Life Index Cards on a Ring with Leather Cover: 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.)

When I decided to get the Life index cards, I honestly did not pay attention to the size or the word "index" on the JetPens website. In my head, I imagined them to be the same size as the now unavailable Mnemosyne Word Cards. I planned to use the Life cards to replace the Mnemosyne cards.

So, I was a bit surprised when I opened them up to find that these are 3x5 cards. I'm not disappointed in the least that they are larger. In fact, because of their size, they can be used for many more things.

The Life cards are unlined. I could not find the weight of the paper anywhere (and I tried), but the cards feel sturdy. The paper itself is creamy, and fountain pens simply glide across it. I much prefer the Life cards over Mnemosyne. The Mnemosyne cards have a texture to them that catches my fountain pen nibs. Plus their off-white color seems to affect ink color slightly. The pure white color of the Life cards offers a truer base for ink samples.

Although at first I thought maybe the Life cards were too big for ink samples (my primary use for the Mnemosyne cards), I found that the larger size allowed me to do more with my ink samples. Instead of just the name of the ink, some nib strokes, and a swab, I can include the ink name, an ink swab, a scribble, nib strokes, a water test, and a line at the bottom for color sorting.

The cards are also the perfect size for making a small photo album. I have a Fuji Instax printer, and I can print small photos straight from my iPhone and glue them on the cards. The Life cards provide enough space for the photo and a description.

Obviously the cards can be used for anything you like: to do lists, sketching, recipe cards, study notes, etc. They will handle most pens and inks well, but if you plan to do watercolor, the cards will warp a bit.

The leather cover is bare bones with the Life logo stamped on the front.

And the back has two grommets that hold the elastic closure. Two holes at the top provide a place for the ring.

Essentially, you're getting a piece of stained leather with no stitching or other design elements. The leather is not colorfast. There's a warning on JetPens saying that sweat or moisture can stain the cover or transfer the dye to other objects. While the leather is thick and smells nice, I'm not impressed with the quality, and it's pricey (the cards themselves are only $6.00, but with the cover and ring you pay $28.50–that's $22.50 for a piece of rectangular leather).

The cards, on the other hand, are high quality. They handled my fountain pens well. I had no problems with ink bleeding or nibs snagging because the paper is silky smooth. Some of my more saturated inks (like BungBox Sapphire) did show through, as did the ink swabs and water tests.

You can get the Life cards with the leather cover from JetPens for $28.50 in either reddish brown or dark brown leather. With this set you get 100 cards and you can purchase additional cards for $6.00.

Pros

• Life paper is high quality and the cards are smooth and sturdy.
• The large 5x3 size allows for multiple uses.
• The leather cover and ring keep the cards together and somewhat protected (the sides of the cards are exposed).

Cons

• The leather cover is not colorfast and lacks stitching or other design elements that might make it more appealing.
• The leather cover set is expensive.

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

Clairefontaine Triomphe A5 Notepad Review

International Correspondence Writing Month is almost over, but that is no reason not to have a nice pad of letter writing paper on your desk. Sure, you could use the Clairefontaine Triomphe as a high quality notepad, but where it really shines is for letter writing, and is one of the best options around.

Clairefontaine has long been known for making wonderful fountain pen friendly paper. The Triomphe pad is perfectly smooth and extra white, both features which make your writing pop off the page.

It handled any pen or pencil I threw at it, with fountain pens being the standout of course. My nib choices tend to lie at the extremes, with extra fine needlepoints mixed in with fine cursive italics. Soft, rolling nibs these are not, and they all performed flawlessly. When I branched out to medium nibs, the Triomphe paper handled it in style, with no feathering of bleeding to speak of.

Rollerball inks did well too. They are the most similar to fountain pen inks since they are water based, and I saw no issue with them. Gel inks did well, as did ballpoints and pencil. The one pen style I did not enjoy on this paper were plastic tip pens. My beloved Kuretake and Copic felt waxy on the page, even though there is not much coating on the paper as best as I can tell.

Outside of pure performance, there are two small features that make this pad perfect for letters. One, the glue binding allows for clean page removal, and two, the pad includes a lined guide sheet. I can write somewhat straight lines on my own, but getting the neat output like I got below only comes from guide lines.

When I have a size option, A5 is usually my first choice, but there is an A4 pad option as well, with envelopes to match. The price is reasonable too: $6 for 50 sheets of A5, $9 for 50 sheets of A4. If you are looking for quality letter writing paper I would look no further than Clairefontaine Triomphe.

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

Maruman Mnemosyne Imagination Notebook Review

(This is a guest post by Nick Folz. You can find more of Nick and his work on his blog, Smallberry Drive, Twitter, and Instagram.)

Hello everyone, my name is Nick and I have a paper problem.

I guess it started in kindergarten. Up until that point in my life I had been doodling on stacks of ragged, ripped out blue lined notebook paper, without a care in the world. What a fool I was. One fateful day my teacher passed out thick stacks of colored construction paper, and my world was turned asunder. "There are other types of paper!?!" My mind whirled. Other children we busy cutting the sheets up with their safety scissors, all making a pleasurable "SKRRRRIIT" sound as they cut, but not me. I was shoving every available piece into my Captain Caveman backpack. I knew that I must save those for later. That was just the beginning.

In high school I experimented, everything from spiral bound sketchbooks with crisp white pages to hard backed notebooks that looked more like novels than journals. It was a phase I would not grow out of.

Things only worsened in college, now I knew where to get the stuff I had only heard about: Stacks of A4 linen, 80 lb Bristol by the pile, Cardstock as far as I could see and Vellum in every tone imaginable. The Art Store was my enabler. It was just too much.

I bottomed out one day when my friends found me facedown in a pile of thick toothed, cold pressed Cresent board with two bulk rolls of newsprint stock paper tubes stuck over on my arms.

These days I try to keep it under control. Sure, I still stock up on Bristol board during holiday sales. It is a nice heavy stock with a good rough tooth, makes me feel safe to have it around.

Temptation still rears its head, though. Just the other day I received a Maruman Mnemosyne Imagination Notebook, A4, blank pages. Someone had done their homework, someone was trying to pull me back in. Then the first bit of doubt creeped in, the paper was light and smooth and I like my paper thick and toothy. Scoffing, I cracked it opened and took at it with a pencil and, well, wow. The paper is so damned SMOOTH, plus it took the graphite very well. That is usually my problem with smooth papers, the lead lays atop the paper like a stiff breeze might blow it away. My pencil glided over the page like an ice skater, leaving smooth black trails.

Impressed, but still not completely sold on this new stranger, I broke out my brushes. No way this thin stock could hold straight ink. I gave it my all. The full business. Ink wash and everything. The notebook continued to surprise as the brush slid across the pages, okay, okay. I was gaining respect for this notebook, but knew that would all fall away once I flipped the page to see the inky mess underneath from the bleed through. I flipped the page, and gave a gasp, the next page was pristine. I still can't believe it.

I had to take stock of the other features, now that paper quality had been put to the test, and passed. Dual rings bind the notebook together, adding strength to the overall appearance. A black plastic cover with minimal text and a matte texture covers the front, a thick woodpulp backing finishes the book. Each page has a micro perforation, along with a light grey area for "Title" and "Date/No." along the top. It is sleek and clean.

And that's not all! They offer it in a variety! I mean, over at JetPens you can get them ruled, graphed, and plain in everything from steno style to weekly calendars. Listen, if you just loan me a little bit I could just order a few, just two or three and I will be good. Just this once, I mean I'm good for it you know, I , I just... Okay... Breathe... Just breathe...

Whew. I'm good. I, I just got caught up. I still have many more black sheets waiting for me in my Mnemosyne, I'm good for now. I just have to remember the mantra: "I don't NEED more paper, I just WANT more paper, and that is okay."

Thanks for letting me share, now I've got some doodling to do.

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