Why I Love Natural (Undyed) Leather and Why You Shouldn't Worry If It Gets Dirty

Up until a couple of years ago, I used to be fastidious about keeping my gear clean and free from marks, tears, scuffs, etc. For example, if a pristine leather notebook cover, briefcase, or pen somehow got a ding or scratch on it, I literally couldn’t carry it anymore because all I could do was “see the damage.” This hang-up obviously hampered my enjoyment of the hobby, especially since I’m a “user” as opposed to a collector. What pen or bag, or notebook - if it’s actually used for its intended purpose - isn’t going to receive the inevitable battle scars?

Note the difference between my relatively new Galen Leather 12 slot Hard Pen Case and this years-old Nanami Paper Cafe Note Gfeller leather cover.

So how did I get over this issue? I started collecting and using natural undyed leather. How did this help? Because the scratches, stains, dirt, and signs of wear are features, not defects, given that it’s literally impossible to keep this leather clean, and that’s the whole point. If you want to use the product at all, you have to get over it getting dirty, really fast.

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Once upon a time these black ink spots and the grey halo around the edges of the notebook cover would have driven me crazy.

Natural leather changes color over the years and months you use it. Even the oil on your hands will cause it to change color and develop the signature grey-bronze patina, and if you’re lucky you’ll also accumulate a few ink blotches and splashes along the way. While it may be hard at first to watch that pristine surface gradually disappear, I found that my hesitancy to truly “use” my other products vanished along with it. Case in point: check out these pics of this old Baron Fig wallet (which used to be “grey”).

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These days, I’ve largely moved on from black and dark brown, and actually appreciate leathers in lighter finishes such as tan, natural undyed, and even grey and yellow, specifically for the patina they accumulate over time. Fortunately, natural leather notebook covers, portfolios, and pen cases are fairly easy to come by. In addition to the Galen Leather product line, Nanami Paper carries undyed Gfeller leather covers for their “Seven Seas” and “Cafe Note” series, and of course there’s the classic Midori MD natural goat leather covers that we sell in our own shop. To me, nothing is more satisfying than showcasing a well-made, well-worn, yet still-perfectly-functional piece of gear that bears your own signature finish, made unique by your own years of use!

Other than the Galen Leather Hard Pen Case, which I received from my friends at Vanness Pens, I purchased all products featured in this post with my own funds. This post does not contain third-party affiliate links. T.G.S. is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop. If you would like to support us even further, please consider checking out the T.G.S. Patreon Program, which offers access to online meetups, exclusive discounts and pre-orders, and more!

Kokuyo PERPANEP "Zara Zara" Paper: Funny Name, Great Paper!

Ok, I’ll get this out of the way first. What’s behind the naming convention here? According to Kokuyo, “PERPANEP” is an anagram of “Pen” and “Paper,” designed to reflect the new product’s emphasis on paper feel in addition to writing performance. Kokuyo is one of the largest Japanese stationery manufacturers, and already has a broad lineup of paper. PERPANEP looks like an attempt to target the higher end of the market with high quality paper that offers multiple options for both paper texture and ruling.

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You’ll have no issues getting the PERPANEP notebooks to lie flat.

Kokuyo PERPANEP products are quite understated, taking a page from the Midori design book. The notebooks feature grey covers with a white cheesecloth binding, and hold 60 pages/120 sheets of slightly off-white 75gsm paper. Functionally, these notebooks are straightforward workhorse stationery, featuring excellent quality paper, a flexible binding that allows the notebook to open completely flat, and five different rulings. It’s a versatile product, as you can choose from .4mm dot, .3mm grid, .4mm grid, .5mm grid, and a .6mm steno ruling.

While PERPANEP paper comes in three different paper variations - smooth, ultra smooth, and textured, I decided to stock just the textured (“Zara Zara”) because it was, for me, the only version that performed consistently well with fountain pens, meaning that it had zero feathering or bleed through. I brought one of these notebooks to the last meeting of the Middle Tennessee Fountain Pen Club last week, and we could not get this paper to feather or bleed even with our wettest writers. I would compare the paper feel to Fabriano or Baron Fig in terms of texture, but the performance to Midori. It’s that good. Dry time is pretty decent (10-15 seconds with the inks I tried).

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All five ruling options.

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Kokuyo PERPANEP Paper is currently available for purchase in the T.G.S. Curated Shop, priced at $14. If you’re interested in reading further on fountain pen friendly paper, check out this brief guide to the “hierarchies” of paper, which I try to keep updated as I discover and review additional brands.

The T.G.S. Curated Shop is an authorized retailer of all brands we carry, including Kokuyo.

Exploring the Traveler's Company B-Sides & Rarities Collection, Part II: Letter Pads, Memo Cards, and New Zippered Cases

On Wednesday I dove into the first half of Traveler’s Company’s much-anticipated “B-Sides & Rarities” collection, looking at two somewhat-hyped papers: Their new Washable Paper and Super-Lightweight Paper. Today, I’ll open up the rest of the refills, including two devoted to correspondence (the Letter Pad and Message Pad), two intended for highly-specific use cases (“Sticker Release” Paper and the Accordion Fold), and a new accessory, the Cotton Zippered Case that let’s you turn your Traveler’s Notebook into a wallet.

The Letter Pad: Midori MD Cotton Paper (Finally) Comes to the Traveler’s Notebook

Midori MD Cotton paper is one of my favorite fountain pen friendly papers on the market today, though it’s currently available only in blank pads and notebooks in “F” sizing. At one point, Midori made their standard A5 notebooks in MD Cotton, but sadly those have since been discontinued. Now, however, you can purchase MD Cotton paper for your Traveler’s Notebook in the form of the new B-Sides & Rarities Letter Pad, which contains 30 sheets of paper ruled for letter writing on one side, with a 3mm grid on the other. Out of all the new “B-Sides & Rarities” refills, this is perhaps my favorite, though I will likely use this one as a notepad as opposed to written correspondence.

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The Message Cards are fountain pen friendly, and perfect for adding short notes to gifts and packages. If you don’t want to carry the full refill around with you, you can also detach a handful of the cards and store them in the pouch of your Traveler’s Notebook. (See below.)

Special Purpose Refills: Message Cards, Accordion Paper, and a Sticker Album

The next three new refills I plan to discuss are the ones I will likely use less frequently, simply because I don’t have as much of a personal use case for them in my daily rotation, though they’re still interesting. The “Message Cards” (pictured here) are a book of perforated, letterpress-like correspondence cards that you can use for short notes or gift tags. The “Accordion Fold” refill is a booklet containing 13 pages of folded watercolor paper, which you can extend map-style to create illustrated itineraries, multimedia travel journals, or even a timeline of your plans for the year. Finally, the “Sticker Release Paper” is made from the same paper used for sticker backing. If you collect stickers or tags from your travels, or are looking for an easy way to organize your washi tape collection, this refill lets you add, remove, and reorganize them in an album-style refill. (Note: I don’t have a sticker collection or much artistic ability with watercolor paper to show you how to use the Sticker Release or Accordion refills, though you can check out some stock photos from Traveler’s Company in the product listings to give you some ideas.)

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Last But Not Least: Add Functionality to Your Traveler’s Notebook (Particularly the Passport Size) By Turning It Into a Wallet

I’ve been waiting for the right moment to add a Passport-sized Traveler’s Notebook into my daily rotation. What I would love to do is to be able to carry the Passport-size notebook as a wallet, if only on occasion, to reduce bulk and avoid carrying both a wallet and pocket notebook. The new Cotton Zippered Case might do the trick, since it contains two card slots, perfect for identification, library cards, and credit cards (though I wouldn’t overload it), and a zippered pouch, where you can stash coins, ticket stubs, and even cards that you’d prefer to keep in a more secure location. This accessory adds less bulk to the Traveler’s Notebook than the standard PVC zippered pouch, and is available in a standard size as well as the Passport size shown here.

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When I first saw this product announced, I was skeptical, but the thin cotton material actually adds very little bulk to the notebook.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

I plan to get a lot of use out of the B-Sides & Rarities collection, even though I will use some refills and accessories more regularly than others. (The Letter Pad will see a lot of use.) Honestly, you don’t even need to have a Traveler’s Notebook to take advantage of some of these, particularly the Letter Pad, Sticker Release Refill, and Memo Cards. With respect to the latter two, I’m not sure I see a circumstance in which I’d ever actually carry them in my actual notebook, though I may keep a set of the Memo Cards in my desk.

You can purchase these refills, along with the rest of the Traveler’s Company “B-Sides & Rarities” Collection, in the T.G.S. Curated Shop. The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of the full range of Traveler’s Company products, including the Traveler’s Notebook and TRC Brass accessories, and I recently placed a reorder so almost everything should be in stock.

Check out these links to read further about the Traveler’s Notebook System, including how I set up my own personal Traveler’s Notebook and some of my favorite refills and accessories.

Exploring the Traveler's Company "B-Sides and Rarities" Collection, Part I: Washable and Super Lightweight Paper

Inspired by the tracks that used to appear on the “B-Side” of vinyl singles, the “B-Sides & Rarities” collection from Traveler’s Company features refills made from unusual papers with unique properties that serve a specific purpose. There are six different refills, available in both Standard and Passport size, and today I plan to look at the first two: the “Washable Paper” refill and the “Super Lightweight Paper” refill. The first as you might guess, is waterproof (or water-resistant, choose your own terminology), and the second contains ultra-thin (yet strong) onionskin paper.

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Washable Paper: A “Waterproof” Paper Option for Those Who Risk Getting Their Notebooks Wet

Water-resistant paper is always a mixed bag in terms of writing experience, tends to be expensive, and typically can’t be used with fountain pens or other water-based inks. Here, with their new “Washable Paper” refill, Traveler’s Company has foregone Yupo or Rite-in-the-Rain paper in favor of the same material used to make laundry tags, with interesting results! Most notably, instead of the ink sitting on top of the page, resulting in extremely slow dry times, the Washable Paper absorbs ink. Not only does this render dry time and smearing to essentially non-issues, but it maintains “water resistance” with even the most non-water-resistant fountain pen inks. For example, if you get caught in the rain, spill a glass of water, or, heaven forbid, send your notebook through the washing machine, your writing should remain legible. And because the paper was specifically intended to be washed, it will retain its original shape and not fall apart or stick together.

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For this test I cut a sheet of Washable Paper from the refill, and wrote a few lines with various pens, including fountain pens loaded with some of the least water-resistant inks in my collection (various colors of Iroshizuku and a generic black cartridge). Note that extremely wet inks will feather a bit on this paper since it’s so absorbent. Like most waterproof papers, ballpoints and pencil work the best, but fountain pens are at least usable here, with much quicker dry times.

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As you can see, while the fountain pen ink definitely washed out after a 30-minute soak, I can still read my writing to a degree which would allow me to salvage the information if the notebook ever got sent through the washing machine. I doubt there would be any effect at all on writing done exclusively in ballpoint. Just to reiterate - NONE of the fountain pen inks I used here had any water-resistance whatsoever, and would likely disappear entirely from standard paper.

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Super Lightweight Paper: An Ultra-thin Option with Better Dry Times than Tomoe River

As I discussed in an earlier post, Tomoe River Paper faces an uncertain future. The company that manufactures the paper has announced its discontinuation at various points over the past couple of years, only to backtrack, most recently announcing that while they intend to shut down their own production by the end of the year, they are exploring ways to outsource the manufacturing. Honestly, it all sounds very contingent to me, and I can’t imagine what I’d be doing if I were running a business dependent on the continued availability of this paper.

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Traveler’s Company, for its part, is clearly exploring alternatives. While it’s standard “Lightweight Paper Refill”, which contains 128 pages of Tomoe River paper, is a favorite among many, the new “Super Lightweight Paper” from the “B-Sides & Rarities” collection deserves consideration in its own right. Instead of Tomoe River, the Super Lightweight refill contains 128 pages of what appears to be onionskin, an even lighter and thinner translucent paper originally used for airmail correspondence (due to its light weight) and typewriters (due to the combination of light weight and strength). Traveler’s Company describes this paper as “oilproof”, which supposedly “does not allow for oil to penetrate easily so it is hard to smear when using a fountain pen.” I’m not sure of the science behind that, but I can attest to the fact that this paper has a much quicker dry time and much less smearing than Tomoe River paper. On the other hand, it has a slightly “draggier” feel when writing with a fountain pen, and you will have more show through due to the fact that the paper is thinner. (The exact amount of show-through will vary depending on your writing pressure and ink choice.)

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You’ll notice that while there is no bleed-through on this paper, there is show-through, especially where I used heavy writing pressure. It could be difficult to use both sides of the page. With pencil or a ballpoint, you would probably be fine.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

While I probably wouldn’t use these two refills as my primary everyday writing paper, that’s not what Traveler’s Company intended with the B-Sides & Rarities collection. The Waterproof Paper would be a top choice for a camping or boat trip, or a travel situation with a high risk of spills (train trip, for example?). Some might opt for the Super-Lightweight Paper as a replacement for the Lightweight Paper Tomoe River Refill, which I presume may be in short supply as manufacturing issues with Tomoe River paper are sorted out, but be aware of the show-through that might prevent you from using both sides of the page for standard writing. Stay tuned as I work my way through the rest of the newly released refills!

You can purchase both of these refills, along with the rest of the Traveler’s Company “B-Sides & Rarities” Collection, in the T.G.S. Curated Shop. The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of the full range of Traveler’s Company products, including the Traveler’s Notebook and TRC Brass accessories.

Notebook Review AND GIVEAWAY: Musubi Folio Cosmo Air Light

While Atelier Musubi has established a well-deserved reputation as a maker of high-end handbound journals made from unique and/or vintage fabrics, they recently launched the Musubi “Folio” series, described as “notebooks for the everyday.” Because the Folio notebooks are intended for everyday use, they come in at a lower price point, all while maintaining Musubi’s high standards in terms of quality construction and materials.

Introducing Cosmo Air Light Paper

What had me most eager to test this particular notebook, however, was the paper. In addition to 52 gsm Tomoe River and 88 gsm Bank Paper, Musubi has released a version of the Folio notebook that contains Cosmo Air Light, an exceptionally fountain pen friendly paper that has recently begun to capture the attention of the pen community, much in the same way that Tomoe River did years ago. While Cosmo Air Light has been somewhat difficult to find in notebook format, that is changing as supplies make their way to manufacturers.

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Writing Sample: Cosmo Air Light achieves high sheening and shading by allowing the ink to spread out slightly on the page (without feathering). As a result, extra fine and needlepoint nibs may write a broader line than on other papers.

Musubi describes Cosmo Air Light paper as having an “upper middleweight thickness” - thicker and more absorbent than Tomoe River but not as thick/absorbent as bank paper. In terms of paper that I use regularly, I might compare the weight of Cosmo Air Light to the paper used in Write Notepads spiral bound notebooks. Though both handle fountain pen ink without bleed or show-through, the Write paper is a bit more absorbent and doesn’t showcase ink color, sheen, or shading in the same way as Cosmo Air Light. Inks look incredibly vibrant on this paper.

A writing sample with non-fountain pens. As with Tomoe River, you will want to give gel and rollerballs a few moments to dry (see smear test above), but there was no smearing days later. Also, unlike Tomoe River, gel pens and rollerballs saw absolutely no bleed through on the Cosmo Air Light. For how I use notebooks, Cosmo Air Light is likely a superior product because it’s more versatile.

In terms of texture, Musubi compares writing on Cosmo Air Light paper to a “velvety dry erase board.” While the paper is more absorbent, with better dry times than Tomoe River, it retains a slick feel yet still has a touch of tooth or drag, which I didn’t find unpleasant. I even tested this paper with rollerballs, ballpoints, pencils, and gel pens, and found the experience largely positive. While this notebook is clearly intended primarily for fountain pen use, I didn’t get the sensation of “writing on a magazine” that others have described. With non-fountain pens, I might compare it to Yupo or Rite-in-the-Rain waterproof paper, only with more texture that creates a much better everyday experience, IMHO.

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A subtle, but highly useful design touch: page numbers placed in the lower right-hand corner of the cross-grid paginated notebook.

While the lined notebooks do not feature the page numbers like the cross-grid version, the top and bottom lines feature spaced dots to allow you to write headers, draw margins, and/or number pages, should you so desire. Again, these notebooks were designed with maximum versatility in mind.

Notebook Specifications

The Musubi Folio notebooks are bound in Japan by a small, family-owned bindery (as opposed to in-house by Musubi in Singapore) and sized to fit Musubi’s forthcoming “Tomo” notebook covers. Featuring 208 pages of Cosmo Air Light paper, you will get ample use out of this notebook. (If maximizing your page count is important to you, 384-page Tomoe River versions are also available.) The Folio notebook features a semi-rigid cotton cover with a linen texture, and should fit most A5 notebook covers in addition to the Musubi Tomo system.

The Smyth-sewn binding easily lies flat, and since it’s sewn, not glued, should hold up to long-term use.

Takeaways, Where to Buy, and Giveaway Details!

The Musubi Folio notebook is an excellent addition to Musubi’s product lineup, which should help make their goods more accessible to the broader pen community. Cosmo Air Light paper, as expected, performs exceptionally well with fountain pens and presents another alternative for Tomoe River fans who for whatever reason are not happy with the new formulation. I would clearly characterize Cosmo Air Light as “Tier One” fountain pen friendly paper that you can use without concern for things such as bleeding, feathering, or show-through. That said, those particularly sensitive to tooth or drag on paper, as well as those who value the ability to write an exceptionally fine line, might consider trying a sample of Cosmo Air Light prior to investing in a full notebook. It’s a unique paper with no clear comparison in terms of feel.

You can purchase Musubi Folio notebooks directly from Atelier Musubi via their website. Prices are listed in Singapore Dollars, and depending on the exchange rate, the Folio Series notebooks will run you $30-35 USD. As I’ve said before in my prior reviews, Musubi notebooks are not inexpensive, but the superb quality and company mission statement leave me with no regrets every time I purchase from the Atelier. Finally: giveaway details! In addition to the review unit, Daryl was kind enough to send me a second notebook to give away to readers. See below for full Terms and Conditions, and use the Gleam App to enter. I will pick and contact a winner after the giveaway closes at 11:59pm EDT on Tuesday, April 6, 2021.

Many thanks to Daryl at Atelier Musubi for providing these two notebooks free of charge for review and giveaway!