Pen Review: Schneider iD Fountain Pen

I love Schneider pens. I have a huuuge stash of Schneider gel pens, fineliners, and rollerballs hoarded collected before I shifted to fountain pens. When I got my first Base pen, a black pen with smooth, wet medium nib, I was hooked. I found their simplicity charming and elegant. Through time, I have acquired more Schneider pens, mostly fountain pens: the colorful Zippis, the minimalist Base pens, and a Creativ calligraphy set. And last year, a new Schneider fountain pen caught my attention. I first saw the Schneider iD fountain pen at Cultpens, while ogling at the other Base models.

After reading about Schneider iD, I wanted one, being a Schneider fanatic and pen addict. But like so many pen and paper products, the pen isn't available in the Philippines. *Sigh.* So I did the expected, and months later, I received news that Schneider has kindly sent me an iD fountain pen to review. Hurray!

And here's my first fountain pen review: the Schneider iD fountain pen.

The Schneider iD came in two boxes, an outer box and an inner box. The outer box is made from black, thick, board paper. I like the simplicity of this box.

The inner box is made of transparent plastic with the Schneider logo on top, and the iD logo in the lower part of the box, near the bottom. Love the white artwork there. :)

A plastic pen holder keeps the iD in place inside the second box. A small brochure about the Schneider iD line of products is also included. The cover says "iD full of ideas". I like that. :)

The Schneider iD is a big pen, alright. It is huge, but not heavy. It is just right for my grip. It measures 5.75 inches when capped, and 5.25 inches uncapped. The cap does not allow posting the pen, which is just fine for me, because I rarely post my pens. It may be a problem for people who are used to posting their pens.

Here is the pen again, disassembled. On top is the cap, next line have section and barrel, bottom are feed and nib.

Did I say this pen is huge? I didn't? But it is! Look at that cap. It is huuuuuge! With a huuuuuge, oversized, wide shiny chrome clip and huuuuuge top cap.

This ring is on the top of the clip, near the top cap, and I assume this is meant for lanyards.

The Schneider logo is imprinted on the rubber material on the pen's cap. I am not so happy with this feature because the rubber is a monster lint and dirt magnet.

The iD logo is printed on the barrel, next to the wide metal ring. Because I got the chrome pen, the logo is imprinted in gray. The green and purple pens have matching logo color imprints.

Do you see the cartridge inside the barrel? The iD has a transluscent gray barrel, black plastic end cap, and the distinctive wide metal chrome ring. This photo gave me an idea about what I can do next with this pen. Read on, the surprise is at the end. :)

Like the cap, this pen's section comes with black, soft rubber that is ergonomically-designed to fit snugly to the pen user's fingers. This feature is excellent because it will help the user write comfortably even at longer periods of time.

Here is the Schneider iD's nib, which comes with a new feature: a breather hole. The breather hole is important as it promotes the exchange of air and ink in the pen's reservoir. The nibs of my Base pens do not have this feature, though.

The Schneider iD has a German (European) medium nib, which is bolder than other medium nibs. The day I got this pen, I was itching to ink it right away using the cartridge that came with it. But I waited until I got home because I wanted to use my current favorite ink: Diamine Majestic Blue. And the pen (and ink) did not disappoint. The iD wrote as soon as I inked it. The nib is softer than I thought it would be, writes smoothly, and Diamine Majestic Blue flows well on paper. (See photo of writing sample on Kokuyo paper below.)

The underside of the feed and nib shows the enormous iridium on the tip.

Schneider logo on the nib.

M is for medium. This is imprinted on the nib's left ear.

Feed and nib up close.

I have generously mentioned the Schneider Base pen in this post. I feel that I must write about it as well. But for now, I am happy to present the two pens here for comparison. Below are photos of the Schneider iD and Base nibs side by side, front and underside. Note that the Base nib does not have a breather hole and the ears (as I want to call them now - if there is a real name for these, kindly let me know) as seen on the right photo showing the feed's underside. The Base pen's feed's underside also appears to be flatter than that of the iD's.

I wrote my handwritten pen review on Kokuyo paper. The iD wrote so well on this paper, but also on a variety of papers as well, such as my Venzi journal and Rhodia Reverse notebook. If you read what I wrote below, you will know that I named this pen Kay. :)

For the large image, click here.

The Schneider iD fountain pen takes standard short or long international cartridges. In fact, my pen came with one short international cartridge. A converter may also be used, but it will have to be bought separately from independent pen sellers. Schneider surprisingly, does not make their own converters.

And here is the surprise. :)

The transluscent barrel of the Schneider iD gave me the idea that I could turn this c/c pen to an eyedropper (ED). I noticed, too, the long threaded part of the section where it joins the barrel. To test it, I filled both barrel and cap with water and observed it for a couple of hours, carefully watching it for leaks. And... no leaks! I then applied some silicone oil  to the section threads and my Schneider iD fountain pen is an instant ED-filled pen! Hurray!

Below are photos of the Schneider iD filled with J. Herbin Orange Indien.

For this writing test, I chose my Rhodia pad to match the orange ink. ;) The Orange Indien is a suggestion of my good friend and fellow blogger Tom Overfield.

For the large image, click here.

CultPens currently describes the Schneider iD products as weird and wonderful. I understand that not all fountain pen enthusiasts will like the form, but I am sure that many will agree with me that this pen's performance is more than excellent. It won't win 1st Prize in the 2009 ISPA and Innovation Award for nothing, right? I love it and I will definitely get another pen or two when it becomes available locally. In the Philippines, Schneider pens are available at all Office Warehouse branches.

The Schneider iD fountain pen in this review is from Germany, courtesy of Schneider. It is part of the series that include two more pens: a ballpoint and a rotary pencil. All three pens are available in green, purple, and black, which is my pen's color. Right now, it is filled with Orange Indien and writes like a dream. :)

Ink Review: Diamine Woodland Green

Lost in the forest, I broke off a dark twig,

and lifted its whisper to my thirsty lips:

maybe it was the voice

of the rain crying,

a cracked bell,

or a torn heart.

- Pablo Neruda, 'Lost in the Forest'

It all started with a Vector. Then came some more. More Parkers, more Lamys, and more Sheaffers. That was followed by testing huge quantities of different notebooks for ink resistance, and scouring the streets of Recto for vintage inks. It did not end there. Not yet, for the search continued. For more inks. For more Parker Quinks, more Watermans, more Auroras, more J. Herbins. Here and there, a bottle of De Atramentis, Caran d'Ache, Iroshizuku, and Mont Blanc came around. But no Diamine. Until.

I have always wanted to try Diamine inks, but like most ink brands, it is not locally available. My current limitations dictate a moratorium on oline purchases, so I was in a bind. That's when the bright idea dawned on me. I wrote to Diamine. With fingers crossed (and hopes held high), I wrote to them and said I'd love to review their inks on my blog. Several days passed and no response came. I believed my request was turned down. But on March 1st, Diamine's Company Director Phil Davies sent me an email to say that several bottles of Diamine ink have been sent to me. Hurray!

And now, here is Woodland Green, and my first Diamine ink review.

Phil sent me six Diamine inks to try. Six! I got Majestic Blue, Royal Blue, Chocolate Brown, Orange, Poppy Red, and Woodland Green. I have tried to write and doodle with all of them, but because I'm into all things green now, I chose Woodland Green to be my first Diamine ink review.

Woodland Green is a dark, strong green ink with shades of blue. Unlike the bright Lierre Sauvage, this ink has a dark greenish-bluish shade. It has a gem-like quality when wet, and dries a beautiful dark green especially on light-colored paper.

The Diamine bottle is made of plastic, so ink easily gets off the inside surface. Here is the closest I could get to show the ink color through the bottle.

Woodland Green reminds me so much of Los Baños, especially Pili Drive – a long, narrow strip of road inside the UPLB Campus, lined with decades-old Pili trees with enormous trunks and thick canopies. The color of Woodland Green is akin to the shade provided by these huge trees.

Below is the written review of Diamine Woodland Green. I wrote on Kokuyo paper using two pens: an Osmiroid 65 with medium italic nib (black pen on the right), and my new green Wality 69TL with round medium nib.

Woodland Green is a saturated ink, as the other Diamine inks are. It flows well on both pens I used for this review. Shading is not very visible, but that could be attributed to the pens I used and not to the ink.

Here is a sampler of Diamine Woodland Green on Kokuyo paper.

Doodle was written with my Wality pen.

Here is another macro of ink smeared on paper, from the drying time test.

Note the shades of blue on the part where the ink begins to fade.

More macro shots here:

Here is Woodland Green in comparison with other green inks. It really has more blue compared to J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage (hints of yellow), Private Reserve Avacado, Penman Emerald, and Parker Super Quink Permanent Green (all with hints of black/gray).

Woodland Green takes a longer period of time to dry not only on Kokuyo paper, but also on Rhodia Reverse notebook. I also noticed that it's not very easy to take off Woodland Green ink on my fingers when I got stained while changing nibs on my Osmiroid pen.

And now, the poem. I have always loved Pablo Neruda's poems. I love his 'erotically charged love poems', especially those in his compilation book, Twenty Poems of Love and A Song of Despair; and the ones included in the soundtrack of the film Il Postino. It is only fitting to have this green ink review as a tribute to the poet who 'always wrote in green ink as it was the color of hope'.

Founded in London, Diamine has been manufacturing inks since 1864. Diamine is one of the largest producers of a large range of fountain pen ink as well as the famous Registrar's Ink for permanent records. Diamine fountain pen inks are available from the Diamine site or from the Writing Desk in the UK. In the US, they are available from the Pear Tree Pen Company. (I'm not affiliated with any of these companies.)

Notebook Review: Daycraft Signature Notebook

When I read about the Daycraft paper products that Gentian received from Hong Kong, I knew I had to get my hands (and pens) on these lovely things, so I wrote Daycraft and asked if they could send some samples to me, too. And they did. I'd like to thank Mr. Foreal Lee of Tai Shing Diary, because a week later, I got the samples, and look, I got a pink notebook! :)

Yes, I got a pink Daycraft Signature Notebook along with three Daycraft 2010 diaries, two of which have been lovingly adopted by fellow paper enthusiasts, the SO got the Vogue and my eldest niece got the orange Chromatic Days. I kept the Animaland diary, because it's got a blue elephant on the cover. :)

Daycraft Signature Notebook. It's PINK!

I really, really like love the soft pink faux leather (read: it's fine Italine PU, or polyurethane) cover of the Signature Notebook. The Daycraft Signature Notebook I received is sized A6, measures approximately 4 in x 6 in and has 128 pages of cream-colored 116g paper. I like that it is ruled, and the 6.5mm line spacing is just right even for my large handwriting.

Signature Notebook's ruled pages.

The Daycraft logo is embossed on the bottom left part of the back cover. Charming, eh? The pen beside it is my brand new pink Lamy Safari with a medium nib, brought here by the 'Friendship Express' all the way from Malaysia. :)

The Notebook's page edges are painted/printed black. (The Daycraft website says it is inkjet-printed.) Makes it unique, gives it character.

Another pic of the notebook's corner, showing the black edges.

The sad thing about the Daycraft Signature Notebook is that the pages just won't lay flat. I had to press hard on the pages to make them lay flat, but I was unsuccessful and I thought I might permanently damage the notebook's spine so I let it be. After that, I tested the notebook's paper, but that, too, was a bit daunting.

This ink test page has 15 pen and ink tests, 11 of which are fountain pen + fountain pen ink combinations. As with most of my notebooks, I used my medium-nibbed pens to test the 116g paper, which I expected to be feather and bleed resistant, but no. There is excessive feathering and bleed specially when I'm using italic and medium nibs. (Click on the photos for bigger versions.)

The picture may not show it, but there is a great amount of feathering here.

The Haolilai and Airmail/Wality pens' medium nibs just bled on this paper.

But the Sarasas are just perfect! No bleed, no feathering, not even show through! *Claps.*

And the backpage reveals how most of the fountain pen inks bled, except for the Sarasas and the fine-nibbed Esterbrook SJ. This is great! This means I could still use this notebook, but I would need to use just my fine-nibbed fountain pens, or gel pens, like the Sarasas. Hurray!

The pens and inks on the upper part of the page of the Daycraft Signature Notebook are: Franken-Lamy with De Atramentis Fuschia, Lamy Safari with the same ink, Lamy Vista with Camel Scarlet Red, and Lamy Joy with Caran d'Ache Saffron. Oh, how my Lamys bled.

Now look at the bottom part of the page. No bleed, right? Because that's the part where I wrote using the Sarasas! This means I could use most of my gel pens (or fine-nibbed fountain pens) when writing on the Daycraft Signature Notebook. :) This is great because I would love to use and keep this notebook. If only the paper is a little kinder and friendly to my fountain pens...

The Daycraft Signature Notebook is another great addition to the arena of thriving notebook brands out there. I like love it and I hope that Mr. Foreal Lee, Retail and Marketing Manager of Tai Shing Diary, makers of Daycraft noteboks, will soon offer their products here in the Philippines.

Daycraft products include a vast selection of diaries, notebooks, sketchbooks and corporate planners. Their products are designed in Hong Kong and manufactured in Dongguan, China by the Tai Shing Diary Ltd.

What Missive Maven Sent to The Archer

After the suprise post about the postcard I sent to Missive Maven (read previous post), I didn't know I was in for another suprise: a postcard from Missive Maven herself.

The postcard is a photo of Rhode Island's Newport Bridge, a suspension bridge that connects the City of Newport on Aquidneck Island and the Town of Jamestown on Conanicut Island. Yes, it's a photo of a bridge, and I'm quite thrilled because I'm slowly building up a collection of postcards showing bridges.

Just like the postcard I sent to her, Missive Maven also wrote about the pen and ink she used in writing her message to me. She used a Sheaffer Agio with a Fine nib, filled with Noodler's Eternal Hunter Green. Beautiful.

And now, for this postcard's pièce de résistance: the stamps! First its got a vintage car stamp showing a 1957 Lincoln Premier. This stamp is included in the second part of the 'America on the Move' series launched by the United States Postal Service last year. And then... it's got an Edgar Allan Poe stamp. It's the commemorative stamp launched this year to remember his 200th birthdate. Both stamps are Holy Grails in my collection. *Wink.*

Awesome! This postcard is just so awesome! First, it's got a bridge photo, then the sender used fountain pen to write to me, and lastly, it's got awesome stamps! I'm putting it in a sealed plastic before placing it in my postcards album. I just want to be sure it is protected enough and won't be damaged as people go through the album.