Posts filed under Notebook Reviews

Kokuyo Soft Ring Notebook 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.)

If you get me started on the subject of notebooks, it won't be long before I start railing against ring binding. I hate it. It warps and bends! It doesn't slide into bags or lay nicely along other books! It snags on things and scratches them! It's uncomfortable to rest your hand or arm on them! If you tear a page out, it creates doom confetti that is exactly the opposite of celebratory. They're awful.

But not this one. This one? The Kokuyo Soft Ring Notebook does none of those things. The rings are smooth, solid, squishy plastic that squeeze to fit along other books. They are fully sealed so they don't snag. They spring right back into shape and are soft against your arm or hand. Do you remember jelly shoes? These rings are like jelly shoes for your notebook. The pages are perfectly perforated so that they tear out easily, but only when you want them to.

I love it when things are both simple and clever in a way that changes how I use my tools. And this totally does that. It might be witchcraft. Consider me enchanted.

And bound by all that cleverness, there is Kokuyo's incredible paper. It's smooth and sturdy, the graph is useful but unobtrusive. It takes every pen or pencil I throw at it--even where I blobbed ink on with a scratchy glass dip pen. It barely shows through and doesn't bleed at all. It shows sheen. And it even stands up to my toddler, who--true to his genetics--loves nothing more than to "cutter" with every single one of mommy's Sarasas. There are 80 sheets, making this an excellent notebook for school or work.

The cover is clear, flexible plastic with a silvery sheet behind it. The back is firm cardstock. The grid measures 5mm, and it is also available in 6mm rule and blank.

I think these are going to become a go-to for me. Having the convenience of ring binding without any of the ick is like a gift from the stationery gods.

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

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Posted on April 5, 2018 by Sarah Read and filed under Kokuyo, Notebook Reviews.

Midori MD Cotton Notebook A4 Blank: 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 Midori MD Cotton Notebook is a thread-bound notebook with 88 pages made from 20% cotton pulp. Like other MD notebooks, this one is minimalist in presentation, with a cardstock cover and see-through tape over the binding. It also has a ribbon bookmark.

Unlike the MD notebooks with Tomoe River paper (see review here), the cotton paper has a bit of texture.

This isn’t a bad thing. In fact, the cotton fiber absorbs ink more quickly than the Tomoe paper, so you won’t experience as much smearing. Fortunately, the paper’s absorbancy does not lead to bleeding or feathering even with the widest fountain pen nibs.

The paper is thin enough that fountain pen ink shows through (very slightly), but I didn’t experience any bleed through with regular writing.

When I tested the paper with my widest ruling pen and ink splats, I did experience bleed through, but you really have to lay a good bit of wet ink down for this to happen.

I also tested the paper drawing a picture with ink and using a water brush to blend the colors. The paper wrinkles up with moisture, so I wouldn’t recommend it for watercolors unless you don’t mind the wrinkling.

For writing, however, this is excellent paper. I wrote a portion of the first part of The Scarlet Letter and had no problems with fibers getting caught in the tines, ink bleeding, or smearing.

My one complaint about this notebook is that it’s not perforated, so if you want to remove pages, you wind up with a jagged edge. Other than that, the binding is tight and the notebook lays flat.

You can purchase the Midori MD Cotton Notebook in (almost) A4 size (Length is 27.5 cm /10.8 inches and Width is 21.0 cm/ 8.3 inches) from Jet Pens for $28.00.

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

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Posted on March 16, 2018 by Susan Pigott and filed under Midori, Notebook Reviews.

JetPens Tomoe River Kanso Sasshi Booklet 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.)

Sometimes my favorite pocket notebooks don't play nice with fountain pens, and sometimes they don't have enough pages for my project, and sometimes JetPens comes to the rescue and puts 48 sheets (96 pages) of 52 gsm Tomoe River paper into a beautiful pocket-sized notebook.

The Kanso Sasshi boolklets are minimalistic with just enough branding that I don't end up writing in it upside down or backwards. The name Kanso Sasshi translates into "simplicity booklet" and that is indeed what you get--a pack of two simple notebooks. The covers are embossed in silver with the branding on the front and at the bottom of the back. They are staple-bound with a soft cardstock cover. The pages are blank, but each book comes with its own line guide that can be placed behind the page.

The paper, naturally, is a dream to write on. It works well with any writing instrument with no bleeding or feathering. There is substantial show-through with darker inks, but not enough to deter me from using both sides of the page. It would be trickier, though, to see the line guide through the back side of a page that had a lot of dark ink on it. The well-coated paper has a long dry time for liquid inks and some inks may smear on its smooth surface. If you're using your booklet for quick notes, you may want to have a square of blotting paper handy.

This wee book ticks a lot of my wishlist boxes in a pocket notebook. It makes a perfect travel journal for when you want to pack light, or a planning book for a longer project, or notes for a conference. It can be used as a sketchbook or journal. It's packed with practicality. My only concern is that it might not be as durable as some pocket notebooks. As wonderful as Tomoe River paper is, it's not terribly hardy when it comes to the rough-and-tumble life of a pocket notebook. My notebooks tend to look like they've seen a war by the time I'm done with them, and this book may be too delicate to live in my pocket. As an insert in a traveler-style cover, though, it would be protected and fabulous. So maybe I just need (another) one of those. And then a bunch more of these.

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

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