bja
Im using this notebook as an idea book for my artwork. When I see a great picture or sample of a technique, I put it into the book. I really like it but Ive never seen paper like it. It seems pretty strong tho and Im fascinated by its texture!
Originally reviewed on Amazon.com
Ambagious
Wavered between a 4 and a 5, here, because the texture of the paper *is* a little strange, and it doesn't have a satisfying, traditional 'good paper' feel. Also, it's expensive! But it's exactly what it describes, it works well, it's kinda cool, and the customer service communications are beyond belief.
Originally reviewed on Amazon.com
The paper is cool to the touch, thin, flexible, and very smooth. in a way that wood-pulp and/or cotton could never be. It /feels/ like it shouldn't take ink well, but in fact it's quite easy to write on, and if anything it holds ink (doesn't smudge) better than normal paper. It's bright white. (I'd love it if future endeavors looked into a more creamy-colored alternative, but this is very nice too.)
The covers are stiff and sturdy, and the wire binding is also well-made. The pages don't rumple as easily as normal paper, but they do take a crease, and if you crumple the paper and smooth it out, the result is pretty much like normal paper - you can smooth it, but you can still see that it was balled up. The pages tear out of the wire binding with a little more difficulty than normal paper would, but they do come out. (Perforations would be another good addition.) It's in tearing and cutting that the difference is really apparent: it's very difficult to rip (which is a plus, mostly!) and it tears like plastic, even stretching a little as it pulls apart. It cuts even more easily than paper, clean and quick and with very little resistance.
After I had already bought it, I noticed that the components of the paper were limestone and 'resin', and realized that I had no idea what 'resin' meant in this context and whether it was a natural substance or not. I wrote to the seller using the contact form on their own website to ask, got a prompt reply, and over the next couple days, stayed in communication with the person who wrote to me as they found out what I wanted to know. (It is, in fact, a plant-based resin, not a plastic polymer. Phew.) I was really impressed by how responsive they were.
On the whole, given the cost as well as the slightly increased difficulty of tearing out pages, this is definitely a journal, not a notebook, in that it's best suited to something where your intention is to leave all the pages in, although they /can/ be removed if necessary. It takes a little getting used to, but it works.
Margot
The paper has a very different feel to it, thinner than most regular paper. Yet it holds ink really well. I am a frequent journal buyer and use them regularly. This is not lined paper and yet I will still buy a second one again after I fill this one.
Originally reviewed on Amazon.com
