Comprehensive guide to fountain pen friendly notebooks
Fountain Pen Notebooks
Vincenzo PRESENTS A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO FOUNATIN PEN FREINDLY NOTEBOOKS, JOURNALS AND PAPER IN GENERAL. HE REVIEWS OVER 60 SAMPLES NOTEBOOKS AND JOURNALS FROM OVER 30 BRANDS.
#fountainpens #fountainpentherapy #fountainpenwriting #fountainpenpaper #fountainpenink
ABOUT FOUNTAIN PEN THERAPY
We are passionate fountain pen enthusiasts whose mission is to spread fountain pen therapy as a source of relaxation, personal wellness, pleasure, health, and calmness. Whether it’s crafting your to do list, writing notes, doodling, sketching, drawing or scribbling your private thoughts in a journal, fountain pens stir your cerebral, creative and artistic juices
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00:00:00 - Intro Video
00:01:25 - Introduction
00:06:21 - Part 1: Tomoe River Paper
00:06:57 - 1. Hobonichi Paper
00:18:43 - 2. Nanami Notebooks
00:27:21 - 3. GoodINKPressions
00:30:30 - 4. Sakae Notebook
00:31:23 - 5. Seven Seas Crossfield (Japanese)
00:33:05 - 6. Wonderland 222
00:35:44 - 7. Soumkine (paris)
00:36:54 - 8. Endless
00:38:12 - 9. Taroko Enigma
00:38:53 - 10. Galen Leather
00:40:22 - Part 2: Tomoe River Substitutes
00:42:28 - 1. Cosmo Air LIght
00:43:33 - 2. Stalogy
00:47:25 - 3. B7 Bulky
00:51:53 - 4. Corona Bright View
00:54:32 - 5. Endless Regalia
00:56:27 - 6. Tomoe River Sanzen
00:57:52 - Part 3: Other Fountain Pen Friendly Notebooks
00:58:40 - 1. Atoma Notebook
01:02:19 - 2. Maruman
01:05:09 - 3. Apica Notebooks
01:07:16 - 4.Leuchtturm 1917
01:08:57 - 5. Life Margin Notebooks
01:10:33 - 6. Life Noble Notebook
01:11:20 - 7. Other Life Notebooks
01:13:07 - 8. Midori
01:14:34 - 9. Ito Bindery
01:15:52 - 10. Yu-Sari
01:17:09 - 11. Logical Prime
01:18:53 - 12. Book Note 360
01:20:26 - 13. Rhodia Notebooks
01:23:57 - 14. Clairefontaine
TOMOE RIVER NOTEBOOKS AND JOURNALS
Hobonichi: www.1101.com/store/techo/en/
GoodINKpressions (68gms) : tinyurl.com/583wxkcu
Wonderland 222 Studio: tinyurl.com/2ykb5jjr
Endless (68gms) : www.madebyendless.com/
Soumkine: soumkine.com/
Sakae Technical Paper : tinyurl.com/yr2pz756
Nanami Paper : www.nanamipaper.com/
• Studio Note: The Zen paper is very similar to 52 gsm Tomoe River paper; slightly thicker than the "old" Tomoe River, perhaps about the same as the "New" Tomoe River. The writing experience lies somewhere in between the old and new TR, but it's so subtle that I am not really sure. It IS somewhat toothier than the old TR, which some people will like, others may not.
• The Crossfield: This is the 7th Edition of the Crossfield. It is bound with the "NEW" Tomoe River paper.
• The Writer: This is the 7th edition Writer, with the "new" 52gsm cream Tomoe River paper.
• Nanami's Cafe Note in "B6 Slim" : This is the 7mm Rule version. This one is bound with Sanzen Tomoe River paper
• Cafe A6: This 3rd Edition of the Cafe A6 notebook. It is bound with the "NEW" Tomoe River paper!
Taroko Shop Enigma (68gsm) : tinyurl.com/3m844ezk
Galen Leather: www.galenleather.com/collecti...
Watanabe Seven Seas Cross Field: www.booknote360.com/product/s...
TOMOE RIVER SUBSTITUTES
Sanzen: tinyurl.com/3zsvnzxx
Cosmo Air Light: tinyurl.com/yb7hxpua
B7 Bulky: tinyurl.com/y2fjudee
Corona Bright View: tinyurl.com/3rsrehrj
Stalogy: tinyurl.com/33jpky2r
Endless Regalia: Endless Stationery (madebyendless.com)
OTHER FOUNTAIN PEN FRIENDLY NOTEBOOKS
Rhodia and Clairefontaine
• rhodiapads.com/
• www.clairefontaine.com
Atoma: atoma.be/en/homepage/
A VARIETY OF JAPANESE NOTEBOOKS
Yu-Sari tinyurl.com/5ccn83bh
Logical Prime : tinyurl.com/4se7w2s8
Book Note 360: www.booknote360.com/product/b...
Ito Bindery: ito-bindery.com/en-ca
Life Stationary: vanness1938.com/en-ca/collect...
Maruman: www.jetpens.com/maruman
Apica : www.jetpens.com/Apica-Noteboo...
Midori: www.midori-japan.co.jp/english/
Another commenter already corrected Tomoe River as "to-mo-e" (3 syllables), but let me add more Japanese pronunciation notes... Techo (as in, Hobonichi Techo) is pronounced with a "ch" sound (as written) not "k" sound (like English tech/technical). te-cho. Not te-ko. Romanized Japanese words are pronounced in syllables exactly as written. ho-bo-ni-chi, te-cho, to-mo-e, san-zen, na-na-mi, ma-ru-man, mi-do-ri, i-to, yu-sa-ri, u-ru-shi, fu-de, ma-ki-e.... etc. There are only 5 vowels in Japanese: a (ah) i (ee) u (oo) e (eh) o (oh) which are pronounced without any accents. The only independent consonant is n. All other consonants are paired with a vowel. 1 consonant+vowel pair = 1 syllable. If you see double vowels (like Tomoe), you pronounce the vowels independently. For someone like yourself that probably encounters lots of Japanese stationery, I hope this helps. Thank you for the extensive notebooks comparison.
Thanks for the tips. I will do my best to keep them in mind.
Wow, you really covered it all! After countless hours of Googling & pondering & Googling again, I sure wish I’d found your video sooner! I hope you had fun making this; to get to play with all the various papers sounds like a dream! Well, partial nightmare, but mostly dream […] Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed it! Happy Holidays!
Dear Vince, thank you very much for your extraordinary effort in producing this video. Your experiences and loving descriptions are unique and special. I am sure that many viewers will appreciate this.
Thanksyou for the kind words.
This was so well done and the first I’ve seen that is so comprehensive and expansive. Well done! Definitely earned a subscriber here
Thank you very much for your kind words.
Over the years I have spent a lot of money on expensive pen but I’ve bought rubbish journals. I now realise the stupidity of this, I’ve now started using Galen Leather Cosmo Air notebooks and I’m loving it. Thanks for this
It makes a real difference. Enjoy.
I love those videos!! Thank you so much.
You are so welcome!
Thank you Vincenzo! Very helpful! So far, my favorite paper is my little Clairefontaine Séyès French ruled Notebook. I have the A5 Clairfontaine Triomphe as well. Obviously, I have many more to try, but this video has been a huge help. Now, on to Part 2! Lisa
Thanks for sharing! The Seyes French paper was a recent addition for me when I decided to change my handwriting.
@@fountainpentherapy Yes, I remember! If only I could write that small on unruled paper. More practice is in order.
I’m glad you made one long video with time stamps. Paper is everything to writing. Most people just think about the pen and ink.
I agree.
I love the grid especially the 2mm tiny grid.
Grid is my favorite.
This really is comprehensive and therefore very helpful. Thank you so much!
Your welcome.
amazing! thank you for sharing this!
My pleasure!
I truly enjoyed every minute of this video, you did an amazing job describing and actually showing the quality of the paper!! I was especially excited to see a few that I own and use myself!! This is the type of video that most definitely helps you make the right decision when looking to buy!!
Thank you so much!
Thank you Vincenzo, for this extensive compilation of notebooks! It‘s saved and downloaded as a reference guide. It‘s so easy to navigate because it’s well-structured.
Your welcome.
your welcome = you're welcome
There is a Part 2!
Thank you!! I was trying to do all these comparisons in my head from the information of many different videos here on youtube. Love how you use Tomoe River as the benchmark, because it is my benchmark too. This was very helpful.
You're so welcome!
Thank you so much for this very hard work. I found it extremely helpful to my search for my perfect paper.
Glad it was helpful! Stay tuned I am in the process of preparing a sequel to that video with more notebooks that I have tested since. Cheers.
Wonderful video, just found your channel! Thank you😊
Awesome! Thank you!
Thank you for all the meticulous information about notebooks for fountain pens, I am just a beginner in fountain pens and this is one of the most well explained videos I’ve found so far !
Glad it was helpful!
Hi… just watched your video. It was very timely since we were going to Yoseka Stationery in Brooklyn yesterday. They had almost all of the journals you mentioned that I had bookmarked! Your video was very helpful in seeing which ones bled and ghosted (my personal pet peeves) so 😊
So cool! GRAZIE!
I stocked up on tomoe paper several years ago before they stopped production. Now there are papers that are close to the original. If you have never used the original you can miss what you never had. I’m saving the original paper for special projects.
Same here.
Thank you for taking the time to do this research. It was VERY helpful. I'm amazed that you covered so many papers and notebooks and really appreciate the effort and time you put into this. I'm putting this video in my back pocket for future reference and will remember to refer others to it. Well done.
You are so welcome! By the way stay tuned for a follow-up video. Since that video I have gathered several other notebooks and journals that need to be mentioned and reviewed. I will try to get the follow-up video up as soon as possible. So do not forget to subscribe.
Thanks for the time stamps! It really helped. I am newish to fountain pens but I've been a long-time calligrapher with brush pens. I use rhodia and maruman most.
Glad it was helpful!
Greetings from Australia. WOW, what a great video! All those notebooks. For me, trying to find the perfect fountain-pen friendly notebook was like finding the Holy Grail. Then I found Midori, which I love, but I was a little disappointed that you were not keen on. You skipped over this a bit quickly. I use this for my everyday journal, plus I also have it in a 5 year leather bound journal. I love this video and will always come back to it as a reference point.
Thanks for sharing!
This is a very nice reference guide. Paper is very subjective. All the same, you've got enough info on each to provide a good reference for each. A little absorbance can be nice on a notebook. It lets you close the book faster without having to worry about transfer or stuffing a blotter in the book. I personally like the Leuchtturm1917s. As long as you aren't putting an ocean of ink on the page it holds up pretty well under most inks. Pretty tough too. The paper is a pretty good compromise between its properties and cost. Not incredibly vulnerable to hand oils either. I frequently keep a blotter on the current page so I can close the book faster.
That notebook just passes the fountain pen test for me. It's otherwise a real quality notebook.
This is such an impressive project you’ve put together with this video. I found it edifying. I have always been beyond happy to use the Hobonichi products with TRP. I haven’t had enough time to put the Sanzen paper through it’s paces to form a complete opinion on it but it’s certainly suitable for long writing sessions. The only other paper from this list that I’ve tried is the Stalogy. I think I like the Sanzen just a bit more than that. I have a secret stash of the Hobonichi Plain Notebooks so I can keep using the old TRP for a long time. In the future, I will be consulting this video to see what else I should try when there’s no more Tomoe River Paper to buy. Have you tried any of Kokuyo’s papers? I’ve found some of their products to be a joy to write and draw on with fountain pens. Their Sarasara paper plays so well with my Hobonichi glass dip pen. That said, I don’t usually gravitate to such vibrant inks as the ones you featured here. I’m a big fan of the De Atramentis Document inks, and some of Noodlers permanent inks. Your selections are certainly better samples for a litmus test though. Again, thank you for putting together such a comprehensive resource!
Thanks for your comments.
Hope that you do find it worthwhile to do a Muji review. Am interested in seeing that one. Thanks again.
I hope so too!
My favorite notebook is the Smythson Panama. But I also use Midori and Leuchttrum1917 paper (the a5 size). If you have a change try the Smythson Panama. I can write (on both sides) with my Pelikan M1000 M Bob with no problem. And is it is 50 GSM paper!
We learn something everyday. Never got a chance to try the paper you suggested. I just googled it and for some reason the prices in Canadian dollars are crazy - between 180 and 350 for a notebook. There must be something wrong there.
Thanks a lot for your effort going through all of those notebooks! You have a very pleasant voice making it a pleasure to follow you through your reviews. If I may, I would just like to add that some constructive criticisms: - I would have enjoyed you talked a bit more about ghosting & the ability to write on both sides of the paper. For me, sheening and shimmering are not the only important properties of paper. - It would have been interesting to know about the gsm of each notebook/paper you reviewed. - Maybe at the end of your video you could have given us your personal favourites or disappointments Please continue to make videos! All the best from Germany.
All great points for me to keep in mind for my next paper/notebook review. Thanks
What a great extensive, interesting and informative work ! The only thing is with Cosmo air light, you unfortunately don't show the comparative swatches. Would it be possible for you to put it in a future video? Merci beaucoup!
Good point! For some reason I omitted to include the follow-up where the comparison was made. However, I invite you to view another one of my videos where the comparison is made. kzhead.info/sun/ntt-p5eumodsfKM/bejne.html
Thank you very much for your answer, I will be viewing soon this video.Really appreciated!
@@fountainpentherapy Thanks!
Vincenzo, thank you for the most comprehensive review I've seen! Minor niggle: the intro audio level is too loud (here and in other videos), especially when listening with AirPods or hearing aids. Again, kudos for research and production for a goldmine of information.
My earlier videos all have that issue. I jus did not realize how loud the music was. I am trying to be more careful in my recent videos. Thanks for the kind words and the helpful comments.
I love Tomoe River. Love it. Want to marry it and have its babies. That being said, I much prefer the first version of Tomoe River, the one from machine #7. Then Tomoegawa changed to machine #9 and the structure of the paper changed drastically. Sanzen is a little closer to the original paper than the second Tomoegawa iteration, but it's still not as good. For me, it's not so much about sheen or shading as it is about writing experience. The original Tomoe River is smooth and soft. The other two are much stiffer. It's a good thing I've got a 10-year supply of the old stuff. If my house burns down, I'm saving my notebooks and the cat. Yes, in that order. Thank you for this EXTENSIVE comprehensive guide!
I have tried but I too am hooked on Tomoe River paper. I just ordered a bunch of stale dated Hobonichis with the original papier. The discounted price was worth it.
Hey could you share where you found the stale journals?
I love the Nobel notebooks. I call it a 'hard' paper. It writes very fine. Where the same pen writes more wet and thick, this paper writes with a fine line, but keeps the different characteristics of the ink. They are a little pricey, but I love how they write. MD paper depends on the paper. I have the Cosmo Note, and I love the paper. Very smooth and beautiful colors. Btw, MD ink is terrible. It bleeds through almost any paper you write on.
Thanks for your observations.
Where did you purchase that Seven Seas Crossfield (Japanese) notebook at? I've only found one place and they don't ship to the US..
www.nanamipaper.com/
I look for a japaneese notebook. It's made with diffent parts/books depending of the user's needs. Any thoughts on what I'm looking for? Thanks on beforehand! Liselotte
If its more than one notebook, that is usually the Traveller's notebooks that you put in leather sleeves.
Really amazing guide. But it is a pity I have not got any of these in my country😢😢😢😢😢. So sad 😭
Sorry to hear that.
I think they have versions w/ translated text/quotes for English speakers... but they're usually sold out :( Hope you can get back into the habit of dashing a note everyday in the 5 year hobonichi.
I will do my best.
I wish I could find some original tomeo River.
same here
I wish there more options in the B5 size, and the ones there are always seem to be more expensive 😔
A5 is my go to size so I have not paid too much attention to B5. But you may very well be right.
Ah, the rabbit holes get deeper. I've got Tomoe and Muji, but am always curious about what else is out there. BTW, Tomoe is pronounced Toh-moh-eh (the e is sounded out). Thank you.
Good point! By the way because of your comment I ordered and received several Muji notebooks. The verdict is still out. I may do a review on them in the future. But you certainly can't beat the price.
What about Fabriano's Ecoqua paper?
You are right. I have always meant to test that paper. I will try to do this as one of my future projects. Thanks for reminding me.
@@fountainpentherapy I have lots of Ecoqua (Plus) Notebooks because here in Italy you find them in (large) supermarkets too. I can anticipate you that, while this card is great for cursive italic nibs (I write on Ecoqua paper with my Leonardo Officina Italiana CSI nibs daily) and its thickness is 90g/m², ink tends to dry rapidly on it, so the resulting sheen is minimal, at least compared to the Rhodia paper.
It’s my favorite and has been for several years.
Have you tried the Hightide Penco notebook? Can anyone give me any reference about it? Thanks 🙂
I just pulled the trigger and ordered a notebook. I am doing an update on my comprehensive guide video and it will be included. Thanks for sharing.
@@fountainpentherapy Thanks to you and congratulations for your channel and your appreciations 🙂
I lost interest and nearly fell asleep after 10 minutes, even though I specifically am interested in this subject and am looking for a fountain pen friendly A5 notebook ! This needs to be 15 minutes, maximum.
Sorry to hear you fell asleep. You are the first. But that's OK the beauty of KZhead is that if you do not like or appreciate a video you can simply not watch. The video was not meant to be an action 007 film. Its is a comprehensive guide of more then 60 products which is impossible to do in 15 minutes. I could have done 60 separate videos but i chose to do one with time stamps - so you can pick and choose. Part 2 is out but I don't suggest you look at that one either since it too is just as long as I review another 40 products.
You can go away and come back and youtube will save your place. Isn’t that a wonder!
No one needs this many notebooks. It’s more of an illness called hoarding and must be treated at a clinic. I hope you have good family and friends who will check you in for treatment.
ur fucking insane. Im sorry this video set u off.
Your comments constitute a totally inappropriate and unnecessary disrespectful personal attack. For what its worth, your comments also demonstrate a total misunderstanding of not only me as a person, but of the difference between hoarding and collecting and/or buying items for you tube reviews. In this regard, I am in the process of purchasing several additional notebooks that I will be reviewing. If this offends you or disturbs you in any way, the beauty of KZhead is that you don't have to watch.
I would say, considering there are hundreds of thousands of people out there that are interested in this man's channel, despite not finding it yet, one could say this is the start of a lucrative business. Hoarding is not this. Hoarding is beyond all logic. Would you say the same comment if they were baseball cards? If you Google hoarding vs collecting, this is 100 percent a collection.
@@fountainpentherapywell said. Honestly, I thought their comment was a joke at first. I love this video. I hope everyone on the forums finds it.
An example of what envy looks like!