Earlier this year, I ventured into the world of Hobonici by getting a Weeks, and I had no idea that I happened to be choosing a loaded gun of sorts, as I had no idea the I would happen to be entering into a paper battle and struggle that many people have experienced with the new paper formulation in some of the Hobonici planners. The bleed through was too much for me to use with most pens that I tried, so I put that planner on the shelf and started to look into what my options were for the rest of the year.
After college, I was using a Filofax Executive size 6 ring planner, and I still had the cover, as well as a second new one that I got when the bookstore I worked at was clearing them out. My wife ordered some some custom Filofax inserts earlier in the year, and put them in that NOS cover, but after they arrived, she realized that she needed a larger format, so those refills were sitting on a shelf, so I ended up taking them over for the rest of the year. I moved the remaining year of inserts into my proven old cover, and ended up ordering a couple of bible size plotter accessories like the pen loop and divider with elastic to use alongside the inserts. This was working pretty well, but the inside of the close to 20 year old cover was never meant for this type of duration it seems, and all of the inside liner was flaking apart and leaving a trail everywhere, so knowing that my proof of concept for that format worked, I made the move to get an actual Plotter cover.
I started with the black horsehair bible size cover, and after using it for a couple of weeks, I really liked the idea of having a ring system in the A5 size as well. When I interviewed Lisa aka Olive Octopus, I really liked how she had put the disk bound system to use for have a great way for side by side paper comparison, so I wanted to do something similar with all of the A5 size papers that I already had. With this in mind, I ordered the A5 cover in the US exclusive Shiranami color. I got the necessary accessories with it as well, such as the pen loop, elastic band, project manager folders and the zippered case. A local pen club friend gave me some A5 paper samples, so I also picked up a pad of the Plotter dot grid and 2mm grid papers to use in addition to generic A5 looseleaf papers.
Armed with a hole punch, I added in some Life bank paper and You-Sari to start, and that paper selection will continue over time as I get into the Plotter system more. There are still some other accessory items that I am looking into such as paper storage when it is not in the rings as well as calendar inserts for limited use in the A5, and inserts for the Bible size for 2026. I do appreciate that due to the somewhat standard 6 ring system, I am not bound to only using items from the Plotter brand, so I will be able to search to find the right option for me regardless of what brand releases the product, and that is part of the fun of this hobby, finding the right fit for how you intend to use it.