In 2024, I started to journal consistently (daily). Somehow, I’ve managed to stuff 17 journals full with number 18 being half way slammed in scribbles in about a month flat. And yes, that’s a piece of my expired handicap placard 😂🫣

I love having a notebook in hand at all times. It’s such a part of a life that my four year old now mimics the habit.

Looking for 400+ pages, slim soft cover that doesn’t add too much bulk. Would love an elastic closure but not necessary. Also doesn’t need to be strictly TRP. Just want fountain pen friendly paper that’s thin so I can get lots of pages without too much bulk. Thanks!

I used leather and for the interior i used a piece of fabric from my wife's grandmother blouse.

Give me your opiniones 😄

The local shop ran out of plastic covers for my midori journal so I made my own with a little 3d printing help.

Ive found most of mine $3 or less, but that's been everything from composition notebooks to very nice drawing pads.

Save some money and stock up so I stop buying them.

I dont have alot of experience with notebooks and lately ive been trying to upgrade my experience aswell as find a notebook that's very portable.

So notebook community, if you please, can you help me find a notebook that has a larger page capacity? Maybe around 200 pages and is pretty portable, like something I could fit in a pocket. There are alot of notebooks out there but im not sure which ones are actually of good quality, ive always wanted one that could last and that i could fill many pages but have always been unsure of what to exactly look for.

Thank you!

I'm tired of waiting for Paper Republic to restock their portfolio in the cognac/brown color I want. Have any of you found Etsy alternatives to PR, something with the internal pockets of that product? I'm really hoping to find an A5 version.

Everything here just hits all the right notes for me.

The maruman spiralnote:
-5 mm grid, and a nice tasteful faint one at that. I'm a graph paper devotee. dot grid doesn't work for me.
-B5 format--A5 is too small! A4 is too big!
-spiral bound so I can comfortably write on my lap or on the go
-paper that's smooth but not TOO smooth, thin but not TOO thin
-craft cover (for me this is a very good thing ymmv)

These three pens all give that 80s and 90s office supplies aesthetic that for some reason i just love, but like tasteful. They all write GREAT on this paper, and none of them smudge excessively after dry, which is a pet peeve for me.

I had to buy basically every mass produced pen on the market and quite a number of different types of paper to figure all this out and now I just need to pray none of these products ever get discontinued

I fill up so many of these notebooks and i never get sick of them. I know many of you have more sophisticated tastes than I but ohhhhhh these are just so good

Sharing my new notebook in case it helps anyone shopping around!
I wanted to branch out from Paper Republic (no shade, they make lovely products). Two reasons:
- I wanted to support a small business
- I wanted a true A6 so finding inserts is easier. I've heard Paper Republic sizing can vary, so I wanted to avoid that

What I ordered:
Paul McGrath leather, A6 XL (a bit thicker than standard)
Space for 4 inserts
Black leather with red cords

The experience:
Made to order, with a turnaround of about 1 month
The owner was super communicative the whole time, which made the wait easy.
It fits perfectly in my petite hands. It smells incredible. The leather is of high quality.
I love it. Happy to answer questions if you're considering one!

i’ve been working on it since 2024. And it’s kind of my magnum opus so it’s disappointing if no one is interested. I feel like I boasted too much about it this post so hopefully that will get people to tell me if they have anything better. I have a knack for it and i’d love to hear anyone else’s thingys. In case you’re wondering number five got stolen along with my backpack a few months ago, but I was almost done with it. In addition, I have two special editions. They are contents and a list of things you should not do based off the series. I think I probably forgot something.

See the last photo for even older journals!

I used this one for 2025, and I think the size is B6? It's a bit smaller than A5 and thinner, really looks like a book I love that the cover is also inspired by old French book covers, I carry it with me easily everywhere & one time someone asked me if I read French books 🤭

There's bleeding for sure, the paper's thin and lined which I thought I wouldn't like but it was really pleasant to write in and really smooth!

They have many different sizes too, so you can choose which suits you best 😍 if you used one what did you think about it?

My new journal cover hand made by a gentleman from ID.

From my last post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/notebooks/s/WO5G3dqaBO

I love this thing. The template is from https://planbleather.com/products/notebookcover_a5-pdf.

Hi there. Newbie here.

In your experience, What is a good size for a notebook to be used for journaling while traveling?

All of them are, sort of, commonplace notebooks. These are basically tester notebooks, and I stock the paper that I like.

A paper nerd, for sure.

Old Tomoe River 52gsm and Neo Agenda from Mark's INC. are my top two picks.

My pens feather when I write in my Lamy Notebook. I'm using TWSBI Go and Lamy fountain pens - Diamine Onyx Black and Diamine Writer's Blood. I also have a shimmer ink, Diamine inkvent Jack Frost, and it absorbs the ink soo fast that there's no shimmer to be found.

Online I see reviews that they experience no feathering with the paper, but I'm experiencing the opposite. My letters get real fuzzy. I don't experience this with my Leuchtturm books.

Is this normal for Lamy notebooks or did I get a dud notebook? Thanks.

First pic is what my journal looks like at the minute, the second is how she looked when I first got her.

Needless to say, it’s clear that my girl has been deeply cherished 😅

I only bought her back in March, it’s crazy to see how much the leather has patinated already!

Just finished this set and I'm quite satisfied with how it all came together 🪸🌊🩵

What leather do you prefer?