My discoveries for 2009

On several blogs I saw some posts appear about the bloggers-top-year-discoveries for 2009. I thought it was a a good idea for a short article on my blog to. Two thousand nine was for me the year of intensifying my use of fountain pens and the start of my blogging 'career'.

Paper
Past year 2009 was the year I discovered Moleskine notebooks. I became curious about these black jewels because of the hacks I read about for GTD'ers. I tried one and I was hooked. At my job I always have my Moleskine large squared workbook with me. I started my second squared this year and it never leaves my side at my work. Their is much writing about them not being fountain pen friendly. I found some great inks that never bleed through the beautiful paper. Their are also a lot of Moleskinefriendly fountain pen inks that work great in most Moleskines. Here are some articles on my use of Moleskine notebooks.

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Sailor Jentle Ink Yuku Akari light blue (winter 2009)

Sailor brought some great colors in a limited edition for winter 2009. These are the first Sailor inks in my collection. I put some Sailor Jentle Ink Yuku Akari light blue in my Lamy Safari (medium) and wrote this review. The pictures are made in the wonderful Dutch snow. My daughter Jessica was willing to be model for four reviews in this Limited Edition ink. ;-) I read Sailor made only 500 bottles of each color.


Color
It is a real bright icy turquoise. It is a little light but I think it is a great color. It reminds on the real light blue ice in the Arctic.

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Sailor Jentle Ink Shigure purple (winter 2009)

Sailor brought some great colors in a limited edition for winter 2009. These are the first Sailor inks in my collection. I put some Sailor Jentle Ink Shigure purple in my Lamy Safari (medium) and wrote this review. The pictures are made in the wonderful Dutch snow. My daughter Jessica was willing to be model for four reviews in this Limited Edition ink. ;-) I read Sailor made only 500 bottles of each color.


Color
The color is a very deep dark purple blue. It is a color that stands a bit from the rest of the Winter Limited Edition 2009 inks of Sailor. It is a very saturated color. I think if you like dark-blue's then this one could be used for daily use.

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Sailor Jentle Ink Tokiwa Green (winter 2009)

Sailor brought some great colors in a limited edition for winter 2009. I never owned Sailor inks, so I was very curious. I put some Sailor Jentle Ink Tokiwa Green in my Lamy Safari (fine) and wrote this review. The pictures are made in the wonderful Dutch snow. My daughter Jessica was willing to be model. ;-)


Color
This green color is a nice green. It is the green from the Christmas tree. It has a nice subtle shading. It is a green to use every day when you don't like black or blue.

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Sailor Jentle Ink Irore red (winter 2009)

Sailor brought some great colors in a limited edition for winter 2009. I never owned Sailor inks, so I was very curious. I did some Sailor Jentle Ink Irore Red in my Lamy Vista (fine). I took some pictures in the Dutch winter snow.


Color
This red color is really red. It reminds a bit of Pelikan Red. Pelikan Red tends a little bit to orange. This Sailor Irore Red is vivid as the Pelikan but more red. The color is very saturated with almost no shading.

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Sailor Jentle Ink Limited Edition (winter 2009) index page

Sailor brought some great colors in a limited edition for winter 2009. I read Sailor made only 500 bottles of each color. I bought mine at PenGallery. That is a great shop with fast delivery. I hope you'll find your way trough this index page.


In winter 2009 Sailor brought these Limited Edition inks:
Sailor Jentle Ink Shigure purple
Sailor Jentle Ink Irore red
Sailor Jentle Ink Tokiwa Green
Sailor Jentle Ink Yuku Akari light blue

Montblanc Black Ink review

The Montblanc Black ink I got in the package of the Montblanc Meisterstuck 149. This ink costs about $ 0,25/ml.


Color
It is a very saturated black. A good dark ink. The color has no shading, so black is black. So what more can you tell on a black color......

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Iroshizuku fuyu-syogun (bluish dark gray)

Iroshizuku fuyu-syogun (bluish dark gray) is a fountain pen ink produced by Pilot. I bought this bottle at Jetpens.


Color
The color is quit nice. I thought I could not love grey color's, because I always thought it is a black with some water. But this color is different. It has a blueish shade in it. It just is a nice color. The shading is from light grey/blue to a moderate grey. For everyday use it is a great color. On Rhodia paper the color is not so nice as on Moleskine paper in my opinion. It kind a fades to much.

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De Atramentis Spätburgunder Ink review

De Atramentis is a great German ink manufacturer De Atramentis. They have a large assortiment of all kinds of ink. They have scented inks, inks based on whiskey and inks based on wine. I did a review of De Atramentis Dornfelder which was a great ink.

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Noodler's Saguaro Wine

I bought this bottle of Noodler's Saguaro Wine at World Lux. Pink or purple ink's is not really my thing. But my daughter loves them. So this one was a must-buy. I love Noodler's because most of them perform well on Moleskine paper. Saguaro is a cactus but is not pink. Their is a Saguaro Wine ritual....


Color
Wooow the color is really pink. That is something to write with a Lamy Safari Pink LE (fine). It is not a color I would ever write with in daily use I think. My daughter loves it very much.

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De Atramentis Dornfelder Ink review

I saw a website of a German ink manufacturer De Atramentis. They have a large assortiment of all kinds of ink. They have scented inks, inks based on whiskey and inks based on wine. That last was some kind of decadent idea for me. But I could not let it go and had to do a review on this inks. Hmmm drinking a real German Dornfelder red wine writing a review.

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Noodler's Forest Green

This bottle of Noodler's Forest Green I bought at World Lux. I like green color's. Most Noodler's perform well in Moleskine's, that's the reason why I like Noodler's ink so much.


Color
The color Forest Green is a really vivid bright dark green color. It does indeed remind of a forest jungle green. If you like green, it is a color you could use for everyday use.

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Rhodia Pad No 12, Paul Smith

I bought some great Rhodia Pad's No 12. It is a special edition from Paul Smith. I bought these beauty's at Journaling Arts. Journaling Arts is a great store for all your notebooks, journals. Cynthia Niklas does her job with passion. My package got lost in the mail. She offered great service by sending a new shipment.

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J. Herbin Éclat de Saphir ink review

J. Herbin Éclat de Saphir is a nice ink from a French manufacturer. J. Herbin is represented and distributed in the United States by Exaclair, Inc. located in New York City. I put this ink in my Visconti Van Gogh Maxi (fine) that I bought in Florence Italy. I had a great weekend with my wife their. This ink costs about $ 0,30/ml.


Color
It is a very nice blue color. A bright medium blue that jumps of the page in a distinctive way. It reminds on a great summer day with the blue in the sky. When dry the ink has no shading it is just plain blue a little bit darker, saturated and more vivid then Aurora Blue.

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MSK Video Tutorial

A very nice video tutorial that illustrates the functioning of the MSK wizard, the cut and paste tool created by Moleskine to transfer information, images and texts from digital to paper.



The MSK can be found here

Iroshizuku kon-peki (deep ocean blue)

Reading my previous posts on Iroshizuku inks you can't have misunderstood that I am impressed by the Iroshizuku line-up of fountainpen inks. This review is about the kon-peki and was bought at Jetpens.

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My new Lamy Lamy AL-Star italic nib 1.1

My al new Lamy Al-Star italic nib 1.1 Silver Blue. My first experience with an italic nib. I bought this pen at Art Brown.

Noodler's Army Green

This bottle of Noodler's Army Green I bought at World Lux. Most Noodler's perform well in Moleskine's, that's the reason why I like Noodler's ink so much. Worldlux is a great company and delivers fast.


Color
The color is just what the name says, army green. It is a green with great shading. Kind of camouflage green.

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New Moleskine for my work

My first Moleskine is almost completed (just a few pages left). So I had to prepare a new one. I wanted to make some slight changes in my GTD-system. I do not make a written list for calls or next actions in my Moleskine. I do that on my laptop with software called Daylite. It is great software, really good for GTD, but it has also great CRM functionality. It synchronizes with my iPhone, so I have always my lists at hand. Pen and paper come in handy when taking notes during the day. And that is what I do in my Moleskine.

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Moleskinefriendly rating system

Moleskine has a lot of fans around the globe. Fountain pen users are not so fond of them, because of bleed-through and feathering. Moleskine also has much inconsistency in it's products (paper). This is an often heard complaint. One book can be great for a fountain pen user. The next can be a bleeder with the same ink and same pen. Moleskine does have a huge market share and much products to choose from.

I noticed some inks who do stand the test on Moleskine paper in combination with a fountain pen. So I started this blog to share my experiences with my readers. After testing several ink's and fountain pens I searched for a system to test the pen and ink and figure out some kind of rating system for the combination.

Score
1. 100% Moleskine proof in any Moleskine in any pen and any nib width

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The Moleskine Journal: Common Availability, Uncommon Quality

Graham wrote a nice piece on his travel blog. I hope you like to read this.

A while ago, I wrote about the raw utility of the travel journal in Travel Gear Highlight: Travel Journal. In the comments to that post, a reader noted that I should try a Moleskine journal.

Since December of last year, I've been carrying a small black Moleskine (3 1/2" by 5 1/2") on all of my travels, and it's now full of notes from my adventures. I've been quite impressed with it. It traveled with me to Moscow, Sweden, Italy, all over the United States and through a cross country move. Needless to say, it's been through a lot.

Despite all it's been through, my little Moleskine only shows some minor wear at the corners and some staining from a peach that was accidentally left to rot in my bag. Other than that, it has remained in great condition. The quality of this journal's construction continues to impress me. It's built of quality components, and it's built to last.

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Six new Moleskine Folio products

Folio is a collection of top quality large Moleskine formats, A4 and A3. Now 6 new items have been added, conceived for professionals who love to personalize their own desks and give value to them, in functional and aesthetic terms. It is also a set of tools Moleskine lovers can use to build their own “portable office”, to represent themselves in all occasions and meetings.

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The New Moleskine Passions

Moleskine has announced an exciting new range of products, the New Moleskine Passions.

The "Moleskine Passions" is a collection of six different journals to record and recall memories, thoughts and notes about six different passions: Recipes, Wine, Book, Film, Music and Wellness.

Moleskine lovers can use them to collect information and reviews about books they read, restaurants they visited, concerts they attended, dishes they tasted. And to share these information with others.

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Iroshizuku tsuki-yo (night sky greenish deep blue)

Iroshizuku tsuki-yo (night sky greenish deep blue) is an ink Produced by Pilot. I bought this bottle at Jetpens. Great store but a little bit sturdy for the customs-papers.


Color
A great distinctive color. Nice for every day use. As the name describes the color is just like that. A little bit dark blue with a greenish touch. Great shading in this color. It indeed reminds on a nightly sky.


Writing
This ink is a great smooth writer. In a previous reaction on my Iroshizuku-post someone said it turnes a good fountainpen into a great one. That is just the thing to say about this ink.

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Visconti Stackable Pen Case

My fountain pen collection was expanding and I was trying to find a way to store them neatly. So I went looking around for a pen case. I found this beautiful Visconti stackable pen case at Swisher Pens. Because they had a discount on it I was to late ordering it. After one week I got an email from them that they were back in store if I still was interested. Yes, was my reaction. They shipped it very quickly to Europe. Thank you guys.


I think the quality is

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Noodler's Ink (index page)

Noodler's is the manufacturer of the famous Noodler's Black. It is the one with the full bottles (watch out when you open them).

“Noodler’s Ink” says it has the lowest cost per volume in stores that carry it and it's 100% made in the USA from cap to glass to ink. The ink with the catfish on the label symbolizes a southern sport that attempts to equalize the struggle between man and animal in the quest for a sense of fair play — and thus a fair price.

Noodler's has five types of ink:
1. "Freeze Resistant Inks" include Polar Blue and Polar Black, which will resist forming a solid mass of ice within a glass ink bottle during most cold weather conditions (though they will form some harmless ice "slush" when very cold).
2. "Eternal" refers to any Noodler's Ink that resists the effects of time - moisture, humidity, UV light, acids, water exposure, and many common detergents such as dish soaps and household ammonia, as well as alcohols and acetone (which conventional ball point pens have no resistance to - often rinsing off a newly written check within 8 seconds of being washed with acetone).
3. "Bulletproof" refers to any Noodler's Ink that resists all the known tools of a forger, UV light, UV light wands, bleaches, alcohols, solvents, petrochemicals, oven cleaners, carpet cleaners, carpet stain lifters, and of course...they are also waterproof once permitted to dry upon cellulose paper.
4. All Noodler's Polar Inks are also classed as "Bulletproof", as well as such inks as "Lexington Gray", "Black", "Heart of Darkness", "Golden Year of the Pig", "Hunter Green", "Luxury Blue", "X-Feather", and "Fox Red".
5. Water resistant vintage style ink: "Baystate Blue" (this ink is not resistant to UV light or bleaches).

Here are the ones I did a review on:
Noodler's Black
Noodler's Army Green
Noodler's Cayenne
Noodler's Forest Green
Noodler's Red Black
Noodler's Saguaro Wine
Noodler's Burma Road Brown