Search the Community

Thought I'd share this because Maruman is one of my favorite stationery brands, particularly their Mnemosyne line. They've released a journal with a similar form factor to Moleskine, and the colors are strikingly similar to the Sailor TUZU line. Some eye-candy: Anyone have the new journal N888? It's quite expensive to buy in NA but I think apart from the price, the classic black one would be my perfect notebook/journal.

Hello, I see a lot of inks and colors that I really think I would enjoy. However, 90% of what I use my FP for is journals that I want to have many years from. Hopefully until the day I die which I hope is years from now 🙏 😃 I only use eternal inks, noodlers, carbon platinum, a few others. All are waterproof and or archival. I guess I don't understand why I, anyone, would want to use inks that aren't going to last or wash away. That leads to my question.... how good are non "eternal" inks? When it says non-waterproof will it actually just wash away or become completely illegible? If I splash or dunk it in water will I lose the writing, or will it just become super light? Not worried to much about lighfastness because it enclosed in a journal. Wont see much light while storing. I guess I'm hoping for, and looking for, reasons that would make it ok to use fantastic colors in my journal. I guess my biggest fears would be if for some reason my journals were introduced to water or moisture. Or if the ink just fades away after time. Any thoughts or help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

PenChalet is running a back-to-school sale, and in their highlighted items they have Endless Recorders described as such: We still have some of the Endless Recorder notebooks with Tomoe River paper. Each notebook comes with 192 5 1/2" x 8 3/8" pages of 68GSM paper inside a hard leatherette cover. Choose from several colors in both blank or dot grid. Each notebook has an elastic closure and an expanding pocket on the inside of the back cover. I checked the endless website and they seem to be doing their own 80 gsm paper now. Has anyone tried this Regalia paper that Endless is switching to? I need to know if I have to stock up on dot-journals in my preferred colors while I can. I love the Tomoe River journals.

Hello , Just wondering if could help with some questions I'm having about the Noodler's American Aristocracy ink. I know there are 3 "flavors" possible, but thats not what I'm thinking about. I bought a few bottles to try in my Kuretake Brush pen. Never made it there for the project I was doing. I journal often and always use waterproof, archival, and, or, bulletproof/eternal inks. I like variety and have many shades of blue and black. I also have a couple greens. Anyways... I was thinking about using this ink to journal, but have never used non bulletproof, waterproof, inks before for this purpose. I know that just because inks may not be water proof/resistant, etc, doesn't mean they won't last a long time. All that to ask my question... Does anyone know if the Noodler's American Aristocracy ink would be an ok choice for Journaling or anything else that would require lasting a long time? Would this ink fade quickly, after just a few years? Is this a ink that UV would destroy? Etc. Etc. I've seen many tests done for inks in the other forums, but haven't seen this ink used for any tests. So, I'm reaching out to see what everyone thinks. I would love to fill up a pen and writing with this ink. I just dont want to use it. And then a few years down the road I open up my journal, or view a document, or project, and the ink is gone, faded, or generally illegible. Appreciate your thoughts.

Hello again to all my FPN friends, After acquiring too many inks and far too many pens, I thought it was time to turn this obsession toward papers in order to round out the experience. I just received a blank notebook in the mail from a Chinese stationary company called Kinbor (www.kinbor.net/). They seem like a Chinese version of Midori and offer very similar products (at much lower prices, of course). Here's an article about the company that has nice photos of their products. I'm thoroughly impressed with the paper in this A5 notebook. Although this paper is 80gsm and quite sturdy, it's also very supple and floppy like Tomoe River paper. The sewn binding is better than most I've seen; the journal will lie open completely flat regardless of what page you open to. The paper texture is much smoother than Midori paper but not slick like Rhodia and Clairfontaine, again reminiscent of Tomoe River. I've only tested a couple inks with really wet pens so far but there has not been any bleed through or even show through, although a little feathering in same cases. It is advertised to be fountain pen friendly (see picture below). These journals are currently offered in A6 and A5 with the options of blank, dot grid, graph, a blank/dot grid/graph combination, 7mm lined, lined with red side rule, thick sketchbook paper, and a calendar/planner combination. They come with either white or brown covers. I'm in no way affiliated with the company, but I thought I'd ask about these journals because this is the first Chinese paper I've ever tried that has actually blown me away. That's saying a lot because I live in China and have tried lots of papers over the past few years, most of them being quite unfriendly to fountain pens and often unbearable toothy as well. I'll try to post a review once I spend more time with this journal and run in through some tests.

I'm offering blank books with Tomoe River paper at PaperForFountainPens.com This paper has inspired me to write more than I ever did before, and I've had to create the product line that I wanted for my own use. Now I'm sharing the results with you. Happy writing! —Jay

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IzMDZRypqcE/ViQ20CCjxLI/AAAAAAAACag/EETndYJjdRA/s1600/IMG_9214_R.jpg Greetings, FPN fellows! After being away from making journals for a while, I wanted to show you these books that I made some months ago for a FPN friend, LuMa, since I will return to my work space. I am very excited to contact all the members who have patiently waited for me. Finally, I'd like to show you some of my past work that I had not been able to present to you before. Some months ago, LuMa contacted me for a custom order. She originally wanted a journal, but after showing her all the options, she finally decided she wanted five journals! But there was one problem: she wanted all the journals in Tomoe River, but I only had paper for two. For that reason, I sent her samples of three different papers: Fedrigoni, Torreon and Canson. She tested them and decided that the most fountain pen friendly one and the one she preferred was Torreon. She wanted two journals for her that looked the same. She chose a modern Ethiopian style with full black leather. It had 400 sheets, that is, 800 pages, of Tomoe River paper. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jaiRmPN9iGc/ViQ2zIlPtdI/AAAAAAAACaY/Oc82NjTdcK0/s1600/IMG_9213_R.jpg She asked me to put two red bookmarks and a black elastic band. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X2O6QrW1HhA/ViQ2vH733GI/AAAAAAAACaI/x70UgMbFq2k/s1600/IMG_9212_R.jpg She wanted me to engrave her family name, Lucero, on one side of each journal. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9WlT7r_Nq9o/ViQ2u-8XvFI/AAAAAAAACaE/6yYgmF1wq7Y/s1600/IMG_9208_R.jpg For the endpapers, she wanted a Bomoart paper with vintage writing style. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MZ4zXnfU_lk/ViQ2xBts-gI/AAAAAAAACaQ/TGHtzJuxTNY/s1600/IMG_9210_R.jpg By the way, one of these black journals is currently traveling all the world. LuMa had an iniciative where the journal will travel to different FPN members and each of them will fill some pages with their creative expressions. You can see more here. The third of the journals was made for her mother. She wanted the same journal style, but with red leather and black bookmarks. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IzMDZRypqcE/ViQ20CCjxLI/AAAAAAAACag/EETndYJjdRA/s1600/IMG_9214_R.jpg The endpapers were a different Bomoart paper, this one with a music theme. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-utElJOzVioo/ViQ23ei89VI/AAAAAAAACao/mp9PeSzP9_o/s1600/IMG_9215_R.jpg For her mother, LuMa wanted a stamp engraved on the center of the journal. Tomoe River is only 52 gsm, however Torreon is 90 gsm. Since this journal also had 400 pages, the final journal was very thick compared to the black ones: almost 10 cm or 4 inches thick! http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JWBFXW-1TW4/ViQ25IsP5zI/AAAAAAAACa4/wsWhJtTS9FU/s1600/IMG_9220_R.jpg The other two journals were for a couple of friends and she chose a completely different style: they were linkstitch. This style has soft leather covers and she chose two different colors: olive green and orange. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q7IRTj4InqY/ViQ3Db_59oI/AAAAAAAACbs/nYcmcCc8SD4/s1600/IMG_9232_R.jpg A close up of the engraving of the arabesque. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bSsreKJE94M/ViQ3D5A90mI/AAAAAAAACbw/frBE90qySBU/s1600/IMG_9233_R.jpg The journal opened. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YN8F93CHHo4/ViQ3FNU7yqI/AAAAAAAACb4/bDMn_WEK4FE/s1600/IMG_9235_R.jpg An appreciation of the thickness of the journal. This journal also had 400 pages of Torreon paper and was more than 10 cm or 4 inches in thickness. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RYZiQ0dkve0/ViQ3HuuJgbI/AAAAAAAACcI/rALC82v1slU/s1600/IMG_9238_R.jpg This is the olive green journal. She also chose a black leather strap for the closure and an engraved Celtic cross as decoration. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ezeYNGektj0/ViQ29eL6r5I/AAAAAAAACbM/6ek95Vu30bw/s320/IMG_9224_R.jpg I had never shipped such a big package! I had to use a box that used to keep 5000 sheets, the ones usually bought for offices. It was about 5kg! It felt amazing to carry it to the post office to ship. LuMa received the journals many weeks ago and I am happy to say that she was pleased with them, as her mother and her friends were of their gifts. Pheww, that is all, sorry for the long post. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions, they are always welcome . Have a nice day! Anna J. Bach

Hello, everyone! I got hooked on fountain pens when I went to a pen show with the intention to look for good notebooks for bullet journaling. Well, before the first day was done, I had two FPs, two inks, and a lot of advice to absorb! I ended the show with one more pen (all Pilots: two Kaküno and a Metropolitan) and two more inks. Soon I combed local shops and ended up with a wonky-nibbed Lamy Al-Star and a non-working vintage Sheaffer. Since that fateful first week, I have attended a local meet-up where I was given a cheap but pretty Jinhao. Lots of future friends there, I hope. I also went to Anderson Pens in Appleton Wisconsin, where a very nice man took my Sheaffer to restore it to operational capacity (oh my gosh I love writing with it!). I also got my first ink samples and a couple more full bottles. Also some maintenance gear. My kit is rather impressive for a newbie; I just hate that its in a pink case. But it fits everything, so I deal with the bubblegum color. I adore beautiful inks, my ink wishlist is far bigger than my pen list. Because of that I think I need a glass dip pen for testing out those inks. I will also be thinking of what next-level pen to save up for, because the next St Louis Pen Show will also fall on my fifth wedding anniversary! Hubby will buy me a pen without attending, I expect. Thanks for letting me be a part of this community! I cant wait to learn from all of you!

I have been looking for a suitable book do start my commonplace book in, and after some searching and thinking I decided to choose the Peter Pauper Press Universe Journal. I was attracted not only by the cover, but also the mention of "archival paper" being used in it. I received the book today, and seeing the general lack of information on Peter Pauper Press products in comparison to Rhodia, Clairfontaine, Tomoe River etc, I have decide to do a bit of an overview. The cover itself is supposed to replicate the the binding of The Universe: or The Infinitely Great and the Infinitely Little, which was a layperson's encyclopaedia of the sciences by the Frenchman Félix-Archimède Pouchet, and was published in London in 1870. Compared to the picture from archive.org, it appears that the modern cover is relatively faithful to the original: However, the size of the modern adaption is different, coming up to around 162x218mm, or 6 3/8 x 8 1/2 inches. The paper itself is relatively smooth, and is 100gsm. If you want an idea of what it feels like, think Clairefontaine 90gsm ivory brushed vellum paper, but with a little bit more texture. In addition, the paper is supposedly acid-free and archival. I say "supposedly" because these words do not technically have concrete, standard definitions. An interesting feature is the gold edges of the book: In addition the lines in the journal are relatively faint, at least compared to the lines in a Rhodia Webbie. They're not solid, but instead are dotted. I like this feature as it provides a guideline without being too distracting. The book claims to lie flat. Unless you are an extreme perfectionist, this statement is true. Yes, you will get some bulge, but that is to be expected. It lies flat enough for me. I have not gotten around to writing in it yet, as I am currently waiting on some ink (Rohrer & Klingner Zeichentusche Sepia) which I aim to use exclusively in this book, so I will post a writing sample when I have to opportunity to do some writing in it.

Hey all! I'm going to be making my own traveller notebook, and my own inserts using foutain pen friendly paper like Rhoda. And my plan, for me, is to have a few inserts for different things as follows: Random journal- Just random thoughts, quotes, how I feel, ect Medical Journal- note down everytime I get sick, sore, everytime i go to the doctors and what they said, what ever medication I'm on, ect. Fitness Journal- to note down how far i walked, my weight, ect. Note pad- for when I need to write down something particular randomly. How do you, if you use something similar, set up yours??

I recently bought a Leuchtturm1917 Bullet Journal from Spot The Craft, a seller on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/str/spotthecraft for $12.99 + $4.99 shipping from Canada to the US. The lowest price I found anywhere by $7. However, the seller sent me a regular Leuchtturm1917 by mistake. When I contacted the seller to return the notebook for replacement, they told me to keep it, as an apology, and sent me the Bullet Journal I had ordered. When I received the correct journal, I found that the seller had included a set of Copic Multiliners as a gift, along with a hand-written note. Probably the best interaction I had with a seller on eBay ever.

Before Thanksgiving, I googled Daiso paper and Fountain Pen reviews - there are no Daisos in Portland, and I was going to the land of the many Daisos (4 within easy driving distance of relatives). This led me to an unexpected hobby, thanks to TMLee's very detailed review and a lurking bombshell of a link that led me to his "355 Mini" journals. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/314318-the-355-mini An hour later, I emerged from the rabbit hole, hooked! I hauled as many notebooks home as I could (note: there were witnesses, some restraint was displayed). Combined with an old Thomas Guide (detailed map of Portland) and various found items in the house - off I went! Youtube was my friend for single coptic stitch demos. There were (and still are) lots of mistakes, but you learn by doing, and these are perfect for rapid prototyping! There's uneven tension, missed stitches, but I ADORE them! (you can probably guess which one was book #1) I'm now adding flyleaves (limited success - need better paper and to not yank thread in directions that tear the fragile paper). I want to experiment with a pocket, elastic... those are coming soon. I have pockets cut out, elastic purchased. More pix later, but I want to get this posted before I accidentally zap this again (first official thread! first photos! Note to self, find out where things are autosaved). (fingers crossed, gonna hit post now)

Hi Everyone, My problem is that I prefer hardcover journals for daily writing, but move around a lot so they are too heavy and impractical for my kind of lifestyle. Therefore, I'm thinking about switching to something more portable like Midori A5 journals. The issue is that I don't like writing on floppy surfaces and often need the hardcover to act as a writing surface when I'm out and about. Does such a thing exist as a leather notebook cover that is stiff enough or has hard enough surfaces to make a softcover journal feel like a hardback? Thanks for any suggestions!

Hello everyone! Today I’d like to share with you a very big book I made last month. The style chosen was German Springback. It had to be A4 size and 4 cm of thickness of the paper. My first thought was: “oh my, this is going to be heavy!”. The paper chosen was Fedrigoni. This was the stack of paper I used, after cutting it to A3 size to fold it. The sheets were folded and sewn. Glue on the spine and some trimming done, it was rounded. Then I applied some backing cloth to reinforce the spine. I finished the spine by applying a couple of bookmarks, some headbands I sew off the book and two layers of paper for further reinforcement. Then I proceeded to make a thin cover which would be the basis for the springback structure. I applied some layers of 1.5 mm board on the spine to thicken it. On the spine, I glued four fake ribs made of leather. Then I glued two boards (a 2 mm plus a 2.5 mm) and put in on the cover, with the four sides bevelled. The structure finished, it was time to prepare the leather. It was a huge piece of leather! I used paste to attach the leather to the book. The folder is for size reference. Once it was dried, it was time to decorate! And the book was finished! The weight was about 2,5 kg, quite heavy! Thank you very much for reading up to here hehe. I enjoy sharing with you guys and I hadn't done it in way too long, so it was time to solve that. Best, Anna

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-44265475 Nothing to do with fountain pens...or ink...or fountain pen-friendly surfaces... but I found this BBC story on a diary written on floorboards by a carpenter in France from 1880-1881 to be fascinating. In my time here on FPN, I've read many a topic on peoples' opinions on keeping their journals/diaries for posterity. I'm curious to know whether stories like these affect your views or if it's just a different time now that it's easier for more people to document everything on the Internet, which is Forever.

Hey, Just came across a cool concept on Youtube called Bullet Journal. It looks like it mashes a note taking with diary and journal all in one concept. The guy that created the idea has linked up with Leuchtturm (these are fountain pen friendly paper right?). Anyway, just wondered if anyone is using these type of system? How do you find it? Are there any draw backs? I think it's supposed to be a basic concept then evolves into what the user needs? I'm thinking of stating one as conventional diaries are too restricted for me and this might work out better. Ben

If anyone needs a rather smart journal Asda is well worth checking out. They have a range upto A4 size either plain or ruled. Purchased this stitch bound leather cover journal today from Asda (UK supermarket) It is between A5 and A4. Fountain pen tests show no bleed through or feathering. Unknown number of ruled white pages make up around 22mm thickness plus covers. Has a ribbon. Best part is the price £4 pounds Stirling

Recently, my wife gifted me a smallish hard covered journal that she thought I would enjoy using. I have been very pleased with it and thought that I would share what I know and how I feel about the journal. The journal is published by Attic Books, an imprint of New Leaf Publishing Group. The one that I have is called a Vintage Journal. The size is 8 1/4 by 6 inches with a fold over magnetic flap closure. The paper feels to be about 24 or 28 lb with a bit of a waxy sheen. One journal I have has lined pages with inspirational quotes every few pages. There is also a border around the pages. In my journal, the border and lines are blue. The pages take fountain pen ink very well with no discernable bleed through or feathering. I have used Mont Blanc black, Private Reserve burgundy mist, and Levenger cobalt blue with very satisfactory results. Pen nibs have varied between medium and stub with ink flows of about 4 or 5. The paper is super smooth which makes writing on it a dream. Ink is absorbed quickly and drying time is very minimal. Looking at their website, I see that there are a number of options as to theme and color. The website page for the journal I am using is https://www.nlpg.com/mens-rugged-vintage-journal-hardback-single. I have no relationship with the publisher. I am just a very satisfied user and will order additional journals from them. Craig

Has anyone tried the new MB146 notebooks at all? Are they any good? I just noticed that the paper is 85 gsm - where I can get 100gsm for a fifth of the price. Is the paper any different than other stuff?

So this is a bit odd being on an international forum, but as a South African, I am truly unaware as to where to purchase proper, decent quality journals or paper. The best 'name-brand' I have found is moleskine, but the quality is a hit and miss with their work due to them sourcing from different places. Then if I had to import myself, I end up paying $60-$90 for a $18-$24 notebook. (quo vadis, Rhodia). Are there any South Africans on the forum that would be able to assist me in trying to find anything that comes close to the Rhodia, Quo Vadis, etc? No stationary shops I can find stocks anything. Went as far as getting my friend in book distribution to call all her suppliers and her customers...nothing. No clairefontein, nudda. They have not even heard of the names. Any help would be appreciated. Or any place overseas which offers free shipping to this side of the world would suffice. Customs+shipping comes to $40 o.O

After seeing some of the cool journals that people made in the classifieds section that they were selling I really wanted one.. But I don't have much cash and I'm not really the type of person to pay for something without trying to do it myself first. I knew that mine wouldn't be nearly as nice as the ones on here but I would be happy if it was at least "ok" for my first try. I went out and got some supplies and started binge watching YouTube tutorials lol. I decided to use a cereal box for my cover as I didn't have any chipboard and didn't want to spend any more money than I already had. So the cover was made from a cereal box and the pages are HP Premium Laser jet 32lb paper that I made a template for on the computer and printed out onto each page to put lines and the data on it. If I was to do this again (which I will someday) I would pay more attention to the grain of the paper as my cover warped some. I would also try to be neater and I'm sure with practice they would turn out better the more I made. I've never made anything like this before, I'm pretty much the opposite of someone that would make a journal. But I've started looking at life differently since battling my demons years back and I've expanded my hobbies and interests quite a bit. (Which is also how I got into fountain pens) This is also the first time I've ever kept or used a journal so it's been interesting and I like having somewhere to keep a record of my day.

I have been wanting to try out bullet journaling for a while so I went and did some research on which notebook people recommended, the Leuchtturm 1917 hardcover came up constantly. I figured if people were recommending this notebook that it must be good right? (Btw even people using fountain pens were recommending this) So I bought one for $20 (which is a good amount of money for someone in college btw) and couldn't wait to start writing in it. The notebook itself seems great but as soon as I started writing in it I was immediately disappointed in the paper quality. I was getting bleed through and severe ghosting even using my fine tipped fountain pens. So I thought maybe it was just fountain pens, so I tried a needle tip sharpie and that bleed and ghosted like crazy. So then I tried my Retro 51 with the standard black refill and that was just as bad.. I'm really disapointed that I spent so much on this notebook. If I would have known about the Rhodia webnotebooks I would have got one of those instead for sure, I at least know that Rhodia has great paper. So now I'm stuck with a $20 notebook that I can't stand using.. http://i.imgur.com/1G6E7CAl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/U0vwnH2l.jpg http://i.imgur.com/tzixVxrl.jpg\ What notebook would you recommend? The Rhodia Webnotebook seems like a good choice? Are there any others? Thanks

Dear community, I like writing my journal. Until now I use different notebooks - different sizes, different paper, etc. Since a few weeks I'm not sure if I would like to do this in this way in the future. I've got the imagination of a bookshelf full of journals - all the same back. How beautiful will this look! But on the other hand... What about testing all the notebooks? And which notebook should I use? Maybe I can change every year - but use the same size. And I like systems - like Midori, RoterFaden etc. - for EDC. But I don't like writing my journal in these thin inserts... But I love leather! And it's not really comfortable for me to write in my Midori/Fauxdori with different inserts for a longer time in bed or on the couch. The next question: Do you use always the same fountain pen? Or maybe always the same ink? I just wanted to ask, how do you journal? Do you use the same size of notebooks? Or do you only use Leuchtturms/LIFE/Moleskines... maybe in different colors? Do you use only one ink color? Or one fountain pen? Or...? Thanks a lot Julia