How long does a moleskine last

I appreciate Moleskine as a company. I love the projects they take on, like digital apps and online magazines. I love their product designs and their product tie-ins. I bought this notebook to see if the rumors I had heard about improved paper were true.

It is worse than I expected. It was instant absorption with every fountain pen I tried. A picture is worth words. There was no need to go much further, but I did my penance on the next page for thinking this would work. There are a few redeeming choices if you absolutely must use this notebook:.

Pencils fall into the good category as well. Average pens can experience some bleed and feathering, especially with wider tip sizes in the category. Your office copy paper is a better choice. And while gel and drawing pens fall under the Good category, the wider tip sizes could get you in trouble, especially if you like to draw or sketch. With anything other than the finest nibs and lighter ink colours, fountain pens show through the page.

Gel pens tend not to dry consistently and quickly and can smudge, and even pencils smudge easily. Be cautious if you are a leftie as this will make the problems worse. How severe can the bleed-through be? As expected with a thinner paper, thicker nibs and darker inks show through on the other side of the page. Most paper will do this to some extent. However, to give an example of how bad Moleskine paper can be, I looked at the sheet in front of a page in my notebook that I had written in pencil.

I could see the pencil writing clearly through the second full sheet! See the picture for examples. This visible writing shows relatively poor paper quality. I enjoy turning the page on a notebook and starting with a fresh page.

If I can see what was written on previous pages so clearly, it does lessen the experience. Despite the concerns I have with the paper quality of the Moleskine, it has served well for the last year. I tend to write my notes in pencil or gel pen, and this works well enough for my work needs.

I love the design, dislike the paper for the transparency and ease in smudging. But it wasn't until I was considering which notebook to replace this that I focused my thoughts on the paper.

For the same price, I can get an excellent papered Leuchtturm A5 notebook or a very fountain pen friendly Rhodia A5 webnotebook. And despite the beautiful design when I consider writing entries daily for the next year, the Moleskine becomes the third choice for me. However, I will always have that wonderful memory of my first Moleskine notebook. Despite how beautiful a pen maybe, its job is to write at the end of the day.

Pretty simple, really. From sticks and stones on cave walls to inks and dyes flowing out of various capillary tubes, all pens, pencils, and other writing tools have the same goal. Unfortunately, my pen and ink of the week this week didn't get that brief. And it proceeded to school me in the complex dynamics of viscosity. This week's fountain pen of the week is an inexpensive Moonman M They followed closely on the heels of the more common and readily available to the western-world Jinhao pens but added more admirable designs and materials.

It sounds like the start of a bad joke: What do a late-night party at a motorcycle clubhouse and a fountain pen have in common? This week, I chose a pen from one of the lesser-hyped traditional brands in the market today - Shaeffer.

The Taranis is a modern steel-nibbed Shaeffer fountain pen. My pen is in a beautiful metallic blue colour, and this meant I was on the hunt for a blue ink to match. I chose Robert Oster's Soda Pop Blue, which, combined with the medium nib in this pen, added some sheen to my writing this week.

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