[Onion]

I have been watching the discussions of the Moleskin journals and the bleed thru, so can anyone recommend a fountain pen friendly journal?
Thanks!

[KCat]

depends on what you want - you want pretty with leather or the like? Check out the many choices on Pendemonium. They've got a sale there (until midnight) on what look like very nice - but very flowery - journals.

If you want functional and don't care much about appearances - any Clairefontaine notebook, Red-and-Black notebooks (fast becoming my favorite as it's a little less slick than Clairefontaine) and many Japanese notebooks (a little harder to track down in the US if you don't know where to look or have a "connection" are all great. I am guessing I'll stick with the Japanese notebooks I have for creative writing, and go to Red-and-black for "journaling", keeping track of daily tasks, etc.

my .02

[Goodwhiskers]

Red And Black? I've read mentions of that brand here before. Hey, I've seen those in the big-box office supply stores around here! Thanks for the reminder, KCat!

[Stephen-I-am]

Black n' Red has a website too.

I've never seen these at an office depot -- maybe I'll have to take a closer look.

Stephen

[M4R1N4]

Thanks for the link Stephen! I've been reading about these for a while, but didn't know where to find them. Good website!

[Goodwhiskers]

Now, I wonder how to replace the ballpoint in that nifty digital note-taking pen , so that the video camera would still aim at the right spot!

[KCat]

Stephen-I-am, on Feb 20 2006, 11:02 PM, said:

Black n' Red has a website too.

I've never seen these at an office depot -- maybe I'll have to take a closer look.

Stephen

my OD only started carrying them recently. I found some left-overs that were cheap and tried one and liked it a great deal. So when I went back and discovered a shelf devoted to various sizes/styles, I snagged a couple then. I like that they take ink very well without smearing while sometimes Clairefontaine will allow inks to sit on top of the paper too long. But the R&B notebooks are still FP friendly if just a tad rougher. Just enough for "feedback" to my hand.

I've heard of folks who like Mead and such but I've just never been able to use those comfortably with my pens. Guess I'm pretty picky.

[Goodwhiskers]

KCat, on Feb 21 2006, 04:01 PM, said:

my OD only started carrying them recently.

Office Depot = OD, indeed! Over-drooling on paper and desk supplies (and spending), that is. Then there's Staples, which a person can become attached to, and Office Max, which can describe one's credit card balance . . . .

[Goodwhiskers]

But seriously, folks, back onto the topic for Johnny Mannion:

If you want a tough (sewn and hardcover) journal with 300 pre-numbered pages of bleedthrough-resistant paper, look at the National® brand 56-907 "L-R" journal. It has become harder to find , but it is still in production (or at least still in some distributors' stock). Its stock barcode is 073333569070, it's made in Canada, and I paid $22.35 USD plus sales tax for the one I bought two years ago (an old-style neighborhood stationery store in Altadena ordered it for me). I'm using it while developing teaching materials.

[Stephen-I-am]

M4R1N4, on Feb 21 2006, 07:24 AM, said:

Thanks for the link Stephen! I've been reading about these for a while, but didn't know where to find them. Good website!

No problem.

I'm going to try to get a hardcover 96 page book and compare it to the engineering notebook I currently have. (The Book Factory engineering notebook does not feather as does moleskine, but bleedthrough is an issue; apparently their journal notebook uses higher quality but off-white paper).

Stephen

[Escribiente]

Johnny,
I have been using Moleskine notebooks since 2001. Before that, I went through every single brand I could find. None of them matched the simplicity, design and usability of Moleskine journals. I write fiction, and a notebook is for me is a portable workshop.
Lately two things have surprised me. The first one is the popularity of a notebook that back in 2001 I had to special order. The second is the complaints about bleeding.
Unless you have a large handwriting, and use a wet Broad Nib, or a Broad Stub, bleeding through is not a likely problem. It is true that in the past two years they seem to be using a different kind of paper. And it is also true that some ink-nib combinations are prone to feathering and bleeding. But some experimentation will help you avoid those problems. These are the inks and nibs that have worked fine for me in the past five years.

• Inks: Aurora Black & Blue, Waterman Havana Brown, Blue-Black & Green, Parker Quink, and finally the Indigo mix
  
• Nibs: Nakaya MF, Omas FS, Pelikan 800 F & XF, Marlen XF, Pelikan 4xx F & M; Aurora XF, F & M, Tibaldi XF & F

As for the other advantages of Moleskine journals:

• They have an unobtrusive rubber band that keeps it closed.
  
• They lay flat while you write.
  
• Paper is a light ivory which is easy on the eyes.
  
• They have a pocket for bits and pieces.
  
• They have a ribbon to mark pages.

Whether you get a Moleskine, or any other journal, I strongly suggest to have a piece of blotting paper cut to the same size as the page.

[TheRover]

Here are a few places that I don't think have been mentioned. For the last one, it is in Rome but they'll ship to you. Just email 'em. These are all a little pricey but the paper and bindings are extremely nice. I have a journal from pantheon.roma and it really is cool. Amalfi paper is about as good as it gets.


http://www.renaissan...om/default.aspx

http://www.epica.com/index.htm

http://www.crane.com/navDepartment.aspx?Na...ournalsandBooks

http://www.pantheon-...uAlbumPelle.htm

[Jestre]

TheRover, on Feb 27 2006, 02:13 PM, said:

Here are a few places that I don't think have been mentioned. For the last one, it is in Rome but they'll ship to you. Just email 'em. These are all a little pricey but the paper and bindings are extremely nice. I have a journal from pantheon.roma and it really is cool. Amalfi paper is about as good as it gets.

Those are some nice sites... I love those older style journals! Unfortunately, once I buy them, I cannot bring myself to actually start writing in them. So they sit on a shelf, and I use a small Moleskine for my journal.

[sfeinman]

There are two manufacturers paper and journalls I like to use. Clairfontaine a french firm, makes pads as well as bound note books and journals. They use a 23# vellum I believe. Pendemonium carries a wide range of their products. Eureka Lab Books, Inc makes scientific and professional ournalsof the highest quality. They have lab books, professional journals and and a smaller journal.

[Stephen-I-am]

sfeinman, on Mar 2 2006, 09:46 PM, said:

There are two manufacturers paper and journalls I like to use. Clairfontaine a french firm, makes pads as well as bound note books and journals.  They use a 23# vellum I believe. Pendemonium carries a wide range of their products. Eureka Lab Books, Inc makes scientific and professional ournalsof the highest quality

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I wonder how the "#1 sulfite, watermarked, Eureka Ledger paper" will work with fountain pens and how it would compare to Clairefontaine paper.

I have an engineering journal from BookFactory. I really like the page layout and the grid paper that has fine vertical lines and darker horizontal lines. The lines are formed with more or fewer black dots and so look gray-- which unlike Clairefontaine's purple grid (which I detest) does not clash with any color ink. The paper itself I would describe as a step above Moleskine paper. It does not feather but there is some bleedthrough, even with Noodlers black.

Stephen