Moleskine's competition

[Betty]

Moleskine are so popular, but I've found a competition for them. It's from a japanese company called Kokuyo. Here's some pictures I took of the 2 competing books

 

Both have that rubberband that holds the book closed

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/bettybl/molefac1.jpg

 

 

How the books look opened. You can't tell from the photo, but the japan book's pages are lime green (available in also blue, red, and yellow). There are also perforated edges for clean ripping of pages. I also love that the book is a spiral.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/bettybl/molefac2.jpg

 

Folders at the back of the book. I like how the Japan book has a plastic pouch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/bettybl/molefac3.jpg

 

Comparison shot

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/bettybl/molefac4.jpg

 

Price - I brought the 2 books a while ago, but I know the japan book was almost half the price of a moleskine. The pages are also thicker than a moleskine too.

[Sparky]

Thanks for the pictures... It looks like they would be worth trying!. BTW...was that a red Parker 45 FP in the picture?

[rosey]

Where did you purchase the Japenese notebook? What kind of paper is in the notebook compared to a Moleskine? I like Clairefontaine and Rhodia, do yo know how it compares with those?

 

Lots of questions I know, but I'm interested in finding good quality notebooks with good paper. I also like the colored pages.

[Betty]

Thanks for the pictures... It looks like they would be worth trying!. BTW...was that a red Parker 45 FP in the picture?

Yup, it's a red Parker 45. I brought it from Richard Binder Very good very WET writer!

[Betty]

Where did you purchase the Japenese notebook? What kind of paper is in the notebook compared to a Moleskine? I like Clairefontaine and Rhodia, do yo know how it compares with those?

 

Lots of questions I know, but I'm interested in finding good quality notebooks with good paper. I also like the colored pages.

I brought it at the Kinokuniya (spelling ?) bookstore here in NYC. It's a Japanese bookstore that sells some japanese imported notebooks and pens. If you need help purchasing, I can help you purchase and then you paypal me back.

 

The paper is a bit thicker than Moleskine and almost comparable in terms and thickness and smoothness to Rhodia, though Clairefontaine is smooth I think. I'm not sure how it'll take fountain pen ink though since I haven't written on it yet. I don't like to use fountain pens to write on my small notebooks anyway because no matter how fine the fountain pen is, it's always thicker than regular gel pens that I like to write with on the small notebooks.

[Slush99]

Thanks for the pictures. That green one is really pretty.

[Goodwhiskers]

Kinokuniya's list of "brick and mortar" stores outside of Japan is

 

http://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/english/contents/network04.html

.

 

I had fun shopping in the Los Angeles store a few years ago (it's necessary to park in the garage underneath the mall). The staffpeople were courteous and helpful, even though they were very busy.

 

Kinokuniya doesn't regularly stock fountain pens. I did see a few boxes of bottles of Pilot brand fountain pen ink. If it's the same as the Namiki brand ink, I can get it from the Vroman's store here in Pasadena.

Edited June 12, 2006 by Goodwhiskers

[thewolfgang]

Dear Mr. Goodwhiskers,

 

Have you had any luck hunting for pens in L.A.'s Chinatown?

 

Laurence

[Michael Wright]

Kinokuniya's list of "brick and mortar" stores outside of Japan is

 

http://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/english/contents/network04.html

.

 

I had fun shopping in the Los Angeles store a few years ago (it's necessary to park in the garage underneath the mall). The staffpeople were courteous and helpful, even though they were very busy.

 

Kinokuniya doesn't regularly stock fountain pens. I did see a few boxes of bottles of Pilot brand fountain pen ink. If it's the same as the Namiki brand ink, I can get it from the Vroman's store here in Pasadena.

This is thread drift, sorry, but I went into Kinokuniya in Sydney recently and found, lurking near the Design books and the manga, a copy of Charles H. Beeson, _A Primer of Medieval Latin_ which, as it happens, was just the sort of thing I was looking for. Good bookshop.

 

Michael

[Tara]

Sorry.

 

With that spiral bind, it'll never compete with a Moleskine.

 

I love that spiral binds lie flat, but they're a stone (bleep) to get in and out of a small pocket.

 

I'm sticking with Moleskines.

[Escribiente]

Same here. The only problem with Moleskine's is their price. Other than that, for me, they are a perfect as a notebook can be. I know that this sounds a bit hyperbolic. But consider a spun, for instance, how much can you tweak the basic design?

[sonia_simone]

If Moleskine had a pen loop and good paper, I'd never use anything else.

[Escribiente]

Sonia, you should try the new ones. The paper is very, very different. No feathering, even if you use a paint-brush of a nib. As for the pen loop, check this site: Moleskine Hack.

[Michael Wright]

Sonia, you should try the new ones. The paper is very, very different. No feathering, even if you use a paint-brush of a nib. As for the pen loop, check this site: Moleskine Hack.

Is this new superior paper in all their models? I pretty certainly couldn't resist one if they were certain to work OK with FPs.

 

Michael

[Margana]

The new/better paper sounds great but how do you know that's what you are buying?

 

Margana

[Titivillus]

Sonia, you should try the new ones. The paper is very, very different. No feathering, even if you use a paint-brush of a nib. As for the pen loop, check this site: Moleskine Hack.

Is this new superior paper in all their models? I pretty certainly couldn't resist one if they were certain to work OK with FPs.

 

Michael

Somewhere I posted a pic of the front and back of about a dozen different FPs & inks on moleskine paper. Alot of what I think might be considered feathering/ bleedthrough is just that the paper is thin and you can see through it. Except for a bold nib I really haven't had FP problems.

 

But

 

that's just my experience and there have been several people who had the opposite experience so your milage might certainly vary. In any case the moleskine does make a nice pocket book to be able to jot down a quick note with a pencil or BP/ RB

 

K

[sonia_simone]

I got some new Cahiers that were an improvement, but clairefontaine they were not.

[Dr.Grace]

As I posted in another thread, the pocket Moleskine I just bought really bled through with almost all inks I tried except for Aurora Blue. It wasn't just an illusion: the ink really spread through the paper and started to feather on the other side. The paper is very thin, which I guess is a good thing if you want a lot of pages in a thin notebook. But not so good for fountain pens.

[curtisvan]

Sorry.

 

With that spiral bind, it'll never compete with a Moleskine.

 

I love that spiral binds lie flat, but they're a stone (bleep) to get in and out of a small pocket.

 

I'm sticking with Moleskines.

I have to agree with Tara. The Spirals drive me crazy. Not only do they catch, but if you ever bend a few of those metal spirals, it is very difficult to open flatly. Everyone wants to imitate, but I'm still sold on Moleskine.

[Tara]

I've written in my Moleskines with my wettest firehose nibs (Bexley Sheherazade broad and my Pelikan 800 broad) and had a little spot bleedthrough.

 

Nothing that made reading difficult, and I write on front and back.

 

I do use a piece of blotter paper as a bookmark and backer as I write and that seems to cut down on the amount of bleed through.

 

My current favorite is a Stipula Etruria Nuda with a fine nib (read, medium nib) with Noodler's Legal Lapis. Very little bleedthrough.

 

I will say that my Moleskines did not do well with very fine or toothy nibs.

 

The few of that ilk that I've tried have bled and feathered like mad.