Apica Journals

[Samovar]

If you order from Notabene, just make a big order to make it worth the shipping cost. Paper is a very expensive product to import and ship

Call his toll free number, the owner is a pleasure to deal with

 

I'm testing a new Arbos note book from Italy made with Recycled paper, so far it's amazing... I'll post a review soon

 

  tcheuchter said:

Had a tough time finding Apica in Canada. Found out Papeterie Nota Bene now has it. Pricier than Ebay though.

 

[I am not a number]

  MollyatTakeNote said:

Hi Fountain Penners. Molly here, (taylorsintherockies@msn.com) from Take Note Writing Gear, an eBay biz. I'll ship wherever you want me to if you tell me you're from this network. The prices to ship internationally just went skyhigh and I am reluctant to offer them. It makes my overall product prices appear extremely high as eBay is now posting a combined price, shipping plus merchandise. So, when you order, don't select "Pay Now." I'll send you an invoice with the correct shipping added. Please give me an extra day or two because I'll need to go to the Post Office to get the price. For my US shipments, I can print the postage at home. Lastly, I am considering listing a hard bound Apica twin spiral notebook. Would any of you find that interesting? Same great paper. The shipments from Japan are expensive since the weight is high. I have been debating carrying them. Thanks again for your patience, business and consideration. Molly at Take Note (an eBay store)

Contacting you for shipping outside the CONUS and the spiral-bound both seem like great ideas to me Molly and I am pretty sure that others on this forum from far-flung shores will be very pleased that you have posted this!

 

Thanks very much!

 

IANAN

 

[smoky]

  tcheuchter said:

Had a tough time finding Apica in Canada. Found out Papeterie Nota Bene now has it. Pricier than Ebay though.

 

That's not so bad. I bought some Apica notebooks at Laywine's (Toronto) two years ago. Nota Bene's prices are much less (one-third to one-half?) than what I paid.

[rorschah]

I love Apica.

 

If you live in a city with a large Japanese population, (like my home town of San Jose, or here in Los Angeles), look for Kinokuniya bookstores (sp?). My local one has tons of Apica, and other stuff, and another notebook that's from the same manufacturer as Apica, and has blank pages that are of slightly lower quality. And they come in regular, and big-ass-300 page versions, too.

 

-thi

[a11en]

Hi guys!

 

First- I'm not the Princeton student- I go to the U of I (IL) and use the Apicas almost exclusively for all my research notes etc., as I write my Thesis and finish up all my work here. I do use a different lab-book (larger than 8.5x11) which incidentally has wonderful paper- a hold over from the years before my FP use. Luckily the paper is quite good and I can still paste in my larger full-sheet reports etc as needed. Unfortunately, Apica use doesn't make you smarter. Believe me I've tried everything to make me smarter!! Lord knows I could use it! [There are days when I'm just sure I must be a complete idiot.] But, one thing is for sure- you're smart to pick any paper that you enjoy using your FP with, that doesn't hurt your nibs, and that takes ink well. So... in a round about way, you must be smart if you read FPN's paper forum. hahaha

 

Second- I wanted to mention that the double-spiral notebooks are quite nice!! They have the same wonderful paper that makes Apica notebooks just amazing to write in (why I now use them as much as possible in all my work). The paper does seem to be slightly darker in color again... but I need to compare it to the 6A10 notebook. While I usually don't like notebooks with spiral bindings etc. (which is a slight change from my norm of old), there is one fantastic thing about the spiral book(s)... the pages will rotate all the way around to the back, allowing completely flat notebook writing. That's one wonderful thing. With the normal binding, I usually have to have the books open (to save the spine)... I will have to use the spiral binding a bit more to see if it's something to change over to.

 

Third- I hope to have some images for you guys soon along with my normal Noodler's ink tests (sorry I use Noodlers with few exceptions). It hasn't been too pretty outside yet, so I haven't been able to get snapshots yet.

 

BTW, Molly is a joy to purchase from; always kind, and I've never been upset with any purchases with her, or shipping etc. [items get in the mailbox very quickly!] I'm glad to hear that she's going the extra mile for anyone on FPN, I love this place, and the paper is fantastic. I'm glad the Apicas can get to anyone who wants them. They're fantastic. [i guess you know I'm sold. ]

 

Molly is on FPN as you can see above. I'm trying to get her to post some in the Marketplace. Let her know if you'd like to see any posts from her there (she might enjoy the positive notes). I think maybe FPN is a bit confusing or big- we'll see if we can't get her to make some posts for sales etc. [i believe that's appropriate/o.k., right?]

 

Ok, I better run for now. Sorry that my postings are so far apart these days. Please get in touch via FPN mail if you want me to send you a sample of paper in the mail. I think I've got enough for a few sheets if there are reasonable amounts of requests- I'll cut them out of one of my books. [might be wanting to trade for some onion-paper sheets if you happen to have one or two ]

 

Chat with you soon, guys! Wishing you joy in all your writing!

-Allen

[Aslan]

GREAT paper for FPs! Picked up a couple of CD-15's today at Artlite (not connected, just satisfied) here in Atlanta today. Very nice. Thanks for the head's up.

[lingyuki]

  a11en said:

Hi guys!

 

First- I'm not the Princeton student- I go to the U of I (IL) and use the Apicas almost exclusively for all my research notes etc., as I write my Thesis and finish up all my work here. I do use a different lab-book (larger than 8.5x11) which incidentally has wonderful paper- a hold over from the years before my FP use. Luckily the paper is quite good and I can still paste in my larger full-sheet reports etc as needed. Unfortunately, Apica use doesn't make you smarter. Believe me I've tried everything to make me smarter!! Lord knows I could use it! [There are days when I'm just sure I must be a complete idiot.] But, one thing is for sure- you're smart to pick any paper that you enjoy using your FP with, that doesn't hurt your nibs, and that takes ink well. So... in a round about way, you must be smart if you read FPN's paper forum. hahaha

 

Lol~well, it was worth a try? And thanks for the ego boost ! I'm waiting for those Apicas to arrive!

[Univer]

Hi All,

 

My girlfriend and I are extremely happy repeat customers of Molly's eBay store (Molly, glad to see you here!). The notebooks are marvelous, and Molly is a pleasure to deal with.

 

Two enthusiastic votes in favor of adding the twin-spiral notebook to the range.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

[a11en]

Hi guys,

 

I have done the ink-test on these, (with my limited selection), but don't have pics of the ink test yet. The paper takes ink wonderfully. Just like the other Apica notebooks I've tried. No bleedthrough, no feathering, and a bit of see-through.

 

I thought I'd add in the few photos I have of the twin-spiral (which I call "wire-bound" on my flickr stream)...

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2210/2089129281_3d4c9163d0_m.jpg

 

The outside is quite nice- hard-board front and back, enables writing on the fly (in hand standing up)- this is quite difficult to do with the very floppy CD series books.

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2046/2089917738_eacf81e2cc_m.jpg

 

The paper is what I would call "cream" or "ivory" colored, not white like the CD series. So, the 6A10 thick floppy book has a blue-tint, the CD-series, is a good white, and the Double-Spiral has a cream/ivory color. The spirals appear as "401G" and "501G" on the back cover. One of the funny thing about the journal is the script "personal" below NOTE BOOK on the front cover. Likely they should have left that off, or kept it blank like the CD series. But, that's some of the joy of having a Japanese journal... after all, "Most Advanced Quality Gives Best Writing Features & Gives Satisfaction To You." :roflmho:

 

Sorry the images aren't so great, I've been having trouble getting good shots due to the winter sun.

 

Hope your week is going well!

-Allen

[ParagonFan]

Allen,

 

Many thanks for your review. Based on the comments in this thread, I just ordered a small batch of the 6A10 notebooks from Molly. Will post a review after I've had a chance to use them for a while.

 

As a side note: I just accepted a new job in NYC. When I went up to interview, I arrived a little early and had some time to kill. I decided to stroll around the block, just to see what was nearby. Wouldn't you know it: A Kinokuniya is literally right around the corner from the place. I'm looking forward to giving them some of my money.

 

Thanks again for the review/thread.

 

-Mark

[a11en]

Hi Mark!

 

Thanks for the thanks! I got compelled to do a review due to the all the wonderful work by various reviewers here on FPN. So, my goal was to post a useful review in a similar vein (if not as good). Glad it has helped a bit. I really wanted to share more about these notebooks after finding them online here (back in the thread I mention the good fellows who pointed them out to me I hope- pass my mind now unfortunately). The Apica notebooks took in so darned well, I just had to share my experience.

 

Glad I could help, and again, thank you for your kindness. [i owe FPN a *ton*, so I'm glad to be helpful in any way.]

 

Cheers, everyone! I hope your holiday season is going well! [i have yet to buy presents... ]

-Allen

[ajaxline]

Hi all -

 

If you are in Western Canada and you are ever in the Edmonton area, there is a wonderful store called Stylus that carries the CD-series of Apica notebooks. They also carry Clairfontaine, Rhodia, Whitelines, and several others. I'm not sure if they ship orders, but you can always contact them. Here is their website.

 

I'm not affiliated with the store... just a happy customer who appreciates the selection and service.

 

Cheers,

A.J.

 

[CharlieB]

Ok.... so now I feel stupid. I've been posting (on other threads) that I had never heard of Apica paper products until this week, and now I see that there has been a months-long thread dealing exclusively with this topic. Shame on me for not paying attention. Once I clean all the egg off my face, I'm going to log into eBay (always a dangerous practice for me!) and place an order with Molly the Rocky Mountain paper dealer.

[limesally]

I'll have to chime in too - they're not the notebook I use the most, but I certainly find them pleasant to use. At first I thought they were way too floppy and thin for me to make any real use of, but recently I've found advantages to those - they slip very easily into a notebook/file folder and because of their smaller size you can easily dedicate one notebook to a particular project or assignment. So what I'd previously found a disadvantage is now working well for me. As for the writing quality of the paper, there's nothing I can add to what's been said already. It's fantastic!

 

I actually ordered mine from the store AJ linked to a few posts above - Stylus Fine Pens. I really wish they had a way to order on-line (or maybe I don't.... ) but they do respond very promptly to e-mail, they take PayPal and ship quickly, and their service is excellent. (NAYY)

Edited February 16, 2008 by limesally

[nico]

I have bought a bunch of Apica notebooks from Molly after reading several threads here on FPN.

They are simply beautiful and it was really pleasure to deal with her.

Since all of them have the bright white paper I would like to try also the off white ones.

[CharlieB]

I just placed my order from Molly. You guys are totally convincing, so now I'm eagerly awaiting my shipment.

[inkypete]

  CharlieB said:

I just placed my order from Molly. You guys are totally convincing, so now I'm eagerly awaiting my shipment.

 

 

Same here - just placed an order with Molly for delivery to Australia - very helpful in making sure I got best value from the delivery cost.

 

Can't wait to get hold of them and let my fountain pens go to town. Will let you all know what I think in a week or so - hope they get here by the weekend but that is being a little too hopeful.

[Pen Pixie]

Okay, Now you guys have me hooked. My fetish for paper is right up their with my fetish for pens!

[ojars]

I ordered some more myself in a smaller form factor.

[WillSW]

I've been using different Apicas for all my various classes this semester, the size is perfect for a one class = one notebook system. I really like them all, and I have four different kinds, which all have slightly different paper. I like the Black-bound, Sans-serif labeled Note Books best as far as writing experience goes, the paper is a greyish color, almost a newsprint. Sometimes, though, I just want bright white to show off my bright color ink, so there are all the others.

 

I've also bought some Apica printer paper. There were a few different kinds and I really didn't know what I was buying because I don't speak or read Japanese, so I just picked up the cheapest pack. It is very slick, too much so for me to enjoy writing on it. To anyone dedicated, though, the more expensive kind may be better.

 

I buy all of mine in New York; either at Kinokuniya (at 41st and 6th ave) or at Downtown Stationers (6th ave between 12th and 13th). Kinokuniya has the better deal and selection.