Leigh Reyes. My Life As a Verb.

The latest notebook I have decided to hoard is the Midori MD.

MD notebooks are available online. I see there’s a place called The Journal Shop and of course, Rakuten. If I can’t get out of the country and must swallow the heavy shipping cost, I will just close my eyes and think of how lovely the wrapping paper is.

This is the notebook equivalent of wearing cream linen slacks while walking down a busy Manila street.

Branding, literally.

The paper is honeyed cream, easy on the eyes, somewhat translucent, crazy smooth, and highly resistant to bleedthrough. Ink takes a little longer to dry, and will definitely smear for the impatient. (Note fishnet smear on the left page.) (Note I am very, very impatient.)

Brush pen and ink. The paper color here is more accurate.

And more samples.

In between the back cover and the last page, a surprise – stickers.

I would like stickers that don’t make me feel too pressured to write “Ideas.” I suggest “Accidents,” “Nothing Much,” “Nooneenooneenoo,” and “Whatever.”

This is the Derwent Safari. The cover is thick fabric given a suede-like treatment with obvious grain. It’s around 17 x 12 cm, and has 80 sheets of 200 gsm paper.

The inside front cover has a flap. The back has a pocket.

The sheets inside are thick and sturdy. Fountain pen ink, watersoluble graphite, Tria alcohol-based markers, watercolor – so far so good. Here’s a sketch of our old piano, done in pencil, Noodler’s Eel Black in my Oldwin, with warm gray fills courtesy of Tria markers.

A sky reminiscent of BEMs and space operas, done in Tria markers. There is bleedthrough (because alcohol markers always do that).

Watercolor tends to pool on the surface of this paper, which is very smooth. It’s good for texture. This quickie was done first in pencil, inked with Pilot Iroshizuku fuyu-syogun, then colored with W&N palette remnants and a waterbrush.

Prat Paris makes wonderful, wonderful portfolios. They don’t know coffee dregs about making a website, but that’s all right, we will patiently download the PDFs not knowing they were there to be downloaded.

Fully Booked stocks Prat portfolios, and just recently added scrapbooks, pocket journals, and refillable journals. I bought the largest refillable journal (11″ x 8″) in purple. The cover is bonded leather.

Prat in purple

The refill inside has a thin plastic cover, and snaps in place. The paper is unusual: crisp and pebble-textured, like a modern nod to parchment.

Now that's snappy

I wanted to stock up on refills, but couldn’t find any at Fully Booked. Now I’m thinking of ordering them online, because the paper allows fountain pens, even the wettest noodles, to be on their best behavior.

Texture

Sometimes, texture is not a good thing. Vintage nibs with only a token amount of iridium left can snag. Broad nibs can lay down uneven lines, especially if the ink is of the more viscous variety.

Writing sample

That’s not the case at all with this paper. Even at maximum flex, my pen did not incite it to feather.

Another one of those artsy shots

Yes, I had way too much fun with sunlight through netting.

At Php1,800+, this notebook has a limited audience.  I do recommend this indulgence to people with a little more money (and not too much pragmatism) to spare this season.

Cute has invaded my life. First bunny shoes, and now this. FUNctional is a stationery shop in Megamall A. It’s beside Toy Kingdom, which means I have two black holes to fall into.

FUNctional at SM Megamall

Everything in the shop comes from China. There are ballpens in all shades of sherbet, folders, pencil cases, and notebooks.

Two small notebooks

I bought two notebooks, both with plastic covers. I bought them because the pages weren’t blank.

Inside the notebook

Every page, or spread, is a way of doodling or writing. This one invites you to write down four daydreams.

Built-in doodles

Sparely-illustrated pages make you think of different ways of interacting with the notebook.

Ruled - but just half

This spread amused me – only half was ruled, the other left plain. This is for people who change their minds mid-page. Or for those who draw and write at the same time. (The desk and chair on the lower left was a built-in doodle. I added the sitting figure and the thought balloon.)

Another notebook - watercolor wash backgrounds

For those in a dreamier frame of mind, there’s a notebook with watercolor washes in different colors.

Floral thoughts

These remind me of petals. I imagine you can write one word per petal.

The paper is thin, but not irritatingly so. I’d like more of these notebooks. Every writer or artist has experienced the fear of the blank page – with these notebooks, that point is moot. (Plus they’re cute.)

I like stationery products, I do! In Singapore I run to Borders and Kinokuniya and to the fifth floor of Ngee An City where there’s a huge Art Friend and a shop that sells cloth-covered notebooks and organizers. In Hong Kong I walk down alleys to spot mom-and-pop school supply stores (that also sell chops and brushes and bundles of fake money to burn at funerals). I spent my free afternoon in Shanghai practicing non-English on the friendly salesladies along Fuzhou Road, thrilled by finding Clairefontaine and Rhodia.

My last foray into Kinokuniya turned up Mnemosyne, a Rhodia-alike product by Maruman. I got one with a protective plastic cover.

Mnemosyne by Maruman

It comes with two covers. The yellow inner cover explains who Mnemosyne is, in English and Japanese.

Black and yellow covers

I think providing an explanation for the brand name is a polite gesture. Imagine if all brands explained their origins somewhere on the product. Most of them would run, “Vuitton/Adidas/Nokia/Coca Cola is named after the founder/the founder/the town of the founder/cocaine (when no one knew what it actually did)…”

A close look at the paper

I like using pens with high flow to test paper, and Mnemosyne paper is highly tolerant of major ink gush. Good news for fountain pen users who like Rhodia and Clairefontaine but might want to try an alternative.

Minimal bleedthrough

During the same trip, I spotted notepads specifically marketed to fountain pen users.

Fountain pen notepads by Midori

These were on the shelf above blank postcards and pink stationery with kittens. I assumed the “Letter Paper for Fountain Pen” was 60% recycled. Recycled paper rarely stands up to fountain pens, so this made me even more curious. That, and the owl perched on top of the letter L.

Fountain pen paper - ruled

The “Letter Paper for Fountain Pen” has ruled, textured paper. It’s a pleasing off-white.

Writing sample

I used the Pelikan M1000 with the 3B nib, and several flexible nibs. The paper held up without feathering. It is on the thin side, though, so no joy in writing on the reverse.

Fountain pen paper - plain

The plain paper also has texture, but not as obvious as the lined.

Writing sample

The plain paper buckled more due to the wetness of the ink – you can see it, somewhat, in this shot. (Note the base of the N, where ink has pooled, or the downstrokes on V and W.)

Both types were delightful to write on. Faint feedback from the textured paper was a plus, not a drag. Still, one must retain a sense of objectivity about these things. The owl paper is SGD11.55, the plain paper is SGD9.25, Mnemosyne was SGD9.65. I’ll buy the Mnemosyne again, but the others, though pretty and well-made for the purpose, are marketing novelties.

Damn, that’s huge.

The little Moleskine is no match for...

During a recent foray into Fully Booked, Iñigo spotted what could be the pinnacle of Moleskine evolution. The Moleskine Folio series, created for artists, comes in A4 and A3 sizes, in Plain Book, Watercolor and Portfolio. (There might be a Sketchbook as well, but I didn’t see a sample.)

Moleskine Folio display

I bought an A3 Plain Book, but I think I should have gotten the A3 Watercolor instead.

Moleskine Folio Plain Book, paper

The Plain Book will be a good purchase for artists who work in dry media, but not for those who use pen and ink.

Okay, fine, I am running out of blog post headlines. Stop sniggering.

Blue Feather notebooks

I know many of us are always on the lookout for noodling notebooks. I think it’s a fair conclusion that pricier notebooks do have better paper, especially for fountain pen users. That makes it quite a challenge to find an easily-available, inexpensive notebook that can handle repeated scribblings of “this is a wet writer” and “name of pen loaded with name of ink” and “great flex!” Enter Blue Feather.

As you can see from the two samples below, the paper, while thin, does resist feathering. It is also smooth, so even vintage flex nibs with worn-down iridium tipping don’t feel like they’re snagging fibers.

Blue Feather doodle

Blue Feather paper with flex nib

There are two kinds of Blue Feather notebook paper out there. Look for the one with the faint yellowish cast rather than the cool white. The cool white paper is ten kinds of sucky.

Blue Feather, two variants

It handles wet-writing stubs just as well as flex nibs. If you’re on a budget but have an irresistible urge to noodle away extravagantly, Blue Feather notebooks are the way to go.

Blue Feather, more writing samples

I have learned that an excellent way to mitigate Notebook Overpurchase Guilt (NOGuilt) is to write reviews of said notebooks. That way, every time I purchase yet another notebook I cannot possibly need, I feel like I am doing others a service. 

(Insert self-justification hurl here.)

Out of such mental contortions a good thing occasionally surfaces. Like the V-book™, which I found in National Bookstore at Shangri-la Plaza. 

V-book A6 unlined journal

The cover is faux leather, embossed with a mandala-ish pattern that crosses from front to back. It closes with a magnetic strap, has 96 sheets of acid-free paper and sports an expandable inner pocket. Those who seek the comfort of black covers are out of luck; the unlined journals come in dark brown and light brown, the lined in green with the phrase “green apple” incised in front. 

V-book, expandable inner pocket

I don’t know why the inner pockets have to be *that* expandable. I’ve only ever managed to fit 2 or 3 receipts in them without making the journal look like it’s had too much for lunch.

V-book and Moleskine

The Moleskine sketch notebook on the right is slightly smaller, and slimmer.

V-book and Moleskine (unlined reporter) writing samples (click to enlarge)

The V-book’s paper can hold its own against the Moleskine’s, and actually performs better in resisting bleedthrough and feathering. Do note I didn’t use the same inks in both (which should tell you that the scientific method and I are not friends).

V-book and Moleskine (unlined reporter) writing samples, back of page (click to enlarge)

While retail for the Moleskine is around Php700, the V-book sells for Php185. The label at the back says National Bookstore is the distributor, so I don’t expect you can find this journal in a competitive outlet. If you were thinking of buying the Scribe, get the V-book instead. (That is, if you have no objections to brown. And mandalas.)

Available for 180 pesos at the Rockwell Urban Bazaar, this Moleskine lookalike will not make fountain pen users happy. However, as a gift for our friends who use gel pens and ballpoints, it can be a welcome go-anywhere notebook.