Taroko Shop’S Mystique Notebook Review

[GranTorino25]

Hey guys!

 

I have a little blog that I have started up, reviewing some fountain pen friendly papers and notebooks, as this is often an overlooked area of the fountain pen and ink world! I have already run the rule over a fair few of the better known papers and notebooks.

 

Today I reviewed a notebook from Taroko Shop (who run an Etsy store out of Taiwan)- their Mystique notebook, which has 352 pages of A5 Orchid Paper. I was quite interested by the unique paper of their own making, and gave it a thorough workout! See my blog post for the full review 🙂

 

(Feel free to share with friends, other pages, etc. The more who get to read, the happier I am!)

 

You can view the blog at this link: https://fountainpenfriendlyblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/08/the-mysterious-mystique-notebook-review/

Edited March 8, 2018 by GranTorino25

[Arcadian]

Amazingly thorough review - respect!

[GranTorino25]

Thank you it took a while to put all my thoughts into words, but it always feels worth it!

[inkstainedruth]

Interesting. Do you know if these are available anywhere in the US? And if they come with anything other than dot-grid (say, lined or -- even better -- blank pages)?

I'm kinda in the market for a large capacity journal at the moment. I'm down to my last Miquelrius 300 pager, and I can no longer find the Miquelrius-USA website.... I contacted them through their main website a few weeks ago but have so far gotten zero response. Just sent them a second message (asking if I needed to have a friend of mine who is half Spanish contact them in either Spanish or Galego) which MIGHT just get their attention.... [Yes, some crazy American who doesn't speak Spanish knows what Galego is.... ]

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[GranTorino25]

I believe they only sell directly from theit website (shipping isn't too bad!). The mystique only comes in for grid but their Enigma (68gsm Tomoe river) can be either blank or for grid at your choice

[inkstainedruth]

I believe they only sell directly from theit website (shipping isn't too bad!). The mystique only comes in for grid but their Enigma (68gsm Tomoe river) can be either blank or for grid at your choice

 

Well the prices aren't too bad for the Mystique (although I'm not overly enamored of dot grid paper). But shipping and duty charges are going probably be deal breaker.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[GranTorino25]

Unfortunately living in Australia I'm used to hefty shipping on anything so these seem quite reasonable to me, but it does add a bit to the price! I tend to buy multiples of my notebooks from them to spread the shipping out

[El Gordo]

Just sent them a second message (asking if I needed to have a friend of mine who is half Spanish contact them in either Spanish or Galego) which MIGHT just get their attention.... [Yes, some crazy American who doesn't speak Spanish knows what Galego is.... ][/font]

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

I think they are located in Barcelona.

[inkstainedruth]

Just sent them a second message (asking if I needed to have a friend of mine who is half Spanish contact them in either Spanish or Galego) which MIGHT just get their attention.... [Yes, some crazy American who doesn't speak Spanish knows what Galego is.... ][/font]

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

I think they are located in Barcelona.

 

Oh, well, I don't think she speaks Catalan....

Although she did say that when she was taking French in school she was driving the teacher nuts because she was speaking it with a Spanish (as opposed to an American) accent.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[GranTorino25]

I went to edit my original post, but it doesnt want to let me! So Ill add a bit of a summary from the blog here, for easier viewing

 

So, in summary:

 

*Very little bleed-through, and none seen when writing

*A reasonable amount of show-through, but similar to other papers of similar gsm

*Almost zero sheen except for the incredible Nitrogen Royal Blue

*Very quick dry-times, especially compared to Tomoe River

 

The notebook really is quite nice, and these properties combine well for someone who wants to use this as a bullet journal, daily diary, lecture note-taking, and similar activities. For those people who are sheen-lovers, this notebook isnt for you- but unless it was 52 gsm Tomoe River, you probably knew that already!!

[inkstainedruth]

Well, I did track down Miquelrius' US website. Contacted them about getting their 300 page journals but so far have not heard back yet.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Gloucesterman]

Well, I did track down Miquelrius' US website. Contacted them about getting their 300 page journals but so far have not heard back yet.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Hi "ISR", Have you checked out Barnes & Noble for one of these journals? They used to (haven't been there in a while) carry a good selection of these Miquelrius book, notebooks and journals.

 

Just a thought... Wish you well. BTW, we have another Storm on the way for next week - so they say!

[inkstainedruth]

Hi "ISR", Have you checked out Barnes & Noble for one of these journals? They used to (haven't been there in a while) carry a good selection of these Miquelrius book, notebooks and journals.

 

Just a thought... Wish you well. BTW, we have another Storm on the way for next week - so they say!

 

B&N carries the graph paper ones, but that appears to be it. They USED to carry full size spiral bound notebooks my husband liked with different colored edging on the paper for different sections -- there were sections that had lined paper, some with graph paper, and some with the pages divided up into four blank sections per page. But we couldn't even get those directly from Miquelrius -- apparently those they stopped making.

I did hear back eventually from the Miquelrius USA site. They have stopped selling from that site, but the woman who contacted me is supposed to be checking around and seeing what's still available in the 300 page ones; apparently they no longer sell green covered ones, just red blue and black. But that's okay.

Hopefully I will hear back again in a few days -- especially when I said I wanted several in each color (I also asked what places were retailers for them, just in case). At 3 pages a day of writing, I've been going through 3 of the journals in a little under a year (100 days per journal).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: Yeah, I remember Massachusetts winters. And *we* were inland -- about 25 miles west of Boston; the day we were having the house we were buying inspected, it started snowing before the inspector got there (there was already a foot of new snow from a couple of days before). By the end of the day, there was *another* foot. The guy was going "Well, you've got a roof up there -- seems to be holding up the weight of the snow...."

Where I grew up (about 50 miles north of NYC), most storms came out of the southwest; *bad* storms came out of the northwest (like the one that took out power to the city for 3 days, one July back in the 1970s). Then, after I moved to MA, I learned about nor'easters....

Edited March 15, 2018 by inkstainedruth