Notebook Review: Midori Traveler's Notebook

The Midori Traveler's Notebook has been one of my grail notebooks for the longest time. When I started collecting (and using) high-quality notebooks, I read about it at Patrick Ng's Scription site, and instantly fell in love with it. I wanted it, but I knew I could not have one. Yet. It was expensive and not available here in the Philippines. So I just continued to ogle at the thousands of Midori Traveler's Notebook photos on Flickr.

Unknown to me, the Philippines' biggest seller of fountain pen related stuff, Scribe Writing Essentials, has began stocking up and selling this highly coveted cultish notebook. After talking to its owner, Marian Ong, a notebook set was sent to me for review, pronto.

Marian sent me a large black Traveler's Notebook (TN) and I was instantly amazed by its Japanese packaging style, which is both presentation and function. Midori's packaging is minimalist and simple, yet elegant and classy. The notebook is packaged very well inside what looks like a thin box made from kraft paper, held together by a firm black elastic band. A small flyer about the notebook is also included in the packaging.

Inside the box are: large black leather Midori TN, cotton slipcase for the notebook, blank notebook refill (003), and a spare red elastic band to hold the notebook cover and refills. The soft cowhide leather of the Midori notebook/journal (sourced from Chiang Mai, Thailand), and the wide variety of changeable inserts, embellishments and other accessories give it a unique charm and magic.

The first thing on my mind when I saw my Midori TN is the paper used in the notebook refill. Paper is very important to me as I am a regular user of fountain pens. And I am ready and willing to forego any notebook if the paper cannot tolerate my very wet fountain pens and very saturated inks. Would it stand fountain pen use? Or would ink feather and bleed through its pages? Luckily for Midori TN, I knew that I can make my own refills, so paper is not an issue, but I'll discuss that towards the later part of this review.

The blank notebook refill has a kraft board cover and 64 pages of cream-colored paper . The inside cover page is printed with an upright rectangular box and the Midori logo.

As soon as the notebook was out of the box, it's customization galore!!! The first thing I did was to change the elastic bands. I opted to use the red band to give the notebook some contrast and brightness. The tiny round thing on the upper left corner of the notebook cover holds the elastic bands that keep the notebook inserts in place.

I rummaged through my boxes of stuff and found a small glass bead charm I could use to secure the end of the Midori TN's thin bookmark. Lovely, isn't it?

Next, I made my own refills using pages off my large Rhodia dotPad. I went to a printer, had them saddle-stapled several notebooks, and trimmed according to the Midori TN refill size. I recycled Starbucks paper bags as covers for my new refill notebooks. I had fun making Dymo tags for them too.

The first notebook is for lists of everything I have done and finished the whole day --  an inverted 'to-do' list.

The second refill is for my notes. Any notes. Blog ideas, project concepts, sketches, hand drawn maps, phone numbers, pen and paper stores, ink notes, restaurant bestsellers, etc.

Refill number three is a microjournal, called so because I have a full journal already. I just want to have a journal in my Midori TN. I have small writeups in this notebook about places I visited, postcards I received, books I've read, or movies I've watched.

I have also included Midori's plastic zipper pocket refill. This refill has one large zippered pocket and another pocket without a zipper. The zippered pocket can hold a lot of stuff, especially small pieces of paper such as receipts, stamps, business cards. Sometimes I put a pen or two inside and still manage to zip it. The pocket without zipper can accommodate bigger sizes of paper like postcards, prescription notes, etc.

Perhaps you've noticed that I've added another bookmark to my Midori TN with a new charm. I made one more bookmark for my "Finished/Done" notebook, as the original bookmark/charm is used on my microjournal. I love these charms!

But the customization does not end there for my Midori TN. It's now full of stickers and stuff (stamps, tea bag tags, postcards, etc. I know there will be more of these as the leather gets more scratches and scuffs softens with use and becomes more beautiful. 

Finally, the paper test. The refill that came with my Midori TN is blank. As I have difficulty writing on blank pages, I went ahead and ordered a ruled/lined refill which is what I used in the pen and ink test below. The cream-colored paper used in the ruled/lined refill is Midori paper. There are two types of paper used on Midori's notebook refills. One is Midori Diary (MD) Paper, the other is Designphil Pocket Book (DP) Paper. A note in the Midori website (here) gives a full explanation on the differences of the two paper types.

Midori Paper is smooth and thankfully fountain pen friendly. Some ink types showed feathering, but not one of all the inks I tested here bled.

Below is the back of the pen and ink test I did. There is not bleeding at all. The tiny blob of orange is show through, but it is very mild and not very noticeable. I say I'll be using this refill for another microjournal when my own refills ran out of pages.

I've kept the red elastic band for now and rotate several black bands with different combinations of trinkets and charms. One band has a small pewter elephant, another has a series of different color beads with a drop of olive green Swarovski stones, rescued from an earring without a matching pair. I've also changed charms since, and I have ordered a batch of lovely charms from a local supplier. I have stocked up on black elastic band from a local crafts store and just yesterday, I got a set of vintage letterstamps I'll use for more fun of notebook customizations. Will I use this notebook for how long it will be serviceable? Yes. With a notebook as versatile as the Midori TN, who wouldn't? The possibilities with the Midori Traveler's Notebook is excitingly never-ending!

The large Midori Traveler's Notebook used in this review is courtesy of Scribe Writing Essentials, and the regular, passport size notebooks and their refills are all available in their Eastwood City Mall store. A regular/large Midori Traveler's Notebook set sells for PHP2,595 (~US$61), while a passport-sized notebook costs PHP2,295 (~US$54). If you are somewhere in Asia, and would like to try the possibility of ordering from them, give them a call at +63 2 487 6339. 

On Review: 12 Red Inks

Can you guess how many red inks are here?

I know I did not reveal the answer as soon as I have promised, but did you make a guess? Did you get it right? If your guess is 12, then you got it! There is a dozen red inks in this doodle and in this huge red ink review. Twelve! Some of them are inks I have reviewed here before, but most are new.

I remember that the first time I did a combined ink review was for my first set of J. Herbin inks – Bleu Pervenche and Rouge Opera. That was ages ago, and recently, I felt like doing one again. This time though, I got more than two, as my ink stash have grown quite a bit. And I love red inks, as much as I love brown and dark blue inks. So here are the 12 red inks in my current collection.

The 12 inks here are J. Herbin Rouge Opera; Diamine Poppy Red, Red Dragon, Syrah, and Oxblood; Parker Quink Red; De Atramentis Fuschia; Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink; Camel Scarlet Red; Styl' Honoré Cocktail ink Rouge Amaryllis; and Mont Blanc Bordeaux.

A group pic of all 12 inks.

 And all of them again in swatches on Clairefontaine's Graf It Sketch 90g white paper.  

PARKER QUINK PERMANENT RED

Parker Quink Permanent Red has a pale red hue that appears more like pink when used with fine nibbed pens. This ink looks better on pens with wider nibs such as the stub on the Parker Jotter I used here. It has very minimal shading, not saturated, and flows well. However, it is not colorfast, and fades after some time.

CAMEL SCARLET RED

Camel Scarlet Red is brighter and redder than Quink Red, but still leans on the pinkish side. On fine nibs, it appears more as bright pink than red, as it is on the writing sample above, written using a Pelikano Junior with a fine nib. On wider nibs, however, it looks better, brighter, and redder. Camel Scarlet Red is a saturated ink, but shows very minimal shading. It dries fast, though. 

DIAMINE POPPY RED

Diamine Poppy Red is a bright, vibrant, 'orangey' red. Like most Diamine inks I’ve used and reviewed, this red ink is highly saturated, but has surprisingly excellent flow and is quick drying. I have tried it on several pens with different nibs - including a Waterman Phileas with a wet medium nib - and the results are the same – it has no shading at all. It is very flat, like Diamine Orange, but that's just fine. If I ever need a red ink for editing and correcting, I’ll choose Diamine Poppy Red anytime.

ROUGE HEMATITE/J. HERBIN 1670 INK

I’ve read almost everything that has been said and written about this ink, and it’s still one of my favorites. Never mind that J. Herbin’s 1670 Anniversary ink is way, way too saturated and slow drying. Never mind that it stained the converter of my Waterman Hemisphere. Never mind that it gives any pen filled with it with an ugly and horrible nib creep and dried yucky caked ink on the nib and feed. Never mind. Rouge Hematite, the correct name of this J. Herbin ink, is, and will always be a favorite. Its unique color of bright orange and earthy blood red with tiny gold specks is just wonderful. The gold specks give it the most amazing, and most unique shading.

STYL' HONORÉ COCKTAIL INK ROUGE AMARYLLIS

Rouge Amaryllis is among the very limited, highly coveted Styl’ Honoré Encre Cocktail Ink series. This ink has a lovely dark red color with strong hints of purple that makes it look almost like burgundy. It has excellent shading, especially in wide-nibbed pens such as the wet medium Parker 45 I used in this review. Rouge Amaryllis has medium saturation which ensured excellent flow and good drying time. The cocktail ink series were sold in a fountain pen boutique named Styl’ Honoré in Paris, made by the store owner Patrick Arabian. The cocktail inks have been described as the ‘best ink’ ever, but Patrick Arabian has stopped making them.

MONT BLANC BORDEAUX

Mont Blanc’s Bordeaux ink has the typical red wine color, but it’s not as dark as I want it to be. Still, it’s a unique red color with hints of purple, though not enough purple is present to darken it a bit more. Most inks are not colorfast, and Mont Blanc Bordeaux is sadly one of them. It easily fades after drying and fades even more after some time. It is not as saturated as my bottle of Mont Blanc Black, but it has excellent flow and dries fast even when used on a wet medium Parker Rialto.

DE ATRAMENTIS FUCHSIA

Fuchsia is a coveted color for me. It reminds me of little girls’ dresses and the long silk ribbons in their hair. De Atramentis Fuchsia has a vivid, strong, and deep reddish-purple color that looks lush and rich at the same time. It’s the perfect companion to my first run limited edition pink Lamy Safari with a smooth medium nib. This ink is very saturated and thus, takes a lot of time to dry, but it has excellent shading and a consistent flow.

J. HERBIN ROUGE OPÉRA

Herbin’s Rouge Opéra is among my first two inks from Exaclair. It was magical to finally get a taste of a non-Parker, non-blue, non-black ink for the first time. I was instantly drawn to Rouge Opéra’s dusky rose color, and the shy hints of purple is just perfect to give it a unique and balanced red-purple hue. Like most of J. Herbin inks, Rouge Opéra has excellent flow because of its medium saturation. On the Pelikan M205’s super wet medium nib, it’s like turning on a tap as soon as the nib touches paper, but it dries fast on most paper types. The most unique thing about this ink? It smells nice.

PARKER PENMAN RUBY

Parker’s Penman ink series has long been discontinued due to complaints that it tends to clog and eventually destroy pens. What a shame. Penman Ruby is one of the few unique red ink colors I’ve seen, and for that, I’ll try to forget its flaws. At times, it looks like reddish brown, but sometimes, it appears like burgundy. Both unique beautiful colors, and the shading is just excellent. But it is a very saturated ink and writes dry on a medium Parker 25. I have not experienced any issues regarding its flow, but the dryness makes writing uncomfortable for me. Then again, at times when I'm in the mood for a different red, I’ll pop a cart of Penman Ruby onto one of my Parker pens. Pronto.

DIAMINE SYRAH

Diamine launched Syrah, together with Red Dragon, Oxblood and seven other colors in 2010. Syrah's color was derived from Binder Burgundy, the famous ink color that Richard Binder developed on his own by mixing specific parts of Sheaffer Red and Waterman Violet. News said that Binder worked with Diamine to make a color that will exactly match his mixture, and that became Syrah. 

Syrah and the two other reds are absolute favorites in my ink stash. Who wouldn't be attracted to Syrah -- to its wonderful deep red/burgundy ink color? The blue, purple, and red combination is perfectly attained in this mixture to produce an excellent burgundy that does not come strong as red or purple. (Yes, somewhere there's blue in this ink.) It dries a beautiful burgundy, (which is how I hoped Mont Blanc's Bordeaux would turn out to be when it dries) and shows beautiful shading, especially in wide nibs such as the medium nib on my TWSBI 530. It’s a very saturated ink too, and not fast drying (but it dries). For more details about this beautiful ink, watch out for the full review which I am soon to finish. 

DIAMINE RED DRAGON

Diamine Red Dragon is a deep, dark red ink color that has similar qualities as Herbin's Rouge Hematite. The 'orangey' red and earthy tones make a red-blood color. Like Syrah, Red Dragon is a highly saturated ink, which is perhaps the reason why it has minimal shading only. It has excellent flow, and thankfully writes wet and  smooth on the fine nib of my Pilot Non-Self Filling pen. Yet again, like Syrah, Red Dragon takes longer time to dry, especially on high quality papers such as Clairefontaine and Daycraft.

DIAMINE OXBLOOD

Diamine Oxblood is one of the few available inks in the market today to resemble the true color of fresh blood. It is a lovely deep dark red - darker than Red Dragon - with more brown in it. Oxblood is another highly saturated ink from Diamine with minimal but beautiful shading. On my Pelikan M205's medium nib, it does not show a lot, but on the 1.1 Lamy Joy nib, the shading is simply awesome! Oxblood, despite its high level of saturation has excellent flow. It just takes a while to dry, though.


I've been lucky enough to have all these 12 red beautiful inks. I'm drawn to the darker ones and my obvious absolute favorites are Herbin's Rouge Opéra and Rouge Hematite; and Diamine's wonderful triumvirate of Syrah, Red Dragon and Oxblood. I always have these beautiful inks in my rotation.

I love group shots! Here are the 12 pens I used for the review. Most of them are regulars, I just added the rest. For a glimpse of how the inks behaved in different pens, here they are:

• Parker Jotter (stub, courtesy of Pentageli) with Parker Super Quink Permanent Red;
• Pelikan Pelikano Junior (fine) with Camel Scarlet Red;
• Waterman Phileas (medium) with Diamine Poppy Red;
• Waterman Hemisphere (medium) with J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink;
• Parker 45 (medium) with Styl' Honoré Rouge Amaryllis;
• Parker Rialto (medium) with Mont Blanc Bordeaux;
• Lamy Safari (medium) with De Atramentis Fuchsia;
• Pelikan M205 (medium) with J. Herbin Rouge Opéra;
• Parker 25 (medium) with Parker Penman Ruby;
• TWSBI 530 (medium) with Diamine Syrah;
• Pilot NSF FP (medium) with Diamine Red Dragon; and
• Pelikan M205 (medium) with Diamine Oxblood

Lastly, I just want to acknowledge the kind friends who gave me the inks in this huge review. Diamine Poppy Red, Syrah, Red Dragon, and Oxblood are all from Diamine of UK, sent by Phil Davies; J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink and Rouge Opéra are from Exaclair's VP for Marketing Karen Doherty; Styl' Honoré Rouge Amaryllis is from fellow FPN-P member Carl S. Cunanan, and De Atramentis Fuchsia is from my best buddy in the western hemisphere, Tom Overfield. The rest of the 12 are mine.