I have my knitting friends to thank for this review! Recently a friend shared her crafting journal with bits and pieces of her knitting, spinning and sewing projects. I was intrigued because it was dot grid, and contained THREE different kinds of paper. And that’s how I bought my very own Archer & Olive A5 Night Sky Neapolitan Dot Grid Notebook ($34).
Before I get into that mouthful of a notebook title, Archer & Olive is a female-owned, 100% vegan company that sells journals & notebooks, markers & pens, and some accessories. Their vision is to provide folks with a way to plan their lives, tend to their mental health and explore creativity. All the products are vegan, and packaged in minimal, environmentally conscious packaging. Shipping was quick – I ordered and had my new notebook within a few days.
The Night Sky Neapolitan notebook is an A5, hard cover journal with a canvas covering. Thew cover is a dark navy and has the big dipper printed on it in gold foil. The journal is available in other color/graphic images as well.
Inside the front sheets are plain and give way to the star of the journal: the paper. The Neapolitan is so called because it has sections of white, black and kraft paper all featuring dot grid, bound together in one notebook. The paper is advertised as 160 GSM, ultra thick and perfect for pens, markers, fountain pen inks, paint – whatever you can throw at it. The journal contains 160 pages.
They weren’t lying about that paper. It’s super smooth and took several fountain pen inks and their Acrylograph markers (stay tuned, Ana will have a review of these soon!) with ease. There wasn’t even any show through on the opposite side of the pages, even with that acrylic marker! I will need to invest in some white gel pens for the black sections of the book, but I think I’m set for the rest.
Other fun details are the ribbon bookmarks (one has a little ampersand charm), the elastic band to hold the book closed, a pocket at the back for storing small bits and pieces and a pen loop. I’m going to be taking some classes shortly and I’ve decided this will be the notebook for all my notes related to that.
The journal is a bit on the pricey side for every day use, but if you’re looking for a nice notebook to store your thoughts or sketches, this one seems really well made and I’m excited to dig in!
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased with my own funds. Please see the About page for more details.
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