IROFUL and TOMOE RIVER paper from Sakae TP, Japan

 My childhood friend Jo and I love fountain pens, ink and good paper. 

I had been looking for Tomoe River paper for a while, but it had been out of stock at my usual stationers, Excellent Stationers, in the Fort area of Mumbai. 

Jo, who lives in Germany, had talked about Iroful paper and finally last year, the owner of Excellent Stationers, Manoj Chhavda, told us that he had sourced a good stock of Tomoe River and Iroful loose leaf paper.  

Anyone who loves good quality paper knows about TOMOE RIVER paper, but IROFUL was a new one for me.
Jo was very excited about Iroful and when the store got its stock, we went and bought good stock for ourselves. 

TOMOE RIVER is good, but Iroful is better!

 Tomoe River is thin, at 52gsm, and the great thing about it is that even that thin, it does not bleed ink on the reverse. One disadvantage is that the paper flaps a lot in a breeze and with Mumbai climate, we have fans on all the time.

Iroful, on the other hand, is 75 gsm, a sturdier paper, easier to handle. We bought 5 mm dot grid paper but it has the dot grid only on one side. In any case, it's a great paper, no bleeding, the nib glides over the paper and the paper handles well. 

We bought both these in cream/natural shades, but next time, we will look for pure white, because the different coloured inks we use, will show up better on white. 

To compare with the well-known Rhodia, which is also fountain-pen-friendly, Iroful shows the sheen and shading much much better.  Rhodia dampens it a lot. 

Mr Chhavda will be getting his next stock in early April! Looking forward to some interesting paper!

Blackwings and More!

A stationery friend sent me this lot recently! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ever since we bonded over a love of pencils, she keeps aside a few for me every time she makes a purchase. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After the covid years' gap, this is how we resumed!

INKS!!! Feathering, bleeding and ghosting!

Have got back to using inks and good ol' fountain pens in a big way in the last couple of months.
Have bought several beautiful pens from Lamy, Twsbi Eco, Twsbi Swipe, Pilot Kaküno, Pilot Twist, and a couple of cheaper Pelicans. 

Will review them all here one by one gradually, but let me begin with sharing a good article which explains these terms fountain pen users use commonly - feathering, ghosting, bleeding. It's always the interaction between the pen, the ink and the paper that may result in these issues and it's usually trial and error before we find what paper suits which pen and ink best. 

So here's this lovely article!

https://fountainpenlove.com/fountain-pen-education/whats-the-difference-between-ink-feathering-bleeding-and-ghosting/

Koh-i-noor Hardmuth pencils

 Had been reading a lot about the Koh-I-Noor Hardmuth pencils... 

Interesting read about the company! 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koh-i-Noor_Hardtmuth

 Found this mixed pack of different graphite grades in my local store, Warden Collections. 

 Good pencils, for sure!

PLANT ME pens and pencils

 

Sweet friends sent me these in the post this morning... Plant Me ballpens and pencils.

 

I sharpened one of the pencils and I like it! Sharpens very well, unlike some other recycled material pencils I've used. It also writes well, dark enough for my liking.

 

They said they know the person who makes these (or maybe is a dealer), so I will definitely be making some inquiries.

 

Thank you, Q, Zo!

 

 

 

MORE TOMBOWS!

 My previous post spoke of finding the Tombow Mono R on Amazon India. Since I really liked them and others on the group were talking about the other Tombows as well, I looked for them. And voila! I found the Tombow 8900 available on Amazon India as well. So, of course, I had to order them. 

😃

Again, very satisfying. A very smooth writing experience, almost like a hot knife in butter. Sharpening it, ok. 

I love these Tombows!!

I bought myself some TOMBOWs

 Plunging headlong down the stationery rabbit hole after a hiatus.... 

Thanks to the amazing group on FB, The Erasable Podcast Pencil Company, I discovered Tombow pencils.

Most of the members of the group are not based in India, so trading with them is probably unlikely. 

So I decided to look on Amazon India. Pleasant surprise, found the Tombow Mono R there. 

I also bought a pack of Staedtler natural and Staedtler mark-2B. Yes, I prefer a slightly soft graphite.

Sharpened one of the Tombows today. The wood, is ok, not a very smooth sharpening experience, but the graphite! Beautiful! Smooth like silk to write with! 

Am really very pleased with this purchase!

A Vintage Sheaffer's Fountain Pen

This beautiful pen was gifted to me by a dear cousin. This cousin loves browsing through and purchasing quaint and vintage things. When he discovered that I love stationery, this is what he gave me!

It's a vintage Sheaffer's Fountain pen with gold detail. The nib, from what I can make out by hunting on the web, is a Feathertouch nib, two-toned.


This pen is made in the USA and has a lever filler for the ink.





I chose to fill it with violet ink. You can see the little trial note. My cousin had the pen serviced before he gave it to me and it writes very well! Smooth, needs no pressure. The pen itself is light in weight and probably meant for a woman's hand because it is all of 13 cms in length.

Am definitely going to enjoy using this pen! Thank you, Y!!

Glukel's Thotbook - Space for your Mind

A surprise package arrived at my clinic address the other day. With curiosity, I opened it up and found 5 little notebooks, like memo-pads! There was an accompanying letter, which very politely, said that Glukel hoped I would find their Thotbooks useful!

Five little different coloured notebooks! They were the perfect size for a handbag or purse!  In times, when most people I know make their notes on their smartphones, I continue to use little notepads and good old pens! So this was the perfect unexpected gift!

Since I have a blog solely for stationery products and it's a known fact that I'm mad about stationery, I thought here would be the perfect space to review these little Thotbooks from Glukel!

So here goes!

   Individually packaged!

Five colours - A bright yellow, cheerful red, deep blue, sharp green and a good brown.

 The paper quality is good and decently smooth for ease of writing. The covers are nice and thick, made from recycled paper. Size is perfect for a back pocket, jacket or handbag. 

 The notebooks measure 3.5" x 5.5", with a scale on the flap which can be used as a bookmark. There are 64 graph pages inside.





The brown one is in my clinic drawer already, and one is in my handbag and the other three in a drawer at home, for later use.

The price is INR 110/= each.

Thank you, Glukel! Is there a catalog for your products?  

In continuation -

Currently, ThotBook is available through some bookstores only in Hyderabad 

(Walden, The Deccan Pen Store and Q-mart). However, one can go online and 

have Thotbook shipped right to your doorstep through Amazon.in 

http://www.amazon.in/THOTBOOK-MeMoPad-PACK-graph-pages/dp/B01MTR9ZLE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498054575&sr=8-1&keywords=thotbook

Matrikas' The Creative Woman's Journal

As we go about the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, we often pen down notes on little Post-Its or little chit-blocks. Every room of my home has little notepads and pens in some corner or other, to be used, whenever the need arises.

However, there are moments when the little stack of note paper is not enough. Our feelings and thoughts demand to be put down on paper; paper that will be saved carefully and reviewed with love over the years.

Over the last year, I discovered the beauty of Rhonda Byrne's books - 'The Secret' and 'Daily Teachings'.  I've been wanting to pen down significant lovely positivity upholding thoughts in a journal. But which? .... Being a stationery-mad woman, the journal itself had to be 'special'. Just the sight and feel of the journal ad to be uplifting, in itself.

And then, along came Matrikas, like an answered prayer, with their bloggers' contest for their Creative Woman's Journal. 

                                                                      
                                                                     

 

Since I was in that particular frame of mind, I chose the pink butterfly journal, with it's message 'To dream'. It fit perfectly in my mind-space, inspiring me to dream of greater heights, to soar beyond one's perceived limits, because that is exactly what a butterfly does. From its stages of caterpillar, to pupa, to butterfly, it embodies the faith one has to have in the Universe, to be in the moment and do one's best, struggling against what seems to be adversity but eventually emerging; due to that very adversity, as a glorious, beautiful life-form, soaring into the sky, making the world more beautiful.

Starting to plan writing this blog post, a little poem formed in my mind last night; I thought it would be a good idea to focus on it this morning. Here it is, in its final form, on the first page inside the cover. 

I realised that the best use of this Matrika's Creative Woman's Journal for me, would be to use it for inspiration. Once it's complete, I will be using it to open to random pages to read out a couple of inspiring passages to my children, because the first thing we do on rising in the morning, is to go out on our verandah and say thanks to the Universe for all that we have been blessed with.

This beautifully designed journal has it all - lined pages, blank sheets, nature-inspired colouring pages, since adult colouring books are all the rage now, helping to de-stress our modern lives.

Colour your heart out!

 There is lots of doodle-space!

    There are pages of stickers, encompassing our moods and desires.  It's got space for almost everything one could wish for!  There is a well-thought-out envelope inside the back cover - I'm going to put in sheets of stickers for them to be handy to use! 

The journal comes with an elastic band around it, which is a great idea because I might put in little cuttings as well. I probably won't be using the elastic pen holder, because I love using different pens and inks, making the entries more colourful.  

In terms of technical matters, the Journal is very well made, has good paper, probably 80 or 90 gsm., which allows the use of even a broad-nibbed fountain pen and does not bleed ink on the reverse. The  printing is excellent, that is the hallmark of all Matrikas products.  The rounded corners are specially pleasing to me. The pricing initially seemed a bit steep to me, at INR 450, however, with all the possibilities in this journal and considering how truly lovely it is, well-designed and thought out, made with love, it's worth it!

The thought of starting my day with this Journal, allowing my mind to be free and to fly higher is an invigorating one.  It is made to encourage creativity! And all creativity is actually dependent on imagination!

These journals will also make the perfect gift for a lot of women I know!  
Thank you, Matrikas!

Smart Block Flexi notebooks

Here's another notebook I bought recently, from the new Smart Block Flexi range from Matrikas.


Looks good
Smooth paper
Lined, A4 sized, 29.2 x 21 cms
180 pages
Rounded corners!! :)
The cover is green/pink/blue/purple, with interesting designs.

I looked them up on the Net and found that there are variants in size, page count, ruled/unruled,  available.

The one I bought, 180 pages, A4 sized, cost INR 73.

  Matrikas, you continue to impress!

Notebooks, more and more!

Now Kokuyo Camlin has entered the Notebook market with a range of colourful notebooks, in two different sizes. 29.7 x 21 cms and 24 x 18 cms. The paper is 70 gsm, single lined. The bigger notebook has 164 pages while the smaller sized one has 124 pages.  The pages have margins and space for page numbers and dates.

The paper is decently smooth for writing.  Using fountain pens would probably make the ink bleed on the reverse though.

They are priced at INR 90 and INR 60 respectively, slightly steeper than other notebooks.

What I specially liked, are the rounded corners!!

My daughter will get to use the smaller version and I get to use the bigger ones!

Camlin Kokuyo, well done!

Glue Tape - Camlin Kokuyo vs. Fullmark

I discovered the joys of glue tape. It's just like correction tape, but instead, it's glue... very neat, easy to use, no mess at all and the best part is, sticks well forming a strong bond.

I used the Camlin-Kokuyo Glue Tape Roller, also called Dot Liner - it's a very cute little compact thing - can fit easily into a handbag or a purse, so it's very handy to use when on the move. 
This one retails at INR 50 but if you browse online you can find it for a lower price. I found mine on Firstcry.com for INR 40. Unfortunately, Amazon.in sells it for INR 50 + a whopping INR 90 for shipping. A bit ridiculous, I'd say.

When this one was out of stock in my favourite local store Warden, I looked for it elsewhere. No one had the Camlin Kokuyo one, but a store at Kemps Corner had Fullmark's Gluey Tape. This was a bit more expensive, at INR 65, but it gives 1 meter more of tape.
This one is not as good as the Camlin Kokuyo one, but it is still better than using a gluestick. Does the job.

Overall, I definitely prefer the Camlin Kokuyo one with it's very neat nicrodroplets of glue. But it's worth having the Fullmark one around, just in case you run out of the Camlin one.

Chalkboard Labels!

Chalkboard labels had been in some corner of my mind for a while when a friend returned from a trip to the US and gifted me a pack along with a chalkboard pen.
This reshuffled my brain and chalkboard labels came to the forefront!

Now I not only found chalkboard labels on amazon, but I also found chalkboard tape! While chalkboard tape sold on amazon.com for under $3, in India, on amazon.in, it sold for over Rs.4000/= which is almost $60. Ridiculous, isn't it!!

Some more researching on the Net and I found bloggers who'd posted recipes for chalkboard paint which can be used to make labels, or even chalkboards!

Basically, what we need:

Unsanded grout available at hardware stores

Latex paint or acrylic paint available at paint stores or even stationery stores

The recipe states 1/2 tablespoon of grout to be mixed with 1 cup of latex or acrylic paint. Mix well so the grout is uniformly distributed and then apply it to the surface you want to paint quickly because it tends to dry and harden soon after the grout is mixed. Some sites suggested running a paint roller over it for a smoother finish.

So I bought a small bottle of black acrylic paint and the minimum quantity of grout the shop was ready to sell. I chose black grout since my paint was black as well, but you can make this paint in whatever colour you like!

I painted over some ready sticker labels I had. Let it dry then applied another coat. I didn't use a roller, maybe next time I will, for a smoother finish.

And my chalkboard labels were ready for use. The first container to get labelled was where I stored the grout! I tried the chalkboard pen which gave nice thick lines.

After a while, I tried rubbing it off with my fingers but it stayed as it was, no smudging or erasing. I then used a damp cloth and off the writing came, neatly and cleanly.

Then I tried writing with regular chalk - thinner lines than the pen, but nice anyway. If you rub with your finger, this will smudge. Wet wipe it to get it cleanly off.

So we're done.
Are you going to experiment?

Smoothening Scratchy Nibs

I reviewed some of the cheap Chinese fountain pens last week where I mentioned that one was rather scratchy. I've been meaning to change the nib and replace the scratchy one with one of my grandfather's old nibs which I presume should be of better quality.

However, a google search this morning led me to these links -

http://www.quora.com/How-do-I-troubleshoot-a-scratchy-nib

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WKo9nx8UdA

So I spent the last half hour trying it out on two pens that I was not completely satisfied with.

The result -  much much better!! I will not be hesitating to use these pens anymore.


So what I did was, I got out one of my emery boards that I use for my nails and a buffer file as well (these are the ones with 4 different levels of roughness.


I started with the smoother side of the emery board, using a figure of eight movement, making circles clockwise and anticlockwise, up and down, and sideways movements. Some amount of emery board matter sticks on the nib tip but it's easy enough to just wipe off with a piece of cloth. After a few minutes of this, making sure that all sides of the nib tip have been rubbed enough, I then proceeded to rub it a bit on the smoothest area of the buffer file for a smooth finish.


Voila! It worked!


Note: I wanted to see if using the actual rough side of the emery board worked as well - yes, it does. No harm came to my nib!

Bilt Matrix Youth Series Student Notebook

For a while now, I have been using the student notebooks (long books) Youth Series, by Bilt Matrix. It dawned on me last night, that I need to review them on this blog.

EXCELLENT is what I will say.

They're available in eight colours and I just realised that I had all eight of them!







 


They come shrink-wrapped in packs of 2 notebooks - 2 shades of pink, green, blue and purple. 







The colours are lovely. I'm sure the stores sell them singly as well, but stationery addict that I am, I had to buy the matching shades.

They are ruled and have 160 pages each. 
The pink books are pink lined, the blue books have blue lines, and so on. It makes writing extra-interesting!

From the time I first bought them, they have gone up in price from Rs.55/= to Rs.70/= each.
However they are certainly worth the price.






The pages are thick enough to use a fountain pen and not have ink showing on the reverse side - this is a big plus point for me since I love using fountain pens. The pages are quite smooth and writing is a pleasure.

These notebooks definitely score a 9.5 on 10.

Sweet Little Chinese Ink Pens

Some months ago, I saw these cute little ink pens in the store that I frequent. I decided that they looked too childish for my use, so I bought one as an 'introduction to ink pens' for my 7 year old daughter.

She enjoyed using it for a while, left it lying around, so I appropriated it back.

I started using it and quite enjoyed the smoothness! Over these few months, I have bought at least 10 of these in different colours - kept some and gifted some.

The cartridge that comes with the pen has ink that fades rapidly, so I'd advice not using it for anything that needs permanence. Otherwise just use another cartridge. (I refill my cartridges with my choice of ink)

These pens don't have any name!

They're smaller than a regular sized ink pen and can only fit one small cartridge. A Lamy cartridge won't fit. 


For the price of Rs.30/= they're a very good bargain.  Try and use the nib before you buy, some of the pens have scratchy nibs and some are as smooth as a Lamy!

JINHAO Chinese Fountain Pens

In recent months, I've seen a lot of look-alike Lamy pens in the markets and stores here in Mumbai.

They are made in China (of course), are called JINHAO and they look just the Lamy pens, esp. from a distance. The pen clip is very different, however. Otherwise, they have the same ink-viewing space, the name JINHAO is embossed on the pen exactly where LAMY is embossed on their own pens.

 
I guess no one can accuse JINHAO of cheating.

And oh yes, they write very well too for a fraction of the price of a LAMY.

More Lamy pens

And in the past 6 months, I've added two more lovely Lamy pens to my little collection....

The green one is a medium nib Lamy Al star and the yellow one is a broad nib Lamy Safari. Both write beautifully.

On Amazon.com, the Lamy Safari is around $20. Here's my Amazon Affiliate link to the Lamy Safari http://amzn.to/1EPx4Td

On Amazon.in, it's around Rs.1800/= Here's my Amazon Affiliate link to the Lamy Safari on Amazon India
Lamy Safari Fountain Pen - Medium Nib

Different Coloured Fountain Pen Inks

Had a little jaunt in the Mumbai Fort area and found this wonderful stationery store called Excellent Stationers at Gunbow Street.

They stock loads of different coloured inks for fountain pens!! They showed me a catalogue of colours, easily over a 100. After my fruitless hunt in my own area, finding this store with all these inks was a taste of heaven.

I bought 2 for now - Turquoise and a Violent. Next visit to the store, shall try some other interesting colours.

The same store had A4 sized golden stickers. I had actually been looking for label sized golden stickers, but hadn't been able to find them. Lots of golden and silver round stickers available, but rectangles, no! So this stationer was selling them for Rs.20/= per sheet, so I bought some.  I can always cut and use, in fact, it'll work better, because now I won't be restricted by size!

And just for good measure, I bought a pack of Staedtler Lumocolor permanent - a pack of 8, since right now, I'm a lot into markers!