Uk High Street Exercise Books

[twigletzone]

Hi all,

 

Have any UK FPNers found a good source of school type exercise books (the stapled ones rather than wirebound) with FP-friendly paper? Are the Silvine ones you find in Rymans any good? I can order Clairefontaine ones online but it'd be nice to be able to pick one or two up as I need them rather than having to buy in bulk.

[View from the Loft]

My experience with a Silvine has been good, and also the offerings from Rhino Stationery. You will find better value on Amazon for both of these brands.

[my63]

I have bought some great notebooks from tesco and asda made by Nu Co there are also some great deals on their website.

 

http://nuco-direct.com/home-up-to-75-off/

 

Link just in case

[twigletzone]

Oh the Rhino ones look really cool - they have ones with one side blank one side lined for mixed art and writing. I didn't know about those, thankyou!

 

So far I have a Silvine 5mm squared one which is coping OK but I get a bit of bleed-through with my wettest pen, nothing serious, just a tad distracting. I'll have to look into the other paper types

[View from the Loft]

Oh the Rhino ones look really cool - they have ones with one side blank one side lined for mixed art and writing. I didn't know about those, thankyou!

 

So far I have a Silvine 5mm squared one which is coping OK but I get a bit of bleed-through with my wettest pen, nothing serious, just a tad distracting. I'll have to look into the other paper types

 

I haven't tried any of the grid ones from either Silvine or Rhino as 5mm is just too small for my handwriting. However, I am surprised that you have found bleed-through given that my preference is for humungous stub and italic nibs with better than average flow and wet ink, and I haven't found this.

 

The Rhino 70gsm coped OK as a journal for me, but you can search for 80gsm - but I don't think any of their exercise books are better than 70gsm.

[cobalt]

Agree, Tesco for A5 hardbound notebooks. Decent paper, utilitarian.

 

Fabriano in Covent Garden in London has exquisite paper (a toy store for FPNers).

 

If you want to go to France, there is a good selection at Carrefour in Calais. When I was there last week, 5-book bundles of extra large notebooks used in French schools (Seyes ruling). Also stocking Rhodia at good prices.

[twigletzone]

 

I haven't tried any of the grid ones from either Silvine or Rhino as 5mm is just too small for my handwriting. However, I am surprised that you have found bleed-through given that my preference is for humungous stub and italic nibs with better than average flow and wet ink, and I haven't found this.

 

The Rhino 70gsm coped OK as a journal for me, but you can search for 80gsm - but I don't think any of their exercise books are better than 70gsm.

 

I think I said bleed-through when I just meant it shows through to some extent. Been a bit of a dizzy week

 

I'm not really using the grid as a scale for my writing (although my natural x-height is less than a 5mm square), it was just the one they had in stock when I first went down to Rymans. It turns out that a square grid is very handy for ruling 40-degree slanted lines onto the pages for copperplate practise, though - 5 squares across and 6 up!

 

Mainly the reason I want to get hold of a reliable brand of exercise book is that I can then make one of those cheaty homebrew refillable journals using them - in particular it'll be handy for live roleplaying, where I want to be able to write lots of notes about game-related info but not have to carry a heavy properly bound notebook around a field all day. Not that I've yet found a properly LARP-friendly FP, but I live in hope...

 

 

Cobalt - day trips to France are a bit out of my budget just for FP funtimes, lovely as it would be to do I can get Clairefontaine Seyes-ruled exercise books online in the UK anyway, so not a huge issue if I want some. I'm not *quite* snobbish enough to want to use the really luscious paper as yet, I'm sticking to Basildon Bond for now (and thinking of Russ Abbott every time I write a letter on it), but I'll definitely remember to have a look at that place in Covent Garden next time I happen to be in London. It sounds like a treat

 

I actually strongly dislike writing in hard-bound notebooks - I hate the ridge on the left hand side of the right page (I'm a lefty so it gets in my way). If I have to go for utilitarian I use wire-bound ones, which at least open flat, more or less. I like exercise books for much the same reason, but find them more aesthetically pleasing to look at. I have endless choices in the wire bound ones, of which quite a lot use paper good enough for a fountain pen, but then I also have an endless sea of half-used notebooks at home - I'm trying to discipline myself to use them up so that I can ultimately have far fewer *of* them and far nicer paper *in* them!

[cobalt]

Hi TW, yes France for paper is a bit much.

 

You may like Atoma, a Belgian notebook type, with discs to hold the paper together. Cult Pens sells it. I would think it would work for you as you could remove the paper to write on then put it back when done. I don't like tight binding either on many types of notebooks, wanting them to open up flat.