review: galen leather notebook cover and the everyday book (plus a discount code!)

In the last ten years or so, the quality and variety of notebooks available for fountain pen users has increased vastly. There's also been a shift to higher quality materials from what I've seen online and in person. One such company which marries the two very well is the family-run Galen Leather Co. who are based in Turkey. The pandemic caused a shift in my purchasing habits and anything family-run and not owned by a mega corp have instantly caught my attention and my support. I suppose it's seeing the demise of the traditional high street which has altered my mentality and there is now a conscious effort to try and source things as locally as possible. 

Anyway! Galen Leather Co was started by Zeynep and is now run by her brother and husband. Her story can be found here and I have to warn you, have some tissues at bay. She sounds like an amazing and inspirational lady who saw the best in everything - a quality we can all learn to have. 

I hope I can do her and Galen Leather justice with this review as I have to warn you, it is overwhelmingly positive. Just look at the contents below: it's the little touches that count and the pouch containing some samples of Turkish coffee and teas with a little tag about Galen themselves is truly heartwarming. 

Onto two Galen products. The first one is the Leather Slim A5 Notebook Cover. At the time of writing, they are priced at an extremely reasonable £33 and they come in a neat little box. 

Within the box, there is the cover itself, a card detailing the colour and who made the cover, along with care instructions. There's also a postcard with a handwritten message on the reverse. 

The cover smells delightful and is buttery soft. I can imagine it ageing extremely well and becoming even softer and more characterful with time and use. The quality is divine and feels like it would hold up well to daily use. 

On the inside, there is a card slot on both sides of the cover and also a pen loop. 

And at the reverse, we see the Galen Leather Co stamp in case anyone asks you where it's from so they can get one of their own. It comes in a whole host of classy colours including navy, 'crazy horse' navy blue /brown/forest green/tan/grey as well as in the sizes A5, B6 or A6. 

The Everyday Book in A5 fits perfectly in the A5 leather cover shown above. It comes in a box with a magnetic closure which makes ideal as place to file away documents/papers/anything else you wanted. At £23 for 400 pages of 52gsm Tomoe River Paper, it represents pretty good value. 

And just look at the paper in all its glory. It comes with writing guides as well so no excuses for wonky note taking! 

We all know that the usual reason for buying Tomoe River Paper is for the fountain pen benefits and it doesn't disappoint here... Of course there's significant show through with the permanent fineliner but otherwise, it performs as expected. 

Overall, Galen Leather Co is a family-run company who produce leather and notebook products of the highest quality. If you're after something a bit different or a gift for a stationery-lover, you won't be disappointed. 

If you're tempted, Galen are currently offering a 5% discount using the code WELCOME5.

Disclaimer: The products reviewed are complimentary direct from Galen Leather Co in exchange for a review. However, the review is an honest one and written as if I had bought the products personally. 

introducing.... designed by foyles hardback notebooks

Foyles is a British brand I really respect and when I was given the chance to feature a few of their notebooks, I jumped at the chance. Foyles in Charing Cross is a store I can honestly spend hours in and not get bored. Today, we're going to take a look at a couple of notebooks that are 'designed by Foyles'.  One of the draws of these notebooks are the fact they are made in Britain.

They come in several designs and the ones featured here are a mint offering and a navy version. The hardback means they can be subjected to a bit more rough handling before they show some wear and tear. You can see that the bottom right corner already looks a bit battered but it's nice for notebooks to show some proof of being well used.

Each notebook has 224 pages of 100gsm uncoated ivory paper. They are fairly weighty but all of these features point towards them making a great gift for someone into stationery or something a bit more luxurious. They also come with a page marker through the form of a coloured ribbon.

I decided to trial out the paper with two fountain pens:

- a Pelikan M400 Souverän in an Extra Fine nib, inked with Pure Pens' Cwm Idwal ink (a new favourite!)
- Sailor Fasciner in Fine, inked with Diamine Denim

The Pelikan, though an extra fine, writes fairly broadly and you can see a moderate amount of show through to the other side of the page. There was a small amount of feathering too. I think this is all due to the fact the paper is uncoated so the ink is absorbed quickly by the paper.

Overall, these notebooks are good for someone who likes a bit of luxury and who perhaps does not use fountain pen very often. They are very well designed and would make lovely journals. Just imagine them filled and sat on the bookshelf.

NB: This pen and the inks were sent by Foyles in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and are not influenced by the company or anyone else.

introducing: the wing sung 3001 green fountain pen in a fine nib review

Wing Sung may not be a brand you're familiar with if you're a frequent browser of mainstream pen sites. However, they are actually a pretty decent brand who produce good quality pens at a approachable price point for most.

Today, I have the 3001 to show off - it cost me around £3 including postage (the only negative being that it came all the way from China, boo for not supporting a local business). It came with an international converter, which on its own, can be worth a few bob! Another thing it came with was an extra nib section - so you have the choice of a extra fine nib or a fine. I opted to use the fine nib.

Design

The 3001 is a really classic design with a somewhat vintage air for a modern pen. The green colour is a lovely forest green and the gold accents make it look more expensive than it actually is. The design is unisex and simple enough to be used as an every day carry without being overly flashy.

Usability 

Incredibly lightweight in hand and equally balanced posted or unposted, it is comfortable to hold for long writing sessions. The cartridge/converter system means that it is the perfect pen for most beginners and even most seasoned users. The screw cap unscrews with ease and adds that extra level of security. However, the one downside is that if you've been storing the pen nib up for a bit, it can take a while to start up again when you decide to write with it.

Nib

The gold nib is just for show (what did you expect for a £3 pen?). One point of interest is that the feed is transparent which I've never seen before. With the feed the way it is, you can actually watch the ink flow down it during the initial inking. The fact it comes with two nibs mean that you'll always have a back-up if one fails on you. Both nibs write incredibly smoothly with little to no feedback.

Price

As mentioned before, ridiculously good. Comes with two nibs and an international converter!

Overall

This is a good pen to gift someone as their first fountain pen. It is also good for someone looking for a cheap and high functioning every day carry or someone who wants to try out some of the better known Chinese brands (the others being Hero and Jin Hao). I personally think Wing Sung is the best of the current Chinese brands out there and this pen is the perfect example of that. There's not really much wrong with this pen for most but for me, the fact it takes a while to start writing if stored nib up is a bit of a deal breaker (but then again, I'll happily admit that I'm a fairly tricky customer!).

new ink: diamine bilberry

Using black ink at work gets a bit boring after a while and so starts my quest to find an ink that isn't black but is dark enough to be suitable for work. Here's where this ink comes in.

Unfortunately, I think Diamine Bilberry isn't quite dark enough to be suitable for work. Though I'm tempted to whip them out for on-call shifts when things can be a bit dreary and lonely. Someone convince me that this ink is work-safe? Or give me a suggestion (preferably Diamine) that is dark enough for work but isn't black?

new pen: wing sung 3008 turquoise in an extra fine nib

The Wing Sung 3008 (2017 edition) looks almost identical to the TWSBI Diamond 580AL. Already in possession of a TWSBI Diamond 580AL, a comparison will come in due course; but for now, let's concentrate on the Wing Sung offering.

Wing Sung is a Chinese pen brand who produce cheap fountain pens of a decent quality. I remember paying around £3 (including delivery) for this pen and for the price, I was impressed. Let me explain why.

Surprisingly well built, the pen is pretty solid for the price and the piston mechanism locks with a faint click. This makes posting the cap feel a bit safer. For a pen costing a few quid, it feels pretty weighty in the hand. The clip is also sturdy and ready to clip onto a lanyard/shirt pocket/anywhere you wish.

I chose the extra fine nib because of my small handwriting and though it's not the finest nib I've ever tried (The Pilot Kakuno fine holds that record so far), it is fine enough. It is smooth as butter and a pleasure to use. It's not the most ornate nib but it does the job extremely well.

If you're new to a piston-fill mechanism, this pen would be a perfect starter pen. It is at a price point where you can decide if you like the mechanism before shelling out for a more expensive one.

Overall, the Wing Sung 3008 won't be the fanciest pen you'll ever use but it does the job. How it holds up in the long term is another question and only time will tell with that one!

eighteen months with a moleskine planner: 2016 - 17 briefly reviewed

This is possibly the first time I've managed to stick with one planner until the end. This Le Petit Prince Moleskine is an 18-month planner, beginning July 2016 and I managed to see it until the very last day - 31st of December 2017. It has been well used as you can see from the ink stain on the fabric cover.

The double page spread for each week worked well for me. The note page allowed me to plan outfits and meals, as well as there being ample space for a to-do list that would last for the full seven days.

Surprisingly, the paper took most inks pretty well. My pen of choice for most of the time was a Pilot Kakuno in fine, inked with Diamine Blue-Black (I'm a little obsessed with this ink for some reason) and the paper actually didn't kick up too much of a fuss! The barest amount of show through and very little (if any) bleeding the majority of the time.

The note pages though are another story. There were only seven sides in total and these sides were quickly filled up. I had to resort to post-it notes in the end which wasn't ideal!

Overall, I enjoyed my eighteen months in this planner. The paper performed better than expected, the design and layout were adequate for my needs but the amount of note paper left a lot to be desired. Seven sides for eighteen months is extremely stingy considering how many pages are wasted on measurement conversions and things like that. For that reason, my Leuchtturm 1917 planner for this year should serve me well.

new pen: TWSBI Eco Turquoise Limited Edition in an extra fine nib

This feels like a bit of a fitting post for Valentine's Day - this pen was pretty much love at first sight and write when it came in the post. Let me explain why.

The turquoise colour with the red contrast of the TWSBI logo is cheerful and the demonstrator design is an added incentive to fill it with a bright and vibrant ink. The turquoise colour is right up my street and I can find very little wrong with this pen. 

Also in possession of a TWSBI Diamond 580AL in purple (a re-visit is long over due - coming soon!), I must say that this Eco is my preferred TWSBI of the two. It is lighter, doesn't feel unbalanced with the cap posted and the nib is perfection. My preference is to have the cap posted because of my fear of losing the cap, so any pen where I can do this with ease is an automatic winner.

The nib is an extra fine and it writes a thin enough line to satisfy my nib-sizeist ways. It is way finer than the fine nib in my 580AL and writes smoothly with no feedback. To the point where I even questioned, 'can a nib be as perfect as this?!'

This pen is honestly one that can do no wrong in my eyes. The price is excellent for a piston filler, the nib is incredible, the ink capacity is ridiculous (ridiculously huge) and the build quality appears to be super high. I was on the fence for about six months before biting the bullet on Fountain Pen Day back in November and absolutely no regrets! My only issue now is the 2018 limited edition colour - is it going to be one that will tempt me to splash out?!