iA Notebook Review

What do you get when a software company who puts a lot of thought and care into their product ventures into the analog world? A notebook built with the same philosophy, executed well.

I admit I was hugely skeptical of the iA Notebook. I used their wonderful distraction-free writing app, iA Writer, in my early days of blogging, and have always held a soft spot for its design and functionality. Translating that experience into a physical good, though? I’m glad they were up for the challenge.

The core feature of the iA Notebook are the watermarked pages. Watermarks are typically an identification marker of the paper maker, usually only seen on the page when held up to light. iA has taken that concept and made the watermark functional by using those subtle marks as the lines on the page. Yes, this is a lined notebook.

Can you make out the subtle lines?

While great in concept, they are challenging to see when writing. Notebook pages aren’t backlit, so you need good lighting to stay on the lines. I often found myself tilting my head to ensure I could see where I was writing. Luckily, they are spaced at 10 mm apart, so you have plenty of room if you wander.

I tested all kinds of pens, pencils, and inks on the paper, and it held up well to most of it. The 81g Araveal White used in this notebook is slightly textured, and uncoated, giving it performance characteristics of a dry page. That means inks dry fast, but you lose some of the character (shading, sheen,) that fountain pen inks are known for. The ink gets into the top layer of the page, but didn’t bleed through to the back, and didn’t feather on the top.

The finer the nib, the more I enjoyed the ink experience, which is odd to say. Lines from wet nibs seemed to be oversaturated, while the finer nibs gave my lines more color balance. It’s like the lighter application of ink didn’t have a chance to get deep into the fibers, and was allowed to show off the ink characteristics.

One of the best inks to test paper absorption is the rollerball ink of the Schmidt P8127, and it wasn’t great. This water-based ink wouldn’t be my choice for this paper, as it did have some feathering. Fineliners were not great either, as the dry paper didn’t allow the ink to grab well from the plastic tip, giving them a pencil-like feeling. Alcohol ink Sharpies showed off how the ink absorbs into the top layer of the page, but didn’t immediately blast through the back and on to the next page. Gel and ballpoint inks were nice to use, and pencils felt great.

Cotton swab ink swatches.

Taking away any performance preferences, the build of the iA Notebook gets an A+. It’s solid, with thick front and back covers, and a cloth/mesh binding. It’s an object, as well as a notebook.

If the design gets an A+, I’d rate the paper as a B. As I mentioned earlier, it’s usable for many types of pens, but not universally great. It doesn’t have the all-around performance that you get from top Japanese brands like Maruman and Midori, and it may be more in the Leuchtturm zone for fountain pens, which is good, but not elite.

One note on the 10mm line spacing: If you stay committed to the lines, and don’t use the back side of the page due to ghosting, you are giving up a ton of writing real estate. At this cost per acre, that’s tough.

Ghosting. Not sure I’d love writing on both sides of the page.

The watermark lines of the iA Notebook are its killer deign feature, and, along with the packaging, turned it into the design award winning notebook that it is. But it has to be functional, too. I’d much prefer it as a standard blank page notebook, but then iA wouldn’t get to show off the cool features and construction they have here. I love it as an object, there are better choices for performance.

At $79, the iA Notebook is on the upper end of the pricing spectrum. Is it fairly priced given the design and quality of the product? Probably. It’s close. I’d personally love to see if they could create a blank page option and get the price down to a still expensive $49-$59, but that’s just me wishcasting. I think iA knows their market for this, and they are leaning into what the company has always been about: design.

(I purchased this notebook from iA at full price.)

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Midori MD Notebook Cover A6 Goat Leather 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 Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

I just feel like my notebooks are happier with little coats on. It's cold where I live. And sure, maybe that's just an excuse for more cool notebook covers. But any excuse you can find to pick up the Midori MD Goat Leather Notebook Cover is a good excuse, because it's a good notebook cover.

This cover is made from natural, vegetable tanned goat leather. The natural leather ages and patinas with use, taking on the story of its journey with you. I've been excited to start to see some character develop in the weeks I've been using this one, but so far, it still looks brand new. Because it's also very durable. I'm happy to patiently await the development of character, though. The leather is very lightweight and flexible, but durable.

The design of the cover is very minimal and simple. It's plain on the outside, and the inside has two folder-style pockets for the notebook cover to slide into. Those two sleeve flaps have slits in them that serve as pockets for wee papers. And there is a slim pen loop built into the back cover's edge. The edges of the leather are neatly finished, and the surface is smoothly pebbled. Some variety will appear in the leather, since each piece is unique. That's all for features. There is no closure, or bookmark, or any other accessories. It isn't over-designed, but it does its job well.

The cover is designed to fit the Midori MD A6 notebook, but it fits a variety of A6 notebooks, including the Hobonichi Techo A6 and the Hobonichi A6 blank books. The cover also comes in six other sizes to fit the variety of Midori notebooks available. A6 books with wider spines will be a bit of a tighter fit, but I've been pleasantly surprised by how many notebooks are compatible with this cover.

I've been using the A6 Midori notebook in this cover as my craft project tracker, which has been getting a lot of use as my holiday gift crafting has amped up. It's been a pleasure to use, and the pen loop keeps my writing tool handy at all times.

That being said, these are not inexpensive notebook covers. The A6 one sells for $85 on JetPens, which is a little on the high side, especially since it doesn't come with a notebook insert. That will set you back another $12.50 or so. It will probably last forever, though, and using it is a pleasure.

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

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Yamamoto Bullet Jotter Notebook Review

(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!.)

One of the (many) things I bought at the 2025 SF Pen Show was the Yamamoto Bullet Jotter and I couldn’t wait to try it out.

The Bullet Jotter comes from Yamamoto Paper, the folks who brought us the Yamamoto Paper Fountain Pen Friendly Paper, Washi Paper Tasting (among other paper tasting packs) Ro-Biki notebooks, and so much more. Taizo Yamamoto, the paper genius behind Yamamoto Paper, has come out with a new creation, this time it’s not paper, but something to hold your notes. Enter, the Bullet Jotter, named in part for the bullet/dot mark at the beginning of lists or bullet points along with the verb “jot” (to take a quick note) and “jotter”, one who jots.

Taizo Yamamoto at the 2025 SF Pen Show.

The Bullet Jotter has a textured cover that feels almost like a combination of fabric and paper. The cover is stiff and flexible - kind of like cardboard or pliable plastic. It measures 4.5" × 7.2" × 0.6” (115 mm x 183mm x 15mm). Inside, there are two plastic slots which hold your Bullet Paper pads, one on each side. The cover lays flat when open, and isn’t meant to be folded backwards (I could sorta bend it backwards a bit but I didn’t want to damage it).

The Bullet Jotter in Gabardine Royal Blue. It is also available in Gray and Black. The elastic holds the Bullet Jotter closed when not in use.

When viewed at an angle, you can see the texture of the Bullet Jotter.

The interior flaps/slots hold the Bullet Paper pads. Because each flap isn’t secured on both sides, there is some wiggle room for the pads to move around a bit. You can also use a pad on one side, and store loose pages on the other.

The black interior has a subtle Yamamoto Paper watermark.

The Bullet Paper pads are approximately 3.75” x 6.75” (95 x 170mm), more commonly known as personal or Bible size. There are 6 different paper options for the Bullet Paper pads, all of which are blank:

1. Sanzen Tomoe River S, 52gsm, 50 sheets
2. Canopus, 73 gsm, 30 sheets
3. Sheep Clouds Bond, 70 gsm, 35 sheets
4. Soliste, 65 gsm, 35 sheets
5. Slight White, 81.4 gsm, 30 sheets
6. Meringue, 65 gsm, 35 sheets

The Bullet Jotter comes with Bullet Paper pads #3 and 4.

In addition to the ones included with the Bullet Jotter, I bought all of the other ones, except for Slight White, which I didn’t love as much when I reviewed it. Since the Bossman already did a review of Canopus, I decided to test the Sheep Clouds Bond and Meringue papers, both of which are new to me.

Each pad of paper comes with a double-sided guide sheet (5mm grid & 10 mm lined).

Sheep Clouds Bond (left) and Meringue (right).

Even though Sheep Clouds Bond is 70 gsm, a bit heavier than Meringue’s 65 gsm, you can see the guide sheet more clearly under it than Meringue. I was still able to see both guide sheets easily.

Closeup of the guide sheet under Sheep Clouds Bond.

Closeup of the guide sheet under Meringue.

Pens & inks used for writing samples: Pilot Custom Heritage 91, Broad Cursive Italic, Iroshizuku Yama-budo; Platinum Plaisir, 03 (Fine) (ignore that I later wrote Preppy by mistake), Platinum Pink cartridge; Woodshed Pen Co, BB SIG, Diamine Autumn Oak, Red Dragon Pen Co with Regalia Trilogy, J Herbin Brun Eiffel; Leonardo Momento Zero, Stylosuite X-wing Harpoon, Kyo-no-oto 08 Urahairo; Kaweco Piston Sport, Fine, Franklin-Christoph ATL ‘23; Pilot Custom 823 FM, J Herbin Bleu Calanque; Zodiac Pen Co Virgo, Fine Monoc, Montblanc StarWalker Blue Planet, Krusac L-15 Purple Heart, Regalia Sequel, Diamine Merlot.

Uni-ball Signo DX, 0.38, Frixion Clicker 07, Pilot G-2 07, Lamy Tipo Medium, Parker Jotter, Ballpoint, Medium, Parker Flighter, Gel, Medium, Spoke Clickstream, Schmidt EasyFlow 9000 M, Ticonderoga 2HB Soft, Sakura Pigma Micron 05, Tombow ABT, color 476, Sharpie.

The Sheep Clouds Bond paper is a white paper that feels similar to Midori (not Cotton). It has a hint of texture while still feeling smooth, but not as slick as Clairefontaine either. For the most part, the Sheep Clouds Bond paper worked well with fountain pens and showed both shading and subtle sheen. It felt fine writing on the paper but occasionally, it felt a little like writing on tracing paper - I noticed this the most with very wet and/or broad nibs.

Fountain pen writing samples on Sheep Clouds Bond.

Impossible to photograph but there was a wee bit of sheen with Iroshizuku Yama-budo and Platinum Pink that isn’t visible from my iPhone camera. Love the shading from Autumn Oak. It can handle the dump of ink from the Regalia Trilogy nib but the lines aren’t always crisp (look at the “ogy” of Triology) - almost marker-like.

The flex nib on the Leonardo had no problems putting ink down, but you can see a few spots where the paper didn’t want to absorb it. The remainder of the pens were fine but again, both of the wetter reverse sides of the Monoc Regalia Sequel felt a bit draggy on the paper, and the lines weren’t as clear as with their regular sides.

There is ghosting but you could certainly write on the back if you wanted. The form factor of the Jotter doesn’t make it easy to write on the back unless you tore off the sheet.

Standard pens and pencil on Sheep Clouds Bond. The Frixion erased fairly easily. I had a little problem with the first “7” from the Pilot G-2, but it was fine the second time. Also, I don’t know why my handwriting is crap with a standard pen or pencil.

Similar amount of ghosting on the Sheep Clouds Bond. Bleedthrough from the Sharpie - is anyone ever surprised?

The Meringue paper is a white paper that is 65 gsm (5 fewer gsm than Sheep Clouds Bond) but it feels thicker. The guidesheet didn’t show through as much as with the Sheep Clouds Bond either. It is neither cottony nor slick, but it felt like it had a little heft (not just in weight but in density). The Meringue paper worked well with fountain pens but it seemed to absorb the ink more quickly. As such, the lines were a bit broader than Sheep Clouds Bond, shading was diminished, and ink colors were more saturated and a touch darker as a result.

Fountain pen writing samples on Meringue.

There is less dramatic shading from Autumn Oak. The Leonardo’s lines are darker too.

Less shading from the 823, and the lines are broader. It handled the wetter nibs better than the Sheep Clouds Bond - less “marker” effect.

There is ghosting but less than Sheep Clouds Bond. You could definitely write on the back if you wanted, unless you used a Sharpie.

Comparison of the back side of Sheep Clouds Bond (left) and Meringue.

Standard pens and pencil on Meringe. The Frixion was a little bit easier to erase. As with the fountain pens, the lines were a wee bit darker and broader than on Sheep Clouds Bond.

Can’t see much back here except from the Sharpie.

Here are the fountain pen writing samples side by side - Sheep Clouds Bond (left) and Meringue (right).

Here are the standard pen/pencil writing samples side by side - Sheep Clouds Bond (left) and Meringue.

Once punched with a 6-hole punch, the Bullet Paper sheets fit in the PLOTTER Bible or the Filofax Personal (and other similarly sized 6-hole binders).

A sheet of Meringue in my PLOTTER.

And in my Filofax.

I would have liked a pen/pencil loop to make it even easier for quick jots, but that is a minor critique, especially since we all know I rarely travel with fewer than a binder full of pens 😀 You could attach a pen loop like the ones from Leuchtturm if you want a pen handy. Even though the cover is stiff, I do worry about its longevity when traveling, so I will most likely keep this on my desk or in my purse/backpack when I go to meetups.

The Yamamoto Bullet Jotter costs $28 and includes Sheep Clouds Bond and Soliste paper pads. Additional pads cost $5.50 for 30-50 sheets depending on paper type. Both products are available from The Gentleman Stationer; you can also purchase them from Yamamoto’s Etsy store (this isn’t available on their Shopify store).

(Disclaimer: I purchased all of the Yamamoto items at regular price at the SF Pen Show. All comparison items are my own.)

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