Review: Whitelines Saddle Stich A4 Squared Notebook

First of all, I would like to thank Notebook Stories for bringing the very cool Whitelines Notebooks to my attention, because prior to this blog post, I had never heard of them.  Secondly, I would like to thank Cat for posting on her Twitter feed that Whitelines Notebooks were buy three, get the fourth free at Amazon.com (and they still are).  And finally, Visa would like to thank me for allowing them to purchase a minimum of $25 of these notebooks from Amazon (free shipping!) - my bill is looking quite healthy this month.  Go-go Internets!

Once my package arrived from Amazon, I put the Whitelines Saddle Stitch A4 Squared Notebook to good use right away.  I used it at work for a week straight with all kinds of different pens, and other than one exception that I will get to, it passed with flying colors.  One thing I was concerned about in the beginning were how my colored inks performed on the grey background, and honestly, they looked as good, if not better on the Whitelines paper than some white or ivory paper I have used.  The colors looked completely as expected, and hopefully that came through in the photograph.  The one type of pen that did not work that well were my plastic tip pens like the Sharpie Pen.  I did the review with a black Sharpie Pen, and it did ok, but my blue Sharpie Pen seemed to drag across the page a little bit - almost like the paper was dry if that makes any sense.  I tested with a blue Sakura Pigma Micron and it was essentially the same.  Not terrible, but the lines were not as solid as my gel ink pens.

Overall though, this notebook far exceeded my expectations.  At just $4.50 a pop for 96 pages of 11.5x8.0 Whitelines goodness, you really can't go wrong.  Please note that this notebook has a very soft and flexible cover, essentially just a bit thicker than the paper itself.  If you are wanting a stronger backing, they also have Wire Bound, Perfect Bound, and Hard Bound models.  Just do a search for Whitelines on Amazon.com and you will see them all.

Ink Links

-- My Writing Tools: Moleskine, Franklin Covey and Parker 45  (Maricar Macalincag)

-- Sakura Sumo Grip II Pen Test  (Late to the Party)

-- Yafa Ink Cartridge Fountain Pen  (Frindling)

-- Parker Jotter  (My Supply Room)

-- HI-TEC-C Coleto Multi Pen  (The Pen Archives)

-- Blackpack  (Unposted)  (don't miss this one!)

-- Antique writing equipment  (You Don't Say)

-- Pentel EnerGel Times Three  (Pens and Pencils)

-- Jac Zagoory Pen Holders and Pen  (Office Supply Geek)

-- Is it really cheaper to use bottled ink?  (Writer's Bloc Blog)

-- The Exaboard: A better clipboard  (Quo Vadis Blog)

-- The Sign Pen  (Good Pens)

-- Colleen Woods Pencils  (Pencil Talk)

-- Recent Copic Videos  (I Like Markers)

-- The Parker 21 Curse – Another Word for Nerd  (Another Word for Nerd)

-- Notebooks as Evidence  (Notebook Stories)

-- My Pens Love the Exacompta Forum Journal  (An Inkophile's Blog)

-- Uniball Signo Bit 0.7  (Blue Ink)

-- Review: NEW Rhodia Webnotebook with 90g Clairefontaine paper - Sweet!!!  (Spiritual Evolution of the Bean)

Review: Zebra Sarasa Stick 0.3mm Black

I received my first Zebra Sarasa Stick from fellow pen addict Bryan in Japan, and it has been a very enjoyable writing experience.  When I saw that JetPens started stocking this pen - and in loads of colors and sizes to boot - I was anxious to add a few 0.3mm models to my collection.  A few clicks later, and new pens were on their way!

I ordered two - one black ink, and the other purple.  I broke out the purple first, and it was fine for a while, then it got a little skippy.  I set it down in favor of the black to do the review, and the black was cruising right along until it hit a dry patch about halfway through the page.  It only lasted for two words and then was right back to normal, and didn't happen again.  I didn't stop writing with it in an effort to see how long it would go before picking up again.  Fortunately it wasn't too long.  I haven't run into this issue with my 0.4mm version, and I'm wondering if I just didn't get these pens warmed up enough before putting them to the test.  I do run across pens from time to time that need a little more ink flow and friction before settling into a good writing groove.  Maybe these fall into that category.  I like the look and feel of this pen a lot, so I will give them a little more time before making a final decision.

Has anyone else experienced this with this particular pen?

Click Here for the XL review.