Notebook Review: TWSBI

When I shifted to full fountain pen use in 2008, I didn't realize that the major challenge I would have to face was to find suitable paper types for my pens and their inks. My lack of knowledge then about the proper pen, ink, and paper combinations brought home stacks of useless pads and notebooks. Since then, I have found notebooks that are friendlier to my fountain pens, but when Taiwan-based company TWSBI announced that they are coming up with a line of notebooks tailored for fountain use, I was curious. When Scribe Writing Essentials, the local distributor of TWSBI products in the Philippines, sent me a medium lined TWSBI notebook to review, I was thrilled.

TWSBI promotes their notebooks as "universal to all types of writing/drawing instruments, however, specially tailored for fountain pens." Their notebooks have soft and textured but shiny covers made of  fine polyurethane (PU). TWSBI made sure their notebooks are easily identified in the crowd, with the company's logo heat-pressed neatly onto the PU in the front cover.

The logo is again heat-pressed on the bottom of the back cover, but includes their acronym, TWSBI.

TWSBI offers their notebooks in three sizes: small (3.75 × 5.5 in), medium (5.25 × 8.25 in), and large (7.5 × 9.8 in). Each size is available in lined, grid, or blank pages. All notebook sizes have 120 sheets of paper, or 250 pages, but the small notebook has perforated sheets.

A black elastic strap holds the cover and notebook pages together, but it's a bit loose. I wish TWSBI used a stronger and wider strap for their medium and large notebooks.

In the photo below, the TWSBI notebook (on top) has the thinnest elastic strap although it's the thickest. The notebooks below the TWSBI are: Quo Vadis Habana, Moleskine, and Rhodia Webbie.

Despite the thin elastic strap, the red page ribbon marker adds vibrance to this black notebook. It's also a nice, thoughtful touch of TWSBI to have the end of the ribbon glued to prevent fraying. Most new notebooks come with loose ribbon ends and I usually just tie them into small knots to avoid early fraying.

The makers of these notebooks paid a lot of attention to detail: the notebooks have round page corners! I've always preferred round corners in my notebooks. I don't like pointed corners because they are sharp and dig into my palms when I write, and they also fray easily.

The pages of the TWSBI notebooks are sewn, to ensure more page security and flexibility. Sewn binding is so much better than most punch and bind methods because the pages are more secure and they also look tidier.

The paper used in these notebooks is not cream color, but it's not pearly white, either. It is off-white, soft, and smooth. TWSBI did not indicate the weight nor the type of paper used on these notebooks, but I'll guess it to be around 80gsm. Another plus for these cool notebooks: the binding allows them to open completely flat. The pages are not glued to the spine to give it full flexiblity.

The soft PU cover is flexible and the spine easily folds when the notebook is open.

See? No bulges, no bumps, no big creases to get in the way of the inside pages while the notebook is open.

Again, I am not sure about the paper type used in TWSBI's notebooks, but they are certainly excellent for fountain pen use. It's a brilliant move of TWSBI to use a faint gray ruling in the notebooks' pages, instead of black, or blue.

And unlike most notebooks with continuous line ruling, TWSBI used faint dotted lines, which is just fine. The faint gray lines are perfect for writing, but they do not get in the way of it at all.

I was really excited to try this notebook's paper and filled a page with different pen and ink combinations. I also included in the test page some of my remaining gel pens and rollerball pens. True enough to their claim, TWSBI's notebooks are perfectly suited to fountain pen use. Most of my pens have stub, medium, broad, and italic nibs that bleed ink on most paper types. But the paper in this notebook behaved so much better than I expected, and I was so amazed to see clean lines — no excessive feathering, and not a trace of bleeding. There is some see-through though, but again, that's fine because writing on both sides of the page is still possible.

The back side of my pen and ink test page did not show any bleeding at all.

I was not able to do a test for different ink's dry times, but I did not have any problems with drying ink when I did the pen and ink tests. Below are samples of the inks I used and there is no significant feathering and no bleeding at all. From top: Diamine Royal Blue (TWSBI 540 medium nib), Pelikan Edelstein Jade (Pelikan M205 medium nib), Diamine Red Dragon (Pelikan M400 medium nib), and Noodler's Air Corp Blue Black (Lamy Safari 1.1 italic nib).

Overall, TWSBI's notebooks are excellent to use with fountain pens. They are simple, yet very attractive and have the "classic black notebook" elegant look. They have soft flexible covers, an elastic strap to keep the pages together, the pages have round corners, and the paper is excellent for any pen type. Each of TWSBI's notebooks has that happy vibrant red ribbon page marker and back pockets with red accents. These notebooks are perfect for note taking and journaling, and they do not cost a fortune. I really, really like my medium TWSBI notebook, and again, it is super friendly to my fountain pens!

To get these notebooks from TWSBI, visit: http://www.twsbi.com/category.php?id_category=9.

In the Philippines, these wonderful notebooks are available at Scribe Writing Essentials together with TWSBI fountain pens and ink bottles, with the following prices:

• Small: PhP 495
• Medium: PhP 675
• Large: PhP 845

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Ink Review: Sailor Jentle Grenade

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.

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Review: J. Herbin Scented Inks

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.

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Fountain Pen Review: Lamy Safari 2012 Limited Edition Green

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 Greenfountain 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).

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Notebook Review: Black Ocean 1.2 by Whitelines

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.

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