Notebook Review: Traveler's Notebook Blue Edition

I've been using my regular-sized Traveler's Notebook since 2011, and I am happy with the customization I have done with it. A brown TN looks nice, but I kept to my black notebook because it looked better and better as I used it. In February, I read Midori's announcement of a new TN in blue leather, and I was smitten.

The announcement said that the Limited Edition Traveler's Notebook Blue Edition will be available in April. After a number of delays due to limited stocks, I finally got my Blue TN from Scribe Writing Essentials in June. The Blue TN is beautiful, and because I have not written a notebook review in two years, it seemed the perfect notebook for a new review.

The release of the limited edition Blue TN marks the transition of the Traveler's Notebook gradually dropping off the Midori name from its branding. Instead of the old brand Midori Traveler's Notebook, it is now called the 'Traveler's Notebook'.

The Traveler's Notebook Blue Edition is available for a limited time in 2015, according to the Traveler's Notebook and Company. It comes only in regular size (5.12 x 8.27 inches).

Like other TNs, the Blue Edition is packaged in a neatly folded box, held together by a blue elastic band. Flyers about the notebook and leather care are included in the packaging.

Inside the folded box are the following: a cotton case for the notebook, genuine cowhide leather notebook cover, notebook refill, and a spare blue elastic band.

This limited edition Traveler's Notebook features a uniquely beautiful leather cover in deep, dark blue. Why blue for the 2015 TN? The Traveler's Notebook and Company gave several reasons for coming up with a Blue TN, citing artists such as Picasso and Yves Klein whose signature color is blue. The news release said that the company's inspiration came from the indigo sky right before dawn, when the first beam of sunlight peeks into the horizon.

The leather cover of TNs is all hand-made in Chiangmai, Thailand. The genuine cowhide leather cover has a lovely texture and will develop character the more it gets used. The TN has a simple and elegant design with an elastic band along the spine inside the leather cover, secured with a tin clasp/fastener outside the cover. The band holds the notebook in place inside, while another band holds the notebook cover closed. 

The genuine cowhide leather of the Blue TN is smoother and softer than the leather in my older TN. I noticed though, that the Blue TN leather is easily scratched and scuffed.

A tin fastener holds both the TN's page marker, and the elastic band that holds the notebook refill inside.

The elastic band that holds the notebook refill inside is threaded in either ends of the leather cover.

The elastic band that holds the notebook covers together is thick and sturdy.

The regular notebook refill that comes with the Blue TN has Midori Diary (MD) paper. Made at the MD factory in Nagareyama, Northern Chiba, Japan, MD paper is one of the best fountain pen friendly paper in the market. The refill has 32 sheets (64 pages) of bleed-resistant and feather-resistant paper.

The TN's inside back cover. I will add more notebook inserts here.

The back cover holds the elastic band that keeps the notebook covers together.

At the back cover of the TN is the Traveler's Notebook logo.

New and old TNs. The new TN without the Midori name, which is in my old TN.

I have been closely following the blog and social media accounts of fellow TN enthusiast Patrick Ng. He was at the Global Gathering at the recent International Stationery and Products Fair in Tokyo, Japan, and he reported that the Traveler's Notebook brand is gradually dropping off the Midori name and will be called Traveler's Company. Traveler's Company will be an independent global brand from Midori.

Aside from the Blue Edition TN, Midori Japan also released a series of new products created in collaboration with the historic US national flag carrier Pan Am. During its operation, the airliner used blue as its corporate color, and the Pan Am items are the perfect accessories for the Blue Edition TN.

The complete set of Pan Am products includes two notebooks (blank and grid), zipper pocket, two sets of stickers, brass ballpoint pen, and pen holder. I wasn't able to get all of the accessories, but I got a blank notebook, a zipper pocket, and a set of stickers from Scribe Writing Essentials. 

The Pan Am logo is printed on the covers of the blue zipper pocket (left) and blank notebook refill (right).

Details of notebook refill and zipper pocket inserts.

The blank notebook refill has Pan Am images, including the logo used by the airline during their time of operation. The images are printed in sepia, instead of the usual dark gray, and I noticed that the Midori logo which used to be at the bottom of the inside cover page of previous TN refills has been taken out.

The inside of the zipper pocket is also printed with Pan Am logos. It can hold stuff in the left part, and various cards on the right. At the bottom is a space for the TN's owner's contact details.

The contents of the sticker set. I'd like to get the other set, too.

The Blue Edition TN and Pan Am accessories were released in Japan in April, and stocks have been sold out in the Traveler's Notebook and Company and in reseller stores, including Scribe Writing Essentials. A lot of people are still looking forward to owning a Blue TN, hopefully more stocks will come around.

Blockbuster hit: the Blue TN and Pan Am items are now mostly out of stock.

The Blue TN is a blockbuster hit! Watch out for when stocks get back in stores and get one for yourself. This special notebook is a must have for any TN enthusiast.

The Blue Traveler's Notebook used in this review is courtesy of Scribe Writing Essentials. The Limited Edition Traveler's Notebook Blue Edition, Pan Am accessories, and other TN accessories are available in Scribe's stores in Eastwood Mall, Shangrila Plaza Mall, Glorietta 5, SM Aura, and SM Megamall. For their complete location/address, contact numbers, and store hours, click here.

Scribe Writing Essentials: The Philippines' One-Stop-Shop for Fine Writing Instruments

I remember the first few years after I started using my first fountain pen. I was so frustrated because the only ink I could use then was Parker Quink Black. When I joined Fountain Pen Network-Philippines, or FPN-P, I learned about a specialty store in Quezon City's Eastwood Mall selling not only fountain pens, but fountain pen inks and fountain pen-friendly notebooks as well. The store, Scribe Writing Essentials (SWE, or Scribe), became a very popular name within FPN-P since then. Soon, owner Marian Ong joined the group in one of our monthly pen meets to introduce a highly celebrated German brand, Pelikan. That was three years ago.

FPN-P 2010 Christmas Pen Meet, Conti's Greenbelt 2, Makati City. Marian Ong (in striped top) seated in front.
This photo belongs to FPN-P member Arnell T. Umali.

  

Today, Scribe has grown tremendously. In less than a year, four more stores were added to the one in Eastwood, all selling a wide variety of products from journal and diaries to fine writing instruments from around 20 brands from all over the world. 

Scribe now offers fine writing instruments from Japan and Taiwan in Asia, and Germany and Spain in Europe. Brands such as TWSBI, Sailor, Platinum, Inoxcrom, Kaweco, Lamy, and Pelikan are all known to produce high quality writing instruments, and most of their products are collectibles. Topnotch and highly-coveted Japanese notebook Midori is also in Scribe's shelves now, as well as Hong Kong made notebooks and stationery items from Daycraft. Scribe has also made a giant leap by offering fountain pen inks that used to reside only in my dreams: J. Herbin from France, Pelikan Edelstein from Germany, and Noodlers from the US. Other fountain pen inks from Sailor and Lamy are also available from their stores.

To officially launch Scribe, their stores, and the brands they carry, Scribe's founder and owner, Marian Ong, hosted a cocktail party at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall on March 4, 2014. The event was well-attended by a large number of FPN-P people, members of the press, and Scribe's friends. 

The Atrium of Shangri-La Plaza Mall where the Scribe launch was held on March 4, 2014.

The Scribe store in Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City. Photo provided by SWE.

Scribe has three brand ambassadors who were present during the launch. They are Michael Manalo, and FPN-P's Leigh Reyes and Fozzy Castro-Dayrit. Their art were displayed during the event. 

Art by Leigh Reyes, who counts the Scribe display as her first exhibit ever.
Leigh is a known figure in the advertising world, having won the country's first ever GOLD CLIO and WORLD PRESS Gold awards. Her work has been recognized both here and abroad. She loves doodling with pen, ink and paper and making jaw-dropping works of art. She gets most of her stuff from Scribe which she considers her "happy place." 

Fozzy Castro-Dayrit's intricate calligraphy.
Fozzy has conducted calligraphy workshops for the store in the past. Her classes are sought-after as she specializes in calligraphy, designing wedding invitations and personalized cards. Fozzy considers Scribe a one-stop shop for all her calligraphy and art supplies needs.

Design by Architect Michael Manalo.
As a boy, Mico loved looking at illuminated manuscripts from the Gothic Age. He then studied Architecture with a masters degree in Architectural Conservation from the Escuela Nacionál deConservación, Restauración y Museografía INAH, Mexico City. Now, he spends his time designing new structures, trying to restore old ones and travelling to learn about the importance of saving heritage while working with the UNESCO. 

Before the program started, guests were encouraged to write messages to be posted at the Scribe Calligraphy Message Wall. Paper, Speedball ink, and colorful quills were provided to the event's enthusiastic guests. 

FPN-P members Reggie Reginaldo and Mars Hagedorn write their messages for the Calligraphy Message Wall.

Calligraphy Message Wall

The program started with a short documentary about how Scribe evolved to being the one-stop-shop that it is now. Trivia games were played as brands carried by Scribe stores were introduced, and three FPN-P members went home happily with Scribe gift certificates. Fountain pens were raffled off, with two more FPN-P members going home the happiest. 

Left to right: Michael, Marian, Fozzy, Leigh, and program host RJ Ledesma. 

The Scribe launch was a joyful celebration for me. I knew it was a very important event for Marian and her group, and we at FPN-P were just happy to celebrate with them. It was also an occasion where I get to be with my FPN-P friends who are the kindest, happiest people I know. We get to meet once or twice a month, but being with them at an event to launch our favorite store is just awesome!

Indeed, Scribe has brought not only the sophistication to our choice of writing instruments, it has brought back an art long considered lost and archaic. More and more people are enjoying the art of using fountain pens nowadays, and the growing number of FPN-P newbies is proof of that. 

To say that we at FPN-P are happy that we now have a "one-stop-shop" for fountain pens, ink, and notebooks is an understatement. No longer are we envying neighbors Malaysia and Singapore for their pen boutiques for Scribe, in Manila, is offering us a haven for our pen and pen-related needs.

Below are some photos of FPN-P members during the event. Photos courtesy of Scribe.

Marian with FPN-P's Raffy Roxas and Peter Bangayan

The Archer, Cesar Salazar, Gelzon dela Cruz, Ernesto Tabujara, Ronnie Geron, Mars Hagedorn, 
Mona and Reggie Reginaldo

Allan Caindoy, Peter, Jonathan Isip, Carlos Abad Santos, Dennis Duran, Raffy, 
and FPN-P's founding father, Butch Dalisay

And again, FPN-P with Scribe's Marian Ong and Cindy Dingkoi. I hope the next FPN-P + Scribe group pic won't take another three  years in the making.

For more information about Scribe and the brands they carry, visit their website at: http://www.scribewritingessentials.com/ or like their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/ScribeWritingEssentials.

You can also visit a Scribe store nearest you. Below is a list of Scribe's stores, their store hours and contact numbers.

EASTWOOD MALL
Level 3, Eastwood Mall Eastwood City

E. Rodriguez Jr Avenue, Bagumbayan Quezon City

Mon to Thur 11:00am – 10:00pm
Fri to Sat 11:00am – 11:00pm
Sun 10:00am – 10:00pm
Tel. 900-0053

SHANGRILA PLAZA MALL
Lower Ground Floor, East Wing Shangrila Plaza Mall 

Brgy Wack Wack Mandaluyong City
Mon to Thur 11:00am – 9:00pm
Fri to Sat 10:00am – 10:00pm
Sun 10:00am – 9:00pm
Tel. 654.5071

GLORIETTA 5
Level 2, Glorietta 5 Ayala Center 

Brgy San Antonio Makati City
Mon to Thur 11:00am – 9:00pm
Fri to Sat 11:00am – 10:00pm
Tel. 804.3889

SM AURA
Level 4, SM Aura Premier 

26th Street corner McKinley Parkway 

Fort Bonifacio Global City Taguig
Mon to Sun 10:00am – 10:00pm
Tel. 519.5346

SM MEGAMALL
Level 4, SM Megamall Fashion Hall, Mandaluyong City
Mon to Sun 10:00am – 10:00pm

Tel. TBA

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. 

Back to Collecting

Because of the recent events in my life, I forgot about my other passion: collecting. Oh, I feel so guilty!

For my truck collection, I am not guilty here because I promised not to buy any until November after my purchase from Leo Sajonas last April. I do want to keep to my strict rule of one truck a month.

But for the others, I am just sooo guilty. I wasn't able to write more, or read as much. But I'm getting back to the groove. I'm reading again, and I'm writing again. Fortunately, I have friends who love to add stuff into my growing collections. A friend went to China in May and brought me the red notebook below, and another friend went to Japan last week and gave me my first taste of Midori with the Diamond Memo black notebook below. (Midori!!! I got Midori!!!)

Details here:

This notebook from China is sooo wonderfully beautiful. The cover is made of red silk cloth embroidered with Chinese characters and embellished with a charm made of jade. The inside pages are made of white unruled paper.

This Midori notebook is from Japan (where else?). The cover is plastic and the inside pages are ruled with green, tiny, dotted lines. So simple and yet so elegant.

I'm catching up, yes. I may be late for McDonald's Happy Meal's Kung Fu Panda, but I'll catch up. I will.

I'm going back to everything that my life used to be before April came along. I'm going back to how simple, spartan, and uncomplicated life used to be for me, after J and before L. It was indeed a very short period of time to be completely alone, but it also taught me so much that I am now longing for those days when I had no one but myself.