Kokuyo Field Sketch Book 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!)

Usually I like a hardcover notebook when the notebook is large and needs the extra structure to keep it in line. A hardcover on a pocket notebook seems odd--but it's brilliant.

The Field Sketch Book from Kokuyo offer all the marvel of Kokuyo's fantastic paper in a compact but durable package that's perfect for taking on the go. I am a constant pocket notebook user--they're bound scrap paper for me, and I can fill one in a week, easily. But this one has some special features that nudge it into its own category of use, and it's an essential category.

The cover is made from firm resin board that is quite inflexible. It's stronger than heavy cardstock and more closely resembles the hardness of a hardbound fiction book, but it's as thin as cardstock, and very lightweight.

Inside are 40 sheets of Kokuyo's lightweight 3 mm grid paper that is so fine it looks like it will melt if ink is applied, but instead it holds up to almost any ink you throw at it. All liquid inks did well, even in a wet flexy nib, with no bleeding or feathering and almost no show-through. The only ink that bled was the notorious Sharpie.

While I typically use a cardstock pocket notebook like Field Notes for my everyday use, this hardcover version feels great in the hand. At 3.7" x 6.5" it is a little taller than a typical pocket notebook, and that plus the hard cover means it's not great in the back pocket. This notebook will never take on that telling curvature of a well-used back pocket Field Notes. But one thing it is ideal for is being its own surface. Often, when I'm making the kind of note that goes in a pocket notebook, I'm not at a table or desk--I'm on the go. The closest thing I have to a writing surface might be a shopping cart handle or my knee. Having the sturdy hard cover on this pocket notebook means I always have a writing surface when I make my notes. Which is why I've picked one to be my official convention notebook, where I'll be taking notes on panels and readings all day. Its slim profile will make it easy to keep on hand whether I'm shoving it in a tote bag between panels, or in my fancy clutch for the formal evening events.

These have won me over in a big way. I'll keep putting my cardstock pocket notebooks through the wringer every day, but this slim and sturdy $5 workhorse will perfectly meet my needs when I need something just as small, but with more structure and 200% better paper.

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

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Kamio Japan SEPA Pen Case Review

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

In the never-ending journey to find the best pen case for every situation, I picked up a Kamio SEPA case from JetPens. The compartmentalized design spoke to my more organized side, and I figured it was worth a try. After all, even a non-perfect pen case has plenty of use.

The SEPA is a rectangular case that has a zip enclosure that goes around three of the four sides. There are two zips, which is a strange thing in my mind. Either way, the zips are very smooth and easy to operate.

The spine of the case also has a strap that makes it easy to carry or latch to something else with a carabiner. Even though the strap is fairly long, it lays close to the spine of the case to prevent it getting in the way when not in use.

The exterior of the case is made of a sturdy polyester that is soft and pliable. The inside of the case is a lightweight polyester that's really soft to the touch. I don't see longevity being an issue, but the light color and soft fabric mean it will pick up dirt really easily.

Inside the case, there's plenty of built-in organization. The right hand side of the case has a zippered pocket, the left side has two elastic slash pockets, and there's an internal zippered pocket that is attached by two snap buttons to the outer edge of the left side. This middle pocket can easily be removed if you want more open space inside the pouch, and when it's not in the case, it operates as a nice small pouch on its own.

Starting on the right side, the zippered pocket is made of mesh that's easy to see through and find what you need. It works pretty well, but it's not a dimensional pocket. The mesh fabric allows some give and stretch for larger items, but there just isn't much space for jamming lots of small things in the pocket. It's very one dimensional.

The left side of the case is similar in that the pockets don't offer much depth. The slash pockets are two heights, but they're doubled up on each other. I really haven't found much use with the lower pocket since it shares all available space with the taller pocket behind it. It's good for storing really small items, but that's about it. The middle pocket is also mesh, but it's a much finer mesh that doesn't stretch. It's also a flat pocket with no room to stretch, so you're better off storing small objects in this.

With all three areas of the case utilizing flat non-dimensional pockets, this really limits the kind of objects you can store. If anything is dimensional, it takes up more available space since the pocket has to stretch to accommodate it. For example, if the zipper pocket on the right side had some depth, you could store more objects close to the edges of the pocket without any issue. But as it's designed with no give around the edges, everything you store in this pocket ends up getting pushed to the middle of the pocket where there's more give and stretch. The same thing happens with the other pockets as well.

The left side slash pockets are great for clipping pens onto, and it does a great job of keeping them in place. It's even tall enough to accommodate the current Apple Pencil, which is surprisingly not always true with many pen cases. But these pockets suffer from the same problem — no dimension. They look nice and wide, but you can't use all that space due to the flat nature of the pockets. You can easily fit six pens side by side in the space the left side offers, but only four or five will fit when they're slotted behind the slash pocket.

The photos in the JetPens product page really show the best use for this case: lightly packed with semi-flat items in different areas. If you pack each pocket to the max, it will do fine when laying flat open, but you won't be able to close the case. Even with some extra room in the pockets, you still have to consider how everything sandwiches together when you close and zip the case. In many cases I'd have to figure out how to move things around inside to prevent a big bulge in one spot while all the outer edges appeared empty.

My favorite kind of bag or case is the kind that can seemingly store more than you'd assume without looking full. I have many bags and cases that can do this, and they're a real delight. I'm always surprised by what I can fit in them, meaning I can fit more than I initially predicted. And even when they're fully loaded, the don't look like they're stuffed to the max or about to spill over if a zipper pops. There's a real art to designing and making bags and cases that can accomplish this. I imagine there's also a ton of trial and error to get to this point. With the Kamio SEPA case, the effort and design just isn't there. It's a case that comes up short and consistently tricks me into thinking it can hold plenty of stuff. In reality, this case normally holds less stuff than the amount of space the empty case takes up, and that's just disappointing.

If you're only storing small or flat objects, this can work fine as a great organization tool. If you're looking to store and compress a bunch of tools for carrying around and using, there are so many other great options out there.

I happen to have a Nomadic case that is roughly the same exterior size as the SEPA case, but it holds so much more stuff without being bulky. Plus, it's a few bucks cheaper.

The SEPA case comes in a wide variety of colors and designs, which is a large part of what attracted me to the case in the first place. There are plenty of solid colors, but also some options from the Pokemon and Charlie Brown realms. At around $22 to $25, it's a fair price for the materials and quality. I just can't recommend it as a functional case, which really bums me out. I wanted to love this case, but it just frustrated me too much!

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