And following New Inks, New Notebooks...Part One...

So last week it was new Inks, this week, courtesy of Stuart from Pocket Notebooks, curiously enough...

It's Notebooks...

I've been given a whole bunch of Notebooks to have a look through and review, as always, no payment received, but nor have I paid for the books in question.  The initial thought was that one or two notebooks might come through, so imagine the surprise when just a few more came through...

And they range from cheap and cheerful to very specialised notebooks indeed.  So in no particular order, I'm going to start with the California series, which come in two different versions, The Back Pocket Journal, and the Back Pocket Tomoe River Journal.

If you gonna be a bear...

Be a Grizzly...

The upper notebook is the Tomoe River version, 48 sheets of Tomoe River paper string bound and tied, my own proclivities regarding Tomoe River paper are well known, it is the best paper in the world for writing with a fountain pen, bar none, and the paper here is exactly that.  

The quandary I had here was that while I always carry a fountain pen and I always carry a notebook, I found myself wondering if I'd actually use this particular Journal because TR tends to need blotting paper to ensure that you don't end up copying your writing to the next page, and it's no different with this.

The other Journal I liked a lot, with 105gsm paper and a very smooth finish, the ink test went like this...

Some bleed through, it's a thirsty paper, and despite being 105, it's not thick enough to hide most inks that were tried on it.  That said, it's a nice Journal with good binding and a solid cover, which would make for a very good pocketbook.  I would use this more than the Tomoe River version, but both are reasonably priced for a set of three books.

Next up was the Inky Fingers notebook

Because which one of us doesn't have Inky Fingers...

Interesting this one, the cover (as can be seen) is glossy cardstock.  The paper within is something else though. 80GSM wheat straw paper that resists feathering and bleeding quite well whilst being very tactile to work with.

As evidenced above, the bleed through was significantly less than the California 105, and with the feel of the paper itself (not quite silk, not quite satin), it justifies its higher price tag.  Binding on the book is twin staple, and the ruling on it is 6mm, which is larger than I tend to use, so of less interest to me, but anyone using a broader nib will certainly find use in this.

Next up is the Darkstar Nomad

Because everything should have an EPIC name...

Name not withstanding, Darkstar are some of my favourite notebooks and for good reason.  The Nomad is no exception, the cover is plain cardboard, the paper within is 100gsm dot gridded in blue rather than black, and as I use a Darkstar for my regular Ink testing, I can attest to the quality of the paper within.

There is some bleedthrough, but it doesn't drink the pen and it's got a nice feel to it when writing.  The pages are slightly larger than most of the pocket books, which allows you to write without fear of taking up all the pages, and the notebook itself is twin staple bound.  I am biased due to previous experience when it comes to Darkstar, but this is a lovely notebook.

Which brings me to the end of part one...

The other notebooks (and my conclusions) are in part two...

In case anyone's mind is already made up though, all of these can be found at www.pocketnotebooks.co.uk