The Well-Appointed Desk

A couple of years ago, I got a copy of the Stifflexible notebook from Pen Chalet. Stifflexible is an Italian notebook that, according to its web site, has been around for decades but has recently been relaunched and has been trying to make in-roads in the upscale notebook landscape in the last couple years.

The re-launch of Stifflexible offered an interesting, little pocket notebook. I was curious about the design with the bendable hard cover and three types of paper in one notebook but the initial paper offering was not up to snuff for fountain pens so I did not review the notebook.

This new, improved version of the Stifflexible notebook has introduced much-improved paper and new cover designs. I received two sizes: an XL (19x25cm or 7.5×9.8′) London Underground Map and a medium (13x21cm or 5×8.25″) Coconut from the New Fruits.

Unfortunately, in transit from the Atlanta Pen Show, the London Underground Map notebook came into contact with water and the lower righthand water took on water like the Titanic hitting an iceberg. Still being wrapped in cellophane only exacerbated the problem. So now I have one swollen, bulgy corner, to no fault of the distributor or the manufacturer. I blame myself, the airline, the airport or the baggage handlers for leaving my poor R2 unit out in the rain.

Two of the most distinguishing features of the Stifflexible notes are the deep grooves in the cover to create the “flexibility”. I type that in quotes because the grooves give the cover large scores that allow it to bend more readily but I don’t know that it makes it flexible. It does provide a nice slot to rest the vertical elastic in, however.

The other feature is the three types of paper included in one notebook: lined, blank and graph. Of the 192 pages (144 in the smallest, pocket-sized edition) over half (144 pages or 96 in the pocket edition) are dedicated to lined paper. There are just 32 pages of blank paper and 16 pages of graph paper.

The graph paper is a bit odd in that it is only printed on one side of the paper and its the only section of the book that is perforated.

On the reverse side of the bookmark included with each notebook is information about how the company envisions you might use the envelope in the back of the book and the long flap pocket. Clever.

But, of course, what you are actually waiting to see is if the paper has actually been improved. And indeed it has been. The paper is a soft white 85gsm. While lined paper isn’t always my favorite and the line spacing is a bit wider than I initially thought I would like, the light grey lines fell to the background quickly and I was able to ignore them easily. The paper has a slight tooth to it but nothing too distracting. It was just enough to let my inks dry in a reasonable amount of time so as not to smudge (lefty-concern) and not so much that I had any feathering or bleeding issues.

I tested a wide variety of everyday pens from fountain to rollerball and gel as well as a ballpoint and some pencils and everything performed as expected. I did not drown the paper with anything ridiculous, I just used what was already in my pens.

From the reverse side, there is a tiny bit of show through but I would easily write on this side of the paper.

The most show through is in the lower left which is the water-damaged corner and the section I hit with the wettest and widest fountain pens. It was also the part of the paper that wasn’t laying flat so its getting some light from underneath.

So, overall, I think the Stifflexible notebooks are a pretty interesting notebook line. My biggest complaints are the graph lines are not printed on both sides and I was disappointed to discover that the circle on the cover of the coconut notebook that says “Coconut” was not a sticker on the cellophane packaging. I was hoping the cover was just the swirly lines. Which makes me sad to realize that the whole New Fresh Fruit line is the same way. They would all be really fun without the sticker on them. At present, the New Fresh Fruit and the Underground Line are the only collections with the new 85gsm paper. The other notebook collections still feature the 80gsm paper which is fine for ballpoint  and pencil but frowns at liquid ink.

Many of your favorite online and brick and mortar retailers currently stock the Stifflexible notebooks. The prices range from about $10-$30.

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DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Luxury Brands USA for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

Partially inspired by Les’ Composition Book posts and her conversation a few weeks ago with Brad and my own back-to-school nostalgia, I purchased a handful of composition books and decided to test drive them myself.

I stopped at CVS and grabbed a full-sized UStyle Colllection ($3.49) and a smaller pocket-sized version as well ($1.99, not shown) and then went to Target and got a couple Green Room composition books, Gartner brand and Mead (fancy with gold foil) composition books. Unfortunately, I misplaced my reciept from Target but the prices for the composition books from Target ranged between $1.75 and $3.99 if I remember correctly, obviously prices will vary depending on sales. These were not the $0.50 a piece versions, so my expectations were pretty high.

All the ones I chose had fancy foil on the cover and modern designs — no simple, black splotchy covers!

UStyle Collections Composition Book

First up is the UStyle Collections from CVS. To be honest, my expectations for this one was the lowest. I purchased it at a drugstore in the aisle between the bulk candy and the sunscreen so I wasn’t expecting much. I like the gold metallic tape and the color block design on the cover was nice. The ruling inside was college but a bit wider and darker than I prefer but I hoped for the best.

I went ahead and hit it with my Sailor music nib first. I figured I’d hit it with the widest pen I had first and get it out of the way. Lo and behold, it didn’t feather! So I kept going. And going….

Even after all the pens and pencils, there was no bleed through and very little show through. This paper was quite the champ!

So I hit it with my favorite modified Pilot Parallel folded nib pen and had no issues. The lines resisted a bit of ink but not too badly. This would be fine practice paper for calligraphy.

There’s a little show through but nothing terrible. I would give the UStyle Collections Composition Book an A-! I’m only marking it down for the dark lines.

Mead (Fancy) Composition Book

Next up is the Mead (fancy) Composition Book that I bought at Target. It featured gold foil details on the cover and light blue college ruling. The cover artwork was a little preppy but not the worst I’ve seen. I liked some of the other covers better but it could have been worse.

The paper inside though more than made up for the blah covers. The light lines and great quality paper got big thumbs up from me.

There was no bleed or show through with any of my fountain pens.

I also tested a whole array of rollerball, felt tip and miscellaneous pens as well with equally good results.

I did some preliminary pencil tests for my Baron Fig pencil review here as well and the Mead is great for pencil too. The Mead (fancy) composition book also rates an A- from me and the mark down is only for the meh cover.

Gartner Composition Book

The Gartner Composition Book was also purchased at Target. The bright paint splotched cover is quite appealing. Inside, the book has blue college-rule and a red margin rule.

This paper has almost NOTHING to recommend itself if you use any kind of liquid ink. Fountain pens, felt tip, and rollerball ink all bled and feathered on this paper. If you strictly use ballpoint or pencil, then go crazy. But otherwise, take a hard pass.

This is a fright show.

Gartner paper even made a Precise V5 feather. However, a Field Notes Ballpoint felt right at home. And graphite performed well.

My rating for the Gartner Composition Book? C-. The cover is cute and if you are a pencil loyalist, this is a fine notebook but it should come with a warning: “ink is not welcome.”

Greenroom Composition Book

The Greenroom brand composition books from Target get me everytime. I want them to be awesome because they have the warm white paper and a cool, recycled vibe. I fall for it every. Single. Time.  You see where this is going, don’t you?

Yep. Not fountain pen friendly paper. It’s not even very liquid ink-friendly paper. So, like the Gartner composition book, the Greenroom composition book is really only good for ballpoint and pencil.

Look at that bleed through! For shame! Don’t fall for it. Rating for the Greenroom Comp book? D. Marked down for selling “recycled lifestyle” with a non-recyclable cover. Foil is not recyclable. Ask me how I know?

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The moral of my composition expedition? Schlep yourself to your local CVS and buy some UStyle Ccollections composition books. Stand between the bulk candy and sunblock and let people stare as you decide between the gold flamingos, gold elephants and gold paint splatters. Or fight those back-to-school crowds and buy the last gold anchor Mead book. You deserve it.

 

 

 

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to write a review about the Curnow Leather Journal Cover ($45), the Nanami Paper Seven Seas Standard Notebook and the Curnow Plain Paper Insert. I thought I should write them as separate reviews, or as comparisons to other products, but in the end, I realized, that the best way to review these was how I purchased it and how I actually use it.

The beautiful, stitched teal leather cover is flexible but not too floppy and came from Curnow Leatherworks. The cover has four elastics. The white elastic on this cover is a little stretchy, I wish it was a little stiffer but I can switch it out eventually.

I purchased the cover from their table at the St. Louis Pen Show for $45. They offer an array of colors and you can email or contact them via Facebook.

Inside, both the front and back covers, they’ve included secretarial pockets. The only branding is the Curnow logo mark on the back pocket, printed in black.

The secretary pockets in the cover are just big enough to tuck a package of stickers, a postcard, some postage stamps or other paper detritus away to keep it from falling out whenever I open the notebook cover.

The A5 plain notebooks are $19 for a 3-pack. Other sizes and paper colors are available through their Facebook page. The A5 plain notebooks from Curnow are made with Tomoe River 28 52gsm paper. I couldn’t make a decision about the myriad of color choices available for the cardstock covers so I bought white and figured I could cover them with stickers.

The paper was great for testing ALL the inks at the ink testing stations at the pen show in St. Louis since it’s a nice natural white. We discovered, at the close of the show, that all the ink testing stations still had ink in them so after we packed up our tables, Jesi and I (and several other folks who were hanging out late) absconded with the two testing stations and dragged them into one of the ballrooms and tested every color. It doubled as a great way to put the Curnow mini notebook to the test.

As you can just see from the photo above at the top of the image, there is a little show through from the reverse side of the page but that is to be expected with the tissue-thin Tomoe River paper. There was, of course, no bleed through, even using the cheap dollar pens that had sat all weekend in the ink testing stations at the pen show.

I was also able to pick up a Nanami Paper Seven Seas Standard ($28) at the St. Louis Pen Show from Dromgoole’s. I had always wanted to try their version of the Tomoe River paper notebook and the Dromgoole’s tables were next to ours at the St. Louis Show. On Sunday, it was slow enough I could wander over and discover that they had a plain paper edition which is always my preferred format. So, I grabbed it and tucked it into the Curnow cover I’d purchased earlier in the day.

The cover of the Seven Seas Standard is a textured, almost-bookcloth, cardstock laminated to the cream end papers. Its not super heavy duty but helps to maintain the streamline look of the notebook. I love the neutral brown cover with no branding at all. The cover can be decorated to my heart’s content or left plain and professional if that works better for your needs.

I used multiple elastics to hold the larger Nanami Paper Seven Seas in place, since it has 480 pages. It was Jesi (see her comments and set-up below!) who had suggested using the Curnow cover with the Seven Seas notebook in the first place. She was using a similar set-up and it looked like a perfect way to strengthen the soft, flexible paper cover on the Seven Seas and use one of Curnow’s wonderful A5 leather covers.

As a lefty, I was worried that the lightweight Tomoe River “notebook” paper would take too long to dry and I would end up with it all over my hand and smears everywhere but so far I have had fairly good luck with my daily writing pens.

The notebook also came with a pink “blotting” sheet to use when closing the book on particularly slow drying pages and a guide sheet on cardstock.

The only thing I wish is that the paper was a little bit whiter. The Curnow paper is whiter, which I prefer for ink color fidelity but the softer white is a little less harsh and doesn’t shift the ink color dramatically.

Both the smaller Curnow notebooks and the Seven Seas Standard have rounded corners with help keep them from looking dinged and worn and make the edges match perfectly.

Since arriving home, I’ve removed the ink testing notebook since I don’t really need that for work everyday and carry a small Curnow notebook for work notes plus the Seven Seas Standard for my everyday notebook. It’s my everything notebook at the moment where I can write a journal entry, a list, test some inks or a new pen, doodle, write ideas for a blog post, whatever I want, because with 480 pages its going to take ages to use them all up.

If you’ve been in the market for a leather journal cover, I can’t recommend the Curnows highly enough. The covers are well-made and extremely reasonably priced. If you are going to be at the San Francisco Pen Show, make their table one of your first stop.

As for the Nanami Seven Seas Standard, why did I wait so long to try one of their notebooks? While $28 may seem like a lot of money for one notebook, it does contain two-to-three times as much paper as other notebooks like Leuchtturm or Rhodia and it has the coveted Tomoe River paper too.

Jesi’s Review:

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DISCLAIMER: I purchased everything in this review with my own money. I was not compensated in any way for this review other than the sheer joy of using these products.