The Paper:

It’s a super smooth acid-free 80gsm paper, that will take your Sakura Koi & Tombow Brush Pens and all fineliners without damaging them. But it has enough tooth to make you feel like you’ve got control of your pen while writing. With the relatively low gsm, some of your standard bullet journal supplies will ghost on the paper but most won’t bleed - thanks to the specialty coated paper from the house of Leuchtturm.

 

What’s Special About This Notebook?

• 251 pages means it lasts a long time (which makes it value for money), the pages are numbered and they have a pre-made index.

• The hardcover is not only gorgeous with a beautiful range of colours, it’s super durable and will take the wear and tear of being thrown around your bag wonderfully.

• The dot grids are always, always perfect. They’re just the right size and since Leuchtturm1917 is a quality German brand, there are no printing errors in these notebooks. The dot grid layout has been well-thought-out and it’s the best, easiest and most versatile layout I’ve come across till date.

• How beautifully milky and lovely the Zebra Mildliner dual-tip pastel highlighters look on this ivory paper!

 

Pen Test Results --

Best used with (most of these will cause minimal ghosting, if any):

• Tombow & Koi Brush Pens

• Sakura Gelly Roll pens

• Staedtler, MUJI and Sakura Pigma Micron fineliners (PN and other large nib sizes will ghost, but won’t bleed)

• UniPosca paint maker

• Uniball Signo pens in metallic colours

• Pen tip side of the Zebra Mildliner

• All watercolour paints

 

You may experience some bleeding (depending on how much pressure you apply when you write) with:

• The edge of the Zebra Mildliner (where you stop writing, the ink flow is the juiciest - that’s the only part where the highlighter might bleed through)

• Tombow Fudenosukes (Hard Tip & Soft Tip) - if you’re heavy handed with them.

 

Watercolour Test Results --

You can use a decent amount of water to paint with watercolours in this notebook, and it will take it like a boss. I’ve even painted a whole page with a watercolour backdrop and used a UniPosca paint marker on top, and nothing bled through. The Leuchtturm1917 passed the watercolour paints test with flying colours.

 

Leuchtturm1917 vs Archer and Olive vs Indian brands of dot grid notebooks:

I’ve tried it all, and the LT1917 and Archer & Olive come out on top without a doubt. They provide the best bullet journaling experience.

• The Archer & Olive is for anyone who is heavy-handed with their art supplies and detests ghosting, but is ok with a 160 pages notebook.
• The Leuchtturm1917 is for anyone who wants a value-for-money notebook that lasts a long time with 251 pages, but still makes your bullet journal experience a pleasure with high-quality paper and all the features of a top-notch BuJo notebook (plus it takes watercolours well!)

Germany