Noodler's FPN Starry Night Blue

Pelikan Blue Black

Waterman Blue Black (sic)

Diamine Blue Black

...and that is where the ink ran out, so I will have to continue it electronically.

This was a curious ink. Hopefully, my sample was unrepresentative; it had sat in a box of cartridges for nigh on five years and probably needed shaking up a bit. I found a small lump of ink in the cartridge, and found that flow was uneven. When this ink was flowing well, it produced a solid, greyish-blue line. As I say above, it reminded me strongly of the old Quink Blue Black I used to see at school. Otherwise, my pen seemed to have some kind of prostate problem; the ink issued forth from my Tombow Object in fits and starts, leaving a pale line on the page.

Diamine inks tend to flow well, dry quickly and possess moderate saturation. Blue Black performs as any other in the Diamine range when the pen is fully-loaded; only the first line in the review gives anything like a true indication of its colour and saturation. Looking at my writing, there's a good amount of shading.

I'm not sure I'd want to buy a bottle of this ink, however. I preferred the similar but slightly bluer Prussian Blue, which I used up in 2007.

Noodler's #41 Brown Ink

Also posted on the Fountain Pen Network.

Diamine Royal Blue

Diamine Dark Brown

Pelikan Pink

Diamine Monaco Red

Chung Hwa 6903

Papermate Mirado Classic HB/No.2 Pencil

Daycraft Slab Notebooks

As I mentioned in the last review, the recent package I received from Daycraft included more than just the Astrology Notebook. I also received a pair of Slab Notebooks, one finished in gold and one in wood effect.

Like all the Daycraft products I have reviewed, these are quirky and fun notebooks. Each measures 108mm x 157mm and holds a hefty 360 pages (180 sheets) of 80gsm paper, bound with stiff board covers. Each weighs around 270g - over half a pound if you still use US or Imperial weights and measures.

The Gold Slab looks particularly impressive, although it is rather loud for my personal taste. Clearly, it's designed to resemble a gold ingot. It may not be very clear from my poor photography, but on the front cover it reads:

FINE
GOLD

999.9
PURE THINKING

Inside, the cream-coloured pages are printed with 7mm lines. On closer inspection, they turn out to be fine chains across the page.


The pages are glued and stitched together into the block. The spine on the cover separates from the pages, which enables the pages to be laid quite flat on a desk surface. All the pages are edged in gold.



The Brown Slab is covered in a wood-veneer material which is textured. The picture below illustrates this well, I think:


There is no print on the cover at all. This material reminds me strongly of the birch veneer used on Ikea furniture, although it is a bit darker, closer to beechwood colour. It would not appear out of place on a Billy bookcase. If you have an Ikea birch veneer desk this notebook could be camouflaged easily; as it is, it hides nicely when photographed against a piece of MDF. The edges of the paper are also finished in a wood effect; the attention to detail here is such that the woodgrain on the edges is in line with that on the covers.

The pages are also lined, but this time, the Brown Slab has a surprise in store: the lines are not straight, but slightly wavy as though they had been drawn by hand.


It's little details like this which make this a delightful notebook for daily use. Given the choice I'd probably opt for the stealthier Brown Slab, but I can see why the Gold would be a popular choice. Over time, I can see the corners becoming dog-eared and the surfaces becoming marked and scratched, but these are notebooks which are so much fun to own and use they should always raise a smile. Recommended.

Thanks again to Mr Foreal Lee for the review samples.

Note: since I posted the review of the Astrology notebook I have been informed by Daycraft that they now have a UK distributor for their products, so readers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should hopefully see them on the shelves and online in the next few months.

Daycraft Astrology Notebook

A few weeks ago I received another nice parcel from Daycraft in Hong Kong, some of whose notebooks I reviewed a few months ago. It contained three pocket notebooks, the first of which I review here. This is the Astrology Notebook.


Open the packaging, and out comes a very handsome pocket notebook indeed; it has black PU covers, adorned with a fairly accurate rendition of the constellation Gemini set out in Swarovski crystals. The shape of the constellation is picked out by fine grooves between the stars.

At the time of writing (end of November 2011) Gemini is well-placed low in the Eastern horizon in the evenings. It's a bright constellation and not easily missed once you recognise Castor and Pollux, which are represented on the cover by the two largest crystals, towards the top left in the picture.

Naturally, as an amateur astronomer I must dismiss astrology as pure superstition; and of course I do think it's complete hokum. But I couldn't say the same for the Astrology Notebook. It is beautifully made. The stiff board covers look robust, and in strong light, reflections ping off the crystals. You could easily lose track of the time playing with it to see all the different colours. On the day I took these photos, the Sun was shining, which allowed me to take advantage:



The Astrology Notebook measures 148mm by 102mm (roughly 6 inches by 4 inches) and holds 176 pages of what appears to be Daycraft's usual 100gsm paper stock. Every page is printed with a cross-hair design in feint grey which gives you a choice of orientation: you could use it as a regular notebook, or perhaps as a reporter's notebook, which would be my preferred option.


There is a clear sheet enclosed in the inside cover which shows the twelve constellations of the Zodiac, which looks like it could double as a window sticker. The inside cover also has printed on it the astrological symbol for Gemini, and some character traits attributed to Geminis (Versatile and clever. You're someone with sense. You can also be nervous and sometimes too tense. )



Like all the Daycraft notebooks I have reviewed, this is a well thought-out and executed notebook. It looks too nice to write in, almost; it would certainly make a nice Christmas present if you were looking for a stocking-filler. I wonder how robust it may be, however, and how long it may take before the crystals were knocked off. Anyone buying the Astrology Notebook may be well advised to keep it in the smart presentation case it is sold in if they intend to use it as an everyday carry notebook. Would I use it? Of course, but I'd have to prise it from my daughter's hands as she's already claimed it for herself.

Recommended.

My thanks to Mr. Foreal Lee from Daycraft for the review samples.

Palomino Blackwing 602

Postscript: I forgot to mention in this review that due to the softness of the lead, the pink eraser on this review pencil worked very well. Mike sent me a second Blackwing, this time with the black eraser, but I've not used that one.

General's Semi-Hex 2/HB Soft

Monsieur Notebooks

A few weeks ago I was sent these attractive leather-bound books from Hide Stationery, a recently-established English company that sells them under the Monsieur brand. These notebooks are hand-bound in India, by craftsmen paid fair wages, and have a definite "hand-made" artisanal feel about them; you can see from the occasional loose fibre on the edges of the leather that they have been cut by hand. These are not high-end leather goods as you might see in Smythson's, but a practical alternative for the rest of us. (That said, I really must replace my Game Book before the start of the grouse season as my current one is nearly full. ;-)) The leather is very rigid on the small black notebook, but has more "give" on the larger, A5 book. Monsieur state that the leather used in the binding is vegetable-tanned, and it shows in the patterns you see in the leather. As this is a natural material you will notice slight blemishes, marks and wrinkles which I think is part of the charm. See below for a close-up of the finish on the A5 brown leather notebook.


The books are stiff when new, and take a little bit of effort to open. They are perfect-bound, and don't lay flat when opened. Over time, I should think it will be easier to make it lie flat, as the leather in the spine is broken in. They have that leathery aroma, as another reminder of this book's cover material.

The black notebook is around A6 size, 145mm high by 110mm. It has 192 6mm ruled pages of 90gsm ivory paper. I have no information to hand as to the origin of the paper used, but hopefully this is also obtained from sustainable sources. Taking my fountain pens and a few pencils out, I tested the paper to see how well it handles fountain pen ink and graphite.



As you can see, the paper can handle my inks fairly well. There's a bit of feathering on the Diamine Imperial Blue from my M90, perhaps some also with the Kelly Green, but that is all. My M90 is a wet writer anyway, which is why I use it to test paper in these reviews. When you turn the page, you do notice some bleedthrough, though it's not excessive by any means.


This is a classic "little black book" for writing down your innermost thoughts, or perhaps just notes from a boring business meeting. With this cover, it should last for years in your handbag or briefcase. I like this little notebook a lot, but for me the winner in this pair is the larger, brown leather bound A5 notebook. This one also has 192 pages, this time of plain paper of the same off-white stock as the black notebook. As I don't draw very well, I did not test the paper on this book, but I imagine it behaves as well as the paper in its smaller cousin. This is the proper size for a leather-bound notebook, I think. It's big enough for sketches, for which the plain paper helps. It's not far removed from the kind of notebook you would imagine Charles Darwin scribbling in as he wandered around the Galapagos islands.


Both notebooks have the regulation Moleskine-style elastic closure and bookmark ribbon, though they lack the Mole's inside-pocket. Good; Monsieur seem to have decided to keep things simple, and the pocket introduces more complexity to the design. The name and address plate on the inside is there however, printed in the art nouveau style. It's also styled in French as it says simply, "Nom, etc."



Both notebooks also have an embossed Monsieur logo on the back cover, complete with moustache and monocle. To my eye also harks back to the belle epoque, and makes for a nice finishing touch:



I think these notebooks are excellent, and should become more interesting over time as the material ages; by the time you've filled it up with your jottings, it'll look like the diary in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Some people may find them a bit rough-and-ready, but I like that quality, and they fill a niche for hand-made leather notebooks which would otherwise be satisfied by more expensive products. The A6 retails for up to GBP9.99 and the A5 for up to GBP12.99.

They are available at a few stationers' in the UK, and online at Papernation.

My thanks to Tom at Hide Stationery for the review samples.