Life Noble Mini-Ring Notebook Review

Life Notebooks is one of those companies that does very little wrong in my book. Their aesthetic suits my style perfectly, and fortunately, they perform as well as they look.

This doesn’t mean the Mini-Ring Notebook is perfect across the board - more on that in a minute - but it is a fun and functional pocket notebook that works well with any writing instrument you throw at it.

Starting with the exterior, the bright orange front cover is made from what feels like 80# cardstock, with a thicker and stronger chipboard-style backing. The design and lettering of the front cover is striking, just like with every notebook Life creates. I love the looks.

The inside is filled with Life’s high-quality paper that made them a hit with stationery lovers everywhere. Like other Japanese paper brands, they focus on the writing experience for all types of pens and pencils. They deliver on that too.

Fountain pens glide across the page, from my finest needle points, to wider stubs. There is no feathering, bleed, or ghosting to be found. None. The dry time is even reasonable. Gel and ballpoint pens work great as well, as do all grades of pencil. The rollerball ink of the Schmidt P8127 was the only one I could even see on the back side of the page, and just barely at that.

As a binding method, I like twin ring both from a functional and aesthetic perspective, but I don’t like it on the side on a small notebook like this. I’d prefer it on the top in this approximately 3-1/4” x 5” format because side doesn’t work as well in pockets. It’s great on A5 and up formats where it is more of a desk pad.

Also, Life’s paper is too ivory for constant use. I’d like a whiter or yellower tone for every day writing. I use inks with color, and they don’t show up as well on this tone.

And finally, there is the price issue. It’s more expensive than it’s competitors. The Mini-Ring runs nearly $5 for 40 smaller than Field Notes sheets. It’s not egregious, and it may be as good or even better for many users, but you are paying for the privilege. Rhodia is more expensive than basic paper, but it is far cheaper than Life, and has many more options (although Life is gaining on that.)

But like Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, it is hard to stay away from the good stuff on occasion. Despite some preference changes I would make on a personal level, they is no denying the quality of Life Notebooks.

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

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Goulet Notebook with Tomoe River Paper A5 Dotgrid: 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.)

Goulet Pens now offers its own brand of notebooks in various sizes, including A5, Traveler’s Notebook regular size, Traveler’s Notebook passport size, and Pocket size. Each style is offered in blank, ruled, dot grid, and graph options, and all are filled with Tomoe River Paper.

I’m reviewing the A5 size dot grid notebook. It comes simply packaged in cellophane paper with a sticker on the front identifying it as a Goulet product. The back sticker indicates the thickness of the Tomoe paper, the size, and the type of ruling.

The notebook itself has absolutely no branding. The cover is made of dark brown kraft paper. You get 32 sheets of 68gsm Tomoe paper for a total of 64 pages. The notebook is staple bound (two staples).

I like dot grid paper because it is less distracting than ruled paper and it allows you to write in any direction.

The dots on the Goulet paper are visible but aren’t so dark that they overwhelm the page.

I tested out the paper in various ways. I wrote a forthcoming review about the Visconti Divina Elegance fountain pen. The paper behaved wonderfully. The ink doesn’t bleed, but it sheens pretty dramatically on this paper.

Close up of writing. Ink: Robert Oster Peppermint.

I did a currently inked pens page with swabs, and the paper handled all the inks and swabs well.

And I tried out several different writing instruments (ball points, fountain pens, and mechanical pencils). No problems at all.

The paper is what you’d expect from Tomoe: creamy, smooth, and thin. Except for pencils and super fine ball points, you do get quite a bit of show-through on the reverse sides of pages.

But the only significant show-through I experienced was with a swab of some super wet Kyoto ink. None of the ink actually penetrated through the paper, but the show-through is much more noticable.

The show-through you get with Tomoe River Paper may be so distracting for some writers that they will only want to write on one side of each page. That is what I wound up doing with my Visconti Review. However, I use Tomoe River paper in my daily journal. I write on both sides of the page, and the show through doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I love how crinkly the pages become as I fill them in. I’m weird that way.

The Goulet A5 Notebook Dot Grid is $8.00 at Goulet Pens. I am a huge fan of Tomoe River paper, and Goulet offers it in the sizes most pen folks want. I highly recommend you try some if you haven’t already.

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

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Blackwing Clutch Notebook Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The Palomino Blackwing 602 pencils are iconic, and for good reason. I'm a fan of the pencils, so it's been exciting to see Blackwing wade into the paper game as well.

There's a whole slew of new notebooks available, but this one is called the Blackwing Clutch, and it fits in your pocket. At 3.5" x 5.5", the size is very familiar, albeit a bit thicker than the standard Field Notes.

I have a couple of small nits to pick with the notebook, but let's talk about the enjoyable and unique points first.

Pros

The cover of the Clutch notebook is a soft but durable black material that feels great to touch. I'm not sure what it is, but it's not any type of leather from what I can tell. It's soft, matte, and strong. I love it. The only branding on the outside of the notebook is an embossed "Blackwing" logo on the bottom of the back cover.

The inside covers feature some general labeling spots that's typical of most pocket notebooks. Nothing exciting there, except for the odd orientation of the printing. That's right, this notebook is intended to be used in landscape mode! (Blackwing refer to this as "clamshell layout".) I wasn't sure what to make of this at first, but it clicked in a few minutes after writing a few notes down. It's a nice format, but not one I think is better than the traditional portrait layout for this size notebook. Luckily, if you have the dot grid or blank version, you can use it however you want. The ruled version locks you in to the landscape view, unfortunately. That being said, I do enjoy the orientation for writing longer notes because it gives me more room to write across the page.

The paper in this notebook is advertised as 100gsm, and I believe it. The paper is phenomenal. It's smooth, thick, and handles everything I've thrown at it with ease. Sure, Blackwing is a pencil company, but this notebook performs really well for fountain pens as well. Not a hint of shading or feathering appeared in my tests, and I was using some wet, brought nibs that typically cause trouble. It can be difficult to find pocket notebooks that play nicely with fountain pens, but this is one of the good ones.

Writing with pencil is also enjoyable, as the smooth paper has enough tooth to take down plenty of graphite. It's also durable, holding up really well to erasers.

The books are sewn-bound, and come in at 48 pages each. Blackwing claims that the sewn binding allows the notebooks to lay flat, but that hasn't been the case in my use.

Cons

These are thick notebooks, and the binding is fairly square, similar to glue binding. In my use, this makes it particular difficult to use because it really does not want to be flattened. It resists even after being pressed and over-bent to try and wear in the binding a bit. The notebook starts to lay flat easier once you get halfway through, but that leaves a lot of other times that it can cause frustration. As an added bonus, this also means that the notebook refuses to stay closed on its own. I've opted to use a Field Notes band to keep mine from popping open. It's a minor nitpick, but it's one that I feel every time I use it.

Another point that might turn away some customers is the price. At $14.95 per 3-pack, it's not the cheapest option out there. Field Notes are a couple bucks cheaper, but the Blackwing paper is far superior. Clairefontaine offers similar paper, but is much cheaper. Write Notepads also work great, but at a lower cost. The list of cheaper alternatives is long, but the Clutch does have plenty of unique features to set it apart from the rest. The key feature for me is the paper quality, but the aesthetic is also unique and pleasing.

Overall

The Blackwing Clutch notebooks are unique, stylish, and feature excellent paper. The layout is pushy if you choose dot grid or blank, but outright stubborn if you choose lined. The price is a bit high compared to other 3-pack pocket notebooks on the market, but did I mention how awesome the paper is?

The Blackwing Clutch notebooks are available on the Blackwing website, where you can choose between Ruled, Blank, and Dot Grid paper types. Each set of three notebooks runs you $14.95.

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

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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, which I am very grateful for.

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