While attending the DC Pen Show, I had an opportunity to participate in a survey at the Pilot USA table. The tam at Pilot was asking attendees to compare to types of paper using various pens and asked a series of questions as to why we preferred one over the other. Upon completing the survey…
I met the creative team behind Wonderland 222 while I was in Portland this summer and was absolutely delighted to be able to put faces to this amazing product line. Wonderland 222 is best known for their Tomoe River-based planners — simple, minimal planners in loads of formats. While talking with Liisa, I discovered that…
“Iroful” means “colorful,” — an amalgamation of the English word “color” for the Japanese word “iro” which also means color. The intention of the name is to convey the paper’s ability to show color cleanly and crisply. The Iroful Notebook ($9.75) is a standard A5 soft cover, 75gsm Japanese paper, made by Sakae Technical Paper,…
At a recent pen show, I picked up the Dominant Industry Takasago Fountain Pen Notebook (Blank, A5, $24). I did a little online research and discovered that Takasago Paper Mill has been in business for over 110 years and in 2020, they developed the Premium Takasago Paper, a paper specifically designed for fountain pens and…
Review by Tina Koyama Last fall I reviewed Notegeist Bindery’s Everyday line of pocket notebooks. Among the many designs owner Gary Varner has added to the collection since then are very limited handbound editions. He has some new size formats, too. First up are 3 ½-by-5 ½-inch Butterflys & Peacocks (currently discounted at 2/$12) with…
I was delighted to meet Lauren Phelps at the Little Craft Fest event in Houston a couple weeks ago. Owner of Lauren Phelps Designs and journal goddess, she is a fountain pen fan herself, she produces journal/planner/notebooks that feature Tomoe River 52gsm paper in her date-free planner/journals called Live | Plan | Dream series. These…
The Hobonichi Fireside Chat Notebook (B6 Blank) ($14) is a 40-page deliciously B6-sized notebook with a cardstock cover that features a quote from the mysterious “Mr. Safety Match,” whose wisdom occasionally appears in the daily quotes of Hobonichi planners. Most notably, these notebooks are filled with Tomoe River S paper. The yellow cover features blank…
