PM Pen Journal

After having heard that I’ve started trying my hand at bookbinding, a friend of mine recently asked if I could make him a tea journal for keeping track of the various tea varieties that he’s trying.

This immediately inspired me to make a custom pen journal – which is my second attempt at making a case-bound notebook. I’ve already been keeping one in a Rhodia pad, but it didn’t occur to me to make a bespoke version, tailored to my own needs.

The result is below. It’a a case bound (hardcover) journal made with kettle stitching so that it can lie flat – so I can use both sides of the paper. The paper is Tomoe River, 52 gsm (grams per square metre), short grain, acid-free paper. This is a very light, thin smooth paper – but can easily handle fountain pen inks without bleed-through or feathering.

Each page is printed for a single pen, and can accommodate four different ink samples over time.

Tomoe River is a very nice paper – but it’s really too thin to be run through a printer. So, the wrinkles that you see in the photos are primarily a result of this. It took quite a few mis-feeds to get enough pages to make this book. some patience (and extensive use of my NSFW vocabulary) was required.

I think that, when I make the next one, I’ll probably use a heavier stock from Clairefontaine instead.

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