Crok' Books

[watch_art]

Up for review today is something called a Crok' book. I have no idea where in the hell they came up with that name, but the cover looks interesting with that giant C on it.

I have the 6 x 8 inch model.

It opens and lays flat and is staple bound. The corners are just a bit rounded. There's no pocket in the back, but I don't ever use those, so I don't mind that.

 

Here's the page from the catalog, from the Exaclair website. Page 49.

 

 

 

 

I've scribbled on my cover a bit, and traced around the letters, which are raised a bit. Embossed I guess.

This first photo shows the color quite accurately.

 

 

The cover is a sort of heavy card stock paper, I guess.

 

 

And inside we have the paper.

 

page 1

-drawn on with platinum preppy marker with Noodler's black, Edison herald F with Noodler's Zhivago.

The marker is a super wet writer. No feathering at all. No bleed through either.

 

page 1 detail

With heavy applications of ink the paper starts to really show some abuse. It absorbs the ink well enough, but stays wet for a while, and as you draw on top of other lines, the paper gets sort of chewed up and worn. Too much work in one spot might actually wear through the page. Maybe avoiding heavy layering with this paper is the way to go. But for some drawings that's what I want to do.

 

page 2 and 3

-drawn with Edison Herald F nib, Noodler's Zhivago, and Pelikan M1000 M nib, Pelikan brown.

Here I noticed the difference between the front and back of the page. The fronts, like where the chainsaw is, and the back, on the left side here, have different textures. The fronts are quite a bit smoother while the backs are a bit rough. Heavy applications of ink seem to wear the backs worse than the front. The interesting thing about this paper is how quickly it absorbs the ink, but that it still takes a while for the ink and page to dry. It's like a wet rag: there's no dripping water, but it's still obviously wet to the touch. That's this paper. I don't know how else to describe it. Even after you can see that the ink has been absorbed, it will still smear until it is completely dry.

 

page 2 detail

not very heavy applications of lines and inks, but you can see how it chews the paper up...

 

 

page 3 detail

Heavy application but this time on the front, not nearly as much wear. In fact, very nearly no wear at all. Much better.

 

page 3 detail 2

Multiple layers of Noodler's Zhivago from an F nib don't wear on the page nearly as much. If you have drier to medium wet writing pens, you probably won't have any problems with this paper at all. I don't use water color at all, but this paper might not be the best suited for it. I'll work on that later.

 

page 4 and 5

-drawn with the Pel M1000 again, and a little Hero pen with Gate City Everflow Blue Black ink.

The blue black didn't bleed through at all, but the brown sure did.

 

 

page 5 detail

 

page 5 detail 2

The blue black, with a slow dry time (the old version anyways) dried quite quickly here.

 

page 6, detail of page 5 reverse

That bleed through is annoying. That's with a pretty heavy layering of cross hatching from a pretty wet nib, though.

 

page 6 and 7

-drawn with Chinese Long Life button filler using Noodler's Bad Blue Heron.

Again, no feathering or bleed through, and no show through.

 

For the most part, I like it quite well, and given the price, I might end up picking some more up when my two are full. The bleed through is annoying, but I can live with it, I think. The way the paper gets chewed up after layer upon layer of ink is more difficult to live with though.

 

It works fine with graphite/pencils b/c of the tooth. I think it would do well with markers as well. I'll do a follow up in a week or so with some more ink drawings, marker and water color tests.

[RedSox04]

Hey I just got some from Farseer911! (Keven)

 

They're great. Highly recommended

[farseer911]

One of my favorite papers for the price... Nice review.

[inkypete]

Like the look of these. Do they have the usual 90gsm Clairefontaine paper (fingers crossed)?

[watch_art]

Like the look of these. Do they have the usual 90gsm Clairefontaine paper (fingers crossed)?

 

It's 90gsm, as stated in the little catalog snippet above, but it's not the slick shiny smooth stuff. It's got the texture of smooth construction paper almost. A little bit of tooth. But inks behave on it way better than any sketchbook you'll get at Hobby Lobby or Micheal's.

[farseer911]

Like the look of these. Do they have the usual 90gsm Clairefontaine paper (fingers crossed)?

 

 

This is the paper I tell people to try who dislike Rhodia or clairefontaine (or the Grafit pads...)

 

90g with just a hint of feedback and a tad more absorbent but all the wonderful qualities of the papers we love....

[watch_art]

and I'm loving this thing more and more as I continue to use it.

 

here are a couple more pages.

Worms? Why worms?

Well, my wife's vegetables have been decimated by little caterpillars, and I've been drawing them here lately, depicted as little devil worms.

I'm really enjoying the flat layout. I kind of wish the covers were stiffer so I could work on my lap instead of a table or a lap board. Other than that, the only thing that I notice are the different textures from front to back of each sheet. The left side will be a bit toothy, and the right side a bit smoother. I just love how thin the book is and that I can lay it flat to draw across the gutter. I think that's my favorite part.

 

drawn with Lamy Studio (love that pen!) F nib. Lamy black cart.

 

drawn with Edison Herald Grande with B nib (love that nib!!). Noodler's Zhivago.

hmmm... this one's not finished yet.

 

A Montblanc black ink spill. Only bled through a tiny bit on the right page of the above drawing. Can't even notice it really. This paper is so boss!

Edited July 2, 2011 by watch_art

[rickboone]

The Preppy black marker. Is this the highlighter with black ink in it, or do they have markers.

[watch_art]

I think that there are Preppy markers. I just put Noodler's black ink in it and went to town. It's like a stiff fiber tip marker. Pretty nice. WET. I like.

[bjcmatthews]

Is that the same paper as is used in the Graf it 90g 41 lb. Clairefontaine sketch pads?? I have a few of those, and they are a little coarser and toothier, but utterly brilliant for flexing the ahabs muscles..and nib...on. Makes steel nibs feel better, and gold nails feel worse, interestingly.

 

Nice pics mate.