Life Noble Paper And Covers

[fncll]

Has anyone tried the LIFE Noble paper as sold at Nanami:

http://www.nanamipaper.com/products/life-noble-notebook-section-japan.html

 

I've used a fair number of Japanese notebooks, so comparisons to Apica, Kokuyo, etc. would be welcome

 

Also wondering if the LIFE leather cover is as good as it sounds since it is slightly pricy:

http://www.nanamipaper.com/products/life-noble-notebook-covers.html

[bitterwonder]

Have used the blank Noble Notes and am fond of it. Draw on it, it seems to take a beating. I make wash drawings (use a waterbrush to dissolve my fountain pen line) then work back into it.

Cant compare it for you as I use lots of kinds of paper and dont know if I have used the ones you have mentioned.

 

Why would you need a cover? The paper covers are pretty sturdy and I keep mine in a baggie if I am dragging it around a lot.

Whatever paper I use, I cut a sheet of cheap bond paper to us e behind the sheet I am working on.

[chiaroscuro]

The paper is world's above Apica. Very FP friendly and it feels smooth though it is "foolscap" (lines and colums "watermarked"). The cream color is a bit lighter than Moleskine, kind of like the newer Quo Vadis (less gray and much more yellow than Apica). The only downside is that the binding isn't as tight as Tsubame, for example, but it's good enough. The blank A5 is my current favorite.

[chiaroscuro]

Also wondering if the LIFE leather cover is as good as it sounds since it is slightly pricy:

http://www.nanamipaper.com/products/life-noble-notebook-covers.html

The covers are made of vinyl.

[Gloucesterman]

I have SO MUCH paper and I just asked a friend (almost wrote fiend ) who headed to London, England today to bring me back some NuCo notebooks!!

[Wonder Pens]

I also love the Life Noble Note paper! It handles fountain pens really well.

[fncll]

A followup: the Life series of paper/notepads/notebooks is *excellent*. I ended up purchasing the Life L., Life Cream, Life Bank, and Life Airmail pads. The Life Bank paper is my favorite: light laid finish and watermarked. The Life Cream is a nice, darker cream/ivory and the horizontal format is fun. The airmail is fun to play with and handles ink quite well given it's extreme thinness.

I'm a very happy camper.

Incidentally: the Tomoe River pads are a good deal at Nanami.

[napalm]

The Life Bank paper is my favorite: light laid finish and watermarked.

 

I just got some and I found it to be quite absorbent, diffusing the ink - very similar to copier paper in this respect. "L. Writing Paper" was way better.

Edited June 21, 2014 by napalm

[crbrown]

I've purchased the L!fe Noble Notebook in A5 blank and the paper performs very well however I did not like the ivory color, it was just too dark for my taste. Actually darker than Moleskine to my eye. There was also a weird binding issue for me is that there is a 5mm strip of the cover was inbetween the pages after the first and before the last signatures. The cover looked pretty durable however. In the end I'm using a Clarefontaine notebook with a Muji cover.

[Inked]

 

I just got some and I found it to be quite absorbent, diffusing the ink - very similar to copier paper in this respect. "L. Writing Paper" was way better.

 

Really. Copier paper?

 

The Life Bank Paper is nothing like the copier paper I have come across.

 

Maybe I am misunderstanding your statement, but I really do not see the correlation between the two papers.

 

Inked

[ItwasLuck]

Sorry for bumping a very old thread but I am looking to order 3000 pages of either Apica CD-15, Life Noble B5, or Monokaki N4 notebook. Which should I go with, and factoring international shipping costs, I believe Monokaki might actually be the most economical in terms of cents per sheet after factoring shipping!

 

Would love to hear anyone's opinion on this. And yes I do a lot of writing, I have to refill my 823 on a daily basis. Running out my sweet Iroshizuku Take-Sumi =./ pretty soon.

I hear that the Kotobukiya paper is quite good. Slightly heavier than Tomoe River 54gsm but much lighter than Apica/Life 80gsm.

 

Please note fast drying is quite important for me, smoothness only has to be a 7/10 for quick dry times preferably. My 823's medium nib is buttery smooth on copy paper so I don't require an extra smooth paper like Clairfontaine.

Edited October 9, 2016 by ItwasLuck

[ink-syringe]

The L!fe pads a are wonderful. Some of the books are more expensive and a few have that weird too dark cream/brown color that I don't care for but the L!fe Plain Color of Paper B5 pads are fantastic. I prefer them to Tomoe River or MD. I wish they were a little cheaper ...

But the king, the best, always and forever are the Tsubame Fools notebooks. Amazing paper, one of the few I notebooks I can use both sides on, lay flat, and really great prices. $4 for 50 page B5 notebook here. I go through a ton of them.

But here is a question: The Apica books looks similar, I also notice that L!fe, Tsubame, and Apica all seem to be imported here together and are kept in the same place and have a similar sticker on them. I wonder what the relationship is between these companies if any at all. For years I thought that L!fe, Tsubame were the same company.

The paper is really great. I haven't bought Clairefontaine or Rhodia in years.

[ItwasLuck]

 

The L!fe pads a are wonderful. Some of the books are more expensive and a few have that weird too dark cream/brown color that I don't care for but the L!fe Plain Color of Paper B5 pads are fantastic. I prefer them to Tomoe River or MD. I wish they were a little cheaper ...

But the king, the best, always and forever are the Tsubame Fools notebooks. Amazing paper, one of the few I notebooks I can use both sides on, lay flat, and really great prices. $4 for 50 page B5 notebook here. I go through a ton of them.

But here is a question: The Apica books looks similar, I also notice that L!fe, Tsubame, and Apica all seem to be imported here together and are kept in the same place and have a similar sticker on them. I wonder what the relationship is between these companies if any at all. For years I thought that L!fe, Tsubame were the same company.

The paper is really great. I haven't bought Clairefontaine or Rhodia in years.

 

 

Thanks for the reply =)

 

Excluding shipping I am looking at the following prices for each notebook:

Life Noble B5 Notebook = $0.05/page

Apica CD-15 Notebook = $0.024/page

Tsumbame Fools Notebook = $0.025/page

Monokaki N4 Notebook = $0.042/page

 

Considering the prices the Apica are half the price of the Life notebooks and I believe the two are quite simliar in terms of quality. The Tsubame and Apica are tied in terms of price but I hear the Tsubame notebooks are considered "mid-range" so I am avoiding them. The Apica's I am getting for 50% discount off the normal prices from a contact in Japan. =D

 

The Monokaki on the other hand is supposively the best kind of japanese paper available it's basically a slightly heavier version of Tomoe River paper that is untreated yet retains the same qualities of TR without the long dry times. Tomoe River paper is treated so it is very sensitive to oils and humidity and considering where I am living at right now, that is a big no no.

 

As to Life, Tsubame, and Apica, I believe they are all separate entities but make similar designed notebooks because that's just how the japanese are Just look at the big 3 in Japan, Pilot, Platinum and Sailor

 

Would love input on anyone who has tried Monakaki before. I'm pretty sure I could get a good enough discount from them to bring the costs per page down to something similar to Life Noble after shipping of course.

 

In the end I am considering Life/Apica but due to their weight, I'll end up paying almost double per page so I am looking into Monokaki that is not only 25% lighter but should provide plenty of pages for me per notebook. 320 pages in a similar thickness to 200 pages of Apica Premium CD is just so amazing.

 

In the end I'm leaning towards Monokaki and then Apica, now if only I can find a nice leather cover for Monokaki N4s!

Edited October 9, 2016 by ItwasLuck

[dezorz]

Hello,

 

I have tried all of these notebooks.

 

In terms of bleedthrough and feathering all of them are about the same. Monokaki is lightest and is not threated, it feels like any other typical notebook paper. Life is watermarked and hardest, silky, but still not as hard as kokuyo or graphillo or clairfountaine. (all of these, it feels like writing on a piece of plastic).

 

so, all of them (apica, monokaki, life), it is a joy to write on.

 

as for sheen, all of them, as japanesse paper, presents more sheen then rhodia or clairfontaine. apica presents least sheen of them, monokaki is second, life is best. of course, none of them beats tomoe river or graphillo.

 

they all dry for about same time, faster than tomoe or graphillo. ink on apica doesnt look as good as on monokaki or life. it is less vibrant. i, myself, bought most of japanese notebooks from rakuten, tsubame being the cheapest (and worst), apica and kokuyo second cheapest, remaing notebooks being about equally expensive, monokaki most expensive. I preffer A6 format, unfortuantelly life noble is note made in this format.

 

the best for the quality of paper and price is tomoe river, loose sheets and making notebooks on our own. this is what i do. tomoe has some faults, but it is best compromise. unfortunatelly, not many a6 tomoe river notebooks are sold, so i ended making them by myself.

[ItwasLuck]

Hello,

 

I have tried all of these notebooks.

 

In terms of bleedthrough and feathering all of them are about the same. Monokaki is lightest and is not threated, it feels like any other typical notebook paper. Life is watermarked and hardest, silky, but still not as hard as kokuyo or graphillo or clairfountaine. (all of these, it feels like writing on a piece of plastic).

 

so, all of them (apica, monokaki, life), it is a joy to write on.

 

as for sheen, all of them, as japanesse paper, presents more sheen then rhodia or clairfontaine. apica presents least sheen of them, monokaki is second, life is best. of course, none of them beats tomoe river or graphillo.

 

they all dry for about same time, faster than tomoe or graphillo. ink on apica doesnt look as good as on monokaki or life. it is less vibrant. i, myself, bought most of japanese notebooks from rakuten, tsubame being the cheapest (and worst), apica and kokuyo second cheapest, remaing notebooks being about equally expensive, monokaki most expensive. I preffer A6 format, unfortuantelly life noble is note made in this format.

 

the best for the quality of paper and price is tomoe river, loose sheets and making notebooks on our own. this is what i do. tomoe has some faults, but it is best compromise. unfortunatelly, not many a6 tomoe river notebooks are sold, so i ended making them by myself.

 

Thanks for the very informative reply! I will definitely go for the Life Noble over the Apica. Some japanese guy told me the Life Noble did better in in terms of less feathering than Apica but the Apica did slightly better in dry times. As for Tomoe River paper, Osazaki recommends not using it because of the humidity issues. And here in South East Asia, humidity is always above 85%, so yeah.

I do a lot of writing so I'm not interested in using blotting paper or writing mats under the page every time I write. So this brought Monokaki to my attention.

I will still give Tomoe River paper (getting 100 sheet pads for 6 bucks) a try but I think I've decided on Life Noble and I'll order some Monokaki N4 just for curiosity.

 

Getting 8KG worth of shipment from Japan, yikes this month I've been spending way too much! Pisuke was nice enough to cut the shipping down 1/3rds though, and I'm still getting EMS shipping =D So there's that at least.