Yesterday I noticed a display for a new(?) house brand of stationary at Staples, called "M by Staples."

The range includes softcover journals (in a 3 pack), coiled journals & notebooks, hardcover journals, greeting cards, daytimers, and leather-bound legal pads. The paper is a bit creamy with light brown-gray lines, and the texture is fairly smooth. The paper seemed consistent for all the smaller sizes (up to 5x7) but I thought it felt a bit rougher for the 8x11 sizes. (I could be mistaken, though). I thought the hardcover journal was especially attractive.

I bought a 3-pack of 4x6 journals for $6.96 to try. The design is like a mini-moleskine, with a small pocket on the back cover, but it's staple-bound rather than sewn.

I did a pen test on the back page and I was pleasantly surprised. No feathering with any of my pens. I had a tiny amount of bleed through with J. Herbin Lie de The and Diamine Passion Red. My Pelikano with the factory blue ink spread out a lot wider than the nib but did not feather or bleed through. All the inks show a nice consistency and colour on the page. My very wet-writing Parker Vector M-nib produced a surprisingly nice thin line using Private Reserve Black Velvet. Overall the paper is quite smooth and felt very nice to write on.

I can try to do a scan from work this week, if anyone is interested. I am not a good paper & ink analyst.

A couple of negatives:

There is no mention about the paper being acid-free, so I have to assume it isn't.
The printed lines on the page do not soak up ink (except for Lamy blue, it seems).


Neill

Neill, thank you for letting us know about this. I know that the M line is popular in the States, but I have been unable to find any in Canada. I will be keeping my eyes open now, for sure!

Kath in Calgary

Noticed some similar offerings at OfficeMax. I'll know more after I've tested it.

Kath, the M line has just started to appear down here - it's on the ends of the aisles. There's journals and organizers and stuff. The journals didn't really appeal to me so I haven't tried them.

But, I got one of the polypro spiral notebooks from the school notebook aisle - it seems to be a Staple brand name and it's excellent with FP's. The paper is thin so a dark ink does show through a bit, but there is no feathering or bleed through with my wettish, mediumish Pelikan school pens. Maybe not so good for a journal, but good for school.

Thanks, limesally. I need to head out this evening, so I may take a swing by our Staples and take a look at the ends of the aisles.

Kath

Today I used the mini-notebook for the first time in a real life setting and I was very disappointed. Overall the paper feel is great, but the ink smears if touched by your hand long after the ink has actually dried. My notes today have turned into a black & gray spotted mess, as have my finger tips and the heel of my palm.
This is with Private Reserve Black Velvet.

*****
Further update: J. Herbin Lie de The, Lamy Blue, Pelikan Blue, and Platinum Blue-Black do not exhibit any smudging with a slightly moistened finger. So I guess the book will be usable after all, if I remember which inks not to use!
*****

Neill

I found my Private Reserve inks take longer to dry and not smudge on certain papers where other inks there isn't a problem.

I just picked up a 4x6 hardcover, and it's pretty good. Nice journal for the price. Only drawbacks is that the ink does not dry almost instantly on the page like i'm used to with normal notebook paper, takes maybe an extra 3 or 4 seconds, but after it's good to go, and it's not an issue if you're busy writing anyway. Also, the printed lines do not absorb ink, which is a bit odd, but not so bad. This was with my F nib wing sung with parker quink, no feathering, no bleed through. Results were similar, if not the same, with my M nib Phileas filled with Waterman Red.

Nice little journals. I think i'm going to make the line my go-to for stationary now, since i like how these results turned out.

After trying a bit more I've found that my problem was basically with the Private Reserve Ink. I went and tried all my notebooks and the PR Velvet Black smudges on every one I have, even after a month.

So I take back my negative comment about the notebooks, they seem very good and decently priced!!

Neill

Stationery
Stationery
StationERY

Well, it wasn't moving, either.

Neill

LOL!

LEL!

It's been a while since I've been in Staples. I was going to head down to pick up some of the 'M by Staples' journals, this afternoon. I've also been trying to find Quink ink. Anybody ever catch that at Staples?

Thanks.

kip

At Staples here in Edmonton, Quink is usually the only bottled ink available. Blue-black, blue, black, and washable blue are the only ones I've seen. Not all Staples carry all of them, and one Staples never seems to have them (the price sticker is on the shelf but the shelf is always empty).

Neill

My local Staples', (i've been to every one in about a 10 mile radius, which is about 5 or 6 maybe shops), all have M by staples on their own display table right as you come into the store. They're not with the rest of the stationERY ( ), or anywhere else in the store. They also all have Quink, but only in black. Their ink refill selection is just the bare basics, the necessary blacks, and blue if you're lucky. I wish they had more bottled ink selection.