(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
I’ve been on a bit of a paper kick when I saw notebooks at a nearby Paper Source store and was curious to see how it handled fountain pens. Paper Source had gone bankrupt a few years back and has since been bought by Barnes & Noble. Since the store is near one of my running routes, I decided to buy one for review.
I got the Paper Source A5 Journal Refill in dot grid. They are also available in lined, graph, and undated. It is 5.83” x 8.27” or 15 x 21 cm. The cover is a little bit stiffer than a softcover but thinner and more pliable than hardcover. This is so you can put them into most A5 notebook covers out there, including ones sold by Paper Source, as well as Hobonichi. This was also one of several notebooks I used when reviewing Helen’s Creations A5 notebook cover.
The back of the notebook is minimally branded with the Paper Source logo in gold.
The insides have the same color end papers as the cover.
Neither the notebook band nor the website mentioned the weight of the paper, but it felt slightly thicker than the Leuchtturm 1917, which is 80 gsm, and thinner than Leuchtturm’s 120 gsm paper, so my guess would be ~90 gsm. The Paper Source paper is not as cream-colored as the Leuchtturm but isn’t bright white either; It is slightly cream-colored and also feels smoother than Leuchtturm.
The notebook opens fairly flat, but I don’t consider it truly “lay flat” if I have to hold it down.
This is the first page of the notebook - I hate when it is glued to the end paper such that it needs to be pressed flat to be used.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, when I review notebooks, I do my writing samples in the back of the notebook. This way, I can still use the rest of the notebook starting at the front.
The paper is fairly smooth, but I never felt like my nibs were sliding uncontrolled. I picked a wide range of nibs so that (1) I could see if there was any feathering, (2) if the paper felt equally good to write on with different nibs, and (3) to see how it handled different ink qualities.
Left to right: Platinum 3776 (Stacked Coarse by Gena Salorino), Schon Dsgn Pocket 6 (Masuyama Needlepoint), Platinum 3776 (Broad), Pilot Custom 823 (FA), Leonardo Momento Zero (Stylosuite EF X-Wing Harpoon flex), Kaweco Perkeo (1.1), Penlux Delgado (Broad), Franklin-Christoph (Medium Schon Monoc), Grifos Dante (Medium).
TWSBI Eco (1.1), Pelikan M215 (EF), Scribo Piuma (14kt gold Broad Flex), Visconti Comedia (Medium), Pelikan M800 (Italic Broad), Zodiac Pen Co (Fine Monoline by Kirk Speer), Montblanc 146 (Medium).
Writing samples with a variety of nibs including a stacked Platinum 3776 Coarse and a Masuyama Needlepoint and several in between.
The paper handled the amount of ink laid down by the stacked Coarse nib.
Look at that gorgeous pooling from the X-Wing Harpoon flex nib!
No feathering after the flex writing was dry. I liked the shading from the Vanness Hootenanny ink.
The back of the page showing some ghosting which looks more drastic in pictures than in real life.
More fountain pens up top, and standard pens on the bottom. No ghosting except from the Sharpie, including from the finer tip, which bled through to the other side and onto the back end page.
The Pilot G-2 took a few scribbles before it would write, and the Parker Flighter’s gel refill really didn’t like the paper, and wrote worse than the ballpoint above. Both pens wrote fine on scratch paper. Everything else was fine, including the pencil.
Overall, I was surprised at how well the Paper Source A5 Dotted Journal refill handled fountain pens. I was even more surprised, considering it retails for $14 for 192 pages. This is a great value, considering similar softcover Leuchtturm models cost $25. The only thing I wish this notebook had was numbered pages. I plan on using it as a bullet journal as soon as I’m done with my current notebook (a Leuchtturm 1917). This notebook can be found on the Paper Source website as well as in store.
(Disclaimer: I bought the Paper Source notebook at a local retail store at regular price. All pens and inks used are my own.)
