(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.)
In keeping with my back-to-school theme, here's another lovely notebook from Kyokuto. It's the perfect single-subject, semester-length notebook for those of us who like to use fun pens (and wild inks) on quality paper in the classroom. The thin profile and light weight make it easy to carry a stack of them around campus and it comes in five soothing colors to calm your exam jitters. The green is shown here--there's also blue, pink, yellow, and cream. The name of the notebook implies "colors through the mist", and the soft tones definitely reflect that. They also have a nice vintage look to them.
The notebooks have soft covers with a light cardstock back. It's not sturdy enough to comfortably write without a desk or table underneath, but it's enough to hold up to wear and tear. The cover has a really nice texture to it--an almost linen-like grid that feels smooth but adds a little grip. There's a handy space to write your name and the subject. The binding is one of my favorite features on this--it's an elegant thread and glue spine that allows for good flexibility without extra bulk or mess. The pages aren't perforated and the binding holds well, so this notebook works best for projects that you want contained to the book.
The size is referred to as "semi B5" and it measures 7" x 9.9". I don't think I could tell it apart from other B5 variations unless I held them up against each other--it should fit just fine in any B5 case (especially Kyokuto's, naturally).
The interior has thirty sheets of lined white 140 gsm paper. There are thirty lines per page and a header at the top for the title and date. There's also the handy Kyokuto dotted vertical line guide that comes in extremely handy for spacing outlines.
The paper itself feels very smooth to the touch. It does have a bit of feedback, though, and felt a bit snaggy with fine-point pens. Finer pens also showed through more and had more feathering, regardless of ink type. I think the paper may be too cushy for ultra-pointy tips. I had no feathering or bleed-through, and barely any show-through, with medium and broad pens. Even my wet zoom nib did fine. Mechanical pencil felt the same snagging as fine pens, but wood pencil worked very well.
With paper and binding this nice, I expected this notebook to be more expensive than it is. At $4.80, it's easily cheaper (sometimes by half) than similarly structured notebooks. The Apica notebooks are similar cost and quality, but a different aesthetic. Kyokuto keeps impressing me. This is another one of their products that makes me wish it was me going back to school.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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, which I am very grateful for.
Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!
