Posts filed under Notebook Reviews

Midori MD Notebook Light: 7-Color Set, 70th Anniversary Limited Edition 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!)

Midori paper is some of the best out there, and this 70th Anniversary Limited Edition set of the MD Light notebooks is a lovely celebration of that legacy.

The set includes 7 of their A5 notebooks. The cover is light cardstock in a cream color, and the paper is ivory. The notebooks are bound with different colors of threading that can be seen along the spine, and the grid pattern inside the pages matches the thread color, which was an exciting surprise. The grids are well printed, so they are visible in the light colors and not too obtrusive in the dark colors. It's the perfect balance. The colorful grid lines also don't add any distraction when writing, though I admit I'm tempted to coordinate my pen and ink colors to the notebook's color. But that just makes it more fun.

The grid is 5mm with 10mm marks along the edge for extra guidance. It works well as a typical grid, for outlines and lists, but can also be used as lined paper for writing at either the 5mm or 10mm marks. The grid is heavy enough, though, that it can't be easily ignored. It doesn't fade into the background like some do. But it isn't meant to--this is a birthday party notebook!

The colors are dark red, sepia brown, yellow, green, light blue, navy blue, and purple. The notebooks come in a sturdy cardboard sleeve that can also work as a storage box. The set comes with a label and number sticker for each notebook.

The Midori MD paper is one of my favorites to use. It holds up well to almost any writing utensil. Sharpie bleeds through, but all fountain pen ink does very well, with no bleeding or feathering and very little ghosting. It's a pleasure to write on, and the colorful grids in this edition make it even more fun. Each notebook has 32 sheets, and since you can easily use both sides of the page with this paper, that gives you 64 pages per notebook, or 448 pages in the whole box.

The cost of this set is $45.50 at JetPens, which is a great value for the number of quality pages you receive. There's enough here to write a whole book, or a year's worth of class notes, or seven months of daily pages... Endless possibilities. Happy 70th, Midori!

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

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Posted on January 26, 2023 by Sarah Read and filed under Midori, Notebook Reviews.

Nebula by Colorverse Casual A5 Notebook Review

The Nebula by Colorverse Casual A5 notebook is a sleek spiral-bound notebook that really checks a lot of boxes. You probably know Colorverse from their amazing inks, and they know what it takes to pair a good ink with good paper.

The notebook is one of the most minimalist designs I've seen lately. The front and back cover are a thin cardstock with almost nothing printed on them. The front cover has a few stars in the upper right corner to add a little flair, and the back cover has some manufacturing information on the notebook. The inside covers are both blank, and there are no pockets or sleeves. The stars on the front cover are so easy to miss that it's delightful when the light catches them in a way that draws in your attention.

The double spiral binding is strong and easy to turn through the pages (meaning the pages don't clog up in the spiral binding when you turn through several pages). A good spiral notebook is hard to ignore given how they can lay absolutely flat, but this never stops me from buying notebooks with perfect binding. The covers are lightweight and sturdy, but they wouldn't put up with much abuse. The rounded corners make it easy to slip in and out of a bag or pouch without anything snagging, which is good since you'll most likely only carry this inside something to protect the cover and spiral binding.

The paper inside the notebook is an off-white color, but not close to ivory or cream paper. Each page is perforated, making it easy to cleanly remove pages. The 90gsm paper makes for a fantastic writing experience. It's a smooth paper with a small amount of tactile feedback when writing. If there's a coating on the surface, I can't tell it's there. Ink behaves really well on the paper, which makes me really happy since an ink company put their name on this notebook. There isn't any feathering or bleeding, and show-through to the back of the page is impressively minimal. The back pages are definitely useful even when using wetter/broader nibs. The version I have is lined paper, but you can also get dot grid and blank. No matter what version of the paper you choose, you get 120 pages of this delicious 90gsm paper.

At $15, the Nebula Casual A5 notebook is a great value. It performs exceedingly well and really holds its own with other more established paper products. This isn't just a gimmick notebook to cash in some extra profits — this is a fantastic notebook that was made by (and for) people that understand what makes a great writing experience. I highly recommend picking one up when you have a chance. If orange isn't your thing, you can also find turquoise, baby pink, black, navy, and green.

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

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Posted on January 18, 2023 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Nebula, Colorverse, Notebook Reviews.

Bindewerk Basic Wood Metal Edge Notebook Review

I purchased this notebook as a souvenir from Scriptura in New Orleans this past fall. It was irresistible, which was my only excuse for purchasing a large notebook made out of wood and metal while attempting to one-bag minimal travel. It just felt good in my hands. No regrets.

Bindewerk Basic Wood Metal Edge Notebook

This is a hefty A5 notebook with 144 sheets (288 pages) of dot-grid paper. The cover boards are made of cherry wood with a black cloth spine and aluminum edges that run around the border of each cover board. The binding is sewn in small signatures, so the book lies flat with very little training. It is very well made, despite one stray thread that escaped the binding process on mine. That doesn't appear to have affected the quality of the binding--it's just a long, stray tail that I trimmed.

Inside the back cover is a flat diagonal folder for holding a few sheets of paper, but it has no gusset, so its capacity is limited. The cover is held shut with a black elastic band that has a lot of tension, so it lays flush against the back when not in use instead of flopping around, which makes me very happy.

There is no branding on the outside at all, though the wood cover is begging to be decorated. It's unfinished, so it would be fun to sketch on, or paint, or cover with stickers. If not, I bet the wood will age beautifully.

Inside, the book remains very minimal with only a blank endpaper before the dot-grid pages. The paper is cream colored and quite textured. It's not rough, but it has a lot of feedback , particularly when writing with very fine-point pens. The dots of the dot grid are fairly faint, so they can be ignored if needed, and the paper also has a barely-visible vertical structure to it that is best seen when held up to the light.

The paper does not bleed or feather and shows very little ghosting, even with a Sharpie. I was very impressed. I had expected some of that texture to lead to feathering, but no--this is some fantastic paper.

Bindewerk hand-makes their notebooks in Germany and this model costs around 36.70 Euros. I forget what exactly I paid for mine in New Orleans, but it was in the $30-something range. You can also pick them up from Orange Art Store in the US (the shop is affiliated with the US distributor of the brand.) I think that's a great price for the quality of the build and the generous serving of excellent paper. It was well worth the space it took up in my travel backpack.

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