Endless Recorder Notebook

So if you’ve been a participant in the fountain pen community for a while, you’ll notice two types of papers consistently being mentioned. Namely Rhodia and Tomoe River.

Now I’m a big fan of Rhodia, I love the fact they can be found at some CNA’s now, they perform beautifully and even though its a premium paper – the pads are reasonable.

EndlessRecorderFront

Tomoe paper on the other hand only became available here last year, and while I desperately wanted to try it, the fact is that its expensive and I still had a stash of Rhodia delayed the process. But once I finally got my hands on it, I was shook, yes people, shook*. (I believe this is young person slang, what can I say i’m in denial)

EndlessRecorderBack

I went for the ever classic black and the notebook design itself has a few handy features.

• The standard blue ribbed band that keeps the book together.
• Number pages that only start AFTER the index section.
• A pocket at the back, similar to Moleskine notebooks.

The design is minimalist with the endless logo debossed into the front and the words “ENDLESS” debossed into the back. The pages are cream coloured and THIN. Like the thin that makes it easy to mark if you are note careful. It also comes with a cute sticker and a Pin / QR Code register card.

EndlessRecorderOpen

And these thin pages is what took me for a mind blowing ride. I have a few inks I hate, yes I said it hate. To be fair, I was new to the whole fountain pen ink world – and the fantastical properties of the ink sucked me in. The reviews warned me about them, but I was like: “loooook at the perdy colour… aaaaand it gloooows under blue light – It’ll be worth it”. FYI (Its not worth it)  Now let me be very clear, I love the brand and a lot of their colours perform beautifully – but I went out of my way to pick the two worst performing inks in my collection.

EndlessRecorderTableOfContents

The reason for this is because Tomoe Paper main claim to fame is the fact that it can handle super wet writing, a happy side effect of this is, that inks that do not normally display sheen, may do so on Tomoe. Now the inks I choose where Noodlers Polar Bear Green which is and anti freeze ink, and bleeds through paper as if it was a toilet roll, and Noodlers Qin Shi Huang which is a stunning colour which and is supposed to glow under blue light. On Rhodia both these inks perform miserably and I never use them, would Tomoe be any different?

EndlessRecorderPocket

No to be fair, I did use Sailor Oku Yama as a control ink, I know this ink performs well and I wanted to give the paper a fighting chance.

EndlessNotebookReview

EndlessNotebookReviewOkuYama

As you can see, Oku Yama gets a golden to black sheen which is stunning, also I used a extremely wet dip pen and I cannot believe how well this paper handled “those” inks. I mean seriously… look at those side by sides. Even the feathering is gone. The tiniest amount of bleed through happened in the swatches, but not a dot on the other page and normal writing is golden. Also keep in mind this paper is thinner then Rhodia. The only major cons I have with this paper is  – because is is so thin, show through is a 100% guaranteed making it a singles sided notebook, and the ink takes longer to dry.

Noodlers Polar Green On RHODIA Front

Noodlers Qin Shi Huang On RHODIA Front

Noodlers Ink On RHODIA Back

I still can not believe I went on so long about a notebook. I really think the paper is outstanding and worth the money. I will try and find a dedicated purpose for this notebook as it is on the pricey side, but honestly I can’t get over how amazingly such a delicate paper performs.

Noodlers Ink Endless Notebook

On the above photo you can see the drastic reduction in feathering with Noodlers Qin Shi Huang, and below you can see the worse of the bleed through I got with any of the three inks. The one below is Noodlers Polar green, and as you can see above I added enough ink to cause pooling. It kicked Rhodia’s butt – Super impressed.

Endless Notebook Noodlers Polar Green Back Close Up

I love Rhodia paper,it handles most inks with ease and will continue to user it as my everyday paper, but this notebook will defiantly allow me to play around with the more difficult inks in my collection, as well as exploring which of my inks have a secret sheen.

As always, this paper can be found here: Endless Recorder

M.

 

 

TWSBI A6 Notebook

TWSBI A6 Notebook

I enjoy small notebooks mainly due to the fact that i’m not really the journal type – strange I know considering I have a blog, but I digress. So the whole lined with enough space to write an entry has never effected me. That being said I do love doodling, and the smaller size allows me to complete a design in a relatively small amount of time.

TWSBI Notebook Front

It may seem expensive for an A6 notepad, but you get a lot of pages… I’ve used a few notebooks and so far the TWSBI has been my favorite for a few reasons.

1) It has a leatherette type cover, and for me, a person who is incredibly accident prone I spill things. Thanks to the fact that this cover isn’t card stock, I can just wipe it clean an move on.

TWSBI Notebook Finish

2) It has a back pocket very similar to Moleskine but much sturdier and more expandable then their cashier notebooks. Not sure about their other ones, never used them.

Back Pocket

3) It has a lot of pages, 240 i think – and every single one of those pages is perforated, this is the most amazing thing about this notebook. Hate something – no problem, just tear it out, without effecting the binding.
4) The paper quality is good, really good. I would say that its perhaps better then the standard Rhodia graph pad – but as you’ll see in the pictures, I really put the ink down and it handles it with minimal bleed-through if any. I’ve also used watercolours, gel pens, nail polish, water brush pen, etc… and it handles them just fine.
5) Comes with an elastic and a bookmark, I find the elastic useful as it keeps the notebook closed – bookmarks are debatable.

TWSBI Notebook Back

6) The paper also has a very smooth feel, but the paper is also quite thin and therefore translucent. So if you like using both sides of the same page, this may not be the best choice for you.

Below are a few pictures that demonstrate how I use the paper. I’ve included both the front of the page, as well as the back.

Below is using the TWSBI 580 filled with Diamine Carnation, easily one of my favorite inks.

Ink to Paper – Diamine Carnation

Here is one using nail polish, gelly roll and watercolour.

Mixed Media – nail polish, watercolour and jelly roll.

This one was a complete ink overload, I spilt some J.Herbin Emeralds Of Chivor… so instead of wiping it up, I decided to paint the whole page with it using a paintbrush. Once that was almost dry I then went back in with a diluted solution to get the dripping effect. And once that dried I copied a mermaid in using a Sakura Micron Marker.

Mermaid surrounded by J.Herbin’s Emeralds of Chivor

Using watercolours in multiple layers

My first attempt at watercolour urban sketching.

Done using only Diamine Chocolate Brown. The main doodle was done with a Lamy Safari(M) and then faded out using a water brush pen.

Diamine Chocolate Brown Bubbles

Lastly I figured I should include a page that contains actual words, written with a fountain pen…after all, that’s what this book is marketed for. So I decided to write out a lyric from Of Monsters and Men with Noodlers X-Feather.

Of Monsters And Men lyric in Noodlers X-Feather.

And a poem by Thomas L Peacock called “Beyond The Sea”. The ink used in the poem was Diamine Majestic Blue, and the watermark background was done using Diamine Beau Blue.

Poem by Thomas L Peacock – using Diamine Majestic Blue and Diamine Beau Blue.

As you can see in the above pictures, the paper stands up exceptionally well to the abuse – but there are a few caveats:

1) If you plan on wetting the entire page excessively you need to put a paper towel beneath the page. All the pages are perforated and the liquid will seep through the perforation. Additionally if you wet right over edges, the colour will start to seep under the edge of the paper.

2) Leaving a large amount of water on the page will cause it to start going through the paper. ie: damp paper is perfectly acceptable but leaving wet pools will cause it to bleed.

3) Please don’t do what I did and push a large amount of liquid ink/paint right up into the binding, it’s liquid – it is going to get into the crevices of the binding.

Brusho background with some traced crystals.

4) This is NOT watercolour paper, so it will bend and buckle when wet. To its credit though it does flatten out.

And just because i’m me, i managed to make all the above mistakes in one go. (I got really excited about some Brusho that and didn’t follow any of my own advice.)

But could have been worse though right?

M.