Maruman Into-One Binder Mini Size in Light Blue: 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.)

I purchased the Maruman Into-One Binder Mini in light blue, thinking it would be a handy replacement for loose index cards. It's the perfect size for a purse or backpack pocket, and the loose-leaf sheets make it quite versatile.

The binder is made of flexible, textured plastic, and the rings are attached with metal posts. The rings and opening/closing mechanism are made of clear plastic. To open, you simply pinch the mechanism with your fingers. Push the rings together in order to close the rings.

Unfortunately, one of my binder rings is out of alignment, so it doesn't close properly.

The binder is 5.9 inches/150mm wide, 3.6 inches/92mm tall, and 0.63 inches/16mm deep (where the binder rings are).

The binder comes with twenty pages of 80gsm lined (front and back) white paper. It is B7 size (130mm x 87mm = 3.4 x 5.1 inches) which is slightly larger than a 3 x 5 index card. Each sheet has nine holes, but the binder only has five rings. I'm not sure what the additional holes are for. Blue lines at the top and bottom of each page act as margins. Dots and dashes at 0.5mm intervals provide guidance if you want to draw vertical lines on the pages. The binder can accommodate up to sixty pages.

Considering how thin the paper feels, I was pleased by how well it stood up to various writing instruments. In my fountain pen test none of the inks feathered or bled through, with the exception of the wet flex nib in my Opus 88. There's some show through, but it's negligible enough that you can write on both sides of this paper.

The paper handled ink swabs with ease--I used very wet swabs but no ink bled through. The inks exhibited shading and pooling, but no sheen.

I also tested various pens and one pencil. The only bleed through was with the Sharpies (both ultra fine and regular).

The Maruman Mini Binder could be used in many ways. I listed several possibilities and created examples of some of them.

The Maruman Into-One Binder costs $7.25 on JetPens. You can get it in light blue, dark blue, and pink.

There are multiple options for filling the binder, including various print styles (ruled, graph, blank, to-do, and time planning) and colors/paper styles: white, pastel colors, croquis (for sketching), and scrap. You can also get a zip case, tabbed dividers, and paper protectors.

I love this little binder and plan to use mine for reading notes and memorization purposes.

(I purchased the Maruman Mini Binder and lined paper refill with my own funds.)

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Profolio Oasis Summit B6 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. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

So, I live just a few miles away from Anderson Pens. It's fabulous when it's time to pick up the new Retro, or when I need supplies in a hurry. But it's also incredibly dangerous, like when I pop into the shop for one thing, and notice a new brand of notebook I haven't tried yet. It happens. Frequently. This time, the notebook I picked up was the Profolio Oasis Summit from Itoya.

It caught my eye with a few features I know I love--lots of pages (126 sheets! 252 numbered pages!), sewn lay-flat binding with a taped spine, double ribbon bookmarks, an index, and versatile guidelines. It also has a sturdy cardstock cover, nice endpapers, and a minimal silver foil stamped logo. It's a pretty notebook, which hasn't stopped me from decorating the cover with some washi and making it my own.

My favorite thing about this notebook is the guide lines. Through clever alchemy, it is grid, dot, and lined all at the same time. There are fine grey lines that are narrowed by two faint, dotted dividing lines, and then there are vertical dot grid lines. It works for writing text, class notes, outlines, lists, or working on handwriting. It would make a perfect Bullet Journal. None of the lines are obtrusive, so you can pick whichever way you prefer to use it. I've been using it as my everything book, and it's worked wonderfully. I have packing lists, daily/hourly to-do lists, important notes--all kinds of chaos. Which is also why I'm glad it has an index.

The paper quality is also very good. It's fountain pen friendly, with a fairly quick dry time. It doesn't show much sheen, but shading is nice, and I did not have any bleed-through with normal writing, and no feathering. Some ink did bleed through when I let it pool and soak in, so it's not completely impervious, but I've written in it with a wide variety of nibs and inks and not had any issues.

At $25, I do think this is a little on the pricy side for a softcover B6 notebook. It's the quantity of pages that shifts it over into the "worth it" category for me. It's working well and I'm quite happy with it. I'm going to need a few more.

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Nebula by Colorverse A5 Premium 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. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

My first impression of this Nebula Premium Notebook by Colorverse was “Why do I need another hardbound, pleather, elastic closure, A5 notebook?" I have six different brands of nearly identical notebooks on a shelf right next to me--so what was going to make this one stand out from the crowd? It turns out there are a few standout things about this notebook. It's a good one. It's not filling a gap in the market or anything, but it is offering some choices of features that I enjoy and appreciate.

It has a very firm cover bound in faux leather with a smooth texture to it. My notebook is a lovely shade of lavender blue, but there are a variety of colors available. It has rounded corners and sturdy endpapers prettily decorated with stars and constellations, and the inside back cover has a generous gusseted pocket. One cool feature is that, instead of a ribbon bookmark, this notebook comes with two magnetic flap bookmarks that can be used beyond the life of this notebook alone. I love magnetic bookmarks, so this delighted me. Ribbons are nice, too, but they get caught in case zippers, fray, and get ink stains. The magnets are a huge upgrade, in my opinion. The binding is sewn and the notebook lies open flat with no trouble.

Between the covers are 192 pages of 90gsm, "ink-proof" white paper. Mine is lined, though blank paper is also available, and maybe preferable, as the blank notebook comes with some very cool writing guides in unique formats, including boxes and lines for ink swatching.

But could you swatch in this notebook? Yep. The paper is impressive. When I first felt it, it had the crisp, textured feel of paper that usually feathers and bleeds, so I was expecting at least some degree of failure, but it did not do either of those things in any measure. I suppose a notebook made by an ink company would know how to make their paper truly "ink-proof" as they claim. My skepticism was short-lived.

The slightly fibrous texture of the paper makes it great for pencils and standard pens alike. It's not fibrous enough to be snaggy with sharp tips, but it offers enough friction that it gives good control even with smooth, broad writers and glassy nibs. There was not a single feather to be seen, and nothing bled through--not even the fineliner Sharpie. Not even where I literally poured ink on the page. There was some ghosting with the latter two, but hardly any show-through at all for regular writing. Given Colorverse's affinity for outer space, I can only assume this is some kind of alien technology.

With the matte, textured surface of the paper, I did not expect to see much shading or sheening, but both definitely made an appearance. Sheen was a little rarer, only really showing where the ink pooled, but it's definitely there in wetter inks and nibs. Personally, I prefer the way ink looks on more smooth, coated papers, but one major benefit of this paper is dry time, which was surprisingly fast, depending on the ink and nib. In fact, this notebook is now high on my list of ones I'd recommend to left-handed pen addicts.

The Nebula Premium notebooks sell for $20, which puts it on equal footing, price-wise, with most of the notebooks it so closely resembles. Did the market need another clone A5 notebook? No. Is there room for everyone at the table? Yes, and Colorverse has definitely brought some nice treats here to the notebook potluck.

(Goldspot 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, 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!