Looking For A Thick, Fat Journal...

[Jadie]

So, a little over a month ago, I started writing in my Baroque Ventaglio Ultra journal from Paperblanks (180 x 230 or around 5 x 7, with 240 pages/120 sheets).

 

It's been good. The paper is very fp-friendly, smooth, and silky to the touch. The cover is gorgeous, and the brass clasps, inside pocket and ribbon marker are all lovely touches. It lies flat when I write and keeps closed when I'm finished.

 

Problem is, I've already filled it to nearly halfway with text. (I blame a recent spurt of ink and pen purchases that's given me excuses to write excessively.)

 

So...are there fatter journals out there with fountain-pen-ink-friendly paper? (I know there's plenty of FAT journals, but I'd hate to buy one and found out the paper made my ink bleed all over the place.) Webbies and Habanas seem too thin in comparison, even if they -are- super fountain pen friendly, and I can't justify buying a whole bunch at once. I want to see all my thoughts together in one book.

 

I'd prefer to not go bigger (5 x 7 to me is the perfect size), and I'd prefer for it to have lined pages (though if the paper is thin enough to show guidelines, then it's all right too).

 

Yeah, I'd love to hear from some of you writers out there.

 

EDIT: And yes, I've heard of the italian Epica journals, but I don't want to spend $275~1000 on a book. Imagine the shipping charges... XO

Edited July 14, 2012 by Jadie

[melissa59]

Watching, waiting, hoping for some great suggestions.

[tenney]

Thanks to their sale, I just got a Ciak journal that has 256 pages and is supposed to be FP friendly and the cover is made from leather scraps (so it is leather, but recycled and acid free). Haven't tried it yet, though. See it here www.lacouronneducomte.nl

[Dark Side]

Miguel Rius has some pretty thick journals that are fp friendly. The paper feels a bit thin but holds up well (it's no Clairefontaine).

[outbackpengeek]

How about the Design Y LP Record?

[The Good Captain]

Thanks to their sale, I just got a Ciak journal that has 256 pages and is supposed to be FP friendly and the cover is made from leather scraps (so it is leather, but recycled and acid free). Haven't tried it yet, though. See it here www.lacouronneducomte.nl

I have one Ciak but the paper had mixed 'friendliness' to fountain pens. In essence, it was (bleep) at the beginning and end - maybe five or six pages each - but OK for the rest providing I used fine nibs and Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black or Brilliant Black. Almost anything else showed through and often bled through as well. I don't use broad nibs at all.

It wasn't the same thickness as yours and maybe they have changed the paper they are using now. A nice journal though but with that provision.

 

 

[Ghost Plane]

Cavallini make fatter ones. Check eBay. I've seen a few meh reviews, but the ones I've bought are lovely. Usually around $75 plus or minus. The leather covers are nice.

 

One thing to keep in mind - fatter journals may not lay comfortably flat the way the thinner journals do. I'm stacking Paperblanks on the shelf rather than going fatter as the steep edges on fatter journals when I come to the edge of the page are annoying. If you stay 5x7, that's an issue to consider.

[Charles Skinner]

I use the 300 page Boorum & Pease Record books. Sell for about $45 to $50. I have filled about twenty two of them over the past fifty years! Perfect, in my opinion, for journals.

 

C. Skinner

[Jadie]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Will be looking into each of them in turn. I have to admit I haven't heard of any of these brands before...shows you how limited my journal smarts are, haha. =D

 

One thing to keep in mind - fatter journals may not lay comfortably flat the way the thinner journals do. I'm stacking Paperblanks on the shelf rather than going fatter as the steep edges on fatter journals when I come to the edge of the page are annoying. If you stay 5x7, that's an issue to consider.

 

Oooh...that's a good point. I wouldn't have thought of it until you mentioned it. =)

[mm1624124]

I wish I could agree about Boorum & Pease. I just purchased a 150 page B&P 38 based on some reviews and was devestated (truly heartbroken! ) on the paper performance. The paper is rough, the ink lines spread even from my dry, fine nibs using the best behaved inks making it look like I wrote with a hose turned on full blast. There was the typical feathering and bleed through that seems to accompany really absorbent paper.

 

Sigh! I really, really want a book that has some good contents/index pages, numbered, and hard-bound smythe sewn journal that is wider than the typical 5-1/2 inch journals. So far this as been a very expensive search.

 

For fatness the closest I have found is this one:

 

http://www.mymaido.com/tsubame-notebooks/967-tsubame-notebook-b5-8mm-rule-7-x-98-200-pages.html

 

which I have paired with this, which fits the tsubame notebook like a glove:

 

http://www.muji.us/store/denim-tag-book-cover-b5-brown.html

 

Things I Love about this notebook:

1. It lies flat.

2. The paper has a laid texture that is "firm", has some glassiness to it yet with some feedback. I really, really love the paper.

3. Haven't been able to get any bleedthrough or shadowing or ghosting. Maybe with a sharpie, but not much.

4. The ink line is very crisp, sharp; and the paper will assist inks with a sheen to it. The ink color isn't sullied.

5. The paper color is egg-shell white and isn't starkly bright to the eyes.

 

Things I Like about this notebook:

1. The size and thickness are just right. 10 in X 7 in X 7/8 in

2. The signatures are sewn in; looks secure to take a beating, but do lack the finesse of more expensive journals.

3. There is a contents page--token and I wish there was more than just a one-sided contents page.

 

Things I Dislike about this notebook:

1. I wish the pages were numbered.

2. It lacks a "title" line at the page top margin (a trifle, but still).

3. It is softbound and I'm not sure the cover has any longetivity to it. But with the muji denim cover, I think it will last a lifetime.

4. Line spacing is 8 mm; I prefer 6.5-7 mm for daily writing.

 

Hmm, now that I've spelled it all out...I think I'll stop my search.

[cellmatrix]

One thing to keep in mind - fatter journals may not lay comfortably flat the way the thinner journals do.

I've noticed that too. As an example, I used to use Clairefontaine 6 x 8.25 clothbound journals. At 96 sheets/192 pages, they can't be called fat, but even at this size still I noticed there was some curvature of the page at it nears the spine which made me have to significantly compensate by adjusting the angle of my writing, which became a pain after a while.

 

As a remedy, I first tried the rhodia webnotebook, which lays much flatter but because it costs twice what the clairefontaine notebooks do, on a per page basis, this adds up, especially if you write a lot.

 

Finally, I switched to the Clairefontaine 6 x 8.25 staple bound journals which are 48 sheets/96 pages and, as these lay out almost totally flat, this also solves the curvature problem but at a much better price. I also like the fact that these staple bounds are lighter and easy to fit in your bag or carry around. So anyway, I think the point that I learned is that, even if you do write a lot, thinner can still be a perfectly good way to go.

Edited July 15, 2012 by cellmatrix

[dfranks04]

How about the Design Y LP Record?

+1000. Just received mine and it really is great. Worth the price!

[topendoodle]

No one mentioned this one, so I'm coming out of lurker status for a moment (:

 

I've seen some okay reviews of these Zequenz notebooks*, but I guess it depends on the inks/pens you use. Some seem to give bleed-through and others work fine.(Of course all those reviews may be dated now... search Zequenz)

 

200 sheets/400 pages. The medium one is 4.9 x 7", the large one is 5.8 x 8.2". They look to be about $27-31 (respectively, with shipping) from Zequenz on Amazon right now.

 

*No affiliation. I should note that I don't even own one. But it is the fattest notebook I've seen available in that price range.

Edited July 15, 2012 by topendoodle

[tenney]

I use a pocket sized Zequenz and love it. It's got a soft flexible cover intended to be in your pocket and even rolled. It's very FP friendly, rarely bleeding through, and quite thick. Sorry that I hadn't thought of it, but I didn't check to see if they had larger non-pocket sized journals.

[Ghost Plane]

One thing to keep in mind - fatter journals may not lay comfortably flat the way the thinner journals do.

I've noticed that too. As an example, I used to use Clairefontaine 6 x 8.25 clothbound journals. At 96 sheets/192 pages, they can't be called fat, but even at this size still I noticed there was some curvature of the page at it nears the spine which made me have to significantly compensate by adjusting the angle of my writing, which became a pain after a while.

 

As a remedy, I first tried the rhodia webnotebook, which lays much flatter but because it costs twice what the clairefontaine notebooks do, on a per page basis, this adds up, especially if you write a lot.

 

Finally, I switched to the Clairefontaine 6 x 8.25 staple bound journals which are 48 sheets/96 pages and, as these lay out almost totally flat, this also solves the curvature problem but at a much better price. I also like the fact that these staple bounds are lighter and easy to fit in your bag or carry around. So anyway, I think the point that I learned is that, even if you do write a lot, thinner can still be a perfectly good way to go.

I use the staple bounds for my manuscripts. Easy to number each volume with a Sharpie on the cover. They also fold back on themselves with a clip when it comes time to transcribe onto the computer. Cheapest way to lay down 80-130,000 words I've found with great performance. Most inks/nibs I can write on the backside of the pages.

[David R Munson]

I'm amazed nobody has suggested Miquelrius notebooks yet! The paper is pretty good for fountain pens (not amazing, I'll admit, but better than average), their thicker notebooks are about the dimensions that OP was looking for, AND they come in at about 600 pages. I actually stopped using them because they were too thick, lasted too long, and by the time I go thalfway through, I wanted to start something new. Which of course makes me think it might be just right for OP.

[Jadie]

 

Sigh! I really, really want a book that has some good contents/index pages, numbered, and hard-bound smythe sewn journal that is wider than the typical 5-1/2 inch journals. So far this as been a very expensive search.

 

 

Yes, I wonder why they don't make notebooks like that. The closest I've found had a table-of-contents section, numbered pages, and wonderfully thin lines...but it was a lab notebook, and not the most fountain-pen-friendly book in the world. (It was also too thin, alas...)

 

Your Tsubame notebooks look very appealing. I especially love the name--it means "swallow"* in Japanese, right? How poetic. Now if only they had the cover and the notebook on the same website.

 

*Edit: The bird, not the verb.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Jadie

[Chris S]

I kind of when through what the OP went though. I ended up trying an Apica and I loved it. They aren't thick, but they also aren't that expensive - so you can pick a few up at a time. They lay flat, and the paper is awesome. I switched to the larger A4 size after the first one. They get my vote - I may buy something else every so often just to try it out, but chances are I will end up going back to them.

[FLZapped]

Epica has the answer....

 

Worlds Largest Journal

 

And just in case you think that might be too much, there is also this one:

 

Worlds Thickest Journal

 

See you in Miami this weekend?

[UncleJoe420]

Epica has the answer....

 

Worlds Largest Journal

 

And just in case you think that might be too much, there is also this one:

 

Worlds Thickest Journal

 

See you in Miami this weekend?

 

Call 1,000 pages thick? Don't mean to boast, but I've made one with 4,000 pages... Took me awhile though... Lol