Posts filed under Journal

2024 New Year, New Bujo, Who dis?

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

I did a review of the Rhodia GoalBook a while back because it was what I use for my loose interpretation of the Bullet Journal (BuJo or bujo) method for planning. My first bujo in 2017 was a Leuchtturm, which had 70gsm paper. It was fine and had somewhat/mostly fountain pen-friendly, but I switched to GoalBook because of the index and calendars (though I stopped using those after time) and hadn’t looked back. Flash forward to now and I just finished GoalBook #8 last week, but there won’t be a GoalBook #9. Why? After trying out the Leuchtturm 120 gsm notebook oh-so-briefly at the Shoppe Object show back in August, and seeing that it looked to be FP-friendly, I knew I had to do it for science!

I picked the Leuchtturm 120gsm in Nordic Blue and had it embossed during the Leuchtturm event at Flax Pen to Paper.

Backside of this hardcover notebook.

Normally I wouldn’t bother to take a picture of this but the 120gsm “branding” was a lot bigger than I think it needed to be.

I wrote my name and info with a Pilot Custom 823 with the FA nib, inked up with Diamine Amazing Amethyst (apologies for the lighting). No feathering on this page but this isn’t the main paper either.

There is a pocket on the inside of the back cover. Also included are labels for the spine (which I have used for all my Rhodia GoalBook spines too) and other labels, possibly for covering up that 120 gsm branding, lol.

Since this isn’t the Bullet Journal™ notebook, there are only 2 pages for the index, which is fine by me since I use specific washi tape, clips and bookmarks for important sections.

The regular LT notebook has 251 pages while the LT120 has 202 numbered pages, not including the 2 index pages; both have 2 ribbon bookmarks as well as the pocket and labels mentioned above. The GoalBook has 222 pages, not including their multiple index and calendar pages in the front.

I wrote out the pens that were inked at the start of 2024 (I track their actual inking dates in FPC.)

For the most part, there weren’t any major issues with a variety of fountain pen inks and nibs. There is some shading visible with some of the inks, but not much by way of chromashading or sheen. Shimmer wasn’t an issue.

No real feathering on most pen/inks.

Papier Plume’s Bad Bad Leroy Brown is a moderately wet ink in a moderately wet Pelikan M800 and other than it looking like a brown sharpie (which it kind of is), the paper held up alright. You can see the shimmer from the Robert Oster x Vanness Pens Venom ink too.

Minimal ghosting except with wet/broad nibs/inks, like the Waldmann Xetra Vienna with a broad steel nib inked with Diamine Blue Velvet. Even then it didn’t really bleed through.

I looked through all the currently inked entries and picked out the ones that looked potentially problematic either due to nib size/grind or ink wetness and rewrote those entries on the back pages of both the GoalBook and the LT 120.

Rhodia GoalBook with white pages (left) and the LT 120 (right). You can see that the LT’s pages are definitely more cream than white.

In almost all cases, the LT (right) absorbed a bit more ink than the Rhodia (left). This resulted in slightly broader lines from the LT as well as less shading.

In addition to the slightly broader lines, the writing experience on the LT 120 is a little “squishier” than other paper/notebooks, probably due to the additional weight. I hesitate to say that it has a bit more feedback than the GoalBook because it is still quite smooth. It is difficult to describe but it just feels like there is a bit more resistance, which I am attributing to the heavier weight. It isn’t unpleasant, just different.

And here are some “rare” additional pictures of spreads that I have in my bujo; “rare” because my bujo isn’t really for pretty social media posts. Mine has always been a functional bujo. I will add some more washi tape to color it up a bit but that’s about as much decorating as I do.

I haven’t ordered anything all year! But I am waiting on a preorder from 2023, so that has been moved to this year’s bujo.

I track when penpal letters are received, as well as when they were dated (since letters can take a while to write, esp if you’re long-winded like me, or if they have to travel internationally), when I start/finish and mail my reply. I will be adding postal-themed washi to the edges so I can easily find this spread without using an index.

I made a simple grid spreadsheet for habit tracking and at the start of the month, I jot down the date/day and what habits I’m tracking. My aim isn’t necessarily to have everything checked every day (though some are daily habits), but more so I can see when I’ve done something and if it’s been a while, to make sure I get back to it. I print several copies so I have them in the back cover whenever a new month comes up.

I’m too lazy for fancy habit trackers :-)

Actual todo list from January 1. I am continuing with my Italian learning, so I always write the month and day in Italian.

It’s still a bit too early to tell if the Leuchtturm 120 will permanently replace the GoalBook for me, but for now, it’s alright. I don’t really notice that the paper is cream unless there’s white paper nearby.

A well-used, soft-cover Rhodia GoalBook (left) with washi tape borders next to a brand new Leuchtturm 120 gsm hard bound notebook. It will be interesting to see how thick it gets as it gets more use.

The Leuchtturm 120gsm A5 notebook sells for $27.50 USD and is available from Flax Pen to Paper in Sage, Black, Port Red, as well as the Nordic Blue. It is available with dot grid, lines or blank ruling.

(Disclaimer: I purchased the notebook with free engraving from Flax Pen to Paper. The Rhodia GoalBook was also purchased by me.)

Posted on January 5, 2024 and filed under Bullet Journal, Journal, Planning.

2024 Journal, Planner, and Notebook Setup

New year, new notebooks? Yes to the new year (hello 2024!) but new notebooks? It’s a continuation of the same for me, which is a good place to be, plus a reimagining of an old standby that has me ready to tackle all that lies ahead this year.

Two products worked perfectly for me in 2023, and therefore I am happy to keep them going. I was successful in filling out the first full year in my 2023-2027 Hobonichi 5 Year Journal, only skipping a handful of days throughout the year. It was a habit that formed quickly, as I looked forward to updating the previous day’s activities the following morning. And on the occasions that I was away from home for an extended period of time, it was easy to catch back up on the few days I missed.

One change I made early on with this journal is to not log the pen and ink I was using on the opposite page. That seemed like a good idea at first, but looking at how little I used the right side of the page, it seemed wasteful. A friend mentioned they plan on using the right-hand pages to add years to the journal - up to four more years in the case of this layout - and while I have many years before I get to that point, I will keep that option open.

My first full year in the PLOTTER Narrow was a rousing success as well. This planner was used far more than the Hobonichi Journal, which is by design. I used the Weekly layout for a broad overview of what my week looked like, the standard grid pages for notes and lists, and I added in a batch of my favorite Bank Paper to the rear section for random pen tests and handout pages.

The only section I rarely used in my PLOTTER were the Monthly pages, but I plan on giving them another go this year and seeing what I can do to make them useful for me.

Towards the end of the year, I added in a Field Notes for a more easily pocketable, and portable, notebook for random thoughts, ideas, and scratch paper. The PLOTTER could be used for this (it does travel with me,) but I found the simplicity of a pocket notebook to be unsurpassed, once again.

The one frustration point in my current setup is with my Life Noble A5 Hardbound Notebook. It is an almost perfect notebook for me as far as style, layout, and performance goes, but I found myself rarely using it. My frustrations with it come from not knowing why I’m frustrated with it. I couldn’t design a better notebook for my own use, but I rarely choose to use it.

That brings me to my one new addition for the start of 2024: my William Hannah is back in the game! In its former life, it filled the role that my PLOTTER currently does. I like the PLOTTER format and size better for my planning needs, so I turned my William Hannah into my paper sampling notebook. Using a different hole punch than for my PLOTTER, I added in as many different paper types as I could to it. This made them easily accessible at my desk for testing, and portable to pen shows for others to try.

While I will miss this setup, I had an epiphany last week: this would make for a perfect project notebook. I removed all of the testing pages, and clamped them with this Medium Penco Clampy Clip, and added in the basic dot grid pages from William Hannah that I had ordered previously.

What this will allow is the proper organization for project plans and ideas. I can’t believe I am saying this, but I think this was my primary hangup with the bound A5 notebook. I want to project plan in it, but how do I allocate space for that? Is this a two-page project, or ten? When does one project start, and the next one end? I’m frozen by the inefficiency that this would introduce to the A5 notebook, and therefore it sat, mostly unused.

With the William Hannah, the pages are portable. Add a page here, remove a page there. The section dividers are movable, too, or I could simply mark the edges with washi tape or flags if I so desired. Flexibility, in this case, is peace of mind.

Will it work for me? Ask me in a year, but I’m anxious to get it going. If nothing else, thinking about overarching concepts such as allowing myself to set aside a product that doesn’t work, or repurposing something I already own into something new, has been a fun experiment. Let’s see how it plays out.


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Posted on January 1, 2024 and filed under Journal, Notebook, Planning.

12 Parsecs Designs Yggdrasil World Tree Leather Journal Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

This Yggdrasil World Tree Leather Journal from 12 Parsecs Designs is one of those items that falls into a special category I like to call "things I have to review before my teenager steals them for Dungeons and Dragons." If you're in the market for a book in which to record magical journeys, occult recipes, treasure maps, or any other flights of fancy, you should probably check out the Notebooks page over at 12 Parsecs Designs.

This thicc journal has a sturdy leather cover that's interfaced with canvas. Its back cover tucks into the front to conceal the fore-edge, and it closes with two brass buckles on the front. The cover of this particular one is embossed with an image of Yggdrasil, the Norse World Tree, with gorgeous Viking-inspired designs surrounding it. The leather is painted walnut brown with an almost woodgrain effect to the brushstrokes. Y'all, it's really pretty.

Inside this stunning cover are five signatures of 20 sheets of cushy watercolor paper, for a total of 100 sheets or 200 pages. The paper is very thick, soft, and pillowy. You could take a nap on this paper. I usually associate this fibrous paper with bleeding and feathering, but this is very well made sketchbook paper, and I did not have any issues. It is too soft, however, for sharp-pointed tools, so mechanical pencils, EF pen nibs, and ultra fine pen points are not going to be your friend here. And the paper is thirsty. While I was able to write with a medium point fountain pen just fine, it does drink the ink, and the pen's feed eventually struggled to keep up with the necessary flow. The best instrument I found for this paper was either a wood case pencil that's not sharpened too much, or a standard ballpoint pen. Of course, watercolors would be the specific ideal use for this paper, but I shan't disgrace it with my poor art.

The paper also has dried flowers scattered throughout its pages, which adds to the whimsical, fairytale effect. I know soft, flowery paper is going to send some of you running in the opposite direction, but that just leaves more fae paper for the rest of us, so bye.

This notebook is about as opposite as you can get from the streamlined, minimal, purely utilitarian notebooks that make up the bulk of my notebook stash. I love those, too. And I love this. This isn't a notebook that makes me think "perfect for meetings" or "I'll use this for class" or "so efficient and productive." No, this notebook says "time to play and dream" and I am so here for it.

12 Parsecs Designs suggests that this notebook is great for gamers, painters, scrapbookers, journalers, or even folks who want a cool photo album. I agree, and I'm impressed. For all this loveliness and versatility, they're only charging $31 (and they're actually on sale for less as I write this). That's much less than I expected after using the notebook. I can already tell I'll be back for more of these. Probably very soon, when my little Dungeon Master steals mine.

(12 Parsecs Designs provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on June 29, 2023 and filed under 12 Parsecs, Journal, Notebook Reviews.