Kleid A5 2mm Grid Notebook Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The Kleid A5 Grid Notes notebook is a lesson in minimalism for other notebooks. Aside from the tiny brand imprint on the front lower corner and a barcode on the back interior cover, there's zero fluff, branding, and extra organizational bits in this notebook. I like that some notebook manufacturers don't see the necessity behind adding trivia, branding, and contact info locations to the covers of their notebooks. Notebooks are utilitarian, and this lack of extra stuff reinforces that ethos. With Kleid, the A5 notebook is about as utilitarian as it gets.

At 210 x 148mm, this A5 softcover notebook doesn't have any surprises up its sleeves. The stitched binding is precise and strong, the cardstock covers are soft but resilient, and the paper between the covers is a warm ivory tone and features a tiny 2mm grid pattern to guide your words and drawings. And with 32 sheets at your disposal, you have just enough space for a single topic or journal type without any fear of running out of space prematurely.

The paper is fairly thin and handles most inks well enough. What it gains in portability from being thin, it loses a bit in handling wetter inks and nibs. For anything that isn't a fountain pen or rollerball ink, you have nothing to worry about. I takes ballpoints and gel inks beautifully. The paper is smooth and dependable. Aside from some noticeable show-through on the back of the page, there isn't any feathering or bleeding either. When using my massive 1.5mm Opus 88 nib with KWZ Gummiberry ink, it not only showed through on the back of the page, but it also made a few marks on the next page after that. Not ideal, and certainly something to note when you're determining the use for this notebook. Save the ultra-wide nibs and wet inks for a notebook or paper that was designed to handle it better!

Where the Kleid shines is portability and utility. It doesn't look rugged, but it is more than capable of surviving a few rough jostles in a bag along with some of your trust gel or ballpoint pens.

While I'm not a huge fan of the tiny 2mm grid pattern, it does easily fall out of sight when you're actually writing or drawing. It's a nice guide that can offer you a lot of precision when drawing something to scale, but I'm just not someone that can write small enough to take advantage of that. Fans of small grid patterns and tiny writing will love this, though.

The A5 notebook from Kleid comes in a variety of cover colors, like Black, Navy, and Grey, but they all feature the same paper inside. If you're looking for a durable, portable grid soft notebook with good (but thin) paper, the Kleid is certainly worth your attention. At $8 a notebook, it's also a good value when you factor in the size and quality of the materials.

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

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The Galen A5 Leather "Everyday" Notebook and Scrikss 419 Indigo Fountain Pen: A 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.)

Galen Leather and Vanness Pens sent Pen Addict two products for review: the Galen A5 Leather Notebook in Crazy Horse Forest Green and a Scrikss 419 fountain pen in indigo. I decided to review them together, using the pen to test the notebook and the notebook to test the pen.

The Scrikss 419 Fountain Pen in Indigo

Scrikss is a Turkish pen company established in 1964 in Istanbul. The 419 model is a reproduction of a pen created by Scrikss in the past, and it is a limited edition. It comes in a cardboard box with Galen branding.

The pen is made from acrylic resin and has a clear ink window. I was surprised to discover that the pen is a piston filler because the pen is so small and light.

The Scrikss 419 is a diminutive pen, measuring 125mm/4.9 inches capped, 117mm/4.6 inches uncapped, and 150mm/5.9 inches posted, with a grip diameter of 9.16mm. It weighs next to nothing even when fully inked (unposted) (8.21 grams).

The clip is gold-toned with the Scrikss logo and the cap ring is engraved with the Scrikss name.

Although the cap threads are located above the grip, your fingers still touch them, at least partially. But the threads are smooth so the pen is comfortable to hold.

The medium nib is 23k gold-plated stainless steel. It's a simple nib engraved with the Scrikss logo.

The piston is hard to turn at first. Once you get it in motion, however, it moves more smoothly. The pen doesn't hold much ink--maybe .5 ml.

When first inked, the medium nib was wet, sometimes leaving blobs of ink in its wake. But, the longer I wrote, the drier it became, to the point that it suddenly stopped writing. You can see this in the photo below. At the top of the page, the ink is much darker and flows well. It gets lighter and drier and then stops writing mid-sentence.

The only fix for this is to manually push the ink down with the piston. Then the process starts again: too wet, just right, dry, then nothing--a frustrating experience.

In addition to the inconsistent ink flow, the medium nib is a little scratchy. It isn't terribly bad and might be fixed by using micro mesh.

I'm just not impressed with the pen at all. It's too small for my hand (but for people who love small pens, this would be a plus). It feels flimsy, the piston is finicky, the nib is inconsistent, and I found the writing experience unpleasant. $35.00 might be reasonable for a piston-filled fountain pen. However, the problems I had with ink flow and nib inconsistency make me hesitant to purchase another Scrikss pen.

The Galen Leather A5 "Everyday" Notebook

Galen's leather notebook in Crazy Horse Forest Green is simple and beautiful. It arrives in a black magnetic-closure box.

The green leather is smooth to the touch and has variations that add to its character. Over time, scratches, nicks, and fading will make it even lovelier. The leather is thin, so the notebook doesn't feel overly heavy. The only branding is on the back cover, and it is tasteful.

Inside are 200 sheets (400 pages front and back) of hand-sewn, blank, white 52gsm Tomoe River Paper. The corners are curved for a sleek look.

Galen provides four templates: 7mm lined, 10mm lined, 5mm graph, and 10mm graph. Because Tomoe River Paper is so thin, these templates work perfectly to provide guidance for writing or drawing. A plain piece of leather serves either as a blotter or a pad for writing.

The notebook doesn't include any pockets or bookmark ribbons.

I tested the paper with the pens I currently have inked. As expected, the paper handled all of them admirably, although there is significant show through.

Swabs look wonderful on Tomoe River Paper:

I'm quite happy with the Galen Leather Notebook. It is beautiful, simple, and useful. It lays completely flat when open, which is another plus.

I plan to use my notebook to practice Zentangles and Mandalas.

You can purchase the Scrikss fountain pen in a variety of colors for $35.00 fromGalen Leather. The Galen Leather Notebook in either Crazy Horse Brown or Crazy Horse Forest Green costs $36.00 (Galen or $25.00 Vanness (currently out of stock).

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

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

Clairefontaine Neo Deco 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 Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

I think I changed my mind five times about what notebook I would use for my class lecture notes this semester. It's an important decision! If you're reading this, I know you get it. I finally landed on these Clairefontaine Neo Deco A5 notebooks. Whether I made a definitive decision, or if school started before I could change my mind again, will remain a mystery. But I've been writing in these daily for a week now, and they're working quite well for the purpose.

These are A5 sized books with a matte-coated cardstock cover that comes in a variety of gorgeous Art Deco patterns. There are pastels and jewel tones, all with a touch of gold foil shimmer to them. The geometric patterns are particularly stunning. The cover is sewn all along the spine, which gives the pages a secure join. The cardstock is firm enough and the binding thorough enough that the notebook feels a lot more substantial than many softcover notebooks do.

Between the covers are 48 sheets, or 96 pages of 90gsm ivory lined paper. It is very smooth, with almost no tooth to it, but the thickness of the paper creates a slightly cushioned writing experience. Clairefontaine paper has always been a favorite for fountain pen users because of its liquid-ink-friendly properties, and this thicker sheet is even better than the more basic cahiers. Even the broadest, inkiest writing is invisible through the page. Sharpie shows through, but doesn't actually fully bleed through. The paper shows fun ink properties very well, with both shading and sheening standing out.

I do have one criticism of the paper, and that is dry time. Any paper this impervious to bleeding will have a long dry time, but for this paper, you either need to walk away from your page for a while before turning it, or invest in some blotting paper. Even when taking slow notes, I ended up with some ink splotch transfers across pages.

The lines on these pages are also quite widely spaced at 8mm. It's great if you have large handwriting, and sometimes my notes are more legible if I write bigger, but I prefer narrower lines. Better yet, I'd prefer grid patterns. Unfortunately, I can only find these available in wide-lined versions.

Clairefontaine has some of the best paper for the best value in their simple cahiers, and while these cost a bit more than those, they're still a great deal at $8.50. They're nice enough and priced reasonably enough to snag a few of your favorite patterns. I've already stocked up to use them again next semester. If I don't change my mind again.

(Vanness Pens 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!