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Moving Into The Plotter World

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.

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Comparing Maruman Mnemosyne and Spiral Note

As I continue to go down the path of trying and comparing various papers, it is always interesting to compare like to like within the same brand. This is one of those examples when taking a look at the Maruman Mnemosyne vs the Spiral Note. I have been using the Mnemosyne for the last 6 months between the regular black cover and then Kleid ruled horizontal version, and this has become my standard notebook for work notes that I keep at my desk.

The Gentleman Stationer recently got in the more budget minded Maruman Spiral Note, I picked one up to give it a try. Finding a reliable less expensive option for a quality paper. The Spiral Note is a great contender to fit that bill. The paper is a 70gsm paper vs the 80gsm that comes in the Mnemosyne, and there seems to be a lack of coating on the paper as well. The cover is a basic Kraft cover, and the rings are a single uncoated ring vs the double coated rings found on the Mnemosyne.

Both of these papers have perforated pages which is great for being able to take notes, and then remove old pages to be discarded when no longer needed, or to file them away for historical needs. This also makes both of these a perfect fit for a desk notebook that could be put to use across meetings or projects without having to keep a stack of notebooks handy. The Spiral Note comes in a variety of ruling options such as grid, dot grid, blank, and 2 different sizes of lined pages. While I tested the A5 version, there is also a B5 version with the same 80 page offering as the Mnemosyne, as well as a 40 page option in the B5 size.

In the video, I do a comparison of a variety of pens, inks, nib sizes, and pencils, and I also do an ink swatch to see how well the paper can handle it. Overall, both papers performed wonderfully for everything except for a Sharpie marker, but to be honest, that is to be expected. The ink swatch didn’t bleed through, but for me, this is not the type of paper that I would consider using for a general swatching book, but the paper can handle an occasional swatch or a spill well enough.

So overall, the Spiral Note is a great budget minded option when it comes to paper, but for me, I plan to stick with the Mnemosyne for now. It takes me a while to finish up a notebook, so the small little fit and finish details are worth the small amount of extra cost for me. If my situation changes where I need to go through notebooks at a quicker rate, I would have no hesitation to switch over to the Sprial Note as my primary use notebook.

I purchased these both of these notebooks from The Gentleman Stationer. If you are looking to pick up these notebooks, you can use the code DWRDNET at checkout when shopping at The Gentleman Stationer to save 10% on your purchase, so be sure to take advantage of the this generous offer that has been offered to those following along with the website and YouTube videos.

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A First Look at The Gentleman Stationer First Ever Patron Blind Box

As soon as I saw that Joe from The Gentleman Stationer was going to be releasing a mystery stationery box to Patron members, I immediately ordered one. There were only 10 made for this first release, and I was able to be one of the lucky people to order in time. This is the first time that I have done any sort of blind unboxing in years, and definitely the first one that I did while recording a video.

I did not anticipate the extra challenges added in when doing one of these type of openings on video, as Murphy introduced extra hurdles. I had to re shoot parts of the contents a few times, as I had audio that was not syncing to video, but I was able to get everything edited to cover the topic at hand well enough.

As for the box and its contents, this was a more pencil centric box, and I actually love that fact. Joe has always been a proponent of using a variety of writing tools, and while my main focus has been fountain pens, it was nice to have a change of pace by adding in some pencils, especially some wooden pencils. I said it in the video, and I still think this to be accurate, that I probably hadn’t used a manual pencil sharpener in 15 years. I can now reset that clock, and I look forward to putting those pencils into my writing rotation.

When I first filmed the video, I was looking at the TGS website for what some of these items were, and I couldn’t find the Midori A7 notebook. It turns out that was such a new item at TGS, that it went into the Patron boxes before it was even added to the website, so to me, that reenforces that the box is curated of new items and not things that have been sitting around on the shelves.

Along with the pencils, I also got my first bottle of TWSBI ink, so that is another brand to add to the ever growing ink collection. While I have not put this into a pen yet, the swatch that I did on the video looks to be a very nice green. I am not sure if all 10 boxes had the same color, so I look forward to seeing what others ended up with when talking to some of the other Patrons on the Patron discord that Gentleman Stationer recently launched.

Another item that I am really excited for is the Pentel Kerry mechanical pencil and the Uni smudge resistant lead. Having recently started to do watercolor, I currently had one of my multi pens in with my painting supplies, but I think this is going to be a better fit for that use case. I like that the pencil has a different look, and that it has a pull cap that protects the end of the pencil, which is great to keep it from pushing through the Lochby Tool Roll that carries my watercolor supplies.

To round out the box, aside from some TGS swag of a sticker and some coasters, Joe included one of the low viscosity Anterique Ballpoint pens, and to add to the great pen, he did some mix and match to have it be in the Gentleman Stationer colors of black and red. I already own a couple of these pens that are in places like my Jeep or gym bag, so now I have another one to keep around on my desk.

Overall, this was a fun unboxing experience, and I will definitely do my best to try to get any more of these that are released in the future. It was nice to be truly surprised by what was in the box, and now have some new items to add into my normal stationery use. Be sure to check out Gentleman Stationer on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/gentlemanstationer

Another thing that happened to line up with this video release, is that I am able to announce that the DWRDNET YouTube channel now has a discount code that can be used when shopping at The Gentleman Stationer. Use code DWRDNET at checkout to save 10% on your purchase. Some exclusions apply. I really do appreciate Joe offering this to YouTube viewers. Any chance to save, much less on items that might be more hobby related these days, is a very pleasant surprise.

Be sure to Subscribe to the Youtube channel, as there should be an episode of the DWRDNET Stationery Feed in the near future.