Search the Community

(Originally posted over here.) I was killing time in Kinokuniya last week, and came across a big pile of A5 notebooks priced at A$4.95 each. That's atypically low for paper products that Kinokuniya chooses to carry, to put it mildly; and these notebooks are not exactly thin, have covers of some material that is seems stiffer and more ‘premium’ than (kraft or other) paper or card, and weren't marked as clearance stock or otherwise discounted that I could see. Every book is sealed in a clear cellophane pocket with a resealable flap; and, being Kinokuniya, its staff were sure to additionally tape the flap down over the store's price sticker, which in turn sits on top of and obscures the human-readable information on the manufacturer's barcode sticker. On only some of the notebooks, which come in three different colourways, there are see-through stickers that describe the product features less-than-comprehensively thus: Notebook 8 page index numbered pages 100gsm acid free paper fountain pen fantastic soft touch cover Lined without disclosing the actual page count, how far apart the ruled lines are, or where the product (or paper) was made. The brand is MEMMO, which I have never heard of until then. Between the incredibly low price and the claim of being “fountain pen fantastic”, I just could not contain my curiosity; and so I took one unit to the counter in the stationery department and asked for more information. The lady there didn't know; and so she offered to open one up to show me, which necessitated cutting the pocket along a seam with a knife, given the additional measures to ensure customers cannot easily unseal the retail packaging themselves (in-store or at home). Each book has 150 numbered pages, and additionally 8 index pages titled Index 2017. (I have now looked inside all three colourways, and they are all stuck equally far in the past) Upon my drawing her attention to it, the lady remarked, “No wonder they're cheap.” The horizontal guidelines on regular pages are ruled 6mm apart; and there is space marked out, with virgules as field separators but no year number preprinted, in the outside-edge corner at the top for the date; so the format is perfectly usable with no distracting outdated markings. The paper itself does not look or feel coated, and the cover material is somewhat rubbery to the touch and stiffer than, say, a latex oven mitt. All nice enough features to raise its standing above the average notebook one'd find in the MUJI store downstairs or Officeworks across the road. The Internet domain name (which is not exactly a ‘web page’ or URL), memmo.com.au, printed on the top sheet alludes to the brand being Australian, but I cannot find any explicit statement of where the product was made or from where the paper was sourced. All the same, it all seems too good to be true, so I just had to risk $5 (but be also mentally prepared to return to the store and buy $100 ‘worth’ of the remaining stock). Well, it is too good to be true. The paper is not bad, but (very loosely speaking) there is visible bleed-through to the other side of the 100gsm sheet from eight or nine out of every ten inks I have tested, although not to the extent of being greatly distracting if there is handwritten text in front of the spots of ink bleed. There is also noticeable, albeit sparse, feathering with maybe half of the inks; and, by that, I mean ink travelling in awkward directions along fibres on the paper surface away from the ink marks, not woolly outlines. Lines of ink tend to spread more than on Rhodia, but may be on par with the recto side of Exacompta FAF 70g/m² paper. If I'm to keep a journal or subject-specific notebook, in which I would typically write with several, or even many, different pens and different inks, I probably won't enjoy writing in this type of notebook, or subsequently rereading what I'd written. In terms of paper quality, I'd say it's on par with the 100gsm paper used in Paperblanks Flexis softcover journals. The Flexis paper is more apt to exhibit bleed-through, but more resistant to feathering; and it's off-white in colour, whereas the paper in this 2017 notebook is a cool white in spite of the coloured edges on three sides. I've subsequently found that the aforementioned domain name, when used as a partial URL (absent the https:// protocol part), does not bring up a website of the same name; it redirects to the website of a different brand/company, although that company seems to sell some similar products (priced at A$19.95 each) of which the description does not match the details of this notebook exactly. The website claims it is “fountain pen friendly” (as opposed to “fountain pen fantastic”). I'm not going to order one at that price to see if it uses the same paper, or is in fact the same product; but for now I strongly suspect it is the case, and just that the details listed are inaccurate in more ways than one and cannot be trusted. So, being a sad, pathetic stationery junkie, what did I do mid-week? Return to Kinokuniya and buy another, of course, since the first book has been ‘ruined’ with my testing so far. I won't use it for journalling — and I already have many dozen new Paperblanks and (better than that) Peter Pauper Press journals here anyway — but there is probably one particular application for which this MEMMO FP paper is suitable, in spite (or specifically because) of its minor flaws: an inking log book. I'm not going to see which inks are more likely to produce feathering and bleed-through, if I keep using Apica notebooks or switch to Clairefontaine ‘Age Bag’ notebooks for my inking log book. On the other hand, keeping an inking log book on this flawed paper would not only tell me the colour of the ink, but also warn me which inks could spell trouble on inferior paper.

My favorite notebook for fountain pens is the A5 ruled, wire-bound Romeo made in Japan. Unfortunately, this notebook doesn't come with an elastic strap to keep it closed. Does anyone have a recommendation for a place to buy an elastic strap that would fit the A5's vertical 8-inch dimension? Thanks in advance, FPN community! Gary

The Paper Plane - TACCIA Ukiyo-e Prime A5 notebook 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 TACCIA Ukiyo-e Prime A5 notebook, a small and elegant notebook with some very fine paper. This TACCIA notebook is a rebranded form of the Nakabayashi Prime A5 notebook. In fact, all of the TACCIA Ukiyo-e inks & corresponding paper happen to be rebranded Nakabayashi products. The latter company was founded in 1923 with a focus on library book binding and restoration of old documents. Later, Nakabayashi added stationery products like address books, notebooks and office products to their portfolio. For each of the 16 TACCIA Ukiyo-e inks, there is a corresponding A5 notebook, featuring the same Ukiyo-e painting on its cover. For this review, I describe the Sharaku Prime A5 notebook, which has a picture of the actor Otani Oniji III as Yakko Edobe on its cover. Yakko Edobe is a villainous rogue who plots to steal money from the servant Ippei. Otani Oniji's leering face, shown in three quarter view, bristling hair, and groping outstretched hands capture the ruthless nature of this wicked henchman. Aside from the difference in covers, all notebooks of the Ukiyo-e series have the same technical characteristics. The notebook itself is only one part of a stationery set, which also includes the corresponding ink, letter envelopes and paper, greeting cards, ... But let us focus on the notebook, which is the centerpiece of this review. I got mine as a gift from Sakura Fountain Pen Gallery and was told that it was worth checking out - thank you Catherine. This is an A5 size notebook (148x210 mm), containing 48 pages of ruled paper. These are minimalistic, but perfectly constructed notebooks; the beautiful covers form the only ornamentation. Inside there are no distractions - only light-grey ruled lines on the paper (with an 8 mm spacing). The first and last rule on each page are a tiny bit darker, framing the page and adding to its elegance. The notebook lays very flat when opened. This is due to the way it is stitched together. Each notebook consists of a number of 6 page bundles, with every bundle (or signature as it is called in bookbinding parlance) built from 3 A4 pages, that are folded over and stitched together to form a small booklet of 6 A5 pages. Stitch together 8 of these signatures, and you get a very flat-laying 48 page notebook. This A5 notebook uses 75 gsm Nakabayashi paper that is very fountain pen friendly. The paper is smooth but still has a tiny bit of tooth to it. This makes it a joy to write on. It has an off-white colour, but it's still close to white, certainly not yellowish. Inks look fantastic on this paper, and even with wet pens and broad nibs there is zero feathering. Looking at the backside, there is almost no see-through, and zero bleed-through - even when doing ink swabs on the paper. You can easily use both sides of the page in this notebook. This is really top-notch paper! Excellent! Conclusion If you like small and elegant notebooks, the TACCIA Ukiyo-e series of A5 notebooks is worthy of your attention. Great fountain pen friendly paper that is pure pleasure to write on. I can see myself using these little notebooks for theme-specific purposes - e.g. as an ink journal, reading journal, ... Beautiful pieces of stationery! I'm glad I discovered them.