Musubi Cosmo Air Light Folio Notebook (A5): A Review

The Musubi Cosmo Air Light Folio Notebook is a beautiful minimalist notebook with 208 pages of Cosmo Air Light paper. Simple white cotton adorns the cardstock covers of the notebook. The cotton has a lovely texture to it, and the only branding is the barely-visible Musubi logo embossed on the bottom right corner.

The end pages are made of a thicker, water-color-like paper. There's no printing, branding, or decoration whatsoever. The outside corners of the notebook are rounded.

Inside, the pages are Smyth-sewn, so they lie completely flat when the book is open. Cosmo Air Light is 83gsm, so it is thicker than Tomoe River Paper, but lighter than Bank Paper. My notebook is the lined version. The lines are printed in a light sage ink and are spaced 7mm apart. In addition, there are small marks at the top and bottom of each page which divide the page up into halves, thirds, and fourths.

I first discovered Cosmo Air Light paper when I did a review of the Yamamoto Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection (part 1 and part 2). It was one of my favorites in the collection.

The paper is smooth and lacks any texture. Its smoothness derives from a coating that is put on the paper (originally for book printing). The coating enhances any ink's sheen or shading properties. The thickness of the paper means that there's very little ghosting and no bleed through, which makes Cosmo Air Light more user friendly, in my opinion, than the popular Tomoe River Paper.

I tested the paper with eleven fountain pens with varying nib sizes and different inks. The paper handled all the inks with ease--no feathering, no bleeding, and only slight ghosting (so little it doesn't show up in photos). Several inks shaded well, and sheen was evident in Iroshizuku Take-Sumi, Robert Oster Tranquility, and Iroshizuku Yama-Budo. The only negative was a lengthy dry time for the wetter inks.

Swabs on this paper look fantastic. The ink colors are vibrant and true, and shading and sheen are pronounced. On the reverse side there's no bleed through and only mild ghosting.

I tested the paper with a dip calligraphy pen inked with Taccia Sabimidori (reviewed here). I discovered that Cosmo Air Light is not the best paper for calligraphy. Because of the coating, the ink does not settle into the paper well, resulting in thick lines and uneven lettering. Compared with Ayush Paper (reviewed here), Ayush wins hands down for calligraphy--the paper absorbs the ink more quickly, allowing for good results with flex. Although the ink doesn't sheen as much as Cosmo Air Light, I think the trade-off is worth it if you're doing calligraphy.

I did longer writing samples with three pens: a Santini stub (reviewed here), inked with Robert Oster Tranquility; a Lamy 2000 fine, inked with Iroshizuku Take-sumi; and a Leonardo stub (reviewed here), inked with Monteverde Mulberry Noir. Cosmo Air Light really shines as a journaling paper because it handles different pens and inks so well. There's a pleasant sensation as you write on this smooth paper. Once again, I noted no feathering or bleed-through and only slight ghosting.

Cosmo Air Light remains one of my favorite papers. It outshines Tomoe River Paper in many ways: it is thicker and therefore does not suffer from ghosting; it has a smooth surface and is pleasant to write on, much like Tomoe; and it enhances sheen and shading even better than Tomoe (although that can mean longer dry times). I realize that one of the things people (me included) love about Tomoe River Paper is how thin and light it is. That's a great quality for planners, because it keeps them thinner overall. But for journaling, I think Cosmo Air Light is a better choice because you can write front and back without your writing showing through.

The Musubi Cosmo Air Light Folio Notebook retails for approximately $25.00 (35 Singapore dollars). You can get it with plain pages, lined pages, or cross grid with page numbers. It doesn't have many bells and whistles--no ribbon bookmark or pockets or elastic closure, but I love its minimalist design. I've never seen a notebook with so little branding. It's elegant, beautiful, and functional. And, sometime in 2021, Musubi is planning to release covers for their Folio Notebooks in the beautiful materials they use for their handmade notebooks. I can hardly wait!

(Musubi provided the Cosmo Air Light Folio Notebook to Pen Addict free of charge for review purposes.)

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Santini Italia Ebonite Classic Libra Voyager Fountain Pen: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

[Santini Italia] is an Italian brand that I was unaware of until recently. Headquartered in Lombardy, Santini makes acrylic and ebonite fountain pens, and all the parts for the pens are made in house, including their 18k nibs and ebonite feeders.

Late in 2020, I read a post or saw an Instagram photo of a Santini pen. Curious, I looked at the website and read about their nibs. I was especially intrigued by the fact that they make their nibs themselves and they offer flexy versions in nib sizes beyond the usual fine, medium, and broad. You can get flexy stubs, cursive italics, and even a "superflexy" nib. Nibs come in 18k yellow gold, solid rose gold, rhodium-plated gold, and even solid white gold upon request. Currently Santini offers nibs in sizes 5 and 6, but a number 8 is on the way.

Being one of the most indecisive people on planet earth, I struggled to choose a pen. Did I want acrylic or ebonite? Which color(s)? The only thing I was certain about was that I wanted a flexy stub nib. I finally decided on an ebonite pen called the Libra Caribbean, but to my dismay, it was sold out. For weeks, I visited the website daily to check for upcoming ebonite editions, but I didn't see any colors I liked as much as the Caribbean. Finally, I purchased one of the acrylic pens. But the next morning, a new color was announced: the Libra Voyager. I contacted customer support, which consists of one woman named Katrina who apparently never sleeps (I contacted her multiple times to ask questions and she was on the chat within a minute, no matter what time it was in Italy). She promptly switched my order to the Voyager and a couple of weeks later, the pen was at my house.

Hoo boy! When I opened the box, I was treated to some beautiful packaging: a black engraved box with bright turquoise ribbon.

Inside I found a warranty card, a pamphlet introducing Santini pens, and a page written with my pen to test the nib.

And then I saw my pen--it was stunning.

Voyager is made of ebonite with swirls of turquoise, blue, black, and magenta. Just look at the patterns on this pen and those swirly finials:

The trims on the pen are bronze. The clip has a roller ball on the end, but it is a stiff clip. I can slip it onto paper, but it might be difficult to clip it to a shirt pocket.

There's a large cap ring engraved with "Santini Italia" in cursive script. The raised lip of the ring is engraved with tiny vertical lines. The piston knob is separated from the body with a plain bronze ring.

The cap unscrews/screws with three twists--easy on and off. The limited edition number is engraved to the right of the clip. Mine is number 15 out of 33.

The body of the pen is tapered at the top and bottom with a slightly thicker barrel. The finials are conical. This is a large pen, measuring 145mm/5.7 inches capped, 135mm/5.3 inches uncapped, and 173mm/6.8 inches posted. It weighs 31 grams un-inked. The grip is 11.4mm at its narrowest and is very comfortable between your fingers. It's slightly hour-glass shaped and flares out closest to the nib so your fingers won't slip. You can see in the third photo below how the Libra Voyager compares in size with an Opus 88, a Leonardo Furore, a Pilot Custom 823, and a Lamy 2000.

The Libra Voyager is a piston-filler with a ratcheting sound that alerts you when you've filled the pen completely. It works smoothly and holds a good quantity of ink.

Voyager comes with a solid 18k rose gold nib (it is not plated). It is decorated with scroll work, a large "S", the date 1988, and the gold content. It's a beautiful, classic looking nib.

My nib is a flexy stub with an ebonite feed. Before inking the pen, I took macro photos of the nib, as I always do, to check the tine alignment. Unfortunately, the tines are slightly misaligned, which is disappointing. I hoped that I wouldn't notice the misalignment while writing, but I can. The nib hard starts occasionally and there's some skipping on downstrokes. If I can get over my chickenhood, I might try to realign the tines myself.

Aside from this, the nib is juicy (just like I like them), writes (mostly) smoothly, and has just the right amount of flex. It's bouncy when you write without flex, but just a tiny bit of pressure gives you excellent line variation. I did not attempt to flex the nib to its maximum, but when flexed, the line is roughly 1mm. Unflexed it is 0.5mm.

The pen is very well balanced. I wrote a six-page letter without any fatigue. I love how it makes my handwriting look, with good line variation, shading, and consistent letter size. The ink used in these examples is Robert Oster Tranquility.

Santini Italia [Classic Ebonite] fountain pens cost €359 (=$435 depending on exchange rates) with free shipping world wide. Their [acrylic pens] are priced at €259 (=$314), and there's a [faceted ebonite line] that ranges between €500 and €550 (=$606 and $667). They also make several limited edition pens that are created with a variety of materials, including enamel and overlays.

Some collectors have wondered why there's a €100 difference between the acrylic models and the classic ebonite models. Isn't ebonite just hard rubber? Why pay a premium for it? As it turns out, there's ebonite and there's ebonite. In other words, the kind of ebonite Santini uses is "high quality certificate German ebonite," and it is, therefore, more expensive. I absolutely think it is worth it.

I am thrilled with my Santini Libra Voyager. The pen is exquisitely beautiful and the workmanship is top notch. The ebonite warms to my hand and the pen is a comfortable writer. I love the flexy stub nib except for those slightly misaligned tines. I highly recommend Santini Italia to you, especially if you want to try some unique in-house nibs.

One thing to keep in mind if you do decide to purchase a fountain pen from Santini, is that the popular ebonite models sell out lightning fast. This is because they make small runs of pens (33 pieces in each ebonite color). If you see an ebonite pen you want, buy it promptly. If there's one that is listed as "coming soon," contact customer service to reserve it.

(I purchased the Santini Libra Voyager with my own funds.)

Ayush Paper in A5 and A4 Sizes: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The past few years have been interesting for fountain pen users who demand a great deal from their paper. The variety and availability of fountain-pen-friendly paper seems to have exploded exponentially. Yet, at the same time, many were dismayed by the fact that Tomoe River Paper (a favorite) was changed. And recently there have been rumors that some or all Tomoe River Paper will be discontinued (see the discussion here, for example).

Consequently, it's reassuring to come across new brands that offer fountain-pen-friendly paper with unique characteristics. One such brand is Ayush Paper from India. Founded in 2012, but only recently made available outside India, Ayush Paper sells various kinds of paper and art products. Today, I'm reviewing two fountain-pen-friendly notebooks in A5 and A4 sizes.

Both notebooks are wire bound at the top which allows you to fold the pages over completely. The pages are perforated at the top so you can tear them out neatly. The A5 notebook has rounded corners but the A4 corners are left square.

The notebooks' card stock covers provide support if you don't have a writing surface. The front cover is adorned with a simple square or scrolled lines and the Ayush Paper logo. The white brush strokes (?) on the letters look like pieces of stray paper to me, and I swipe my hand across the covers trying to remove them every single time. Maybe that's just OCD me, but I find them distracting. Nevertheless, their motto, "Your fountain pen will love this paper" is absolutely true--spoiler alert!

On the back cover, the company offers reasons why you will love the notebook. I'll discuss whether or not I agree with all of the claims in my review.

The notebooks each contain 50 pages (100 front and back) of 100 gsm natural-colored paper. I could not find any information on the website discussing the paper's composition, so it's unclear whether it's made from wood pulp, cotton, hemp, or some other material. Regardless, the paper feels substantive between the fingers. In addition, it has the perfect amount of texture which gives you gentle feedback when you write. Writing on this paper is pure pleasure.

I started with the A5 notebook which has grey lines 9mm apart. I normally prefer narrower lines, but I found myself enjoying the 9mm spacing, especially with broader nibs.

The first pen I used is my brand new Santini Italia Libra with a flexy stub nib (review coming soon) inked with Robert Oster Tranquility. I started writing, and the nib and ink created an alchemy with the paper that is hard to explain. Writing is smooth, but the texture helps you sense where the nib is. I felt completely in control of each stroke. The ink displayed both shading and sheen. Although there's a little bit of show through (compared to Tomoe, it's virtually invisible), there was no feathering or bleed through. I was thoroughly impressed.

I also tested the paper with a variety of fountain pens and inks. It handled every single one beautifully. The ink colors are vibrant. Both wide nibs and fine nibs write smoothly. That texture works well with all the nibs I tested. Once again, I experienced no feathering and no bleed through. Show through was minimal.

Next I conducted a swab test with eight different inks, using mostly vibrant colors. Shading, sheen, and shimmer were all visible in the swabs, and none of the inks bled through.

I wrote a page using my Aurora 88 Anniversario Flex with Waterman Serenity Blue ink. Once again, the combination of the nib, ink, and paper texture made the experience pleasurable. There's just something about this paper that gives me more control over the nib. The show through was so minimal that I decided not to include a photo.

Next I worked with the A4 notebook, which has blank pages. I began with a calligraphy dip pen because calligraphy nibs tend to have sharp, delicate points. I wanted to see if the paper would catch on the nib. Nope. Not at all. In fact, I think I've discovered my favorite calligraphy paper. Once again, nib, ink, and paper worked flawlessly together. Granted, I'm a pretty terrible calligrapher, but this paper handled the wet ink and delicate nib perfectly. As before, there was no feathering or bleed through and just a shadow of show through even with ultra-saturated, wet Montblanc Corn Poppy ink.

I experimented with two inks using my ultra wide ruling pen. First, I used Troublemaker Milky Ocean. The paper took the wet, wide nib with grace, resulting in beautiful shading and pooling. Because the ink was wet, the paper buckled slightly, but there was no bleed through. Show through was a bit more obvious.

Last, I used my ruling pen and Lamy Dark Lilac. This ink is like liquid velvet. It came out vibrant and beautiful, with tons of sheen. However, the ink feathered and bled through the paper. Even so, none of the bleed through affected the paper beneath.

So, do I love Ayush Notebooks? You bet I do. I am completely thrilled with the paper. I agree with the reasons Ayush lists on the back of the notebooks. The natural shade of the paper is easy on the eyes but allows the vibrance and colors of the inks to display accurately. I did not experience any feathering or bleeding (except with Lamy Dark Lilac). The paper worked well with my Santini flexy stub and with my calligraphy dip pen (also a flex nib). Although some of the wetter inks in wide nibs took time to dry, overall the drying time was negligible--there's not one smear in any of my tests. Show through was indeed minimal and I could easily use both sides of the paper (with the exception of the page with Lamy Dark Lilac).

The A4 notebook costs ₹300.00 (=$4.13) and the A5 costs ₹180.00 (=$2.48). That's a steal, for sure! Be aware, however, that shipping is expensive. I put one A4 and one A5 notebook in my cart, and shipping to Texas via FedEx was ₹1870.00 (=$25.72). Still, when you consider that one Tomoe River Paper notebook can cost you between $20 and $25 without shipping, you're still getting a great deal.

I hope Ayush Paper keeps selling notebooks forever, because I am a huge fan. I did not expect to be won over by these notebooks at all. In fact, I was much more excited about the Cosmo Air Light notebook that Brad sent me (review coming soon). But I will definitely buy Ayush Notebooks in the future, especially for calligraphy.

(Ayush Paper sent these notebooks free of charge to Pen Addict for review.)

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