All posts by Gillian Jack

Start Bay TN-size notebook cover

Meta-review,

A little bit of history Start Bay, as the name suggests, is a wide arcing sea front, in this case on Devon’s south coast. The long beach of Slapton Sands is so expansive (despite actually being composed mostly of pebbles) that it even stood-in for Utah beach during D-Day landings rehearsals, tragically with the loss of three times more men than were taken by the real thing. These days, it’s a much calmer place, and home amongst other things to the Start Bay Notebook. The brand made its name with A5 notebook covers (which we reviewed in 2017), and similar products for the popular 90x140mm pocket notebook, but then they came up with a third format – the ‘TN’ size. We had to investigate, naturally…

How it looks Like an A5 notebook /cover with 38mm missing on the horizontal, which is precisely what it is. Whether this is attractive or unattractive is very much a personal choice, but if you like the trend for the ‘traveller’s notebook’ then this is a fine-looking competitor, with tactile leather and a cloth bag to put it all in (which feels like it could take a bit of punishment out on the road).

How it feels Warm, slightly textured, and supple but not greasy. All the boxes ticked, then.

How it fills With 110 x 210 mm inserts (confusingly labelled ‘A5 slim’, which isn’t really a thing), made for Start Bay by Rutland-based Personalised Stationery. Or there’s a Japanese analogue which will also fit, if you prefer. If your requirements are more specialist, as it is a standard size, you will probably be able to find inserts which meet your exact specifications on Etsy.

How it handles fountain pens The standard inserts are made by a fountain pen enthusiast, and it shows. There’s a little bit of tooth, and it can handle wet nibs without falling apart.

Bay! What is it good for? It’s probably pretty good for travelling – it fits into the pocket of cargo trousers or the top flap of most rucksacks, for starters.  As Alison discovered, it also works rather well for bullet-journalling.

VFM At £45 this is exactly the same price as Midori’s popular, if typographically-challenged, ‘Traveler’s Notebook’, and that’s fair competition. This is a well-made product which will last for years and probably looks even better once it’s been around the block a few times – and it even comes with one of those hand-made ‘Notable Reference’ fillers as standard. Good value, we think.

If this isn’t quite your cup of tea, but almost… There are two other sizes of Start Bay notebook which have a wider range of inserts available – or if for some reason you don’t want a distinctive product hand-made in Britain, you could opt for the Midori (which is probably perfectly good, but our reviewers prefer the Start Bay ).

Our overall recommendation is to think hard about what you’re going to use the notebook cover for, then take your pick. If the TN or ‘A5 slim’ size really does it for you, go for it. If not, the proper A5 size might be easier to fill and the 90x140mm size easier to carry. But if you want a simple notebook cover which is well-made and looks the part then Start Bay generally take some beating.

Where to get hold of one Start Bay now mostly sell direct, so the best option is to go straight to the source.

This meta-review references:

Diamine Shimmertastic new colours

Meta-review, ,

A little bit of history  Diamine were the first manufacturer to produce a range of affordable shimmering inks following J. Herbin’s innovation of introducing tiny sparkling particles to their inks. They launched with a range of 10 different colours, added another 12 later (reviewed here), and the new ones take that up to an impressive 32 colours.

How it looks  Diamine are well-versed in shimmering inks by now. They could do this in their sleep. However, they’ve not rested on their laurels here. Rather than just adding more sparkle to more ink, they’ve upped their game. What makes these new inks stand out is not only their strong, saturated colours, but the sheen many of them display. This adds a new dimension to the inks. The sparkle itself is subtle yet visible.

The blues and greens  The new range features four blue and green inks.

Arctic Blue is a bright, cool blue with a frosty silver shimmer. It also has a pinkish-red sheen.

Spearmint Diva is a bluish-green with silver shimmer. It’s similar to Tropical Glow from the same range, though the latter is more of a greenish-blue. It’s good to see that Diamine have those of us who love a good teal covered! However, Spearmint Diva also has a bit of a red sheen on some papers.

Golden Ivy is a traditional deep green with, again, a reddish sheen, set off with gold shimmer. This would make a lovely Christmas ink.

Cobalt Jazz is a saturated cobalt blue with a red sheen and gold shimmer. This is a gorgeous colour that looks pretty spectacular.

The reds  There are three new red inks in the range.

First off, there’s Electric Pink. This is no cute Barbie pink. This is take-no-prisoners pink: it’s rich and saturated, with silver sparkle.

Citrus Ice is a warm, saturated orange with a contrasting cool silver sparkle.

Firefly is an orange-toned red with gold sparkle. Another festive ink.

The purples  The three new additions at the purple end of the spectrum are a real treat.

Arabian Nights is a deep purple-black with silver shimmer. It’s probably the most usable of the inks for everyday writing. The shimmer is subtle and the dark ink is readable and utilitarian while retaining a lot of character.

Frosted Orchid is a slightly lighter purple ink with red tones and silver sparkle. This will be popular.

The last of the new inks is Wine Divine. This is a lovely addition to Diamine’s already well-stocked wine cellar (with Merlot, Syrah, and Claret). The ink is a rich burgundy with gold shimmer.

 

Crucially, how it writes…  Diamine have been on the go for over 150 years. The quality of their ink is sound, and these are no exceptions. They flow well and benefit from a wider nib to show off both sheen and shimmer. 

Ink! What is it good for?  These are unusual inks, and the sparkle makes it unlikely you’ll want to use these for business documents. They’re great for cards and letters, especially with Christmas fast approaching. As usual with shimmering inks, be sure to give the bottle a gentle shake before filling a pen. Similarly, gently agitate a pen that’s had the ink in it a while to mix up the settled shimmer particles. There’s also a caveat: any ink with particles like this has the potential to clog up a pen, so use this ink in pens that you can disassemble relatively easily to clean out properly.

VFM  Although more expensive than Diamine’s standard inks, the Shimmertastic range is an affordable way to get some seriously interesting inks. In the UK, a 50ml bottle retails for around £9-10.If this isn’t quite your cup of tea, but almost…  J. Herbin make a variety of premium shimmering inks. De Atramentis also offer a new line of shimmering inks, with each ink available with gold, silver, or copper shimmer. Robert Oster are soon to launch their own sparkles, too.

Our overall recommendation  These are great, fun inks with some unusual and interesting properties, available at a good price. Where to get hold of some  The usual suspects have these inks in stock (or soon will!). You can also purchase from Diamine directly.

This meta-review references:

Thanks to  Diamine for kindly providing samples as the newly expanded range was launched.