Midori Camel Spiral Ring Notebook Review

A few times a year I pick out a product from JetPens that I think is one thing and ends up as not at all what was in my head. I’m bad at reading descriptions apparently. Most of the time it works out just fine because I am a stationery junkie and like almost everything. Additionally, it forces me to go outside of my comfort zone, which is a great position to be in when it comes to reviews.

The Midori Camel Spiral Ring Notebook is a kraft cover stock spiral bound notebook, or so I thought. It is also a kraft paper on the inside notebook, which I didn’t consider when selecting based on the title of the product alone. Turns out, this kraft paper is pretty great.

When I think of craft paper my mind immediately jumps to a paper bag. The surface of paper bags aren’t smooth, and if you have ever experimented writing on one you know they are porous and soak up ink. The paper in this Midori is not that at all. It is smoother than you think (although not dead smooth like standard Rhoda paper for example), and the ink performs far better than I anticipated with little to no bleed or feathering.

It was a given in my mind that I would test this paper with the Uni-ball Signo UM-153 white gel ink pen. It is tailor made for an application like this. The 1.0 mm line is thick and looks awesome. And since it was a gel ink pen there is little to no chance it would feather or bleed through the page.

What I wasn’t so convinced of was using liquid inks like found in rollerballs, brush pens, and fountain pens. I thought the brush pens would go right through the page, but they didn’t come close to doing that. Both of the Kuretake brush pens I tested were great, and might be the ideal pen for this notebook. No feathering at all from either. The Schmidt P8126 roller came close to bleeding through the page. I could tell it was getting into the fibers, but the ink never made it through the back.

Fountain pen inks behaved well, with the Califolio Andrinople from a medium stub nib being the only one showing the slightest bit of feathering around the edges. And that only occurred as it dried. When I was writing I didn’t see it at all. The lone negative is that it wasn’t smooth enough for me to use my XXF fountain pen nibs comfortably, but that is an outlier. Otherwise, this kraft paper exceeded every expectation I had for it.

The only thing left for me to determine is how to use the Midori Camel. It feels like purely a sketchbook at this point. I wouldn’t choose it for notes or journaling, but for drawings and sketches it is ideal, especially with easy rotation into landscape mode.

The A5 Slim size in this review contains 80 sheets for $14, and the smaller A6 Slim has the same amount of sheets for $10.75, both from JetPens.com.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Ink samples page

Ink samples page (back)

Midori Color Paper Notebook A5 Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The Midori Color Paper Notebook is a 28-sheet (56 pages front and back) staple-bound, soft-cover notebook in A5 (8x6 inches). The series, which comes in several colors, including pink, blue-green, purple, yellow, brown, and yellow-green, is meant to evoke French macaron's, with darker colors on the outside and softer colors on the inside.

Each notebook has an oval heading area on the cover outlined in gold (this shape is based on the macaron). The pages inside are lined in gray ink with 6.5mm spacing. The paper weight is not indicated on the notebook, the JetPens website, or the Midori website, but it is heavy enough to handle fountain pens (see below).

The notebook offers plenty of lines per page for writing substantial thoughts, but it is small enough to fit in a larger notebook or a purse. These notebooks stand out from other Midori notebooks because of their bright covers and pastel interiors. They are well made, but they won't hold up to heavy abuse. The card stock cover is fairly light and bends easily. Pages are not perforated so if you want to remove one, you'll have to tear it out carefully. The notebook does not lie flat on its own, though you could probably bend the cover backwards to help it stay open.

The paper holds up well to different pens and inks. I tested it with most of my fountain pens, each with a different color of ink, as well as a few other kinds of pens.

Although in my first test, the Pelikan Jade ink in my Omas bled and feathered, I think this is because I had just refilled the pen.

When I re-tested that particular ink and pen, the paper handled it fine.

Even my broadest, wettest nib (a Nakaya music nib inked with Sailor Yama-Dori) did not bleed through or feather.

There was, however, some show-through with several of the inks. Thus, if you plan on using fountain pens, you might want to use only one side of the pages, which means you'll only get 28 pages per notebook.

Although the Midori Color Notebook is nicely made, it is not something I would likely use. For journaling, I prefer notebooks with more pages that can be put in a refillable cover. For people who like to have multiple notebooks for different tasks, however, these might be quite useful. For example, a student could use a different color notebook for each class (though he/she wouldn't be able to take copious notes). A person who keeps a gratitude journal could use a different color each month and rotate them. They would make beautiful guest books for baby or bridal showers. I suspect these notebooks will be popular with many people.

The Midori Color Notebook can be purchased at JetPens for $3.25 a piece.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Midori Traveler's Notebook Passport Review

To say the Midori Traveler's Notebook has a cult following is probably a bit of an understatement. The Western market has begun to discover this over the past few years, while the Far East is knee deep into all things Traveler's. I admit to not really "getting it" for a while, but now that I have a Passport sized Midori I'm beginning to see what all the fuss is about.

People ask me all the time "Why fountain pens?" My answer, almost always, is customization. I can take one specific fountain pen and build it exactly to my liking with nib and ink choices. Someone else can choose the same fountain pen and have a completely different, yet still perfect, experience. This exemplifies what the Midori Traveler's notebook is all about.

It starts with a simple leather cover. The not too thick, not too thin, rectangular hide has no adornments, aside from the few holes the elastic bands require, along with two small slits in the spine. If anything, I think the simplicity of the cover is what confuses people the most about the Midori Traveler's system. Why should I pay $50 for a non-descript hunk of leather? I struggled with that same question for years. But then again, why fountain pens?

Customization is at the core of what the Midori Traveler's system is all about. I use the term system loosely, because there are honestly zero guidelines on how you should use or build your Traveler's Notebook. I started out simple, in this case choosing two grid notebooks, a zipper case to hold business cards and loose papers, and a set of connecting bands, which we will get to in a moment.

To put it into action, you simply need to slide one notebook through the elastic band found in the spine of the leather cover, and then add any additional notebooks or accessories with the help of the aforementioned connecting bands. Mentioning these bands for a second time is where a slight digression needs to take place. Part of the fun of the Midori Traveler's system is that you don't need to buy any part of it to have a similar experience. The connecting bands? Rubber bands that you probably have laying around the house. Leather cover? Google the term "fauxdori". Any paper insert can be printed from one of the many Midori resources on the web. All that said, Midori gets design - and marketing - right. Quality and thoughtfulness of their products is part of the experience.

I'm a novice compared to those who have been using a Midori Traveler's notebook for a while, but I am having fun putting personal touches on my Passport. One of the most common questions that arise around this size Midori is will a Field Notes notebook, or any other standard 3.5" x 5.5" memo book fit in the cover? In short, no. The leather cover is designed to hold a 3.5" x 5" notebook, so standard memo books are too long. But you know what does fit perfectly? The Baron Fig Apprentice. Adding one of those into my Passport cover was a no-brainer.

While building it is fun, putting the Midori Traveler's Notebook into use as part of my daily carry is still something I am working on. Prior to getting this model from JetPens, I had purchased the regular sized Midori cover from the now shuttered Resor Shop. I loved every aspect of the bigger size, but I never fully committed to it. The Passport seems more my size and speed. So far, I am using it for daily tasks and future planning as part of my portable writing kit. I can toss my inbox (aka the Nock Co. DotDash Notebook) and any pen I want to use through the external elastic band and hit the road.

Before I owned a Midori I drooled at all of the pictures online of various Traveler's Notebook setups. Patrick Ng is my Midori muse, and should be followed by anyone with an interest in Midori, or even an in interest in product photography and design. His day job keeps him on the front lines of all things Midori, and his Instagram and Flickr feeds are not to be missed.

How do you use your Midori? What tips and tricks do you have? Who do you follow in the Traveler's Notebook world? I'm on board the Traveler's train and ready to explore!

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)