Scout Books Black Composition Notebook Review

Scout Books Notebook

 

The Scout Books Black Composition notebook is a pocket sized journal that is made in Portland, Oregon and measures 3.5″x 5″ (half an inch shorter than Field Notes).  Each Composition notebook contains 32 6mm ruled pages.  The paper is recycled and is noticeably thicker than the standard Field Notes paper.  In using the Scout Books side by side with a Field Notes I noticed that Field Notes lays much flatter than the Scout Books notebook.

Scout Books Notebook

The cover features a simple black design that looks like a composition notebook (imagine that).   I like that there is no branding on the front cover.  The design is quite good but I have to say that I prefer the look of Field Notes.

Scout Books NotebookAlthough the paper is rather thick, it did not handle fountain pen ink all that well.  There is some bleeding and feathering much like you get with a standard Field Notes.

Scout Books Notebook

Scout Books Notebook

The Scout Books Black Composition notebook sells in packs of 3 for $10.  While I do like these little notebooks, I prefer Field Notes as you get get similar performance, more pages, and a better design for the same price.

Please note: This product was provided to me at no charge by Scout Books for review purposes.

Here are some great reviews of Scout Books:

(I have no affiliation with the sites linked below)

The Pencil Revolution – Review of Scout Books Composition Book (lined)

The Well-Appointed Desk – Scout Books

 

Rhodia Bloc Pad No 11 Review

Rhodia Bloc No11

I love Rhodia paper products because they are both affordable and fountain pen friendly.  They come in dozens of formats and I have tried almost all of them and only two have remained staples in my notebook collection: the Rhodia Reverse Book (review to come) and the Rhodia Bloc Pad No 11.

Rhodia Bloc No11

The No 11 is small notepad that measures 2.9″ x 4.1″ and contains 80 sheets of Rhodia’s standard 80g paper in lined and graph formats (I prefer the graph).  The No 11 comes in black and classic Rhodia orange covers.  Like the vast majority of Rhodia products, there is a lot of branding; all three sides of this tiny pad have the Rhodia logo.  The sheets are micro perforated and if you are careful the sheets come out pretty easily.  Because the sheets are bound only with one centered staple it is important pull the paper up off the pad to get the perforations to work.  If you pull straight the paper will detach at the staple.

The No 11 is great for short lists and notes.  I prefer them to using sticky notes.

Rhodia Bloc No11

As you can see there are no issues with feathering or bleeding.  Rhoida (and sister brand Clairefontaine) are the gold standard when it comes to fountain pen friendly paper and it is easy to see why.

Rhodia Bloc No11

Virtually no ghosting to speak of.

Rhodia Bloc No11

At $2 a pad it’s pretty hard to go wrong.  I believe the No 11 would be useful to almost everyone; I highly recommend it.

Please note: this product was provided to me at no charge by JetPens for review purposes.

Semikolon Il Creativo Medium Notebook Review

Semikolon Il Creativo

Want a notebook with fine stationery quality ribbed paper? The Semikolon Il Creativo may be just what you are looking for.

Let’s start with the stats:

  • 152 sheets (304 pages) of cream colored, ribbed, lined, and perforated.
  • 141 organizational stickers
  • soft stain resistant vinyl cover
  • two page makers
  • 5.5″ x 7.48″ (also comes in small and large sizes)

The looks of the Il Creativo are bold; you are going to either love it or hate it.  While the cover comes in multiple colors the spines are all rainbow colored.  I weirdly, love it.  I like that the main cover color (yellow in this case) continues into the rainbow spine and around to the back cover.  There is some light branding on the cover; both the front and back covers read “Semikolon” with the little semicolon logo.  The spine has a large semicolon logo.

Semikolon Il Creativo

Semikolon Il Creativo

The vinyl cover is soft and has a slight texture to it that feels nice to the touch.  The inside of the cover continues the rainbow and yellow design of the outside.  The first few pages feature the days of the year in two formats (see below).  Also, I should mention that when I initially opened up the notebook there was a strong smell of glue.  The smell did seem to go away quickly as I used the notebook.

Semikolon Il Creativo Semikolon Il CreativoThe lined pages have an unfortunately wide rule that measure 3/8″ or 9.5mm.  The lines are also darker than I would like.  The half way point is marked with the Semikolon logo that I found to be distracting. Each of the lined pages feature a perpetual calendar at the bottom of the page (to be honest I am not entirely sure how to use it properly).  The pages are nicely perforated and detach easily.

Semikolon Il CreativoSo how does the paper perform?  In a word, beautifully!  My widest, juiciest nibs behaved well, no bleeding, no feathering and very little ghosting.  The paper is a pleasure to write on as it gives wonderful feedback without being rough.  As I said earlier, it is like fine stationery paper.

Semikolon Il Creativo

141 Organizational Stickers
141 Organizational Stickers

Even though I may not be in love with the formatting of the Il Creativo I do love the paper and look forward to filling it up.  I will be testing out Semikolon’s Mucho notebook (which uses the same paper later as the Il Creativo) this month.

Please note: this product was provided to me at no charge by Semikolon for review purposes.

Word Notebooks Blue Floral Review

Word Notebooks

Word. Notebooks are quite unique in that they are specifically designed for making lists.  The notebooks are pocket sized at 3.5″ x 5.5″ and contain 48 pages of acid free paper.

Word Notebooks

The white flowers and skulls against the blue background makes for an excellent cover design.

On the left margin at the beginning of each line you have a circle within another circle designed to be used with Word. Notebooks’ standardized symbol system (see the use guide below).

Word Notebooks

The paper is thicker than you find in a standard Field Notes notebook but it seems to feather and bleed when using fountain pen ink.  This paper seems work best with ballpoints and fine point gel pens.

Word Notebooks

Word Notebooks

I have been using the Word. bullet point system for a few weeks now and I have to say that I do like it quite a bit.  If Word. Notebooks were to improve their paper I believe I would use them for my daily to-do lists but for now I have been using them to keep track of the reviews I need to complete for THE UNROYAL WARRANT.

Word. Notebooks are  sold in packs of three for $9.99 and if you are not a fountain pen user, I highly recommend these notebooks; the design inside and out is fantastic.

Word Notebooks

Please note: this product was provided to me at no charge by Word. Notebooks for review purposes.

Here are some great reviews of the Word. Notebooks:

(I have no affiliation to the sites linked below)

Pencil Revolution – Review of Word. Notesbooks.

Ed Jelley – Word. Notebooks Tan Camo – Review

Gourmet Pens – Review: Word Lined Notebooks – Swedish Camo

Pen Paper Ink Letter – Word. Notebooks Review

The Pen Addict – Word. Notebooks Review

 

 

 

 

Word Notebooks 2014 Standard Memorandum Review

Word Notebooks The Standard Memorandum

While I know we are already in 2014, it is not too late to buy a 2014 diary.  The Standard Memorandum Notebook produced by Word. Notebooks is a bit of a curiosity.  Designed by illustrator, Jon Contino, to resemble pocket journals form the early 1900’s, The Standard Memorandum Notebook only gives you a few lines per day.  When I received the notebook in the mail I was surprised by how tiny it is; at 2.35″ wide x 5.25″ long it will easily fit into your pocket.

Word Notebooks The Standard Memorandum

Word Notebooks The Standard Memorandum

The black cover features gold lettering with an interesting Jon Contino drawn script that reads “THE STANDARD MEMORANDUM 2014”.  The rest of the notebook features Columbia Titling typeface.

Word Notebooks The Standard MemorandumThe notebook contains 64 pages and is bound with two staples.  This notebook does not lie flat nor does it close well.  Because the pages are skinny there is not enough weight to close the book so it stays open at a 45 degree angle in the middle of the book. Each page contains 7 days, such that you get 14 days on a 2 page spread.

Word Notebooks The Standard Memorandum

Up front you get a place for your personal details ( can't say I have seen a diary with a place for sizing and transportation info before).
Up front you get a place for your personal details (can’t say I have seen a diary with a place for sizing and transportation info before).
Also up front is an index with a cell for each day of the year so that you can mark important events.
Also up front is an index with a cell for each day of the year so that you can mark important events.
Some feathering
Some feathering

The paper is smooth but not fountain pen friendly.  I found a good amount of bleed and feathering with fountain pen ink.

Bleed-through
Bleed-through
I love seeing all of the manufacturing details listed.  Glad that this is becoming a more common practice.
I love seeing all of the manufacturing details listed. Glad that this is becoming a more common practice.

I have been using the notebook for a week now and at the end of each day I write down the day’s highlights.  Trying to get your whole day into 3 or 4 lines is surprising fun; it forces you to cut out the unimportant details. While I still use a regular full size journal, I am finding that the The Standard Memorandum is easier to keep up with every day and in that sense it’s pretty valuable.

The Standard Memorandum Notebook can be purchased for $11.00 here. 

You can also purchase a leather cover for $45 which can be monogrammed.

Please note: this product was provided to me at no charge by Word. Notebooks for review purposes.

Here are some great reviews of the The Standard Memorandum Notebook:

(I have no affiliation to the sites linked below)

Ink on Hand – Word Notebooks 2014 Standard Memorandum

Pen Paper Ink Letter – 2014 Standard Memorandum by Word. Notebooks

Inktronics – The Standard Memorandum. Does It Compare to the Real Thing?

Write Notepads & Co. Large Notebook Review

Write Notepads & Co. Notebook

The Baltimore-based Write Notepads & Co. produces American-made notebooks featuring high quality letterpress chipboard covers.  At $16 for the Large Notebook, you get 120 5.5″ x 8.5″ pages of lined or blank paper with a brass spiral binding.  Each notebook comes with a thick rubber band that can be used to keep the notebook closed.  When you buy a notebook from Write Notepads & Co. they donate one to a public school, so the $16 for the large notebook actually buys two.

I quite like the rustic look of these notebooks.  The thick chipboard covers go well with the brass spiral.   I also like the letterpress logo featuring a fountain pen.

Write Notepads & Co. Notebook
The inside front cover features a place for your name, address, phone number and email, all done in letter press.

The notebook is dubbed “fountain pen friendly” and while smooth and thick, the recycled paper doesn’t handle fountain pen ink all that well.

Write Notepads & Co. Notebook

I found that the paper tends to bleed with fountain pens, roller ball pens and porous tip pens.  Most of the gel pens and all of the traditional ballpoints I tested, behaved well on this paper.

Write Notepads & Co. Notebook
Bleed-through seems to be more of an issue than ghosting.

Interestingly, the lines on the page do not seem to be perfectly printed, some are thin, others are fat and I notice that in the middle of most pages there are some breaks in the lines.  I think this adds to the character and charm of the notebook but others may find it distracting.

Write Notepads & Co. Notebook

The pages are perforated but don’t always produce the cleanest of tears.

Overall, I like this notebook because its design and materials have a lot of character.

Is it right for fountain pen users?  I wouldn’t call it “fountain pen friendly” but I have no problem using it with most of my fountain pens; some bleed through doesn’t bother me and one advantage of an absorbent paper is faster dry times.

Please note: this product was provided to me at no charge by Write Notepads & Co.  for review purposes.

Here are some great reviews of the Write Notepads & Co. Notebook:

(I have no affiliation with the sites linked below)

Inkdependence – Write Notepads & Co

Ed Jelley – Write Notepads & Co. Large Notebook – Review

Cartier Cabochon Desk Diary Review

Cartier Cabochon desk diary

A few years ago I received this beautiful Cartier Desk diary as a gift.  It is appropriately called a desk diary as it is quite large at 10″ x 7.5 “.  The leather cover and thick pages also make it quite heavy.  Let’s start with the design; the cover features black leather calfskin with the double “C” Cartier logo embossed on the front cover.  Also on the front cover are two stainless steel corners for added durability.  On the inside is an attractive burgundy colored calfskin with two pockets to hold the diary refill and an address book.  There is also a nice leather page marker with a stainless double “C” Cartier charm.  Overall it has a very nice and clean masculine look to it.

Cartier Cabochon desk diary

Cartier Cabochon desk diary

Cartier Cabochon desk diary

The agenda refills feature seven days on two pages organized by lines for each half hour starting at 8am and ending at 9pm.  The weekends share a single column and get one line per hour.  This layout wont be that useful for everyone.  As someone that charges my clients by the hour, I used it to keep track of my time spent rather than as a pure appointment book.

Color map of the world...well most of it anyway.
Color map of the world…well most of it anyway

Cartier also lists these additional features (I put the most amusing ones in bold): “calendar of international holidays, world map and map of the European continent, flight times and time zones, area codes, useful telephone numbers, conversion tables, clothing and shoe sizes, gold and the most beautiful stones in the world, ratings for vintages, wedding anniversaries, addresses of Cartier boutiques.”  One of the things not listed is a country guide which has up to date information on 35 different countries: population size, the capital city, airport info, currency, and electrical information.

Cartier Cabochon desk diary
A diary wouldn’t be complete without an entire page on gold and an entire page on precious gems right?
Cartier Cabochon desk diary
Vintage (French) wine rating chart and Wedding anniversaries
Wine vintages guide and country guide.
Useful phone numbers and Country guide

The cream colored pages are very thick and feature a gilded edge.  The paper deals with fountain pen ink well and has perforated bottom corners with the double “C” Cartier logo that allow you to quickly jump to the current week.  One thing that I really don’t like about this diary is the inability for the refill to relax and lie flat (even with daily use).  I have to use a book weight to keep the darn thing open.

The thick pages work will with fountain pen ink.

Very little ghosting a bleed through.
Very little ghosting and no bleed through
Cariter Cabochon Desk Diary
Perforated page corners

Cartier Cabochon desk diary

Each year there is a different work of art featured on the first page of the refill and on the back page there is a little bio of the artist, for 2013, the artist was Patrick Vilaire.  The outside of the diary refill is burgundy, the same burgundy as the leather on the inside of the cover.  In prior years this has been black but it looks like 2014 is burgundy again.  You get a seperate address book with each refill.

For some years the picture is in color.  Guess they needed to save money this...recession and what not.
In previous years the picture was color. I guess they needed to save money this year…recession and what not.
Spine of the refill.
Spine of the refill
Address book.
Back of dairy refill and address book cover
Address book
Address book

New, the cover with agenda refill is $660, which isn’t terrible, but what is terrible is the price of the refills.  The 2012 refill cost me $60, the 2013 refill (which you see here) cost me $90 and the 2014 refill, which I have been simply priced out of, is $155!!! I have called and asked Cartier why these have gone up so much and they have no explanation…the refill is essentially unchanged yet worth $65 more.  While I have really enjoyed using this diary the real killer for me has become the price of the refill; I will need to find a notebook that I can use this lovely cover with.

Midori World Meister’s Note Vol. 1 “Dainel” Notebook Review

Midori World Meister's Note Vol. 1 "Dainel"

The Midori World Meister’s Note series features collaborations between Japan and other countries.  The Dainel is the first in the series which Midori describes as ” A marriage of French leather paper and Japan’s MD paper, developed for the best writing comfort”.

Midori World Meister's Note Vol. 1 "Dainel"

The color of the cover is a bit more brown and less grey than the picture shows.
The color of the cover is a bit more brown and less grey than the picture shows.

Let’s start with the cover and then make our way inside.  The cover is made in France out of “French leather paper” and according to the packaging:

“[Dainel] stands for ‘suede’ in France.  In a town some 200 km east of the capital, Paris, 30 years of experience with suede work have created a one-of-a-kind technology unique in the whole world.  This unique technology has crystallized in this gorgeous leather paper.”

Midori World Meister's Note Vol. 1 "Dainel"

To me the cover looks a bit like suede but I was disappointed when I touched it; it feels like a mediocre felt.  The more I use the notebook the more I like the cover; it is a lot nicer than a paper cover but it certainly isn’t leather.  The cover has “Dainel” pressed into the front of the cover and “The World Meister’s Note” pressed into the spine.  This cover is the light brown color and I believe they come in four or five other colors.

Midori World Meister's Note Vol. 1 "Dainel"

This notebook is extremely well made and dare I say, better than anything else I have seen in its price range. The notebook is nicely stitched this notebook lays flat.

Midori World Meister's Note Vol. 1 "Dainel"

Midori World Meister's Note Vol. 1 "Dainel"

The inside of the notebook features 91 A5 pages of Midori’s exceptional cream colored MD paper which holds fountain pen ink beautifully.  There is no bleed through even with juicy pens and almost no feathering.

It's a 91 page notebook because the first page has this logo printed on it.
It’s a 91 page notebook because the first page has this logo printed on it.

Midori World Meister's Note Vol. 1 "Dainel"

No bleed through and minor ghosting.
No bleed through and minor ghosting.

At around $13 this notebook is not cheap but the combination of the quality and the branding make it a winner.  I look forward to getting my hands on the other notebooks in this series; I believe they are up to volume 3.

Field Notes Cold Horizon Edition Review

Field Notes Cold Horizon

Cold Horizon is the latest edition in Field Notes’ Colors series.  When the covers are lined up you can see a blue gradient.  The blue gradient is continued in the font on the inside of the front and back cover.

Font in blue gradient
Font in blue gradient

In the set each notebook features a different paper color, blue, green, and grey.  Each notebook has grey grids.

Top to bottom: grey, green, blue
Top to bottom: grey, green, blue

Overall, I love the design; it is clear that they really put some thought into these notebooks.

On to the bad:

The covers are unpleasant to touch; they have a bit of a grainy feel which seems odd on a glossy cover.  Most Field Notes are not considered fountain pen friendly and the Cold Horizon edition is no exception, in fact, the paper actually seems to resist fountain pen ink.

Notice the fountain pen ink resisting the paper.
Notice the paper resisting the fountain pen ink.
Bleed through
Bleed through

While I like the look of these Field Notes I don’t think I will be purchasing another set.

Field Notes Cold Horizon

Lihit Lab Aqua Drops Twist Ring Notebook Review

Lihit Lab Aqua Drops Twist Ring Notebook

The Lihit Lab Aqua Drops notebook employs an unique ring style binding that on the surface looks similar to your standard spiral ring notebook.  The plastic rings are held together with two metal spines separated by a spring.  This unique binding system allows you to open the rings so that you can remove and add paper to the notebook as necessary.  The Aqua Drops comes with 30 sheets of B5 size paper with a 6mm rule.  The covers are made of a translucent plastic and come in multiple colors; I got the Indigo Blue cover.  The Aqua Drops logo is inset in black into the cover.  There are also these little inset dots that are intended to look the rain drops.

Lihit Lab Aqua Drops Twist Ring Notebook

In the picture you can see all of this ugly text / instructions at the bottom left corner of the notebook.  This text is the first page of the notebook it is not actually on the cover of the notebook.  After taking the picture I pulled the page out.

Lihit Lab Aqua Drops Twist Ring Notebook

The pages have room at the top for a title and there are little notches on the top and bottom lines with a thicker halfway notch in the middle.  On each page in faint grey “PULL OPEN” with a circle and an arrow is printed to show you which direction to pull to open the binding.  The paper is smooth and fountain pen friendly.  I only saw some slight bleed with the Visconti Van Gogh and the Noodler’s Konrad.  There is some very minor feathering, but not enough to bother me.  I have no problem writing on both sides as the paper is relatively thick.

Lihit Lab Aqua Drops Twist Ring Notebook

A couple of negative points for me.  First, the 6mm rule while nice and crisp is darker than I would prefer.  Second, the Aqua Drops notebook only comes in a B5 size unless you want a top bound memo pad.

Lihit Lab Aqua Drops Twist Ring Notebook

I really love the binding system on this notebook; it is top notch.  If it came in more appealing sizes I would consider replacing my Maruman notebooks with Aqua Drops.  At $9.35 for a 30 page notebook and $7.15 for a package of 30 loose leaf sheets the Lihit Lab Aqua Drops is on the expensive side.  If the B5 size works for you this notebook is definitely worth a try.