Thick, thick paper: Odyssey Notebook 160 GSM
Since 2018, I have kept a weekly/monthly review journal - a chance to see what I have been doing and how I felt about it. It’s also extremely useful when I do my end of year reflections - everything is all right there after all - since all the entries were written in the moment. I can see my strengths and my areas of improvement. I’ve always done this journaling in an A5 size notebook. I’ve used a Baron Fig Confidant (A5-adjacent - mine was a special edition from years ago), Leuchtturm1917 (x2), and an Onion Skin Journal. For 2024 I used an Odyssey Notebooks 160 GSM Song of Achilles notebook (going to call it Achilles for short) that I had received as a gift the year before. I’ve also used the Odyssey Notebook with 68 GSM Tomoe River paper, which I reviewed here and the Cosmo Air Light notebook. I really enjoyed the other two books.
Appearance
The Achilles is brown pleather with an embossed gold image of an Ancient Greek helmet. This is the only adornment on the outside of the notebook. The brand name is printed on the end paper on the inside. It is part of a Greek mythology inspired set of notebooks, this one, the Apollo (red with an embossed sun), and the Perseus (orange with Pegasus). This one is inspired by Achilles from The Iliad. To me, it also is inspired by Madeline Miller’s retelling of The Iliad in Song of Achilles.
The notebook is A5 (maybe a hair bigger) and thick. It has 192 pages and is held together by a brown elastic. There are also two ribbon markers, one light brown and one dark.
Paper
Bright paper and slight texture.
The 160 GSM paper is dense and could probably hold up to most media. I mostly collage and use fountain pens and the paper worked with everything from M to BB and even EF flex. The bright white dot grid paper does hold up against the crazy inks I throw at it. The paper is slightly abosrvent which made some ink effects such as shading and sheen more muted.
Despite adding a lot of different kinds of ephemera that I glued in over the year, there was no issue with the binding becoming separated or the elastic becoming too loose. It also continued to lay flat, except at the very first and very last pages (which is typical).
Thoughts
Odyssey Notebooks makes great books. They are beautiful, sturdy, and have fun theming generally around Greek mythology and outer space. This 160 GSM book worked great for my purpose. However, I don’t think I would have written in this notebook as much if I had been using it for any other purpose? Why? Paper preference. Ultimately, I prefer thinner papers that have a smoother texture. If you like thick paper though? This is a great option. At $35 it’s a little spendy, but you get a lot of notebook.
I also want to share that Odyssey Notebooks just got their last batch of 68 GSM original tomoe river notebooks back in stock in A5, B5, and A4. I picked up the moon design A5 and it’s gorgeous. You can save 10% on their website by using my code DIME.
Currently Inked
On Bank Paper
Still working through my inks from last week:
Colorverse Christmas Star - Kaweco Sport Iridescent Pearl M CSI - I will reiterate my thoughts from my last post. This ink is fabulous! It has great flow and is so legible for a yellow. It’s been fun to add some brightness on my pages during the dark days of winter.
Diamine Salted Caramel - Kaweco Sport Burgundy M - This one is also really enjoyable. It shows off really well on all papers and the glitter is just subtle enough to not be distracting when I’m using the ink.
Colorverse Strelka - Kaweco liliput fireblue 14K M ‘journaler’ - This blue has been my journaling driver this week. Favorite pen and a favorite ink.
Ferris Wheel Press Mulberry Majesty - Kaweco liliput copper M stub - I really like this ink in this setup. It’s a rich warm purple with purple shimmer. It is a great compliment to the other inks I was using.
Diamine Vibe - Kaweco Art Sport 14K M ‘selvedge’ - This ink is fun, but it dries on the nib super fast. If I pause too long while thinking, the ink has dried up and it takes a tap on a wet paper towel to get going again. The “extreme sheen” is not false advertising on Diamine’s part. The pink sheen can completely overpower the teal undertone. Wrote it through.
Diamine Poutpourri - Kaweco Art Sport Terrazzo B ‘imperial’ - I have kind of fallen in love with this purple. It’s soft and shows a little shading. It is a little dry, but I added some white lightning and it flowed great. It has vintage vibes.