Review: Quiver Pen Holder

When I saw this newly-released pen holder late last year, I was both curious and excited because of its name. Most people know I named my blog after the centaur with a bow and arrow that is my sign, but only a few knows that I am a former archer. Which is why the pen holder held my attention the moment I saw it. It brought back happy archery memories way, way back. When I was an archer, a leather hip quiver held my arrows, and now that I am a pen collector, a unique pen holder holds two of my favorite pens to a favorite notebook, and it is called the Quiver.

Quiver Global's Bob Koch kindly sent me one of their pen holders to review. I received a double/dual pen holder for large notebooks and I used it as soon I took it out of the envelope. It was love at first sight. Who wouldn't fall for these penholders? They are made from genuine soft leather and hand-stitched by Quiver's skilled leather craftsmen. It's perfect for my pens! I got a brown pen holder, but it is also available in black.

The Quiver pen holder is very easy to use because of its simple design. Just slide the pen holder over the notebook's front cover and move it according to the desired position. The photo below shows the wide elastic band that keeps the pen holder secure on the notebook's cover. This elastic band also offers maximum flexibility to the pen holder so it can be used on a number of large notebooks. Quiver's website has a list of Quiver-compatible notebooks.

The double/dual Quiver pen holder comfortably accommodates two pens. Its soft leather can be stretched a bit, so two large pens can fit in. I tested several pen combinations shown in the photos below, and I paired a big-sized pen with a thin one so they will not scratch each other.

On the Webbie: Haolilai and Esterbrook SJ. 

On the Reecovid notebook: Lamy Safari and Sheaffer thin cartridge pen.

On my red Scribe notebook: Waterman Hemisphere and Lamy Safari.

Lastly, two birds on my 2011 Starbucks planner: Pelikan M200 and the yellow M205 demo from the M205 Duo set. Love, love, love this combo!

The pen and notebook combinations are great! I love seeing two of my favorite pens on the cover of my notebooks and it makes writing very easy for me. I don't need to open a long pen wrap to get a pen to write, I just need to get one from my Quiver.

Quiver pen holders are available for online purchase through Quiver Global site. Other Quiver products include:

• single pen Quiver for small notebooks;
• single pen Quiver for large notebooks; and
• double pen Quiver for small notebooks.

Quiver also offers an adapter for use in softcover notebooks. Also available are a number of Combo Sets that include any Quiver pen holder paired with a Moleskine notebook of choice.

The Quiver pen holder used in this review is courtesy of Quiver Global. Webbie is from Exaclair, Reecovid from Reecovid, and Scribe from Scribe. Pens and Starbucks planner belong to my personal collection.

Notebook Review: Daycraft's Flower Wow

I'm always happy to receive new products to review, especially ink and paper. When Foreal Lee of Daycraft/Tai Shing Diary Ltd. emailed me to ask if I am interested to review their new notebooks, I replied with a fast-as-lightning yes! A week later, DHL delivered a box to my office with the notebooks that Foreal sent. It felt like Christmas morning in August.

Among the notebooks that Foreal sent to me is one of Daycraft's new products, Flower Wow notebook, the one that Daycraft won't claim (but won't rule out, either) as the world's most beautiful notebook. Available in one size (6 in x 8.5 in) and four cover designs, Flower Wow notebooks have real fabric cover with illustrations of stunning colorful bouquets. My notebook has large, beautiful red and pink blooms on the white fabric cover, which according to Daycraft is a special type of printable cloth from The Netherlands.

Flower Wow notebook. Lovely flowers on the front cover...

 

A closer look at the big red flower on the cover.

A smaller flower is printed on the back cover...

 ... that also bears the Daycraft logo, printed in gold. Elegant.

The gold inside cover of this notebook and the colorful blooms on the inside pocket add more elegance to it. 

The Flower Wow notebook has 176 pages of smooth, cream-colored 116g paper. As with my other Daycraft notebooks, I like that it is ruled, and the 6.5mm line spacing is just right for my large handwriting. Consistent with the notebook's theme, the pages are ruled with faint lines in gold.

The spread of the notebook's inside pages shows printed illustrations of flowers on both the lower right and upper left corners.

Flowers on the notebook's pages. 

The edge of the Flower Wow notebook is gilted in gold - this feature, together with the flower prints on the pages, fabric cover, and gold inside cover, makes me wonder if this notebook came from Victorian times.

I tested quite a number of ink colors and fountain pens on the Flower Wow notebook, and though some ink types feathered and bled, there is definitely a great improvement in Daycraft's paper quality in terms of fountain pen and ink friendliness. This is definitely a lot different than the paper quality of the Signature notebook I reviewed last February.

Some inks bled (see photo below), but I'll have to consider the fact that I used mostly medium wet nibs, so both feathering and bleed are hard to avoid. I'm suprised though, that some pen and ink combinations wrote so well without bleed. These are: Waterman Phileas (M) with Mont Blanc Bordeaux (line 4), Parker 45 (M) with Styl' Honore Rouge Amaryllis (line 5), Schneider Base (M) with De Atramentis Fuschia, (line 6), Sheaffer NoNonsense (M) with Caran d'Ache Saffron (line 8), Sheaffer NoNonsense (fine italic) with Diamine Burnt Sienna (line 9), Schneider iD (M) with J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche (line 17), and Lamy Safari (M) with J. Herbin Diabolo Menthé.

The other side of the test page. Some inks bled. Some are just right. Which means I can use this notebook with my fountain pens. For journalling. Then I'd feel like a lady from the courts of Victoria writing about hard work, perseverance, love and luck.

Below are some macro shots of some of the ink colors on the Flower Wow notebook:

Noodler's Midnight Blue

Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher

Diamine Oxblood

J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche

Irozhizuku Kiri-same

Waterman Havana Brown

De Atramentis Fuschia

Caran d'Ache Saffron

Mont Blanc Bordeaux

The Flower Wow notebook is another great addition to the beautiful products of Daycraft. I am glad, as well as other Pinoy pen and paper enthusiasts to know that Mr. Foreal Lee, Retail and Marketing Manager of Tai Shing Diary, makers of Daycraft noteboks, have facilitated the availability of their products here in the Philippines.

Daycraft products such as diaries, notebooks, and sketchbooks are available at Scribe Writing Essentials located at Eastwood Mall, Libis, Quezon City.

A Prelude of Good Things to Come

In preparation of my upcoming ink and notebook reviews, I started cleaning several of my pens last night. More pens were cleaned this morning and all six of them will be filled with fresh inks in the days to come.

Cleaned pens left overnight to dry.

Set on left is the disassembled Parker Rialto that used to be filled with Caran d'Ache Saffron, and soon to be inked with Diamine Burnt Sienna. I love this pen and its medium nib and the fact that its nib section can be taken apart: nib and feed can pulled out of the nib section and rinsed thoroughly with water. No long soaking time or flushing of stubborn ink stuck in the feed and underside of the nib.

The middle set has the parts of the Colibri pen, my first pen with a two-toned nib that writes like heaven. Very smooth, and used to be filled with Aurora Blue, and soon will get a transfusion of Diamine Turquoise. It didn't take long to flush out old ink from its nib section.

Last set on right belongs to Mary-Ann, the Retro 51 Scripmaster II Series pen that I just adore, love, and cherish. Who wouldn't? It was filled only with Waterman South Sea Blue since I got it in April, and now will be inked with J. Herbin Orange Indien.

Of course my ink reviews will include my dabbling into calligraphy, and there is something new that I shall use for that aside from my Schneider Creativ and Lamy Joy pens - an old set of Manuscript calligraphy pens that I got from a thrift store for PhP50 a year ago. The pen was in a blister pack with 2 nibs and a converter, but I only got to use the converter later on. I was disappointed at the nibs when I used them because they were scratchy and hard starting. But I wasn't into calligraphy then. I saw the pen in my office drawer today and tried to do some calligraphy strokes. I was so surprised at how the 2.3 nib wrote. Not smooth, in fact the nib tip is so sharp it can cut through my skin. But the letters I wrote with it were so beautifully impressive! Now I have three sets of calligraphy pens. :) But wait! I also have a Brause set with six nibs! Six! I'll get on them as soon as I finish my final exams on the 19th. After that, it's purely paper, ink, and pen bliss for me. :)

Christmas in September

My first Rhodia: Rhodia No. 10, from Exaclair's Bastille Day inks offer. Oh, sure, it's that small, and that's a regular teacup. :)

September has been another hectic and trying month for me. A lot of things went on at the same time, and all equally required the same attention and care from me. Ondoy and Pepeng came and went, we got flooded, and yet, there is so much for all of us to be thankful for. And here's my share.

First is this package of heavenly goodies from Exaclair. In July, I read from the Quo Vadis blog that Exaclair is offering J. Herbin blue and red inks as part of their Bastille Day offer. Though hesitant, I still signed up for the offer, but added that I'm in the Philippines and if they won't ship the items here, that's no problem. To my surprise, Exaclair's VP for Marketing, Karen Doherty, replied to me a few days later, saying that she has already sent me the inks and notebooks and that I should receive the package soon. I have to admit that I almost fell off my chair when I read that message. I got excited to see the notebooks, but more than excited to get my hands on the inks I requested: Bleu Pervenche and Rouge Opera. Oh, who wouldn't be?

J. Herbin inks from Exaclair: Rouge Opera and Bleu Pervenche.

And after the excitement came the painful wait. July went to mid-August. Then August ended. By early September, I lost hope and convinced myself to never trust the postal system again. It's simple: the package got lost or stolen along the way. And I was so embarrassed when I told Karen about it. Then again, she said that she will send me another set of goodies. Oh, wow.

Towards the end of September, I got a big surprise when our mailroom guy called me up even if it was after 5pm already, to let me know I got a package from Exaclair. Hurray!

Aside from the Rhodia No. 10 pad and the inks, Karen also sent me these wonderful notebooks. From left: Rhodia Pad No. 16, reporter-style Clairefontaine Basic pad, and wirebound Clairefontaine Basic. It's a surprise that all these goodies came intact...

... when this is where they all came from!

It's obvious that the package got wet somewhere, and it's a miracle the items inside were not destroyed, if for some minor damage on the notebook covers. But the J. Herbin catalog did not survive the water that seeped through the envelope. (Photo below.)

A week later, the second package was delivered to me.

This time, the envelope is intact, and all the notebooks inside are in pristine condition, including the inks and their boxes. I got a black 5x5 No. 10 Rhodia pad, a black 6x8¼ clothbound Clairefontaine Basics, Rhodia No. 16, a large Quo Vadis Habana notebook, and the same two J. Herbin ink colors I requested before. Great! I can't wait to tear the plastic off the Habana and try writing on all the notebooks. So far I've tried the No. 16 and it's just great! My reviews will trickle in beginning next week. :) Oh, the toy is one of my Tomica ChoroQs. :)


And then...

Right after the 2nd Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper was published, I sent an email to Marian Ong of Scribe Writing Essentials to inform her that my blogpost about the red Scribe journal I recently got made it to the top editor's choice. A few days later, a bag was delivered to me all the way from our Makati Office and here, behold, are the contents: all pure notebook goodness in red and black. The pen on top, is my Rotring Core Rubidium. I'll use the red large notebook for my fountain ink tests, the black one as a spare to follow my current journal. The Pocket notebooks will be used for my GTD stuff. But more on that later. :)

But the Christmasy feeling doesn't end there. In between the packages from Scribe and Exaclair, there is definitely more! :)

Sailor Kenshin, a fellow member of Fountain Pen Network was giving away some of his pens. I emailed him to ask for a burgundy Hero 616 and a Stypen. He sent the pens free of shipping charges, and suprised me when he included a mini Daiso fountain pen. Great guy. Cool gifts. When I emailed him to say thank you, I inquired about the pens he wanted to trade away. I don't know if I'm just lucky or what, but he said he'll send the two pens to me. So I got myself a clear/white Waterman Kultur and a red Pelikano Junior. What he doesn't know is that he gave me my first Waterman and my first Pelikan pens.

My Hero 616 with the Chinese Terracota Army

The Stypen with American Indians on the battlefield.

The mini Daiso fountain pen in Angkor Wat.

The Waterman Kultur in Anatolia, Turkey's Çatal Höyük

And the Pelikano Junior on an Aztec temple.

I'm overwhelmed! How can I fully say thank you to Karen, Marian, and Sailor Kenshin for all the goodies they sent me? My reviews of all these stuff will come next week, and I'm hoping that somehow, someday, I'll be able to return their kind gesture...

It's Alive.

It's alive. (Insert roar/monstrous laugh here.)

Oh yes, it is. My Frankenthein (photo above) has finally made it to me. Created by our dearest friend Tom Overfield, Frankenthein, or Thein as I love to call him, is a frankenpen. Um, okay, don't freak out. It's not as bad as it sounds. It's actually very simple. For pen collectors and enthusiasts, a frankenpen, or a franky, is a pen that has been created from parts of different pens. These parts may come from the same pen model, or from other pen models, but the idea is for the final product to work like a new, working pen. See? No big deal here. I've done this on some of my gel pens, using Uni-Ball or Zebra refills in my Pilot G2 retractables. Woo-hoo.

Frankenthein's medium 14k gold Triumph nib. The Sheaffers logo is embossed on the clip.

Here's the underside of Thein's nib and feed.

Now, Thein is a Sheaffer Thin Model (TM) with the Touchdown filling system. What I love the most with Thein is that he's got a medium Triumph nib, made from 14k gold. Of course, with most frankys, Thein's burgundy cap, green barrel, amber section, feed, and 14k gold nib came from various Sheaffer TMs, but I don't mind. Not at all.

Thein is a true-blue franky. From Tom's box of fountain parts, he was given a new life. And then he was christened Frankenthein by Leigh Reyes, a fellow fountain pen collector and a franky owner herself. In fact, Frankensnork, Leigh's franky, is the eldest among Tom's creations. (More about Frankensnork here.) After Frankensork, Tom made and sent other frankys to Filipino fountain pen collectors. They are: Son of Frankensnork, Bride of Frankensnork, Thinenstein (a Sheaffer Thin Model), Tuckenstein (Sheaffer Tuckaway), and Demistein (a Parker 51 Demi). See some members of the Frankenfamily here.

Here is a writing sample of Frankenthein after filling it with Waterman South Sea Blue. I wrote in an old Starbucks diary. And oh, wow. Thein is a wet writer, and writes vey smoothly, too! (Click on photo for a larger view.)

Lifetime companions: Frankenthein and Franentom.

After a long journey, my very own frankenpen is with me. Oh no, don't frown. It's been a long journey for them. Here's why: Tom sent Thein from Virginia (USA), together with some of the other frankys including Frannie in a package he sent to Leigh in Manila. Leigh sent it to me through our Makati Office, and finally the envelope traveled all the way to Los Baños. Phew!

But the long wait is over. Thein is here with me now, and together we will embark on a new journey where we will be joined by other pens who welcome him with warm hearts and open minds. Thanks to Tom's brilliance, these frankenpens are given new lives, and now in the hands of people who love and cherish them dearly. And oh, Thein is my first Sheaffer pen. Isn't it great?

The Joy of My 2nd Pen Meet

Earlier last month, I attended my second pen meet at Cravings, Shangri La Mall in Ortigas. Incidentally, my first pen meet was also at Shangri La in late December last year, only that was held at The Dome. Like my first pen meet, I was very excited that I couldn't sleep the night before. In place of sleep, I re-inked my empty pens, especially the new ones, and arranged them neatly and properly in their slots inside my blue flannel pen wrap. I also thought of bringing my fountain pen-friendly notebook finds so I brought along the Paperchase notebook I got from Booksale and the new Eagle notebook I found at Office Warehouse.

There was a very heavy downpour as I was about to leave the house and I got delayed for almost half an hour. Then I was caught in a traffic jam somewhere along Sucat, so I was already more than an hour late, so I sent Sir Butch D. a message to let them know I'll be joining them shortly. When I got there, it was lunchtime and most of the FPN-P people have arrived.

The long table was near full, and I got seated near Sir Butch, JP Reyes, and Kurt Uy. It's an FPN-P pen meet tradition to try other people's pens and notebooks, but I have my own tradition: I try all the pens I could try but on my own Moleskine pages. I do this so I am able to try pens, write down what they are, what inks they carry, and who owns them. Neat.

Pens and inks from my first pen meet, December 2008.

Before I made the rounds of trying pens, I showed my Indian pens to Sir Butch, JP, Sir Nestor, Sir Chito, and later to Leigh. I think for most of them, it's a first to see (and try) both the Camlin and Chelpark pens.

The first set of pens I tried were those of JP's. He let me try his Pelikan M450 and two Mont Blancs. Woo-hoo!

Then I moved to the other end of the room and tried the pens of couple Vic and Cyn Icasas who are just as accommodating with their pens. I tried Cyn's Lamy ABC which is just awesome. Then I moved to Vic's pen case. *Grin.* I tried his Sheaffer No-Nonsense with a BB nib. OMG. That one is bold, broad, and wet. After that, I was able to try a pen with music nib for the first time - it's Vic's Sailor Sapporo Mini. But I did not stop there - I did not pass the chance to try the other residents of his pencase, too: Pelikan M215; a Laban pen; 2 Waterman pens: the Harley Davidson he just got from Sir Chito Limson, and a Phileas; 3 Pilots: M90, Volex, and a no-name Pilot pen; 3 Lamys: Safari (inked with Leigh's CDA Caribbean Sea), Studio, and Vista (both inked with Purple Mojo). Phew! Dami pens!

I also tried Sir Chito's pens: Danitrio, Visconti, Baoer Eight Horses, a Jinhao Sailboat Commemorative pen, and a white Parker Duofold! That last one had me drooling.

Then I tried Caloy Abad-Santos's pens: his Frankensnork from TAO, Danitrio Raw Ebonite Prototype, Platinum Longshort, Sheaffer Legacy, and a Moore Safety pen.

Dami talaga pens!

Pens and inks at my second pen meet, April 2009. This list goes on to the next page. Ganun kadami pens ang na-try ko!

After lunch and amidst the chatter, the raffle began. Yey! Raffle items included a large ruled Moleskine, a Rhodia notebook, several pens (including a Cross ATX set, a Lamy Joy Calligraphy set, a Waterman, green and orange Pilot petit), and inks. Ang daming raffle items! The raffle was done twice because there were more raffle items than the number of people to receive them. Ahem.

During the first raffle round, I got a blue M&G Joy Box pen courtesy of John Raymond Lim. I was ecstatic over that pen already, but the bomb came during the second round. As Nigs de Paula and Sir Chito raffled off the Lamy Joy Calligraphy set, I said a tiny prayer, and alas, my name was called! Huwow! I got myself my very first Lamy! Oh, boy. The set is courtesy of Johannes Sia. I didn't know what to say... Until Sir Butch joked, "hindi ka siguro makakatulog ngayong gabi nyan!" What he didn't know was that I've already lost sleep the night before. Hahaha!!!

And now, meet Joy. My very first Lamy, and it had to come as a set!

Opening the box reveals then pen, the cap with its red clip, a box of ink cartridges, a Lamy converter, and the nibs: 1.1mm, 1.5mm, and 1.9mm.

A closer look at the nibs, though this photo is way too blurry.

A closer look at the cap, clip and barrel end that also bears the LAMY logo.

And because I had a new calligraphy set (the first one is the Schneider set), I just had to learn the art now. So I got myself a Speedball Textbook pronto, and several packs of Oslo paper. I remember envying my brothers when they were learning calligraphy way back in high school and they each had their own Speedball Textbooks, inks, and Panache nibs. Now I have my own.

Below (and topmost, first photo) is a writing sample of my Lamy Joy Calligraphy set.

As Lamy says, Joy inspire creative writing. Mine isn't that creative, but I'll get there. I'm sure I will. *Wink.*