NOTEMAKER

I rarely do haul posts, but I recently got a package full of new stationery from the one and only Aussie Notemaker, and I decided that it would be a waste not to review these amazing goodies for you guys. I've taken an abundance of photos though, so be warned, this post will be picture heavy (but who doesn't like pictures?)

The items I will be going through in the post includes:
1- Lamy Al-Star Charged Green
2- De Atramentis and J Herbin Inks
3- Hightide Pencil Case & Graph Paper Pads
4- Craft Design Technology Brush Pen
5- MT Masking Tape

Lamy Al-Str Charged Green

If you're a green lover like me, you'll love the 2016 Limited Edition Charged Green Al-star by Lamy. Every year, Lamy brings out a limited edition for the year, and because I love the Aluminium version, this was perfect. I got the medium nib for this, and since I own both the extra fine and fine nibs already, it was a great edition to test out the different sizes (I still prefer the extra fine, though).

Here's how it looks like pulled apart, getting ready to be filled up with a cartridge:

Once I loaded it up with the limited edition Charge Green ink, I tested it out on 80gsm regular printer paper, and here's how it looks:

On first try, the ink was more of a dark olive green, but after testing it out further, the ink actually lightened up to a more yellow green colour, which was actually pretty nice. Unfortunately, I didn't actually take a picture of this...

And if you have the Blue Green edition, here's a little colour comparison:

Overall, because I have used Lamy fountain pens previously, I know that this one will hold up just as well as the others. I'm definitely loving the new colour addition to the family though!

De Atramentis and J Herbin Inks
I must admit, it has been a while since I have played with my fountain pens. I tend to use my Uni Style Fit 0.28 pens in my MTN and journal posts as I'm able to write super small to save space, but since I was itching to play with my new inks, I decided to spend the entire morning cleaning and refilling my new inks into my 3 fountain pens.

In this haul, I got two de Atramentis ink - one cherry blossom and one fig ink, and what I love love love about these two inks is that they're scented, and they smell absolutely divine! Cherry blossom really does smell like it while the fig ink smells a little more like bubblegum rather than fig, but still lovely anyway! And of course, I did test runs. I had previously bought J Herbin sample bottles from Notemaker as well but have yet to try them out, so since I was testing out my De Atramentis, I decided to give my J Herbins a go too.

Here's a little close up of the inks (unedited picture):

I actually couldn't really pick a favourite of mine from the colours I had, but if I had to, it would definitely be the Cherry Blossom, followed by the four J Herbins shown, respectively. I love how bright and saturated the colours were, so in my fountain pens they went! I tested these inks on my 2015 Hobonichi techo, and because the paper is so thin, there were so show and bleed through, however, I know that they should be fine on any other paper.

Hightide Pencil Case & Graph Paper Pads
Hightide is a new Japanese brand coming to Notemaker's ever expanding store. I love Japan made items, and I can't really decide why; maybe it's the quality of the items and maybe it's because Japan is basically the birth place of Midori and all the other awesome stationery I have, but either way, I love it. I was fortunate enough to have been gifted some Hightide graph paper and a pencil case by Notemaker, so here's some photos of them. The first is the roll pencil case which I must admit, I have been looking all over for. I love roll pencil cases, and the other I had was used for my art supplies. The one thing I like about this roll pencil case is how versatile it really is. When unrolled, you can see how there are three different 'sections' you can put your things in:

The next item is the graph paper pads: I got an A5 and A4 paper pad with both possessing tear off sheets. I haven't yet tested the paper, but I'm hoping these will stand up well to all kinds of pens.

Oh, and if you're wondering, yes the A5 does fit into the back of the Kikki K. So if you ever need paper in your planner, tear those sheets off, punch it and in your planner they go. Easy.

Craft Design Technology Brush Pen
I was actually looking to buy this brush pen a while ago, but decided that I should actually improve on my brush lettering skills before I buy another one, so I'm glad that I managed to try one out thanks to Notemaker. Here's some overview pictures:

When opened:

And after loading the cartridge (which came with the brush pen), I tested it out on 80gsm printer paper:

I definitely still need to practice my brush lettering, but you get the gist - hah. I've even demonstrated how thick and thin the brush pen can go. I must admit though, the brush on this pen is amazing. You're able to create varying widths by applying only a little bit of pressure and it springs back so so easily - much better than any brush pen I have ever used in fact! I am definitely mighty impressed with this and can't wait to get better with it.

The only minus point of this product is this (excuse the typed words!):

The ink shows and bleeds through. But do remember that I have only tried this on 80gsm paper, which may be too thin for a medium like this. I'm sure that thicker paper will hold up much better with minimal or no bleed / show through.

MT Washi Tape:
There really isn't much to say about these lovely things, but I've been wanting that book washi tape since seeing it in Kelly Purkey's shop and I'm so glad that I currently have one in my possession. I was also fortunate enough to receive a three pack of thin washi tape and two new limited edition Miroslav Sasek thick washi. I'm actually amazed at the little Paris and New York drawings on the Sasek washi tape and can't wait to cut them up to use as stickers.

You can get all these things on Notemaker. Some of the items (like the Lamy Al-star) are yet to be released on the site yet, but rest assured, they will be there! I've been a long time customer of Notemaker (to the point where I now enjoy 10% discount for every order because I've ordered more than 10 times from their site - lol) as they offer a range of items and have pretty great service. I remember the first time I ordered from Notemaker was to purchase a Brown MTN, but because they didn't have it in stock, they asked if I would be fine with a black, and threw in extras as well for the trouble! They ship super fast and because I live in the same area as their office and warehouse, I will more often than not, always get my order the day after its shipped (without even paying for express!).

NB. Items pictured in this post has been kindly gifted to me by Notemaker, but has not influenced my opinions on the items whatsoever. I wouldn't recommend anything I wouldn't use. Now, you can click here to be redirected to their wonderful site so you can fill your cart with yummy stationery goodies.

Elements of Art Sketchbook Review

I was out shopping today and I came across a sketchbook called Elements of Art in A5 size. I've seen this sketchbook before (because I own the A4 size) but have never found the A5 before. The stores I looked at (Dean's Art and Senior Art Supplies in Melbourne) didn't have stock the last time I checked, and when they did, well... I snatched it up.

Although I love the bigger A4 version of it, it really is heavy due to the amount of pages it comes with. It has a smooth cream finish to the 120gsm papers and is smythsewn binded. It doesn't come with a back-pocket like some art books do (Moleskine, Leucchturm1917, etc.) but it doesn't really matter to me. It has an elastic strap to hold the book closed and the most important part: it can open flat (once you've trained it a little). And with a little more tough love, I have enabled the A4 to fold back on itself, and I'm pretty sure the A5 will be able to do so too. The cover is made of bendable yet hard-enough-to-write on PU leather, with the logo and the words 'sketch' embossed in it on the front cover. It too has the word 'write' embossed on the back cover to illustrate the writing and sketching sections of the book. And yes, it has a section for writing, however, it doesn't contain as many pages as the sketching pages, which is fine for me. After all, I don't think I'll be writing too much in it. This is how the book looks like:

Back

Inside pages

What I've noticed about this sketchbook, however, is the really strong chemical smell it has to it. I'm pretty sure that if I aired it a little, it will lose that smell, but it really is bad...

Overall though, I know this book will grow on me in little to no time.

(I've yet to try the different pens and markers in the book, but when I do, I shall update!)

Letraset Aquamarkers Review

I've had these markers for a while, but it's been stored in the dark somewhere till I decided to pull it out last night to doodle in my A4 Moleskine Watercolour book. I didn't really have such good impressions of it the first time I tried it, and the same impressions again the second time, but I guess three time's a charm?

So while I was watching a movie last night, I decided to multitask, using the Letraset Aquamarkers to draw the famous Flinders St station in Melbourne, Australia. This doodle didn't take long - around 15mins or so - and this was the result:

Flinder St Station done with Letraset Aquamarker

Taking the time I took to draw this and the fact that I'm not the best at architectural stuff right now (which I hope to change), this was the best I could give. Though I didn't think it looked too bad for something done while watching a movie with dim lighting in the middle of the night...

And these are the markers I used:

Letraset Aquamarker Set 2

Opened up

It came in a plastic 'carry case' which is basically degrading and falling apart as I speak, so I decided to take the markers out and put it in a much sturdier pencil case.

These markers are water-based and are meant to act as an addition or a substitute to traditional watercolour paints. They're great for on-the-go stuff where paints would just be too much of a hassle to take out (especially if you're in a crowded area, like the train). Now that I've embraced their existence, these markers, for me, would be great for the initial outlines of the object of interest, and not for colouring the whole picture. The colours are not too 'spreadable' or blendable for that job. The markers are very inconsistent with their blending and spreading abilities too. The yellows in the set tend to spread and blend easier than lets say, the mahogany or sangria. Only testing them out individually will you be able to find out their abilities, which may be a little frustrating because you would expect that all the markers would act the same, but nope. But it seems like all the watercolour markers I've read (Bienfang and Akashiya Sai) have those markers in every set, so I guess this wouldn't be any different.

The markers come in two nibs, one on each side as shown:

Two nibs available

And although the fine nib looks 'fine' in the picture, it really isn't. It's around a mm wide, but seeing I've worked with finer nibs, that's just too wide for me. But that's just me being picky. In addition to using the markers directly on paper, they can also be applied on plastic sheets and used with a brush like traditional watercolour paints. They can be used for rubber stamping (though I haven't tried).

Their nibs are not all that great too, might I add. They tend to ... peel after a few strokes, leaving that blob of... nib hair on the edge of the nib, waiting to be cleaned away. They're also very picky with the type of paper used. It's a given that regular 80gsm paper would cripple and tear away when using these markers, but it seems like watercolour paper is the best for these.

I bought this set on Fishpond for around AUS$30 which is much cheaper than the $50 other websites / locations are offering. And despite all the cons these markers seem to have, it's funny how I still managed to buy Set 1 on eBay...

ps. After a little more editing, adding various media including watercolour, pencil, pen, and Faber Castell's Pitt markers, here was the result:

You could say that this was definitely not my best work...

Week Set-Up

So, here I am showcasing Week #19, with a little twist: I'll be reviewing Tim Holtz's Distress Ink at the same time. So in order for me to do this, here's a look at this week's pages:

Week #19 using Tim Holtz's Distress Ink

Materials used in this layout:
1- Tim Holtz's 'Vintage Photo' Distress Ink & applicator
2- Washi Tape
3- Project Life's 3x4" Journal Card

Bear with me a little, I know my layout ain't as fancy as others I've seen out there, but with really limited resources (like stickers!), and events that usually requires all the space possible for each day, this was the best I could come up with.

The usage of Tim Holtz's Distress Ink was a step up for my planner. My other weeks are mostly 'plain-Janes'. Though, I must admit, I really am an amateur at using the distress ink, so the shading with the applicator is a little rough on the edges (pun-ny?). But I'm pretty sure with time, I will hopefully get better with it. After all, practice makes perfect. I do, however, still like the look it gave to my pages. The Tim Holtz colour I'm using in this layout is called 'vintage photo', and with good reason. It's a nice soft, subtle brown which gives that antique, aged effect to any type of paper, photos or fibres.

These inks are water-based dye inks and are able to be mixed with other ink colours, misted on to create a mottled effect or used plainly for stamping or shading. They're acid free, non-toxic and fade resistant (says their website). I've tried using these stamping pads with acrylic stamps, however, they gave that usual mottled, unclear, non-sharp lines appearance I absolutely hate (and currently have a hard time describing). So here's a picture to show how they turn out when being used with acrylic stamps on regular A4 paper:

Tim Holtz ink on regular paper using acrylic stamps

I was thinking that maybe it's the type of stamp I'm using, because I've seen them being used with regular rubber stamps and turning out just fine. So I tried it, and voila:

Tim Holtz ink on regular paper with rubber stamp

It does look a tad bit better and a little more defined than the acrylic stamping, but the details and lines are still not too sharp as an oil-based ink would have. (It could also very well be due to my crappy stamping though... hmm.) But you can tell that the ink isn't really well evenly spread with little blotches in areas where the ink was saturated.

But alas, this isn't a review on it's ability to be used as a stamping ink. Overall, when being used with an applicator, the colour turns out beautifully, giving that weathered look which was the initial aim. I also love how well it has gone with the Project Life journal card I've slotted in. If I could find it in Aussie stores, I would definitely buy more colours to try out its blending abilities.

And that's Week #19!

(On another note, I gave into my temptations and bought myself an A5 Dark Aqua Original on eBay! D'Oh!)

Stationery Galore

My parents came back from Singapore this morning and they brought along some stationery love for the one and only. These were the collection:

Stationery from Singapore!

From left to right, top to bottom:
1- Tim Holtz Distress Ink and applicator from Made With Love
2- Washi tape - fabric & masking tape of different sizes from Daiso
3- Mitsubushi Uni Style Fit with refills of different colours from Urban Write

I love the variety of stationery they have in Singapore. They have collections from all over the world that are rare to find in Aussie. Unfortunately. And although I know for a fact that there is a Daiso store in Melbourne city, they're selling things for $2.80 a piece compared to just $2 in Singapore! So my mum went on a buying spree of Washi tape for me there.

Also, I've seen Tim Holtz Distress Inks being used recently in My Purpley Life, and I know I had to try it out. They were available in Australia but only through online stores, unfortunately. Add the $7 to $9 postage, and the item turns out to be more expensive than realised. So my mum was happy to buy me a starter pack in a small scrapbook store called 'Made with Love' that was only available in Singapore and Indonesia.

And lastly, the Mitsubshi Uni Style Fit pens. They're a great set of gel pens with a nib size of only 2.8! They have ones in 3.8, 5 and 7 too but I love the thinner nibs in my Filofaxes. They take a whole less space when writing which means more notes to pack into one column!

Muji Album & Water-Based Markers Review

So I was out today in the city (after taking a break from writing a 2000 word essay on ultrasound principles and physics), and after posting away my Olive Personal Metropol to a lucky eBay-er, I found myself back in Melbourne Emporium's Muji store. Again...

My boyfriend's 21st birthday is coming up and I thought, what better way to celebrate his birthday (and our almost-3-year relationship) with an album outlining the moments we've spent together? I'm sure there are other gifts that I can shower him with like clothes and other superficial stuff, but that can come on other birthdays. Let's make his 21st special.

And Muji had just what I needed:

Muji 205 x 180mm album

Refillable by unscrewing those screws!

Self-adhesive albums!

I loved it mostly because of the self-adhesive pages.. and the fact that it was refillable. Scrapbook albums are no fun because it requires exact size pages for the allocated album size, whereas with this, I would be able to put in 6.5x6.5" pages from Kaisercraft and the self-adhesive pages would hold it easily. Not to mention the lack of glue I would need when putting embellishments in! There was an A4 size album as well, but I prefer the square layouts a little more...

So after I picked up the album for him, I picked up 3 water-based double sided marker for myself. Naturally.

Muji water-based markers

I tried it out in my sketching Muji book and I'm actually quite surprised with how well the paper handled it:

Trying out the markers in my Muji notebook

Back page: nothing!

I might head back there and purchase more colours of the Muji markers one day. After all, they only costed 95c each...

But to the real test! I tried drawing this church found on Flinders St, Melbourne using the black Muji felt-tip marker in my dotted Muji notebook and the colour is really nice and vibrant, buuuuut... there were some bleed-through the paper especially for edges of the drawing. And because I had to go over lines to make them darker for contrast, the lines started to have show-through as well. I did expect this though, however, because as it is, it's not drawing paper! It's just normal every day paper with probably an 80gsm weight. I'm not going to give the book up as yet though, because despite these little things, I think I might be able to make this book work in the long-haul...

Here are the pictures to show the show-through and bleed-through:

My rough doodle of Flinders St church using Muji marker

Back page: show through & bleed through at some points

The markers would generally be good for writing (especially the thinner side) and drawing on heavier weighted papers, I guess. But either way, it seems to be lasting quite well for me (for now), so I give the markers a thumbs-up!

Till my next adventure!

Muji!

I was out shopping today in the city when I found out that Melbourne's new Emporium shopping centre consisted of a Muji store! Seeing the last time I was in a Muji shop was halfway round the world in Singapore, 'excited' would be an understatement of how I felt when I made the discovery.

Muji has an abundance of items from stationery to clothing, suitcases, toiletries, and household items. The company's basic principle is to develop new simple products at reasonable prices by making the best use of materials while considering environmental issues. Says their website.

The main things I love in their shop are their stationery (naturally). Although the paper in their notebooks may bleed a little and feather at places, they're cheap and good enough to not worry about those things. These are the items I bought today:

Two A6 notebooks, a free passport type notebook and a corner puncher
(Absolutely love the free notebook style!)

Something like my multi Mitsubishi Uni / Pilot Coleto pens, just Muji branded

Some casings even comes with a pencil 'tab'!

Rounded corner puncher - great for self-made Filofax dividers!

See the corner of the receipt there? Perfect!

Now I can't wait to get writing in my new notebooks (and because Muji is available now right at my doorstep, carefully utilisation of these notebooks are not required!), using the corner punch and my colourful pens in my Filofax!

Disclaimer: I am not associated with Muji whatsoever. They're just another one of my favourite shops which really deserves the praise.