Pros: They were cheap (I got them for $1 each on clearance). There's no feathering when used with my fountain pens. I can write on both sides of the pages with fountain pens and roller balls. The wire binding is strong, the cover is sturdy, and the notebooks are attractive.
Cons: The 10.5" x 8.5" is a bit too large for my use. It's the standard notebook size I used in high school and college. The local store I purchased them from no longer sells these notebooks, and I'm not sure about the Carolina Pad customer service. I emailed them last Tuesday (today is Sunday) to find out where I can purchase the notebooks locally, and I still haven't received a reply. The smaller notebook has a plastic sleeve envelope at the front as well as plastic index tabs. The larger one doesn't.
FULL REVIEW
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I'm at Seven Cups teahouse in Tucson, and they keep the lights dimmed. |
I am constantly looking for a notebook that meets my needs and doesn't cost a lot. That's how I ended up with the Carolina Pad Hot Chocolate Notebooks. First and foremost, I should be able to use my notebook anywhere and everywhere. The paper should be thick enough that I can write on both sides with a fountain pen, and it needs to be smooth enough that there's no skipping or catching when the pen moves across the page. I need a sturdy notebook - it'll be tossed in my bag and carried everywhere. It might also be stepped on. I want my notebook to lay flat when I'm writing in it. It should be attractive (which is extremely subjective - in my case, the colors should be ones that I enjoy looking at, I don't want movie stars on the page, and please, no fake heart tattoos). Oh, and the page should be completely usable. I will not purchase a notebook that has a huge flower along the bottom right corner leaving a portion of the page un-usable. The page should be lined or there should be dots marking where lines could be. My Hot Chocolate Notebook fits the bill.
Paper
This notebook has 80 3-hole punched, micro perforated sheets. Microperforation is one of those innovations that started showing up everywhere while I was still a student, and it made me so happy. I tear pages from my notebooks, and I hate those long lines of ugly page edges hanging out of my wire.
10/20/12 UPDATE: I have a larger selection of Hot Chocolate Notebooks now, and I've noticed that the microperforation sucks on most of them. About 1/4 to 1/3 of the page generally tears without following the microperforation.
10/20/12 UPDATE: I have a larger selection of Hot Chocolate Notebooks now, and I've noticed that the microperforation sucks on most of them. About 1/4 to 1/3 of the page generally tears without following the microperforation.
I wrote a sample page, and there was no bleed through at all on the pens or pencil. There was a touch on a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point, but it's a Sharpie! You'll notice that there's no feathering with any of the pens - not even the Sharpie.
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No feathering - not even on the Sharpie!
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The picture above shows a page testing all the pens in my pencil case today. I wonder why I persist in calling it a pencil case when I store pens in it (and one pencil)?
Fountain Pen Usage
The page is smooth, and all my fountain pens glide across the page. Except the Sailor Candy. The Sailor Candy often catches and skips on this notebook, but it seems to do that on all of my paper! I just used it today for the sample page, and the Sailor Candy actually had a beautiful, wet, thin line. I'm wondering if my Sailor Candy might just have more reactions to weather than my others. I generally use my Platinum Preppies (blue/black and purple) and my Lamy Safari with Watermans brown ink with this notebook.
10/20/12 UPDATE: I have been using it regularly with my Estebrook SJ master 9665 nib and J. Herbin Forget-Me-Not ink for a few weeks, and I am very happy with it. It isn't bad with my dip pen in the forget-me-not ink, but the lines are too close to write neatly.
10/20/12 UPDATE: I have been using it regularly with my Estebrook SJ master 9665 nib and J. Herbin Forget-Me-Not ink for a few weeks, and I am very happy with it. It isn't bad with my dip pen in the forget-me-not ink, but the lines are too close to write neatly.
II sent an email to Carolina Pads to ask where in Tucson I can buy more Hot Chocolate Pads and where I can get a Sasquatch. The Staples I bought mine at put them on Clearance for $1 each because they don't stock them anymore. Unfortunately, it's been five days, and I have not received a reply. The Carolina Pad website is annoying - instead of listing where you can buy a notebook by city and/or state, it's listed by individual store. So you have to go to each store's website and then click to see if there is a location in your town. They sell at a lot of stores, and I know for a fact that while they sell the notebooks at Staples, they do not sell them at the Staples near me.
The cover is a solid, hard cardboard. I generally write at a table or on a tray table that has been allowed down during the flight, but it's not always possible to lay my notebooks flat. The solid cover of my Hot Chocolate allows me to write comfortably while balancing the notebook on my thigh along the bottom margin of the page or while sitting in the car with it propped up between my body and the steering wheel. The covers have taken a bit of a beating over the last few months; they show a bit of wear along the edges, but they haven't bent at all.
I don't care what type of binding a notebook has as long as it can lie flat. That's hard to find in bound notebooks, so I often purchase wire bound notebooks. This notebook is wire bound using the same style of wire binding that I use for work. Since it's not a spiral binding, the wires don't move around, and there's no "unwinding." Remember back in high school when your notebook would start to unwind? By the end of the school year, you'd be ripping your clothing on the sharp edges of the wire!?
10 bonus points for the spiral binding being blue - it's very similar to the nib of my blue Platinum Preppy! Minus 1 point for the color not matching the covers. It's such an attractive blue, though, that it's still a win :-)
Size
I fluctuate on my size preferences. At this moment in time, the Hot Chocolate I've been using is a bit too large for journaling. It's 10.5" x 8.5". All the pros out-weight this one con. I am looking forward to using this notebook up so I can use a smaller one again.
Smaller Notebooks
I've got an 8.6" x 6.5" waiting for me. The cover's got diagonal stripes, and the binding wire is brown. The brown matches the notebook color (kudos) but isn't nearly as fun as the shiny blue. However, the smaller notebook doesn't need a shiny binding. The cover is just as thick, and it has the rubber band (which is a shame, I've been looking for an excuse to buy Midori Book Bands.
This smaller notebook has something the larger one doesn't. When I open the first page, there's a plastic page with a folder sleeve and an envelope that I can put items into. It also has plastic index tabs.
10/20/12 UPDATE: I received a smaller size as a gift, and it has the same paper as the larger versions and the same thick covers.
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My large Hot Chocolate notebook (can you see the blue binding?) with my black matte Lamy Safari.
Photo taken at Coffee Cartel.
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2 comments:
Writing at coffee shops is good. At coffee shops I am usually working. The kind of working that isn't writing, that is. Maybe I should change that.
You can work and write at the same time, and you can enjoy a delightful hot beverage while doing so. You'd be a multi-tasking extraordinaire.
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