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Was so pleased to discover the Black n' Red poly spiral notebooks and finally see what ink looks like on nice paper. I got a couple of the little 4x6 ones, thinking to get rid of the nasty little memo pads I keep on my desk but these little ones are $3 and change. Last time I was at Walmart, I came across a similar spiral, Blue Sky Smart Notes - double-wire lay-flat, poly covers, a little narrower and a bit taller. I was leery at first, the paper wasn't as thick as the BnR but it was definitely better quality than the memo books and the surface felt fairly smooth when I ran my finger over it so I decided to try one out. The front-facing side is narrow ruled with a margin line and a subject and date box across the top; the rear side is a grid. Both pages have a thin border line around the edge which does cut into the usable space slightly. The paper was a pleasant surprise. It's not quite as bright as the BnR but show-through was minimal on almost all the inks I tried, with some bleed-through from the usual suspects - slight with Vert Empire and Levenger Claret, slightly more with Dark Lilac and, of course, Pervenche and Twilight. Shading shows nicely on most shady inks (even Twilight, though not Pervenche); sheen is exhibited as well, obvious with Lilac and Oku-yama thicker lines on wetter writers, and more subtly on finer lines, as with the Yama-dori. Nice thing is the price, $1.88. Not a replacement for the BnR but a decent alternative that saves a little dosh.

I love Rhodia products, but I really wish they would make them in popular US sizes rather than just European (metric) sizes. Two examples are composition books and 3.5“ x 5.5” side-stitched notebooks (like the Moleskine Cahier and Field Notes Brand notebooks). Neither of these sizes is available from Rhodia (although its parent company, Clairefontaine, offers some 3.5“ x 5.5” notebooks that aren’t as easy to find). And Rhodia does have a smallish 7.5 x 12 cm 48 page notebook that would be just perfect if it was a bit larger. I have nice leather covers that fit these two sizes and I would love to fill them with Rhodia notebooks! Clairefontaine/Rhodia has hinted that they may be open to producing composition-sized notebooks if there is enough interest. How do you feel? Would you be interested in these size notebooks? Let Clairefontaine/Rhodia know via their U. S. distributor, Exaclair: http://www.exaclair.com/contact.php Take a quick survey on this subject: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TG6SM7C Article here: http://thefrugalfountainpen.blogspot.com/2015/05/is-rhodia-missing-boat.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281089063455?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 I read some good reviews of Muji notebooks being fountain pen friendly so I ordered a couple different Muji notebooks. The spiral bound Muji notebooks will be coming in soon. Details: selling price is about $7, $3 shipping (you can haggle for a slightly cheaper price)about 5.8" by 4.1"144 sheets, not pages, of cream colored paperPro's: very smooth creamy colored paperbeautiful minimalist appearanceresists bleedthroughcould probably withstand very wet and broad nibs, but the feathering might make writing with wide nibs unbearableCons: Some inks will feather on this paper, the feathering I noticed was bearable but slightly noticeable.Showthrough occurs, but isn't noticable if you write on both sides of the page. Recommended? It's not a terrible notebook. I'm looking forward to finding a use for it (I misjudged the size of the book upon ordering, I was looking for a slightly larger book for class notes. ). It's competitively priced against Black n Red, Rhodia, and Clairefontaine notebooks which have amazing reviews and quality control (I haven't tried those brands yet). To be honest I'd recommend notebooks from the previously mentioned brands, the pictures of ink performance on those papers show much better fp friendliness than this paper. http://24.media.tumblr.com/bd576b69df00613736e2390777c6bc5a/tumblr_mnmta3AbRP1r4c920o1_500.jpg http://25.media.tumblr.com/22ef75b0155f601c3aa1205bdbc8077f/tumblr_mnmta3AbRP1r4c920o2_1280.jpg http://25.media.tumblr.com/de3c75e9c6da34d111df0e00966071a9/tumblr_mnmta3AbRP1r4c920o3_1280.jpg http://24.media.tumblr.com/7aa118a191952dafec0854dd439aa712/tumblr_mnmta3AbRP1r4c920o4_1280.jpg http://24.media.tumblr.com/033164c46627b340742d7dd7bf68307b/tumblr_mnmta3AbRP1r4c920o5_1280.jpg