I have been using bound 200pg. and/or 300pg. square ruled journals for a few years. I saw the Moleskines at the Borders Books; I bought a small and large square ruled to test. Easy to write in since the pad (240pgs) is not too thick. The paper is okay, that is about all I can say. I write in each line and use a fine point, I could get by with a med. but it's too fat. Between writing stuff for a possilble book and my regular journal I can write upwards of 25 pages per day, so the Moleskine helps with fatigue.

Forgive my poor grammar, I have dozed off 3 timea typing

Don't you like the way they lay flat? It makes it easy to cram the most writing onto every page. More value that way, too.

The fact that they lay flat was a big reason for the switch. I was only using the right hand page on the other books so I did lose a lot of paper to write on. I did use the left page for editing which was nice. Maybe I will waffle and use bothe.

We should write petition Moleskine to upgrade their paper; then it would be as close to perfect as possible.

By the way, what is the correct pronounciation?

I can't answer your question about the proper pronunciation. But I will gladly support you in pushing for better paper from Moleskine

The original French pronunciation is mo-less-KEEN (or KIN, depending on your particular accent).

It is pronounced "mol-a-skeen-a," Italian if that helps with inflection. Some people in the U.S. pronounce it "mol-skin" so take your pick. More on such topics at http://www.moleskinerie.com/, http://ninthwavedesigns.typepad.com/ninth_wave_designs/ and http://www.moleskineart.com/.

I have little luck with Private Reserve Inks on moleskine notebooks. Tried about 15 samples of PR ink today. Most inked through and some more terribly than others. Every day ink like Waterman, Pelikan, Pilot, Lamy are okay though.

I only buy Moleskines, because of the design. But the paper quality is still terrible. However, I've found that Pelikan ink works fine, with no bleed through. The Lamy ink I use has dark see-through, but no bleed-through. And my favorite ink, Waterman, is the worst of the bunch with lots of bleed-through.

I'd signed that petition. In fact, I'll signed it twice.

I have every moleskine design and give them as gifts. Apparently I now have many friends and family who adore me. After going on vacation, I have added another drawer full of journals by clairefontaine, miquelrius, and other fine papered ones. My favorite find was a 1958 Diary that had one sentence written in it, and a four leaf clover. It's mint, with no yellowing at all. I am going to use this when the year 2008 comes along, making it 50 years old. My 2 cents, is don't miss out on the great stuff that's out there. 9

The clairefontaine and miquelrius did not live up to my needs. I am gifting them out. So it's only M(s) from now on.

I think my paper/notebook addition is almost as bad as my pen addiction.

I started using Moleskines about a couple years back, traveling with a large notebook and sketchpad in my bike messenger bag wherever I went. I had grown accustomed to Post-It note pads but, before long, the little yellow snippets became cumbersome to keep and pull out when I needed them. The Moleskine notebooks were an excellent solution and I grew accustomed to writing everything from flight confirmation numbers to grocery lists and library book call numbers in its pages. I love ém and keep a sketchbook and notebook in my bag still to this day. Only now, I use Post-It notes mounted IN my Moleskine:) Old habits die hard, eh?

I find it funny how an ex-thought it was weird how I carried a notebook everywhere with me saying that I was probably the only weirdo who took a liking to the little black books. I guess the joke is on her since there seems to be
millions of people out there in the world who do the very same thing!!

i love moleskines. but they are quite selective with inks indeed. the waterman ssb and the pelikan brown is okay, but the visconti burgundy just bleeds through so badly.

Like tankahn, I've found that Private Reserve ink feathers horribly on Moleskines. Does anyone have any experience with Noodler's ink and Moleskines?

I've used Noodler's Luxury Blue, Navy, Polar Black, and Zhivago with a Moleskine. They all work fairly well, with Polar Black and Zhivago working the best. Navy and Luxury Blue are a little slower to dry, but not enough to be a problem.

I have also had problems with PR inks.

@MarkVA1968: I use Noodler's polar black, midnight, kiowa pecan, green, and Widowmaker red on my moleskine notebooks. Using Lamy and Pelikan F nibs, the Noodler's work great.

I did not have the same luck with my M nib Waterman Phileas + Waterman ink combo. The ink feathered horribly rendering the opposite side of the page completely useless.

How about Quink? I'm planning on buying a blank Moleskin journal to start keeping a real one...

I guess mileage varies with inks.

I exclusively use Moleskines and I have used Noodlers (Black, Beaver, Blue Black), Waterman (Black, Florida Blue, South Seas Blue, Blue-Blac), LAMY (Black), Parker Penman (Ebony), Sheaffer Skrip (Black, Blue, Blue Black and Brown) and Aurora Black with a variety of pens and have not had any problems with feathering or bleed through.

Is anyone here really creating a petition to improve Moleskine paper quality? If so, please post the link to the petition since I'm definitely interested in signing that!

Count me in if there is such a petition. Until then is the Pilot G2 with the Moleskine

I've got a bunch of Moleskin notebooks and use mostly PR and Noodlers ink. (Soon, I will be getting Diamine Registrars and will be testing it)

I use mostly fine nibs and haven't ever had a problem with feathering or bleedthrough..

Just about every Private Reserve and Noodler's ink I've tried in the Moleskine works well, allowing for the fact that Moleskine paper is not the most hospitable to FPs. Drying times are somewhat slow with a wet-writing pen, but I have not had any problem with feathering. Some bleed-through can occur, but it's not intrusive, to my eye. I have the pocket-sized book, with ruled pages.

Bleed-through! Both with El Lawrence and the Mata Hari. This is partly because I have to use a wetter pen (Gand Place medium nib) for the inks because Noodler's is very saturated and ends up very dry in dry-writing pens. (The El Lawrence -M205 combination is just horrible.)

Interesting.

I read about everyone having trouble with bleed-through on their Moleskines, but I haven't had much trouble with it. I do have "show through" from the other side of a page, but that happens with just about any pen I use in my Moleskines.

I mostly use Private Reserve ink.

I mostly use the grid moleskines, though. Maybe that makes the difference?

I like the fact that the Moleskines aren't that thick, say as compared to the Miquelrius notebooks.

I have 2 moleskines and 2 clones. One I bought for $1, the other for $3 at a book store.
The clones, not the moleskines. You all know what the moleskines cost.I see very little
difference with the paper. I do use Noodlers black and a fine point. I do not get feathering
on either one, but if the same spot is worked over with ink, its bleeding time.

I have ruled Moleskines and my experience is similar. Show-through, but not much bleed through. Occasionally, but - as has been mentioned - it's with a very wet writer.

When I'm writing in my Moleskine, I trade off pens often, so have a colorful page and lots of inks to see what works and what doesn't.

I like bigger journals, I was always writing in Gallery Leather 7x9's. Recently I found Moleskine X-large but only in the cahiers. 120 pages (60 leaves), and what feels like a slightly thicker paper (my other Moleskine in use now is the daily calender - much thinner paper!)

I would love a hard cover X-large, but I can deal with the Cahiers for now. 360 pages (3 books per pack) for $14.95 works for me! Just need to find a nice cover to insert them into now.

Marc

I've found that the FP compatibility of moleskine paper varies hugely, and it took quite a bit of fiddling to get ink/nib/paper combinations that worked. Pelikan turquoise in a ruled moleskine bled horribly, prompting me to order Noodler's aircorp blue-black, which worked wonderfully with a F or EF nib on the ruled paper.

I've since found that the datebook has the most tolerant paper, followed by the blank book, then the ruled book. I can write in the datebook with an M nib and almost any ink, while the ruled books will only tolerate Noodlers aircorp BB, Lamy blue and Waterman blue. I can't use Private Reserve (I have Blue Suede and Chocolate) in the ruled books at all, they feather and bleed terribly. I still haven't found a turquoise that works well in the ruled book (I've tried Lamy and Pelikan and am certainly willing to try others)

I've carried notebooks around for years, and admit I have gotten totally sucked into moleskines this year, mostly because of the neat, compact design. I actually like the thinner pages, the way they lay flat, the cream colour, and smooth feel. If they could keep all that and make them as FP friendly as the datebook paper, they would be really perfect.

For those of you who use PR with your moleskines - what colours are they?

I have tried Private Reserve, Herbin, Mont Blanc etc. I have found that Noodler's Old Manhattan Blackest Black works best on the Moleskine paper with no feathering or bleed-through.

I have used moleskine journals for a long time. The biggest culprit of bleed-through for me has occurred only with my wet writing pens. As a result, I've tried to stick to fine nibbed pens.

As for inks, I have found that my Noodlers and Waterman inks haven't caused any problems. However, my Levenger Cobalt Blue has been prone to smearing. Interestingly, my Cardinal Green and Cardinal Red have worked fine.

It really isn't a problem though since my journal has so many cross-throughs and re-worked poems, writing, etc. that, if anything, I think it just lends character....almost a sense of being it being "living work."

My best,

Paul

I have been using Moleskines for a bit now and really enjoy them. They do have some limitations. I find that i cannot use a FP with a nib larger than fine and that even with some fine nibs the ink goes through the page. I am using a MB Le Grand with an 18K XF nib and it is perfect, the ink doesn't go through the paper and it makes the XF very smooth.

I've used Moleskines for a couple of years now and love them. However, I've found that my Lamy 2000 - Fine Nib and Lamy Black ink causes feathering and bleed-through.

My Pelikan 605 (with Quink black-blue), Cross Townsend (with Cross carttridge), and my Montblanc 146 (with mont blanc carttridges) would great. Only moderate show-through, but that doesn't bother me because I've had show-through with my previous rollerball pens.

I picked up some Clairefontaine notebooks and like the paper. Too bad the notebooks don't have a black cover with elastic band.

Exacompta journey notebook in black may be what you are looking for smooth French paper (similar to Clairefontaine and Rhodia) with a black cover and and elastic band.

I bought a bunch of pre-China Moleskines and I have no problems, but I dred the day when I will have gone through all my blanks and have to buy more, made in China ones. I'm hoping that I find Exacompta somewhere to replace them.

Even post-China, I love them. I have a fine point (Padrino Breve), which I use on them, and I get no bleed through with either PR. American Blue or Sherwood Green. For some reason, when I lay down Sherwood green with my Retro 1951 Tornado, the paper isn't happy. Doesn't seem to matter with the Padrino.

There is show through, it's part of the paper's charm.

I use mine for book journaling and research notes on the bus/train when commuting around. Even with jostling, it is rather smooth. It lays flat, which makes that whole thing beter. I have the pocket ruled size. Lays right against the book nicely.