Paperthinks Review

[Miz Black Crow]

I asked Paperthinks to send me a few sheets of paper for review, mostly because I didn't want to commit $20 to a journal that might not be FP-friendly. They agreed to send me an out-of-date 2014 planner, but surprised me by sending me a tiiiiny notebook to sample instead. It was a highly classy move on their end.

 

I only wish the paper was as classy as the technique What did I think? Well, read my....

 

Paperthinks Pocket Notebook Review! Sample provided free from Paperthinks, because I asked nicely. So points for customer / potential-customer service! Item MSRP's at $12.95 on the Paperthinks Site.

 

The Pocket Notebook measures 3.5 x 5.0". The cover is 100% recycled leather, which is nice and appeals to my eco-friendly personality, and the one they sent me is an attractive shade of navy blue. There's an adorable 1/8" wide black ribbon sewn in the middle, and a surprisingly expandable pocket in the back for storing scraps of paper. There's no elastic closure, but it doesn't seem to need one; it seems to want to stay closed all by itself.

 

In terms of branding, the words Paper thinks^TM are written, fairly small, on the base of the spine, in an elegant and unobtrusive gray-on-navy arrangement; there is a small logo on the inside of the front cover, opposite a front page that has spaces for Name, Phone, and (oddly enough) emergency contact info.

 

As to the paper, there are 128 sheets (256 pages) of pH-neutral, chlorine-free, acid-free, and "selected recycled fibres", ruled, ivory paper in this notebook. There are 20 lines on the page, with the top 7/16" as a margin, and 3/16" side and bottom margins. The website states that the notebooks are Smyth-sewn and lay flat, which I did not experience to be the case; toward the ends the pages may lie relatively flat, but in the middle it's humpsville, and it's a fight to keep whichever cover has less pages against the desk. This might get better with time, but unfortunately, I don't like the paper well enough to find out.

 

I've only written a few test pages so far, with the 4 pens I have. While my photo-taking skills aren't great, and I've decided not to include them unless someone requests it, here's what I used, and the results:

 

--Pilot Metropolitan (Asian M) with Diamine Ancient Copper: Hairline feathering, which remains quite legible, but some pretty bad bleedthrough at the bottoms of the letters. The reverse side would be basically unusable, but you could get away with using this verso-only.

 

--Noodler's Ahab with J. Herbin 1670 Stormy Gray: All's fair in love and pens, and seeing how a flex pen does with cheap paper is just.... sad. Lots of ink or Ahab's finest receding hairline, didn't matter. The paper still feathered all over the place, and, on the deepest flexes, bled through to the page beyond. Though the ink DOES sparkle nicely on this paper (it doesn't on everything, including Office Despot pads), so that's a plus.

 

--Lamy Safari (Western M) with Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun: This didn't feather particularly badly, partially because I think the nib is just kind of "vague", but it also didn't behave particularly well; the ink is too light-colored for terrible bleed-through, but it still tried pretty hard. Could you use the recto? Probably. But the ink looks "chalky" here, in a way it doesn't on other cheap paper.

 

--Lamy Safari (Western XF) with Noodler's 54th Massachusetts: This was the best-behaved combination I have currently inked (across various papers). The lines don't feather more than the occasional hairline, or bleed through at all, or even show through particularly badly. You could get away with writing on the recto (back of the page) with this pretty easily, if you kept it to the XF nib. With this combination, and this combination

 

Overall: I like that it's recycled and eco-friendly. I want to like this notebook, really I do. But I can't. It doesn't lay flat, it's a little thick for my tastes, and the paper just isn't suitable for fountain pens. As to the paper, with a fine enough nib and a well-behaved ink this MIGHT be a usable journal or notebook. But with most inks and nibs the recto is a complete goner, not to mention its feathering problems. I'm sure it's great with ballpoints, and maybe even rollerballs, but here on the Fountain Pen Network it just doesn't cut it.

 

Spend your $13 on something else. The 3.5" x 5.5" Markings by C.R. Gibson Moleskine-esque notebook sells at Staples for just $7, and, if it's anything like it's bigger sister, it handles FPs MUCH better.

 

Photos: Courtesy of paperthinks.us

 

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0493/0109/products/PT03558_1_1024x1024.jpg?v=1405440746

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0493/0109/products/PT91118_02_d80f16e4-8113-4c3a-9026-7d48e3a40861.jpg?v=1405440746

Edited December 15, 2014 by Miz Black Crow

[Tessy Moon]

Thank you so very much for this very detailed review!

It is extremely helpful!

 

I feared that it might have the feathering and bleeding problems; and I am grateful for your review.

 

Photos of the ink on paper would be great when you have the time!

 

Thank you again for this thorough review!

[Miz Black Crow]

Photos of the ink on paper would be great when you have the time!

 

Ask and ye shall receive!

 

The journal, with a Lamy Safari for size comparison.

 

Writing on the verso....

 

....bleeding through to the recto

 

Like I said, if you're a verso-only writer, this might work for you, but if you like the recto (like me)... pretty disappointing.

[Tessy Moon]

Thank you for the photos! It helps to see the extent of the show through.

The size comparison helps too!

Thanks again!