My Favorite Multi Media and Writing Notebooks and Journals

Stillman and Birn Beta series hard bound notebook

Journals and notebooks have been a large part of my life for many years. In the late 1970's when I first considered 'journaling', which at the time was probably called having a 'diary', I just added notes to a calendar. From there I progressed to having a day planner that gave me more space to write - a small page a day. Next came the real journals (which I have tried blank, ruled and squared). 

Finally, when I began to do 'visual journaling' more often than not I found that I needed more than one kind of notebook. I now use a 'regular' journal for my daily writing, to do lists, things to buy or look for, books to read, films to see etc etc (see my favorites below) as well as a mixed media journal.  

My mixed media journal needs to have good quality, nice paper that is tough enough take the demands of wet media and, at times, 'distressing'. As always I had grand time trying a variety of brands. I finally found what I consider to be the best hardbound mixed media notebook around - the Stillman and Birn Beta series notebook. It's beautiful, clear white, 180# paper that holds it own against any mixed media or water techniques that you might want to use.

A mixed media piece in the works. I have used glues, lots of water and distressing on this page already with absolutley no bleed through or warping 

This chart indicates the many series that Stillman and Birn makes, what they are generally used for and how heavy the paper is. Stillman and Birn notebooks are available in either hard bound or spiral bound.

So - my mixed media journal is set. I am a fan of Stillman and Birn journals. I don't think that they have a peer when it comes to multi-media work with no bleed through or warping issues.

My daily journal writing, list making, note keeping journal also has a set of special requirements. I use fountain pens exclusively - so the paper in my journals needs to be fountain pen friendly with no bleeding , or worse yet, feathering issues. My long standing favorite daily journal/notebook is a Quo Vadis Habana journal. The are available as blank (my favorite), and ruled and come in three different sizes. I use the larger size. Quo Vadis makes a large variety of planners and notebooks...too many to include in a post.  I love the paper in Quo Vadis Habana notebooks - it's so smooth! Writing in them is a dream - thoroughly pleasurable. 

Check out their wonderful Face Book Page at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Quo-Vadis-Notebooks-and-Planners/86676068578

This is the information about Quo Vadis Habana journals from their website:

Each Habana offers 80 sheets of exceptionally smooth, 85-gram paper.
It's the finest paper in the world for writing, and we know you'll love it, too.
Habanas also feature...

• A firm, leather-like cover that's perfect for on-the-go writing
• Elegant round corners for cover and pages
• Sewn binding for enhanced stability and flexibility
• An expandable inner pocket for notes and cards
• A ribbon bookmark so you never lose your place
• Matching elastic band holds the notebook securely

Our paper, our commitment.

Habanas are made with acid free, chlorine free and pH neutral paper made in France from certified sustainable forests.

Quo Vadis Habana journals - Luxurious paper and a soft, warm to the touch cover and I love the color choices! My personal favorite is Anise - guess which one that is!

Another brand that I enjoy is the long time standby, Moleskine. Moleskine is touted as being 'the' writers journal" and was used by writers such as Hemingway, is is a "go-to" brand for many folks. My favorite thing about this brand is the size of their large size journal which comes in a soft cover or hard cover in blank, ruled, grided, colored, patterned, plain or 'character-ed' covers. It's fits easily in my carry all. There is nothing not to love about Moleskine, and I have used them a lot throughout the years.

The only 'con', for me, about  Moleskine is that their paper is not the most fountain pen friendly paper in the world. There is a significant amount of bleedthrough. I generally try to ignore it and use both sides of a page, but one could always just use one side to obviate the bleed through issue. Moleskine has such a large line of notebooks/planners and journals in colors, characters and multiple sizes that one could never go through them all. Check them out!

Moleskine FaceBook page:
https://www.facebook.com/moleskine

Moleskine - long standing quality and vast selection of formats.