Jump to content

The Paper Plane : Endless Explorer Refillable Leather Journal


namrehsnoom

Recommended Posts

The Paper Plane – Endless Explorer – Refillable Leather Journal

 

large.1078475280_thepaperplane-title.jpg.0fd541c8e0b665a8a6557d491939b499.jpg


I’ve been enjoying this little corner of the web for some time now, mainly focusing on inks and pens. But these are more or less useless without the humble paper or notebook that will let you capture your thoughts.  So here comes the “Paper Plane”, where I review some of the paper and notebooks that I’ve enjoyed using over the years. Today’s guest is the Endless Explorer, a refillable leather journal in the style of the well-known Traveler’s Journal.

 

large.1866800342_endlessexplorer-leathercover.jpg.66cb2b47307f344b1664d8ff540dabc0.jpg


This journal is produced by Endless Stationery, a company that clearly states its focus on simplicity, aesthetics and service.  With this Refillable Leather Journal they really succeed on all fronts, as will become clear during this review. 

 

The camel-brown Leather Journal comes packaged in a nice sturdy box. Within the box is a “thank you” leaflet, the leather cover itself and one Storyboard notebook refill. With the cover you also receive an attractive and very functional pen-loop. Nice packaging and aesthetically pleasing. I also appreciate the Explorer’s dimensions – at 5.1” x 7.5” it is almost A5-sized, and a much more practical size than the more rectangular Traveler’s Journal. The Leather Cover is almost brand-free – the back shows a small embossed “Endless” logo, and that’s it. 

 

large.602153939_endlessexplorer-leathercoverbox.jpg.c4b55ab5f3b80253a32674aa4b1aa6fc.jpg


The Explorer can comfortably hold from 1 to 3 Storyboard notebooks. For the first notebook, you use an elastic band that also serves to close the cover. An additional two elastic bands (orange and red) wrap around the leather cover, each capable of holding an extra Storyboard refill. I personally prefer to use the Explorer with 3 notebook inserts: one is used as a bullet journal, one for meeting notes, and one for mindmapping. This setup serves me well.

 

The leather cover is designed to age quickly and gracefully – gathering patina and scratches. My notebook cover is brand-new and has already collected some scratches. This will give it a worn and well-used look, which is totally intentional, and fits the travel-journal style. 

 

large.1881067283_endlessexplorer-collage-elasticbands.jpg.c498cc3d032759409527b223c6e50aba.jpg


For refills, the Explorer uses large Storyboard notebooks – which are either lined or dot-grid. The dimensions are close to an A5 size, and these notebooks fit perfectly within the leather cover. I got me dot-grid versions of these refills – the grid is fairly light and unobtrusive. The best part of the Storyboard notebooks is undoubtedly their paper. Just as with the Endless Recorder notebooks, the Storyboard refills use 68 gsm Tomoe River paper, which is extremely fountain-pen friendly. For a work-journal I much prefer this heavier paper over the more flimsy 52 gsm version. 

 

large.198100748_endlessexplorer-collage-storyboardnotebook.jpg.92d9f696ac67a76fe1524c06ba9a422d.jpg


This 68 gsm Tomoe River paper is fountain pen heaven! Some show-through is present, but never disturbing. And to get any bleed-through, you have to try very hard, almost pouring ink on the page. I got some bleed-trough with Noodler’s ink wetly applied with a glass dip pen. When writing with normal fountain pens in any nib sizes, it’s perfectly ok to use both sides of the page. This paper can handle basically anything you throw at it. Superb !

 

large.2091952604_endlessexplorer-writinginnotebook.jpg.13b1444bfba58b9c57a00b78f72c2296.jpg

 

large.1252815781_endlessexplorer-writingsample.jpg.081126bf74179a2fc12cfa86ec73b15c.jpg


Conclusion
If you like minimalist notebooks, the Endless Explorer Refillable Leather Journal is definitely worth looking at. The concept is similar to the well-known Traveler’s Journal, but with a more sensible 5.1” x 7.5” width-height ratio, that is close to A5. And the paper used by the Storyboard refills is simply sublime! The price is also very reasonable: 49 EUR for the Refillable Leather Cover, and 8.50 EUR for the 64-page Storyboard refills (taxes included). I love my Endless Recorder notebooks, but they have now met their replacement. This Explorer will from now on serve as my daily capture tool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 0
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • namrehsnoom

    1

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...