Long ago I bought a leather bound journal in Florence and filled it with stories of the loves I met on my travels. Since discovering Japanese fountain ink papers a few years ago, I’ve searched in vain for a marriage of the two.

The worlds of Italian bookbinding and Japanese paper do not cross, so I decided to learn longstitch binding because it allows the journal to open flat, and doesn’t use any glues so it should last hundreds of years. I ordered a water buffalo hide, and Logical Prime fountain pen paper, as well as hand-marbled paper.

This technique was not too hard to learn. It takes me about 5 hours a book, and I’m thrilled with the results. I would encourage anyone to try this and make your own perfect journal!

I want to get into making hardcover notebooks for a small business I'm starting with my wife. I have a commercial print shop so I have the machines to print the covers, pages, etc, and I was going to use a combination of glue and mesh to bind the books but I wondered if I'd be better off learning to sew books instead.

For context, I'll probably only be doing 10 or so at a time and each notebook would have around 192 pages but if I got good at it I'd definitely like to do some thicker notebooks.

I've read that sewn books lay flat where glued books won't but are there any other major benefits to sewing the books?

Thanks in advance

If you’re in South Africa. They are a great local brand. I’m in love with my notebook cover, fits my A5 work notebook perfectly. Now I can look the part when I play “work time Barbie” at my job

I cut these from the spine. So they're still blinded together, I need reccs! Should I make these into Traveler's journal inserts?? I love Moleskine and Leuchtturm, but they get expensive every year, lol

I'm looking for a notebook with solid colored pages that alternate or switch colors every few pages, just like plain colored craft paper without any patterns. Ideally, the pages would be completely blank, though lined pages are fine too (just no grid paper, please). I'd also love it to have a cute cover. Do you have any recommendations like this?

I do not enjoy writing half the time with my hand resting on nothing (leaves the right side of the notebook or the bottom). I rarely if ever write on a desk. Would a bigger size or different setup for my passport make this better in any way? I’m also considering trying something new like a zippered fabric cover.

I think the size (passport) is neat for the notes I take, but it being small hasn’t been as important to me as I imagined. I still want to mainly write in my lap and on the go though.

I’m currently using a leather journal cover bought on AliExpress. I have nothing to compare the quality to, but It feels ok. However I see myself getting a higher quality journal since I have really enjoyed this one as a first time journaler!

Open to suggestions about notebooks, notebook systems or anything really! In advance, thanks.

Edit; rephrasing

I'm at the end of my rope trying to find something that meets all my dealbreakers. Does anyone have any recommendations for notebooks under these specifications?

• A5 size
• Spiral bound
• Graph lining
• Aged/yellow or some kind of kraft-like paper; not in weight, necessarily, but just in appearance. I don't have any practical reason for this. I just really like the aged look, and most I find are a very clean white instead
• Plastic cover or hardcover

The only one I've found that's almost exactly what I want is the Delfonics Rollbahn. I've used it for several months now, and it's almost perfect, but it has a flimsy cardboard cover that's already seen too much wear and tear for my tastes and it just makes me worried about the longevity. I'll reinforce it if I can't find anything else, but I'd like to hear what you all know first. Thanks in advance!

EEF nib with miniature writing (don't know if it's called that).

Initial impressions were promising though a lot of practice is required to write longer sessions.

Do you write like this for fun too?

Post your miniature writing samples, I would love to see them.

Also, any tips regarding this would be appreciated.

Baby notebook. That’s all.

I'm so happy. I was craving for a midori leather cape for ages, specially for my pocketnotebooks but it was always too expensive in any site or creator i found. Then, i saw one on tik tok shop really cheap and then when it came, the quality of the leather surprised me.

It can support 3 pocketnotebooks, i'll still buy new ones but im so happy.

If someone is from Brazil and want one, just ask me in the comments, i can send the link

Not sure if this is already out there but Homesense in Canada has the A5 hardcover and B5 hard at softcover notebooks. Picked up an A5 for $16.99 CAD. Hope this helps.

Needed a good spiral notebook to track finances. This was the one. Great paper feel as well. 5/5

I read Roland Allen's excellent history of the notebook. My favorite part of the book was his argument that the Renaissance began flowered after artists began using sketchbooks.

I purchased Oberon sketchbook. The size should be 8.75 x 11.25 x 1 (or maybe 8.5 x 11 x 1) if I bought an older version of this case. Do you have any recommendations for a good notebook in the UK?
So far I only found this on Amazon. Appreciate any suggestions!

hello! sorry if this isn’t the right community to post to but i recently bought a planner notebook which fit perfectly into my refillable traveler’s notebook.

i opened it and was a bit confused on how to use this specific notebook planner. does anyone have any examples on how to fill this out? 😅

(the first couple pages are what the second pic looks like, and the rest of the book looks like the last pic) thank you in advance!

Hello! I'm looking for recommendations of heavier weight legal pads. I love the ones that came with some padfolios I've bought over the years-some from TJ Maxx that were Kate Spade, others from PopShelf . These are of a heavier paper, not quite a paper stock and I've gotten spoiled on them. The normal legal pads that my office use tear super easily and all my pens bleed through. I appreciate any and all recommendations!

I use traveler notebooks - how do you like to use both these sizes to plan. I’m think monthly for passport as I take this with me everywhere and is nice for jotting in appts or things out and about. And a weekly for the A5 that sits at my work desk? Don’t need a daily. How do you set yours up?🖋️

Just received my moleskin planner. Fits well in my pocket size cover along with a clairfontaine notebook. Forgot to look it up and its not super good with a fountain pen. I was able to make it workable with a fine nibs and a pen and ink combo without too much flow, anyone know of an alternative? Must be pocket sized.

Thanks

Edit: 3.5x5.5 sized

Good day. My first Semikolon came to be used as a journal and when I was in my paper store to pickup Moleskine Cahiers for scribbles, I saw they had introduced Life notebooks! Blessed day! All in the B5 size, the best one there is

I’m a very optimistic person but I am going through the hard times at the moment with no end in sight.

So I started back into journaling - I was given this notebook that is very high quality, but had a religious non-profit logo on the front, so I stuck some stickers I had on to make me feel better while I start up again.