(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.)
If you get me started on the subject of notebooks, it won't be long before I start railing against ring binding. I hate it. It warps and bends! It doesn't slide into bags or lay nicely along other books! It snags on things and scratches them! It's uncomfortable to rest your hand or arm on them! If you tear a page out, it creates doom confetti that is exactly the opposite of celebratory. They're awful.
But not this one. This one? The Kokuyo Soft Ring Notebook does none of those things. The rings are smooth, solid, squishy plastic that squeeze to fit along other books. They are fully sealed so they don't snag. They spring right back into shape and are soft against your arm or hand. Do you remember jelly shoes? These rings are like jelly shoes for your notebook. The pages are perfectly perforated so that they tear out easily, but only when you want them to.
I love it when things are both simple and clever in a way that changes how I use my tools. And this totally does that. It might be witchcraft. Consider me enchanted.
And bound by all that cleverness, there is Kokuyo's incredible paper. It's smooth and sturdy, the graph is useful but unobtrusive. It takes every pen or pencil I throw at it--even where I blobbed ink on with a scratchy glass dip pen. It barely shows through and doesn't bleed at all. It shows sheen. And it even stands up to my toddler, who--true to his genetics--loves nothing more than to "cutter" with every single one of mommy's Sarasas. There are 80 sheets, making this an excellent notebook for school or work.
The cover is clear, flexible plastic with a silvery sheet behind it. The back is firm cardstock. The grid measures 5mm, and it is also available in 6mm rule and blank.
I think these are going to become a go-to for me. Having the convenience of ring binding without any of the ick is like a gift from the stationery gods.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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