Cheap Journal Compare

Top left are Exceed journals; top right are Letterbox journals; bottom is my current journal, Artist's Loft.

Hi, my name is Anne and I am a journal junkie. It has been about two weeks since I have purchased an unneeded journal just because it was pretty and a good price. I have a small shelf of pretty, unused journals that I found in clearance bins. I have given several journals to friends as gifts when I find out that they like to journal. So I'm writing a little info on the current, past, and future journals that I actually use. I made some sketches in each of four of the above journals for a comparison. Noodler's Lexington Gray ink laid down with a juicy fude nib has lots of bleed-through (where the ink actually soaks through to the back of the paper and sometimes to the sheet behind), so I made a sketch in each journal as a comparison of how the paper handles fountain pen ink.

Costco carries a three pack of Letterbox journals for $12.99 at selected times during the year. These are the journals I used for my first two years of bullet journaling. They have 80 sheets (160 pages) of cream colored, lined paper. I have a note that the weight is 80gsm, I'm not sure where I got that figure, but it is consistent with my experience with these books.

Things I like:

+Fountain pen friendly - Rarely bleed-through, and very little show-through (the writing is discernible as a shadow on the back side, but the ink does not soak through) with all my pens except the Sharpies.

+Paper color is not quite yellow, but not stark white. Colors show up well.

+10 inch by 7 inch hard cover that is sturdy enough to withstand eight months of daily use and traveling. The three packs are available with various bright covers, or dark shades. The books open flat.

+One ribbon book mark and a sturdy back pocket.

+Did I mention the price? $4.34 each. Unbeatable.

Reasons I have moved on:

-a little larger than is convenient to carry.

-dark lines are a distraction behind the sketches I like to include. I have checked the Spicebox website (where the price is considerably more than Costco) and there are no plain or dotted page options in these journals.

Letterbox journal sketch with Jinhao x750, fude nib.
Ink is Noodler's Lexington Gray. Hand 19.

Letterbox journal, back side of Hand 19.
 Some bleed-through visible.

Michael's craft store carries a line of Artist's Loft journals.

Things I like:

+Hard covers that open flat in several bright colors. The binding has held up well to daily carry for 3 months. Includes two ribbon bookmarks but no back pocket.

+true A5 size (8 x 6 inches)

+white paper available with dotted format. Said to be 80 gsm weight, but it does not perform as if the paper is that heavy.

+Only $5, a great price!

Reasons I am moving on:

-Not friendly to all fountain pens. Show-through and bleed-through with some inks.

-buckles and bleeds with even light washes.

-Platinum Carbon Black ink feathers and that is one of my main inks for bullet entries.

Artist's Loft journal paper.
Jinhao with fude nib
Noodler's Lexington Gray ink.
 Hand 17

Artist's Loft paper, back of
Hand 17. Heavy bleed-through. The ink
actually soaked into the second page.

Walmart stocks Exceed journals in two paper weights, soft and hard covers, and three sizes. In 2018 I bought a large format (7.5 x 9.75 inches), dotted (came also in lined format), softcover journal with one ribbon bookmark and a back pocket for $8.64. The paper is cream colored, 78 gsm with no coating. I use it as my pen and ink notebook. I see show-through and sometimes bleed-through with many fountain pens and inks, so I wouldn't consider it for most journaling or sketching. I generally only use one side of the page when I am using fountain pens, or I live with the show-through behind what I write on the back side of a page. Still, the paper handles fountain pens better than the Artist's Loft journal, with no feathering of Carbon Black ink.

Exceed 78gsm paper, Jinhao with fude nib.
Noodler's Lexington Gray ink. Hand 20

Exceed 78gsm, back of page
Hand 20 showing bleed-through.

In 2019, the paper was changed in Exceed journals. There are now three sizes available with 100gsm, coated paper. I have the new A5 journals which come with 120 sheets (240 pages), two ribbon bookmarks, hard covers, multiple cover colors and a back pocket. They do not lie quite as flat as the lighter paper version, but it is acceptable to me (although I do have to sometimes hold the page down as I sketch). The two smaller sizes cost less than $9, the larger size (soft cover) is around $13. The paper does not have bleed-through, and little show-through with the inks I use. Light, water washes result in a little buckling, but still no bleed-through. 

Exceed 100gsm paper; Jinhao with fude nib;
Noodler's Lexington Gray; Hand 18
No bleed-through or show-through on back

Exceed 100gsm paper; Platinum Carbon Desk Pen;
Platinum Carbon Black Ink; Wing Sung 6359 pen with
Diamine Chocolate Brown Ink; Faber-Castell watercolour pencils
with water wash.

Exceed 100gsm paper. Back side of Butterfly entry. No bleed-through and very slight show-through
 of green leave wash on left.
Minimal buckling of paper.

In summary- for my usage preferences: 
Text journaling: Letterbox journals- good paper; acceptable for fountain pens; bargain price. 

Sketch journaling: Exceed 100gsm, A5 size, great paper; fountain pen friendly; accepts light water wash with minor buckling; reasonably priced.

Unacceptable for journaling (according to my usage): Artist's Loft journal; show-through with all my pens and inks except Pigma Microns; bleed-through and feathering with fountain pens; using a water wash makes for heavy bleed-through and buckling.

Mental Health Day

One of the things I love about the place I live is that so many things are within easy walking distance. I was feeling emotional Saturday and decided to go walking and stop for some tea and sketches. I have a nice collection of pu-ehr teas which are especially soothing when steeped using a Gong-fu ceremony. So I packed up my favorite tea (2014 Silver Needle), a gaiwan, a thermos of boiling water and walked to the community park. There were boys practicing on a ball-field and a bunch of tiny tots in bright orange shirts running back and forth between two soccer goals. I thought the tiny orange shirts dotted over the grass would make a great sketch. Wouldn't you know, as I took my seat all the kids left the park and maintenance started dragging the dirt in the baseball field. Oh well! It was the mid-70s, breezy and sunny. At least some crows showed up to add some life to the sketch! I need to learn how to brush in shadows better.

Ballfield in Community Park. Noodler's Lexington Gray in water brush, Noodler's Black ink in Jinhao Shark pen. Sakura Koi watercolors, 140lb. Canson XL paper.

After the tea was gone, I walked to the public library to pick up some sketching book requests, went to Michael's and then picked up a quick pizza. The closest outdoor tables to walk to were in the City Hall courtyard. I went there to eat, read and sketch the courtyard. The complexity and perspective of the tables and chairs were frustrating. Must learn to simplify and focus my sketching.
I spent most of the day, but walking, tea and sketching were just the ticket to bring me back to my happy place!

Hall Courtyard. Noodler's Lexington Gray in brush, Noodler's Black in Jinhao Shark pen, Sakura Koi watercolors, Artist's Loft journal pages.

I...LOVE...the...FOG and I cannot lie...

I lived two thirds of my life in central Michigan. According to some statistics I have heard, Michigan's percentage of cloudy days is on a par with Seattle. So water is in my DNA. When I wake up and see a white blur out my bedroom window, my heart sings. I live sandwiched between hilly open space trails on the south and a permanent creek on the north. Photos can't capture the depth and luminescence of foggy days so it seems like a great opportunity to sketch the scene. Last week, I woke up to just such a milky day, but the fog was so thick I couldn't see anything past the houses across the street. An hour later, I could at least discern the greenery on the hills. I tried to sketch it in my thin papered journal with ink and wash, but the essence of the fogginess didn't come through.

07/11/19 Foggy morning looking south. Herbin Vert Empire Ink, Krishna MYC custom red ink, De Atramentis Silver Grey ink with water wash on Artist's Loft journal paper.

This morning I woke again to that wonderful cottony sight and sound. I hurried around trying to get my new watercolor set and inks together to do the back yard before the fog burned off. I still haven't got it. Some of the green inks washed blue! I will figure out how to get the effect of fog on paper, but maybe not this year. We don't have that many foggy mornings. The fog burns off by 7:30am and is an indication of a hotter day to follow.

07/15/19 Foggy morning in back yard. Various inks and watercolor on 140lb Canson XL.

It all starts here:

Oddly enough, this blog starts with an unhappy bullet journal. I came across the concept of the bullet journal about two years ago. I admit that I am attracted to new things that give me an excuse to accumulate lots of shiny objects, so I started a bullet journal in a composition book. It was supposed to be low cost, using already hoarded obtained items, like the composition book, Flair color pens, and my favorite writing instrument, the Pilot G2 0.38 black pen. When it became apparent that keeping a regular bullet journal would continue, the permission was then granted (internally justified) to actually purchase items specifically for journal writing. The search for a good, cheap(ish) hardbound journal began.

The first cheap, lined, paper journals came from Costco (SpiceBox). The paper and bindings were thick and durable, but only available in one size and page format. Since it was fun to add little, quick sketches here and there throughout the journal, the lines on the pages became annoying behind the sketches. Soon the Flair and G2 pens had gone by the wayside in favor of...YES!...Fountain Pens! As well as the necessary inks of all types and colors (accumulating shiny objects, remember?). Then I spotted the Artist's Loft A5 sized, dotted page, journals in Michael's craft store for only $5 each. Score! The paper was also white instead of the beige colored paper in the SpiceBox journal, which better displays the colors of fountain pen ink.

However, the Artist's Loft paper was too thin to handle many fountain pen entries, especially sketches, and I became disenchanted. The 8 inch by 6 inch size format is perfect, the binding secure, and the choice of cover colors is lovely. Also, the beauty of the ink color on white paper and the less intrusive dots behind the sketches appealed to me. Being the frugalist that I am, I have to finish the current Artist's Loft book before I can switch to my next choice, so I've started using up pages by making more full page sketches. I learned to wash the ink with water to create shadows. That definitely messed up the cheap paper in the book! Oh well...

A post by a certain urban sketcher (Fueled by Clouds & Coffee) about sketching One Hundred self portraits as a way to improve in sketching heads inspired me. Heads and hands are supposedly quite difficult to sketch well. I can't yet wrap my psyche around the idea of looking at myself that closely in the mirror and on the page each day (not without cringing), so I decided to sketch 100 hands. My right hand, to be specific, since I am left-handed. Many bloggers and recently written books advocate for publishing our sketches, so here I am! I have toyed with the idea of blogging for some years, but it took a disappointing journal experience to get here.

Hand # 1
Pen and Ink: Platinum Preppie (05 nib), Monteverde Wisdom Purple