Crossfield A5 Notebook

Every now and then, I come across something new to me and this is one of those events. A friend of mine showed me their Crossfield notebook and I loved it. What did I do? Yep, I ordered one.

The Crossfield is obtained from Nanami Paper, which is a company located in California specializing in fine Japanese stationery. They have a wide selection of products but this notebook really caught my eye. 

It comes in this protective sleeve, which is a nice touch, and it adds a bit of class. I guess I am a sucker for nice packaging. 

The notebook itself, is more of a burgundy and the cover is semi-flexible coated fabric cover. The cover, binding and back cover are all the same color and material. That is my only complaint on this notebook. Until you open it, you are not quite sure if it is backwards or not. There is no indication on which is front or back.


The binding is stitched and the book does lie flat easily, which is great for an added writing experience.

The corners of the book are cut at an angle, much like the Franklin Christoph Firma Flex but is more gradual and not as drastic.

 
 The paper on this notebook is white Tomoe River at 52gsm and is in a grid layout. There is a bow in the upper right corner of each page and four rectangles at the bottom of each page which ultimately allows the user to use this notebook for a multitude of formats.

As with Tomoe River paper, it is super fountain pen friendly. Since the paper is the white version, there is more ghosting on the back of the page than the cream color but it still is not much, in my opinion.
 

This notebook has 480 pages of Tomoe River paper and the grid is 5mm. It is a great value for $24.00 + shipping, in my opinion. It is a quality book, with a huge amount of paper and it even ships with a full A5 sized sheet of blotting paper too!

This review is based off of my experience and opinion. I do not represent Nanami Paper nor am I being compensated in any way.

Papier Plume Samhain Limited Edition FPD Ink

Halloween has come and gone this year as well as Fountain Pen Day (FPD). My only purchase on FPD were a couple of inks from Papier Plume as one of these inks was a special limited edition for FPD inspired by Halloween. Samhain is a Gaelic festival that celebrates the harvest season and the moving into winter and is the inspiration for Halloween.

Papier Plume made this ink in a very limited quantity and they were going to be hand-outs to the participants at a get together for FPD. After an inquiry, I learned they would put about 30ish bottles on the website at noon that day so I was diligent and was able to get a bottle ordered.

The photo on the website showed a dark, murky purple ink and it looked amazing and so appropriate for Samhain, which is what the ink is called. When I received the ink, I was super disappointed as it was more of a greyish, faded purple than anything.

I then visited the Papier Plume website again to see if I was hallucinating the ink color and then I read the description. “It has great shading qualities going from a thin purple (the thinning of the veil) to a dark purple (the longer nights).  We've found best results in a wetter nib, or even some sort of flex nib.” Well crap!

I then swabbed the ink with a small paint brush and I was able to see more purple but it is still more muted and I also compared it to Bayou Nightfall which is also a greyish green color.

The only time I was able to get a darker purple out of this was when I had to prime the piston on a Twsbi Diamond 580 and 2 large drops of ink came out. Yes, the ink does seem a tad on the drier side.

I will say that the ink shades quite nicely and does have some saturation visible on certain papers. It is a decent ink but it was not what I was expecting and I am very disappointed. At this point, I doubt I will keep it. 

This is based off of my experience and my opinion. I do not represent Papier Plume nor am I being compensated in any way.

Franklin-Christoph Firma-Flex Journal Notebook A5

All of my faithful readers know I have really taken to the pens made by Franklin-Christoph but what about the notebooks? Well, I purchased one of them at the Dallas Pen Show and it is a wonderful notebook, plain and simple.

This is the A5 sized journal notebook which is always the size I prefer and it is in the graph format on the page. It has a very elegant and classy look and it is stitched together which adds to the entire quality of the book itself. I also love the celtic knot with the 4 diamonds debossed on the cover.

 The book is sturdy like a hardcover but is still semi-flexible, which  is a nice feature. The binding, much like the cover, is sewn and not glued so this book does lie flat for convenience and overall writing access. I also like the angle cut corners as it is a nice touch.

How is the paper though? That is a great question. The paper is quite smooth but with a very small hint of feedback. There are 96 sheets here for a total of 192 pages. The paper is pH neutral and it is also acid free but the most interesting aspect of the paper is that it is made from sugar cane extract. Franklin-Christoph has a secret paper formula and that is all I know about the intricacies here. What I can say is the paper does not feather, bleed or spread with ink and I tried a wide assortment of inks and nib widths here.

This paper also shows off nice shading in an ink as well as sheen.

It is another fine quality product from Franklin-Christoph and I will definitely be purchasing more as I fill up this one. A true pleasure to write in.

This is based off my experiences and opinion. I do not represent Franklin-Christoph nor am I being compensated in any way.

Fountain Pen Day 2017

It is Fountain Pen Day! 

This is a day for all fountain pen enthusiasts to celebrate their passion and it is a great time to help enlighten others to the joys of fountain pens. To celebrate, there is not a special activity that is required other than enjoy writing. That is it.

I was sitting and thinking about some ideas for celebrating this day and here are a few:

1. Put the computer away, get some paper and your favorite fountain pen and write a letter. It could be to a parent, family member, dear friend, anyone.
2. November is NANoWriMo so if you are an aspiring writer, grab a pen and start that novel.
3. Gift a pen and ink combo to a friend that would appreciate the gesture and would like to try a fountain pen but may not know where to start.
4. Draw. There is no reason you cannot use a fountain pen for the expression of self through art.
5. Try to take notes with a pen and paper rather than a laptop or tablet

The theme here is write, it is that simple. 

There are also many wonderful giveaways or discounts from fountain pen vendors all over the world. This could be your lucky day!

Fountain Pen Day happens once a year on the first Friday of November. It is a great time to promote fountain pen use and a great excuse to go a tad silly with your love of pens. 

Happy Fountain Pen Day!