Kakimori Custom Notebook First Look, What About The Muddler?

When I first heard of Kakimori, I couldn’t imagine a place more magical. You’re telling me there is a shop in Japan where you can build your own notebook from dozens, if not hundreds of options? And you can mix your own ink color from a rainbow of liquid gold? This is a fantasy land right?

No. It’s Kakimori.

Kakimori has held a special place in my heart since that time, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever have the opportunity to try their products. That changed several years ago when they made their Dip Pen Nibs available around the world. The popularity of these nibs has not slowed since, and I believe that success allowed Kakimori to branch out even more with inks, pens, and accessories.

One of the features that remains core to the Kakimori in-store experience is the ability to build your own notebook. My friend Sam took A Stationery Trip to Japan last year, and was kind enough to make me a notebook. He goes through the details in the linked post, and while a proper review of a hand-picked, one-of-one, notebook may not be necessary, I did want to share a few notes about the end result.

Kakimori Japan. (Image via Sam Alpert.)

For starters, Sam detailed the process in an email to me, which didn’t make it into the final article. I thought I would share this bit for those of you who may be lucky enough to make the journey in the future:

1. get a small tray almost like a lunch tray
2. there's a paper testing station with small squares of the various papers to help you see what you'd like.
3. then go to the wall of papers and pick up to 4 kinds (I think packets are 20 pages ea.)
4. go to the wall of covers (there's all kinds including leather, and the custom art ones by local artists like the one I got you)
5. pick binding method (string and puck or snap)
6. pick colors of materials for binding method (like I literally got to pick the string color)
7. pick binding type (full spiral, partial like yours) including color of metal
8. pick corner hardware if desired (including color of metal)
9. pick any additional inserts (like the envelope in the back of yours)
10. wait for them to bind it!

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m ready to book a trip now!

My B6 notebook features cover art by Taku Bannai, and two different paper sections using Conqueror Laid in the front half and Neue Grey in the back. The orange envelope inside the back cover is awesome, and I adore the string tie enclosure on the front. I’ll admit to being a little too precious in using it, but now that I have “review closure,” I feel like I’m ready to give it a proper go.

Conqueror Laid Paper. Good for fountain pens, but bumpy - a feature of laid paper.

While this fully customizable experience is only available at Kakimori, their website does offer many other notebook options, which look spectacular in their own right.

Neue Grey Paper in the back half of the notebook. Super smooth and fun to use.

As part of this write-up, I was planning on discussing the Glass Ink Muddler I picked up from Kakimori in-person at last year’s Stationery Fest, but it appears that it is Unobtainium.

Made in collaboration with Tokyo-based maker Werkstatt Tetohi, it was tough for me to find any information on this product. In fact, this is the only online image I’ve come up with so far, despite Kakimori having several for sale in Brooklyn during my visit.

This model is marked as “Gray” and I think there was a Green one available at the time as well. This is a fun product for those of us that like to get inky. Given its shape, a wider ink bottle opening works better in allowing more ink to collect in the spoon-shaped tip. Or you can tilt the bottle slightly … at your own risk.

Muddler swatches on Conqueror Laid. No feathering or bleed even with heavy ink. Antique Brass Dip Nib fitted in a River City Pen Co. Dip Nib Holder.

I keep my Muddler with my other ink testing accessories - yes, including the new-ish Antique Brass Dip Nib. I appreciate Takuma Hirose, owner of Kakimori, gifting me with this nib at Stationery Fest. I had the pleasure of interviewing him at the event, which you can check out here.

With the recent launch of their own Fountain and Rollerball pens, I love seeing Kakimori continue to grow. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

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Stalogy Editor's Series 365Days A5 Notebook Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

I'm going to throw caution to the wind and admit upfront that this is one of my favorite notebooks on the market right now. That's because it's one of the closest things I've found as a replacement for my true favorite notebook, the beloved and discontinued Nanami Paper Seven Seas Writer. It's far from identical, but it meets my needs in a similar way. It's also a great substitute for a Hobonichi Cousin if you want something similar to that, but with less structure. It's perfect as a commonplace book or daily pages journal, but also works well just as a regular notebook. With lots and lots of pages. Which we know I like.

The Stalogy Editor's Series comes in A5, A6, and B6 sizes (much like the Hobonichi--and these fit nicely into Hobonichi Cousin or Techo cases and covers) in a few colors: black, red, yellow, and this lovely shade of blue. There is also a B6 Landscape edition. The cover is a thin, lightly textured cardstock that is flexible. It wears well with use, looking loved without becoming too shabby. The design is minimal, with only a few metallic brand logos in the upper left corner.

Inside, there are 184 sheets (368 pages) of 52 gsm white paper with faint grey graph lines (lined and dot grid paper versions are available if you prefer). The line spacing is a narrow 4mm. Each page is also numbered with the month, dates, and days of the week printed at the top, so you can circle the date for each page. This is perfect for folks who don't need or want to planner every day, but hate skipping precious notebook pages. Or, if you happen to need multiple pages for a day. The left margin also has hour markers from 0 to 24, if you need to track an hourly schedule. All these markings are very faint, however, so if you just want to use the notebook as a regular notebook, these guides do not get in the way at all. The binding is thread and glue, and the notebook lays open on its own. I have not had any pages come loose even after extended use and hauling around.

The paper is excellent quality. It's indistinguishable from Tomoe River paper, with the same thin crispness and ink handling capabilities. You will see ghosting, as you would with any thin coated paper, but even if that bothers you and you can only use one side of the paper, you still have a lot of pages to work with in this notebook. It handles liquid ink well and is great for fountain pen users.

I've used mine as a standard notebook, ignoring the calendar functions and hourly schedules--though sometimes dating my work is handy, too. The A5 is perfect for fiction writing, and the A6 is perfect for when I need to write while traveling. The thin covers fit beautifully into just about any case I want to use, or it holds up well without a cover at all. I do think it would make a good planner for those who don't need the rigid structure of a standard planner (I need the structure, personally).

The A5 size costs $26 (though the lined limited editions are more). That's a very similar cost to the Hobonichi graph notebooks, though those have 144 sheets (288 pages). These do, however, cost $6 more than the JetPens Kanso Noto Tomoe River notebooks, which have 160 sheets (320 pages). These are also fantastic notebooks. They're all great, and in pretty close range of one another, and we're spoiled for choice. The correct answer, of course, is to go for all three.

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

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Nolty Asymmetry A5 Notebook Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

I know it's not just me, but my plans tend to start out a wee bit chaotic. Part outline, part list, part mind-map, maybe even a few cryptic scribbles, with some sketchnotes marginalia. Basically, my early drafts of plans look like the inside of my brain. Scary! One way I can help wrangle them is with inventions like this--a multi-format notebook.

The Nolty Asymmetry Notebook has 6 mm lined pages on the left and dot-grid pages on the right. My thoughts don't have to be corralled into one set of lines. I can write and outline on the left and sketch and map on the right. Yes, I could do that on any paper. But having the page mapped that way to begin with helps free my mind. There's flexibility, while still having some guidelines to keep the page from looking like it's having a little menty b.

The split format is also great for meeting or class notes. Take your notes on one side, and use the other for follow-up thoughts or questions. Make a to-do list on the lines, and create a calendar on the grid. Draw a map to buried treasure on one side, and list the clues on the other. The possibilities are endless! The pages are also numbered, so it's easy to index and track your thoughts.

The notebook itself is well-made. It has a textured cardstock cover that is firm enough to support the pages, but slim enough to be portable. It can also fit easily into A5 notebook covers. There are 88 sheets (176 pages) of Nolty's ivory paper. This was my first time trying Nolty paper, and I was impressed. It's fountain pen friendly and handles a variety of inks very well. Sharpie and Retro 51 had some bleeding and show-through, but other inks worked very well. The paper is thicker and more toothy than Tomoe River, but crisper than Cosmo Air Light paper, reminding me a lot of Midori paper--which is one of my top favorites. I will definitely seek out more Nolty paper in the future.

The A5 cardstock notebooks cost $16. They also make planners and horizontal notebooks. The prices are quite good, especially considering the quality of the paper. Midori's A5 notebooks are around the same price--just a dollar less expensive, though with a handful more pages. I do like the construction and binding of Midori a bit better, but I prefer this Nolty layout.

I've mentioned before that I use two notebooks for writing a novel--one for planning, and one to draft the novel itself. With this layout and that price point, these are ideal for that purpose. This has become my "I'm going to stock up on these and use them for the foreseeable future" planning notebook. Granted, I have said this about other notebooks before, and have yet to extinguish those stockpiles... but there are always more plans to plan! And anything that helps curb the chaos is welcome.

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

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!