Using A Seven Seas Notebook

[dvalliere]

I picked up a Seven Season Writer A5 Journal this week (4th edition). It arrived surprisingly quick and well-packaged. It looks absolutely amazing as I paged through it and I can't wait to begin using it but I promised myself I'd finish off my current journal before beginning a new one.

 

But, I got to thinking--do I want to use it for journaling or something else entirely? Time to brainstorm; perhaps you're willing to share your ideas.

 

For what purposes do you have/use/recommend a dedicated notebook?

Edited August 25, 2015 by dvalliere

[knarflj]

Hmm, let's see, I have:

1. one for my daily journal

2. one for sermon notes

3. a commonplace book (where I record quotations that strike me)

4. one general reading notebook - I sometimes have more than one of these going at a time, but I think I've only got one at the moment. I use these to take notes on books I read out of my "specialty" areas - both what the author said, and questions or reflections that come to mind as I read.

5. a couple that are each dedicated to a specific subject (I read a lot…)

 

I keep several cheap spiral notebooks going for other purposes as well, but for the list above I like to have reasonably attractive notebooks with decent paper. Not sure I'd use a Seven Seas journal for a commonplace book, though, if only because it would take me so very long to fill it!

 

Jenny

[Newjelan]

I use them for all my work notes - meetings, Action Items, planning etc. I get to use a beautiful notebook while working and that makes my day seem so much better. One notebook lasts up to 5 months.

[Bemo]

Very timely subject as I've just received my first 7 seas notebook as well. Most of my writing is work related note taking and I just can't see myself using such a nice notebook for that. I'm sure that superb paper will convince me otherwise given time.

[RPB]

I use my earlier edition (with the 2 bookmarks) Seven Seas book for daily journalling. I have the kip leather cover with it too which is great leather, however he cut the edges with his eyes closed as they are just not good quality. lol.

Overall the kip cover is good, even after a year of sitting out in my living room it still smells great and is aging nicely. The colour is changing which is a nice touch, it gets darker with age. Anyway I digress..........

I just write anything in my book, thoughts, ideas, moans, anything that is stressing me out. I find that once written down i can stop wasting time thinking about it as i can read it in the book later. I enjoy writing with my Nakaya and that is what made me start journalling in the first place, the fact that I wanted to use a fountain pen and just write! I am gadget mad, however with that said, I have to write daily, I just enjoy it.

[Ergative]

I use mine for recording thoughts that I have to prevent myself from describing in exhaustive detail to my husband, who gets the point after a few sentences. Sometimes, however, I just use it to try out a new ink or nib-and-ink combo, and then my entries are much more boring. At the moment I've got Emerald of Chivor in my TWSBI 580, and since I have nothing to say I'm just describing all the people I can think of in my job. It looks gorgeous.*

 

*Except for some reason** my nib keeps clogging and I have to dip it in water to get it going again. The Emerald of Chivor (at least in my TWSBI) is therefore not reliable enough for everyday use, but it's so exquisite that I'll probably keep it for journaling anyway.

 

**Probably the glitter

[ethernautrix]

I seem incapable of keeping dedicated notebooks, so my Seven Seas notebook gets hit with everything -- brain dump, quotations, excerpts from what I'm reading (articles, books, whatever), to-do lists, and so on.

[gammada]

Well, never heard of the Seven Seas notebooks until now, so please fill me in with details!

 

As for the dedicated notebooks, I do keep a few: one is exclusively for work. It is a notebook that I use to take notes on the work am doing, to sketch logos, interfaces, layouts, diagrams and the occasional storyboard too (am a designer + photog).

 

I keep another one as a sort of learning repository (I take notes when I do webcasts, tutorials or when am reading a work-related book). The other three notebooks I keep are strictly for personal use: one as a journal, another for sketching and drawing and the third one is to write quotes on it with my stub nib pen.

 

Last but not least, I have a Moleskine Japanese Album that is entirely dedicated to furniture design icons that am drawing at a slow but disciplined pace.

[dvalliere]

Well, never heard of the Seven Seas notebooks until now, so please fill me in with details!

 

Seven Seas Writer Notebook

 

It's A5 size, Tomoe River Paper, 240 sheets/480 pages, lays flat, and thinner than a basic 90 sheet Clairefontaine spiralbound notebook.

[migo984]

The only dedicated journal I have is the one I commissioned from TM Lee. I'm writing up an informal 'memoir', reflecting on my 6 months in Australia this year. The design of the notebook reflects the colours and style of traditional aboriginal art. TM Lee's work is absolutely stunning and I really love my journal. I had it made with Tomoe paper of course.

 

My other Tomoe journals - I have several, of different makes and styles - I use as Catch-Alls, the same as other people have described already.

[vjones]

That looks like a nice journal. I really like the aesthetics. Unfortunately I don't think I'd like the show through on the TR paper.

[BullFly7]

I have the Writer version and use it for daily thoughts before I do my other writing. I dont mind the show through because it honestly isnt that noticeable once you start writing. I dont like the very first page of the book though because it is glued funny so I couldnt use it. Personal issue mostly. I use it with one of their writing pads and it works out great. Very comfortable to write on. I dont like to use tomoe river paper for my story writing but I think that is something I will have to get over soon enough. I have quite a few notebooks made with it and cant all be personal journals.

[etaylor33]

I find I have too many books. Haven't gotten into the nice paper yet, still writing in spiral steno pads. Trying to organize as I find if I throw everything in one notebook, I have the dickens finding it later,so I'm trying to keep one for just my fountain pen notes and impressions and work on organizing everything else. I have about seven or so, so it's likely to take some time before I take the plunge into a better grade of paper.

[Snoutmol]

That Seven Seas Notebook looks perfect. I even like that the pages are thin, regardless of the ghosting. I like to see a little ghosting, because it's sort of like looking at a whole page you've written and being proud. Except it's on the reverse side of the page, encouraging you to fill up the blank side . . .

 

And of course it has a huge amount of paper and a functional, pretty quality cover, and it lays flat. Going on my wishlist! Thanks!

[Newjelan]

That Seven Seas Notebook looks perfect.

It looks perfect because it is perfect. These are the best notebooks ever.

[IrishEyes]

"Sorry but this item is currently unavailable. Please check back at a later stage."

 

:-(

 

I have zillions of journals hanging out, here (most of them unlined/blank), sized from small (moleskine standard size/approx. 4x6 or 5x7) to large (12x16). Most have decent paper, if not "special/fancy", and all but the moleskines in various sizes have leather covers. Most of them slip off the actual journal so that when one fills, I can simply slip the leather cover onto a new one. My favorite is the hand-tooled leather one that my husband made for me several Christmases ago. It's pretty, and has a lot of sentimental value :-). My second favorite has a bright red, suede cover (unfortunately, not a slip cover that i can move to another journal when it fills up). I also have several Oberon embossed leather covers, most of them with some sort of Celtic motif. I have one large moleskine hardcover "code red" notebook with lined paper, that I found still shrink-wrapped for a couple of dollars at a Goodwill store, and I use it when I'm messing about with my pens :-). The rest of my journals hold a combination of sketches and journal entries.

Edited November 28, 2015 by IrishEyes

[Amberjack]

It looks perfect because it is perfect. These are the best notebooks ever.

This.

 

 

Disappointing that nanami seems to be out of stock frequently but I assure you the TR journal is worth the wait.

 

Jack

[DrDebG]

This looks like a great journal. I may have to get one to try it out.

 

Last summer I bought several Tomoe River jounals from www.paperforfountainpens.com. They are quite nice. I am just about to finish using the first one. I use it primarily for journaling during my daily "quiet times". I also really like the Franklin Christoph Firma-Flex notebook (www.franklin-christoph.com). I use that one more for work.

[migo984]

It looks perfect because it is perfect. These are the best notebooks ever.

I have several and I agree, they are very nice, but they're not perfect, since they stopped making them with two bookmarks, which I loved. I also preferred the original covers.

If you discount price as a factor, the Design Y journals are so much better. However, they're like comparing apples & oranges. It's all about personal preference & opinion after all.

[vjones]

I picked up a factory 2nd blank journal when they had them in stock. I like the new cover -but I haven't seen the old one so maybe I'd have liked it better. I didn't know they had bookmarks in the past - that's a feature I'd like to see. I'm thinking about picking up the lined version when they're back in stock.

 

I Have not heard of "Design Y" journals.

Edited November 30, 2015 by vjones