on Cross-Cultural Communication.

First page, photo above. For the title and second paragraph, I used my Sheaffer NoNonsense pen with a fine italic nib filled with Diamine Burnt Sienna. The first paragraph was written using a Lamy Vista with a 1.5mm italic nib, inked with J. Herbin Rouille d'Ancre.

Second, page, photo above. I used a Lamy Joy with a 1.9mm italic nib inked with Diamine Chocolate for the first paragraph, and a Rotring Art Pen with a 1.5mm italic nib inked with J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage. Love these colors!

Below are photos of the last paragraphs of both pages. These are very poignant words. And though they may come across as words directed towards someone's lover, they are actually Neruda's expression of love for his country, Chile.

Inks behave differently in different pens on different paper stocks. If Diamine Burnt Sienna is on any of my Parkers, it writes very pale brown strokes. On the Sheaffer NN, it's marvelous! The classy, lovely rust-brown color is amazing! It has excellent shading, too. This paragraph reminds me a lot of Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know.

This green is J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage, the ink I got from Exaclair's/Quo Vadis' Saint Patrick's Giveaway. I am not a fan of green inks, but I love this one! Excellent shading, excellent flow, great color!

The J. Herbin inks used in this review are courtesy of Karen Doherty, Marketing VP of Exaclair; while the Rhodia Metallic Reverse notebook is from the FPN-P May pen meet raffle. The Diamine Burnt Sienna and all the pens used belong to The Archer.

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