May you recommend a nice notebook suitable for fountainpen writing

[zhryj]

Hi all,

I have been a fan of graphic image notebook for years, however, recently I found the quality of the notebooks going down.

Guys, would you please suggest some good ones. I prefer a bit thick (looks like a book), good for fountainpens. 

Many thanks.

[Penguincollector]

   I am unfamiliar with this particular brand of notebooks, can you describe it please? Is the paper thick or thin, coated, do you use both sides of the page? What size is the notebook? Once I have an idea of what you like, I can recommend something. 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

On 8/9/2024 at 4:24 AM, Penguincollector said:

   I am unfamiliar with this particular brand of notebooks, can you describe it please? Is the paper thick or thin, coated, do you use both sides of the page? What size is the notebook? Once I have an idea of what you like, I can recommend something. 

What @Penguincollector said. My current thoughts are the Life Noble or Rhodia pads. That or one of the Hamelin Brands pads that run Optik / Optik +. 

[putteringpenman]

My preferred notebook is anything Apica. The CD Premium line is very nice.

[Stompie]

Check out the blog for Dime Novel Raven.

He uses, mostly small notebooks but a wide variety of them and he puts up good pictures of all the stuff he uses. Also, as he is in the USA, it will be things that are available there compared to stuff that I use here in the UK that might not be available in the USA.

[zhryj]

On 8/9/2024 at 11:24 AM, Penguincollector said:

   I am unfamiliar with this particular brand of notebooks, can you describe it please? Is the paper thick or thin, coated, do you use both sides of the page? What size is the notebook? Once I have an idea of what you like, I can recommend something. 

Thanks man. usually I use both sides of the notebook and both sides. I prefer the thick ones, ~A5 size. 

[zhryj]

On 8/10/2024 at 6:56 PM, Mark from Yorkshire said:

What @Penguincollector said. My current thoughts are the Life Noble or Rhodia pads. That or one of the Hamelin Brands pads that run Optik / Optik +. 

Thanks, will check out. 

[zhryj]

On 8/10/2024 at 9:32 PM, putteringpenman said:

My preferred notebook is anything Apica. The CD Premium line is very nice.

Many thanks, will have a try.

[Penguincollector]

  I think you would like these Mitsubishi Bank Paper notebooks from The Paper Mind. 

 

The Paper Mind A5 notebook

 

  Mybergh from Graystorm Studios makes beautiful notebooks from Nepalese paper. They are B5 rather than A5, but when I say they are nice, I really mean it. It’s my next daily journal. It may get pricey if you go custom, but it’s so worth it.

 

Graystorm Studio

 

   Curnow Bookbinding and Leather (instagram or Facebook- I have neither so no link, sorry) makes awesome notebooks out of old books and Ayush paper from India. The paper is beautiful, and the notebooks are fun. 

 

[Runnin_Ute]

At any given time, I have several going

Leuchtturm 1917 A5

Field Notes of one sort or another

Apica CD15 (Bx-both taller and wider than the CD11/A5), CD11 (A5),CD5 - the latter is a great shirt pocket size.

Composition books - my preference is for Made in Brazil but they have become much harder to find. The one I just started is a Made in Vietnam.

I also have a Tomoe River in A5 I use as an ink journal.

[eatandoph]

On 8/19/2024 at 10:50 AM, Penguincollector said:

Mybergh from Graystorm Studios makes beautiful notebooks from Nepalese paper. They are B5 rather than A5, but when I say they are nice, I really mean it. It’s my next daily journal. It may get pricey if you go custom, but it’s so worth it.

 

Graystorm Studio
 

Your post piqued my curiosity about these journals, which look quite handsome. I was wondering if you could comment on the quality of the paper. I had one journal that used Nepalese paper (Graeham Owens Handmade Paper Products), and it was quite smooth, but fountain pen inks bled a little and the inks looked rather flat and unremarkable on the page.

[OCArt]

On 8/10/2024 at 9:08 PM, Stompie said:

Check out the blog for Dime Novel Raven.

Thanks for a great link!

[Penguincollector]

15 hours ago, eatandoph said:

Your post piqued my curiosity about these journals, which look quite handsome. I was wondering if you could comment on the quality of the paper. I had one journal that used Nepalese paper (Graeham Owens Handmade Paper Products), and it was quite smooth, but fountain pen inks bled a little and the inks looked rather flat and unremarkable on the page.

  I haven’t finished my current journal yet, but I’m close. I’ll update when I start it. I tried one at the pen show, but it’s been long enough that I don’t remember the experience very well. I have fallen off everyday journaling, but I will jump back on the wagon to get to it faster. 

[eatandoph]

1 hour ago, Penguincollector said:

  I haven’t finished my current journal yet, but I’m close. I’ll update when I start it. I tried one at the pen show, but it’s been long enough that I don’t remember the experience very well. I have fallen off everyday journaling, but I will jump back on the wagon to get to it faster. 

Thanks for the update!

[TMLee]

On 8/9/2024 at 11:09 AM, zhryj said:

Hi all,

I have been a fan of graphic image notebook for years, however, recently I found the quality of the notebooks going down.

Guys, would you please suggest some good ones. I prefer a bit thick (looks like a book), good for fountainpens. 

Many thanks.

i think looking at Japanese made is a wise choice.

 

theres a higher success rate with made in japan notebooks and paper.

 

its good money well spent, saves you all the annoyance and frustration. 

[gregamckinney]

I highly recommend Nanami Paper (https://www.nanamipaper.com/categories/seven-seas-tomoe-river-paper.html) .  I have filled over 150 (literally) of them.

They are not cheap, but use Tomoe River paper and have LOTS of pages.

 

Best, greg

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for posting the link.  While they're more expensive (and don't have as many pages) as the journals I've been using, they are definitely worth looking into. 

For a number of years I've been using the Miquelrius 600 page soft cover journals, A5 size, they're pretty FP friendly unless you have a really wet ink in a really wet pen (vintage Skrip Peacock Blue in a No Nonsense with an IF nib is just a firehose of a combination and I'm getting bleedthrough -- which RARELY happened with the Miquelrius journals I've used in the past).  But the last time I looked at the Miquelrius US website, they didn't seem to list those -- just the 400 page ones. 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth