Review: The Seven Seas Crossfield Notebook

I am always on the look out for a great notebook. Need I say more? I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it more than once, lol.

They don’t always need to be Tomoe River paper, but when I find one that is, I usually find myself purchasing it because I get the most use out of them. So when I saw that Nanami Paper had the Seven Seas notebooks in Tomoe River paper, I immediately put one in my cart.

I added the soft writing mat to my purchase, because I tend to make a mess with inks, I almost never wait long enough for it to dry, so these help me keep the ink on one page instead of all over the place. The soft version works best for me, because it absorbs some of the ink unlike hard plastic would. So I guess this is my way of saying I use it not only to keep from indenting the next page, but also as an ink blotter.

It doesn’t stop me from getting ink all over my hands. You win some, you lose some.

As you can see from the pictures above, it’s an A5, lie flat notebook, with a soft coated fabric cover, the kind of reminds me of waxed canvas. It has 480 pages of Tomoe River, 52 gsm paper. So it’s about the thickness of my thumb nail. It comes with one piece of blotter paper already  included, which is a great addition for someone like me who gets ink everywhere.

The “Crossfield”,(which is what my notebook is called) is specifically the crossgrid paper. The “Standard” is the blank notebook, the “Writer” is the lined notebook, and the “Studio Note” is the grid paper notebook. So you have options to choose from, if crossgrid isn’t your thing.

 

There isn’t really much else to say about the paper. If you don’t know what Tomoe River paper can do, than I highly recommend that you try it. It’s soft, thin, and perfect for fountain pens. It brings out the best in ink. There’s minimal bleed through, and some shadowing, which I was expecting.

Ink drops will bleed through, but that’s just normal.

Since the paper is so thin, I would recommend purchasing the writing mat as well. Unless you’re a very soft writer, in which case, you might not need it.

The quality of the notebook, is very good. You can tell, just in the way it sits in your hand and how it feels when you’re writing in it.

I haven’t taken mine to work with me yet, so I don’t really know how well it travels. But I would imagine that since the cover isn’t leather, it might need a notebook cover in order to keep it in the same condition over time. Luckily Nanami Paper offers a cheap book cover, along with a pricier version, for your preference. So if you want one, but don’t want to spend very much money on it, they got you.

Considering the notebook is only $24, I think it’s well worth the cost. It’s definitely one of the better notebooks I own at the moment. So if you’re looking for a notebook geared toward fountain pens, look no further, because this is it.

Thank You For Reading!