I’d been looking for a new notebook ever since I started using my Pilot Metropolitan. I’ve used a Moleskine notebook for years, but the paper tends to bleed through with a fountain pen.
I also really wanted to use a dot-grid paper instead of lined or graph. The lines of a graph paper are nice for keeping things looking neat on the page, but they visually overpower what I’m putting on the paper with my pen.
I found the Rhodia Webnotebook with a dot grid, but I cannot see myself paying $25 for a notebook.
So I did a little more research and found that HP laser paper works pretty well for fountain pens. So I picked up a pack from Office Depot for $16 and made my own dot grid notebook (pictured). I printed it front and back on 8 sheets and saddle-stitch stapled it with an old file folder as a cover. Now I’ve got a homemade notebook for my fountain pen.
The paper is smooth. It takes the ink very well. There is little or no bleeding with the Pilot cartridge ink I’ve been using (we’ll see how it does with the Pelikan 4001 that’s coming). It is very heavy paper. All-in-all I think it is pretty great.
If you are interested in the dot grid I used, you can download the PDF I printed from in the following link. Dot grid pattern for notebook Fold it in half and you’ve got the start of a nice 5.5×8.5 notebook. It’s two pages, so if your printer can print duplex then you just need to print mutliple copies of it. If you printer can’t do duplex printing, then you’ll have to flip it over and run it through another time.
It is a very faint dot on my printer. The line at the top is just to put headings. I’m not sure I like it though. I may take it off on the next one.