Notebook Review: Endless Stationery Recorder Notebook Deep Ocean with 80gsm Regalia Paper

Endless Stationery Recorder Notebook Deep Ocean with 80gsm Regalia paper.

I'm back! It's been six months since my last blog review. It's been a hectic, toxic, and trying period that has kept me from using and enjoying my fountain pens. I still have several fountain pens, ink, and paper products waiting to be reviewed. Last April, I said I'll rest for a month. But May came, then June, and before I knew it, it was already September. I wanted to go back to writing about pens and ink and paper. I really wanted to. But work got me. Health issues got me. And I got stuck waiting for that golden moment when inspiration strikes, and I could go on spilling words like there's no tomorrow. I kept asking myself, could I still do it? I wasn't sure, and that surprised and scared me. But last Friday, while I chatted with a friend, she reminded me of going back to my gift, and so here I am, writing and happily spilling words again on Regalia paper in my Recorder notebook that my friend Kailash Ramchandani of PenGrafik sent over to me to review. Regalia is a special proprietary paper created by our awesome friends at Endless Stationery in Madras, India.

The new Recorder Notebook from Endless Stationery, the world's most ink-friendly notebook. The leatherette cover looks professional, classy, and elegant.

The Recorder Notebook is not new to me. In August 2020, Endless Works sent me my first Recorder Notebook to review. It was a thrill writing on the Recorder's 68gsm Tomoe River paper. It's an elegant black notebook with a black leatherette cover and I used it for note-taking, writing ideas for my blog, and doodling colorful art. But the thin TR paper sometimes bothered me, so this new Recorder Notebook with the brand new 80gsm acid-free Regalia paper is perfect!

The Recorder Notebook is made to be the world's most ink-friendly notebook. Available in A5 size (8.3 × 5.6 inches), the new Recorder Notebook has 187 numbered pages of 80gsm acid-free proprietary and ink-loving Regalia paper suitable for fountain pens, inks, micron, and sketch pens. The in-house thicker Regalia paper has a zero-tolerance policy towards bleeding, ghosting, and feathering so we all get the smoothest writing experience. The acid-free Regalia paper also ensures the notebook's contents will last a long time. 

I received the Deep Ocean dotted Recorder and the dark blue leatherette cover looks professional, classy, and elegant. It has a blank Table of Contents that one can easily fill out so it's easy to keep track of notes and ideas inside the notebook. The two page markers in dark blue and turquoise would surely help anyone find their way through their Recorders. And if anyone needs a sheet of paper, there are 16 perforated sheets at the back of the notebook to tear without affecting the rest of the pages in the particular signature. The Recorder also has an expandable inner pocket in the back cover to hold ephemera, receipts, tickets, and other bits of paper. It is also meant to store page guide sheets that Endless designed to keep users on track.

Endless Stationery offers the Recorder in four colors: Infinite Space (black), Forest Canopy (green), Deep Ocean (blue), Crimson Sky (red), and Mountain Snow (light gray). All five colors are available with ruled, dotted, squared, and blank pages. 

The Recorder Notebook's front and back covers are imprinted with the Endless Stationery logos. On the front cover: the long line signifies content and the ellipsis (three dots) "proceeds to infinity." The lower part of the back cover is imprinted with ENDLESS. 

The Recorder Notebook's inside cover page is designed with empty circles to resemble the Endless logo's ellipsis. A blank box in the upper part of the page is meant for writing the owner's name and other details. 

The designers of the Recorder thoughtfully built this notebook. It has two pages for a Table of Contents so it's easier to keep track of what's inside the notebook.

The Recorder's pages are numbered and this feature is helpful in creating a directory for the notebook's contents.

The new Recorder has two page markers, the signature turquoise page marker of Endless Stationery, and another one in the same color as the notebook's cover. The Ocean Blue notebook has the dark blue and turquoise page markers.

Loving the Recorder's rounded page corners. No sharp, pointed corners to bite into my hand and arm while writing. Also, rounded corners are less prone to fraying, so the cover and inside pages won't be worn down easily.

The Recorder Notebook has an expandable inner pocket in its inside back cover. I do not usually use these pockets because their contents create bulges and make it uncomfortable to write on the notebook's pages, but this notebook's back pocket is also meant to hold the Recorder's guide sheets.

Because this new Recorder Notebook has new paper, I was really excited to try writing on it. I tested the Regalia paper using some of my still-inked fountain pens with different nibs — fine, medium, and broad. The Regalia paper is so smooth, it's truly a joy to write on! My pens' inks did not bleed, and I did not see any feathering or ghosting. 

My pen and ink test on Regalia paper did not have any feathering or bleeding.

Then I also tried writing on a whole page of the Regalia paper and it's true! Regalia paper is a joy to write. I used my TWSBI 530 with a wet medium nib inked with Iroshizuku Asa-gao to do this test. The TWSBI wrote smoothly on Regalia paper. No feathering, and certainly no bleeding. The ink on the stamp I used for the date did not bleed, too. I did some ink swatches at the back of this test page and though the Robert Oster Fire Engine Red ghosted a bit, it did not soak the paper to the other side of the sheet. Regalia paper is truly an excellent paper for fountain pen ink!

I did write on two pages of the Recorder Notebook to test Regalia paper. The ink from my wet and juicy TWSBI 530 did not bleed.

Here is the back side of the sheet. The Fire Engine Red ink is wetter than the two blue inks and almost bled to the other side of the sheet. Fortunately, it did not bleed through.

I also did an ink art on the Recorder's Regalia paper using a Leonardo Furore with Robert Oster Orange Zest. The color in this ink art is amazing and Regalia paper helps make ink colors pop out and look radiant on it!

The Recorder Notebook with Regalia paper is an excellent, well-made notebook, and is one of the most ink-friendly papers available in the whole world today. I love its features: Table of Contents, numbered pages, rounded corners, and numbered pages. Regalia paper is so friendly to fountain pens, and the Recorder has that simple, "classic notebook" elegant look. The leatherette cover is durable, the signature turquoise elastic strap keeps the pages together, and the round page corners prevent fraying. This notebook is perfect for journaling, calligraphy, note-taking, ink swatching, or for simply writing down thoughts and ideas. With the Recorder, ideas are endless! Get one for your pens!

The Recorder notebook in this review is provided by PenGrafik, the exclusive seller of Recorder Notebook and Endless Stationery products in the Philippines. Visit PenGrafik on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/PenGrafik) and see their many offerings!

Notebook Review: Life Pistachio A5

If you use fountain pens on a regular basis, you probably understand the huge challenge of finding suitable, fountain pen ink-friendly paper. When I shifted to full fountain pen use in 2008, the stationery market in the Philippines had a very limited selection of fountain pen-friendly paper brands to offer.

When Scribe Writing Essentials began offering fountain pen-friendly paper products, it was a joy to walk into their stores and see shelves filled with Midoris, Rhodias, TWSBIs, and just recently, LIFE and Tomoe River Paper. Scribe has kindly given me two samples of LIFE products to review, a soft-covered, ruled Noble Report in A4, and a ruled Pistachio notebook in A5, both with excellent, superior paper quality.

The LIFE Stationery Company was established in Tokyo in 1946. The company is dedicated to producing paper products of excellent quality, with all products done by hand. LIFE's stationery line features timeless, simple, and elegant designs, together with superior and excellent paper quality. The Notemaker Journal Blog has a beautiful feature on the story behind LIFE Stationery, if you want to read more about the company.

LIFE Pistachio notebook cover

The Pistachio is a sibling to LIFE's Vermillion notebooks, a simple, yet high quality notebook. Its light green cover has an old-school look, with a patterned border and spaces for information printed in bright green and dark red.

The Pistachio Notebook's pages with 7mm ruling in bright green.

LIFE's Pistachio notebook is available in three sizes: A5 (8.3 x 11.7 inches), B6 (4.9 x 6.9 inches), and A6 (4.1 x 5.8 inches). The A5 Pistachio is available with either ruled or grid inside pages, printed in bright green ink. The ruling is a bit wide for me at 7mm, while the grid is just right at 5mm. Each notebook has 32 sheets (64 pages) of stitched, rather than stapled, superior quality Japanese paper.

Pen and ink tests on Pistachio notebook. No feathering at all, and the green ruling is not bothersome at all.

This simple-looking notebook's most amazing feature is LIFE's high quality paper. It is smooth, and simply a joy to write on. It is also resistant to feathering and bleed through, which means I can write with my fountain pens (or any pens) on it. The paper is also acid-free, to preserve its contents for years to come.

Back of the test page. There is ghosting (show through), but there is absolutely no bleed through! 

See? No bleed through! Even if I wrote with my wettest writers (Pelikan BB and B), iron gall ink (Lamy Blue Black), and the notorious Noodler's Baystate Blue.

I recommend LIFE Pistachio notebooks to anyone who wants to experience writing on excellent quality paper. Aside from their excellent quality, LIFE notebooks are also reasonably priced.

LIFE Stationery products are available in the Philippines exclusively at Scribe Writing Essentials. The Pistachio A5 is sold at P185, and the A6 at P175. To get LIFE's paper products, visit any of Scribe's stores in Eastwood Mall, Shangrila Plaza Mall, Glorietta 5, SM Aura, and SM Megamall. Their 6th store has just been opened in SM City Cebu last month. For their complete location/address, contact numbers, and store hours, click here.

Notebook Review: Papernotes Classic Notebooks

Imagine stumbling upon an Inbox that has not been opened or checked in the last three years. Imagine a thousand of unread email messages. Imagine rushing to reply to each of those thousand email messages. That happened to me when I mistakenly and unknowingly cancelled the forwarding feature for my blog's email address three years ago. I completely forgot about it for a long time, and when I remembered to check the email account, I had more than a thousand email messages!

I was unaware that people were sending me comments and questions, and also offering to send new products to review here. One of those who offered to send products for review is Papernotes, a startup company in Manila, Philippines that makes quality notebooks at affordable prices. 

When I learned that I could get two incredible notebooks, I chose orange and blue.

Papernotes makes the Classic Notebook Series, available in six different colors of black, white, grey, red, blue, and orange. A Classic notebook has 160 lined pages, and measures ~5.25 in × 8.25 in, shorter than a large Moleskine, but just as wide.

Papernotes uses soft, textured polyurethane (PU) as cover for their Classic notebooks. PU is described as 'synthetic leather,' and while it is soft and can be folded, it is sturdy enough like real leather.

The Classic notebook has a pen loop attached to the back cover. A nice feature, the loop can hold a slim to medium sized pen. People who tuck their pens in their notebooks can now easily slide them into their notebooks' loops. I tried putting a Lamy Al Star in the pen loop, but stopped because the elastic is a little tight and I thought it might scratch my pen.

The notebook's elastic closure is firm, but not too tight that it will cramp the soft cover. It's just right to hold the pages together, and notches on the covers keep the elastic closure in place.

The Papernotes team's thoughtful touch: notches to keep the elastic closure in place.

The Classic notebook's elastic closure is just as wide and thick as that of a Rhodia Webbie (orange notebook at the bottom) or a Moleskine (top of the Webbie). The other notebook in this pile is a TWSBI.

Each Classic notebook has a single color theme for its cover, pen loop, elastic band, and page marker. The long page marker is silk ribbon and has a width of 0.25 in.

I'm happy that these notebooks have round page corners. Notebooks with pointed corners are sharp and fray easily.

The pages of the Classic notebooks are smyth sewn, to ensure page security and flexibility. Sewn pages open completely flat, and they also look tidier. 

The inside cover page of the Classic notebook.

Papernotes also included a back pocket to their notebooks. Back pockets are useful to some, but I rarely use them because their contents create bulges and make it uncomfortable to write on the notebook's pages.

The Classic notebooks have 100gsm wood-free paper. Wood-free paper went through a chemical process where most of the wood pulp is removed. It is not an environmentally sound process, but wood-free paper lasts longer and is not susceptible to yellowing and discoloration.

Classic notebooks are all ruled, and use the college (medium) ruling of 0.7mm. 

I was really excited to try this notebook's 100gsm paper and filled a page with different fountain pen and ink combinations. I also included some of my gel pens. After the inks have dried, I was surprised to see that ink from most of my broad-nibbed pens did not bleed on the Papernotes Classic notebook. Some pens and ink bled, though, but they are only minimal. I am happy to see that most of my daily carry pens are drying well in this notebook.

I was not able to do a proper test for inks' drying times, but I did not have any problems with drying when I did the pen and ink tests.

I tested 11 fountain pens + inks combinations in this 100gsm paper.

Three out of the 11 combinations showed minimal bleed, but that's alright. 

The Classic notebook is a beautiful notebook. Thank you, Papernotes!

Overall, the Classic Notebooks by Papernotes are of good quality and suitable for fountain pen use. They are simple, attractive, and elegant. They have soft flexible covers, an elastic closure to keep the pages together, the pages have round corners, and the paper is suitable for many pen types. These notebooks are perfect for note taking and journaling, and they are very affordable at only PhP225 each! (That's roughly US$4.80.)

To get these notebooks you place your orders through the Papernotes Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/papernotesbrand. They ship to anywhere in the Philippines and outside the country.

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.