Hi all,

I have a Pomegranate 7x5 journal with leather cover, the one with the pretty Frank Lloyd Wright stuff all over it if you're interested. It was a present, and much loved, but will soon be full. I've had a long and fruitless exchange with their customer service department regarding sourcing replacement refills, the bottom line being that they're very expensive and difficult to get hold of in the UK.

So, I'm wondering if you lovely people can help me find something else to go inside this cover. 7 by 5 inches and with a soft cover, available in the UK and preferably not an arm and a leg.

My thanks in advance

Add a picture and/or the thickness and you might get more responses.

Yes, and if you have a URL for the original that would help quite a bit, perhaps the UPC.

Also, take a picture of the paper with a ruler on it, so we can see the lines, and let us know if you would mind if they were further apart or closer together. How does this paper do with your pen(s)? What kind of pens and their size (e.g. "wet writer, medium nib" or "fine nibbed, dry writer" or ...).

What the the dimensions of the...insert? Do the corners need to be rounded?

Sorry, you didn't give us enough to go on.

No problem, thanks all for the constructive criticism! Clearly I am in the company of experts.

http://pomegranate.stores.yahoo.net/aa117.html Here's the original journal.

I'm not particularly bothered about line spacing, or at least it's not at the top of my priority list.

The insert itself is 7 by 5 inches, no round corners, about 12mm deep at the spine.

As for pens, I prefer a fairly wet medium nib.

I hope that lot helps, and thanks for your help

Oh yeah, they charge a LOT for international shipping. I'll PM you.

That they do! Thanks *awaits PM eagerly*

PM just sent, but for other readers, shipping international seems to be very expensive and it makes the Pomegranate price seem less bad (shipping to a location in the US, then shipping to the UK add up to about the same as their shipping cost to the UK).

But the best price I found, in the time I've had, is First Class US Postal service, does anyone know if there are cheaper rates? I couldn't find international parcel--does it exist? Link? What about DHL or such?

So can anyone provide a source for a 7x5 in refill? I'm interested too. Thanks!

Thanks to Excarnate for the research, but it seems to indicate that getting hold of Pomegranate refills is, to say the least, challenging in the UK.

I'd settle for a replacement 7x5 refill from someone else if anyone can recommend one, but I'm having trouble tracking any down.

Probably the best would be if someone knew they were visiting the UK in a couple months and didn't mind carrying it over.

The only 5x7's I could find in the UK were Paperblanks but they didn't seem to be refills but rather bound notebooks.

It seems that a combination of true shipping costs + a built-in profit margin by Pomegranate make it rather expensive. At least the exchange rate is rather good right now for those in the UK.

If it wasn't something special (and the leather does seem nice) I'd suggest switching. Maybe it is possible to have a nice paper cut to the right size (my wife's idea: Take something that might be too tall but otherwise fits and have it trimmed).

A Clairefontaine Cloth-Bound Notebook (product code C9606), which is available in 4.75" x 6.75", might work. My primary reservation is that your current refill has 72 sheets, but the Clairefontaine notebook has 96 sheets. The Clairefontaine notebook might therefore be too thick for your leather cover, unless you remove some sheets (and of course use them for some other purpose). I should also point out that the Clairefontaine notebook has round corners.

I haven't tried this particular notebook, but I have tried Clairefontaine's "Pupitre" tablet as well as Triomphe stationery. Clairefontaine is my gold standard for FP friendly paper.

Exacompta has some refills for their "Nostalgie" line that is marketed as 5x7. It's called "Basics" from their website (page 2 of the pdf): http://exaclair.com/catalogs/exacompta_journals_refills.html

From their website:
Basics
• Smooth satin finish, pH neutral white 80 g paper
• Brown board cover
365 undated pages and info 5 x 7 E1401
Blank 200 sheets E1400
Graph 200 sheets E1404

I've used the 365 undated pages & info version, and love it! (No affiliation, standard disclaimer.) Typical smooth Clairefontaine paper feel, and the lines don't widen on the page. The paper is a bit thin, though, which may bother you. I haven't had problems with bleedthrough (meaning the ink doesn't dot the next page), but it does have some showthrough/shadowing on the back. It doesn't bother me, since I only write on one side of the page, but some people may not like this.

I'm not sure what the best source of this in the UK is--maybe someone else can help?

Good news, everybody! I may have found a solution. I don't know if it is fountain pen friendly, maybe someone can comment?

It is a Barnes & Nobel 5x7 journal refill, it is $5, it is 14mm thick (too thick?), UPC/EAN 9780765536798. See the (cellphone camera but I tried to white balance them) pictures below:

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Many thanks, just ordered some of these. We don't have B&N on this side of the pond, but their airmail rate is much more reasonable. I think we've discovered a wider lack of 5x7" notebooks in Europe - is it an American thing?

Excarnate,
So did you receive your 5X7's yet? How is the quality with FPs? I order a couple to try out as that is a journal that will actually fit my current cover.

Sorry toms252, I didn't realize that excarnate had just seen them but not used them while you actually ordered them. What was your take on these if you have received them now?

They're not here yet, but I'll be sure to post in this thread when they arrive. Watch this space...

Well, they're here. Not much to say really, they do everything I want them to! They fit the cover perfectly, have round corners and a ribbon marker. I'm getting very slight bleed-through, but it's really nothing to worry about, and I'm picky about these things!

If you've got any questions I'll do my best to answer them.