Spiral Bound: The Paper Mind Twin Ring
I started 2023 on a Cosmo Air Light kick. I’d played with reams of translucent paper in 2022, everything from the beautiful (but costly) Onion Skin Journal notebook to a ream that I picked up from The Paper Mill to craft my own A6 notebooks for my TN. However, towards the end of 2022 I discovered that I could move Cosmo Air Light paper through my printer… which opened up a world of possibility for rulings and page layouts. Odyssey Notebooks also came out with a Greek-themed Cosmo Air Light bound notebook and I was sold. Plush, coated papers seem the way so far this year. Thus, in March when I stumbled upon an Instagram ad for The Paper Mind Cosmo Air Light Twin Ring notebook, I was intrigued.
Sometimes, ideas just work better on spiral bound notebooks. Non-stationery people don’t look at them askance when you bring them into the office (not that such looks stop me, but I field fewer questions). They lay flat all of the time. They can be used while fully open or while folded back on themselves. In general, since becoming a connoisseur of fussy inks I didn’t have a lot of spiral notebooks. Clairefontaine was by far the most accessible and what I typically purchased or dug out when the need for a spiral bound arose.
But it appeared that The Paper Mind had come up with an option with a paper I enjoy.
And it works! These notebooks came out in March and I’ve been using them quite often at work and for drafting copy and non-fiction (like this blog post!). I bought two, a black with lined paper and an olive green with dot grid paper. There is also a brown kraft cover available and blank pages. They are an A5-ish size. While I would love an A4 size for the really big ideas, A5 is a good middle ground when I need more space than my beloved A6 TN inserts.
Always about a currently inked list.
In both notebooks the ruling is a light gray. The line ruling appears to be around 6 mm and the lines themselves are very thin. The dot grid has very small gray dots and is 5 mm dot grid. For my current purposes the lined notebook has been given more of a workout, but the dot grid was instrumental in planning an exhibit for a museum I work at.
Funnily enough, I haven’t done any fiction writing in them, but that will probably change as I’m wrapping up a project with a friend and we want to start another collaboration. And now that training the new staff is mostly finished and the museum exhibit is live… I might have some brainpower again.
Features that I like about these notebooks:
perforated pages. Although I often yank the whole page out of a spiral bound, it’s nice to be able to quickly clean up the page before I tuck it into my TN or hand it off to someone else.
the paper does not catch on the rings as the pages are turned. I haven’t seen much fraying at the edges of the rings and these books have been getting tossed into bags since I got them.
the cardstock covers with minimal branding provide a great surface for decorating or minimalism.
Nice narrow lines and really clean perforations.
Overall, I will definitely be purchasing these notebooks again when I use them up. I love that there is another option for a spiral bound notebook with interesting paper. They currently run at $19/notebook, but if purchased in multiples there is a discount. I purchased these with my own funds and all opinions are my own.
Also great for ink swatches!
I’m always marveling at how diverse the color black can be when it comes to fountain pen ink.
Currently Inked
Colorverse Constellation a Sgr - Kaweco Liliput Fireblue 14K M ‘journaller’ - This is a very pale pink ink and one of the newest from Colorverse’s constellation series. The first round had some interesting light shaders and this is my first one from the new set. It was a little light for my purposes this past week, but I did manage to use it for a lot of journalling and to-do lists.
Sailor x Tinterias Podcast Homemade Tortilla - Kaweco Sport Cognac M stub - Refilled this pen this past week when it was starting to run low. This is a really warm brown and it was just bringing a smile to my face in combination with this Kaweco. The cognac was the third Kaweco in my collection.
Colorverse NGC 6302 - Kaweco Art Sport Tiger’s Eye 14K BB ‘journaller’ - I am in love with this pen and ink combo this week and had to do a refill halfway through the week. The shading is intense with the broad, wet nib and the ink is a really curious gray-blue-green that I didn’t think I was going to like, but I’m really enjoying it right now. A lot of brain dump journalling sessions went into emptying the cartridge 1.5 times!
Monarca Mar Caribe - Kaweco Sport Mellow Blue B - I had been eyeballing this ink for a while and decided to take the plunge while in Chicago and I’m really glad that I did. It fits a different portion of the turquoise spectrum than my other two favorite turquoises in my collection (Colorverse Eagle & Coloverse Standard Model Up - both LE inks). It’s actually not that far off from Eagle so when I eventually run out of that I’ll have Monarca Mar Caribe to fill that void.
Van Dieman’s Ghost Ship - Kaweco Sport Iridescent Pearl M CSI - This was a wild card ink purchase. The name and sheen characteristics got me. This ink a dark blurple with copper sheen. It’s not the best behaved (some of the sheen spots smeared, but not unexpected with a mega-sheener ink). I’m probably going to try it in a different nib combo since I just haven’t found myself reaching for it with this one.
Pennonia x Amarillo Stationery Azul Frida - Kaweco Liliput Copper 14K B - Another ink that saw a refill this week. Something about this blue has just stuck with me and I find myself reaching for the pen so I can see a page fill up with this charming blue. Very satisfying.
Sailor x Tinterias Podcast Agave - Kaweco Sport Macchiato 1.5 - Loving this color so much I’ve even done some writing with this nib (and it’s a chonky stub), I’m interested in inking it up alongside some of my other favorite dusky blues and the Diamine Celedon Cat that came in the mail this week. June might be the month of moody blues with some accent colors.
In the TN
I wanted to start a new section beyond the currently inked to talk about my constant carry of my Chic Sparrow A6 notebook that organizes my life (even when I’m not writing in it… it’s firmly in the emotional support stationery category for me).
Current setup:
Hobonichi A6 weekly insert. Purpose: To keep track of appointments and to make short reflections at the end of each day about what was accomplished.
Lamy A6 notebook. Purpose: To-do lists and project tracking. This is my first time using this notebook and I find the line/grid layout very interesting.
A6 notebook made with JetPens View Corona Paper. Purpose: Random brain scribbling.
A6 Itoya Oasis Line Friends Sally Notebook. This one just came in the mail on Thursday. It’s probably going to be filled with ideas and random stories. Probably journalling as well. It was too dang cute when I was making an order from Atlas Stationers and I had to throw it into my cart.
This actually changes week to week, so I’m interested to see how many different notebooks I end up in before the end of the year. Sometimes getting my mind straight is mixing up my TN. Then taking the notebooks out and doing it again, haha!
Signing off with some ink swatches of some new ink I got in the mail this week from Atlas Stationers.