@MilligramStore Notebooks from Marc Martin Kaleidoscope Jungle & Melbourne Museum

Thank you so much to Milligram for sending these beautiful notebooks for a review!

Milligram x Marc Martin Limited Edition Artist Collection Kaleidoscope Jungle Notebooks

Size: B5/25 cm x 175 cm
Ruling: Dot grid
Page count: 80
Cover: flexible card cover
Paper weight: 80 gsm
Price: ~ $23 USD
Where to buy: Milligram

Marc Martin is a Melbourne-based illustrator and artist! This collaboration features one-of-a-kind artwork, which brings to life a tropical jungle with hidden creatures. There is also a stunning limited edition set of tow notebooks, with a light and dark version to reflect day and night. - Milligram

PACKAGING

Each pair of notebooks is plastic wrapped and secured by a paper belly band. It has details about the notebook design and notebook specifications.

APPEARANCE

I love these notebooks. The designs used are the type of art I really like - colorful, watercolor-like, somewhat whimsical. LOVE. These are B5 notebooks with covers that look and feel like canvas. They are semi-flexible with pointed edges. Each notebook has stitched edges, colored endpapers, and silver- and gold-embossed foil cover details. There are colorful plants and hidden animals. Did I mention I love this?

The paper is cream colored with small, solid grey dots. Dot grids are my favorite so these notebooks are basically a match made in heaven for me. They are slim and lovely! The highlight of these notebooks is certainly the adorable artwork.

PERFORMANCE & FEEL

Have I mentioned I love these notebooks? They are slim, convenient and portable to carry, and definitely convenient to use. They open easily and lie flat so it's so easy to write on all parts of the pages without discomfort. The covers have a semi-flexible feel so while they protect the pages, they are all so easy to pop in a bag or folio. I really like the texture of the covers - not quite smooth, they feel a bit like thin canvas. The thread binding is robust and tough but are loose enough to manipulate the notebook.

The paper is a treat. First, it really smells like paper - sort of like Tomoe River and I have buried my nostrils in the pages to inhale its perfect and seductive scent. Consider me wooed! At 80gsm, it is not particularly thin but I do find it lovely and fountain pen friendly. It does not look, feel, or behave coated to me.

It works well with pencils in a range of hardness but I found it too smooth to be my preferred pencil paper. Ballpoints and gel pens were easily tolerated - no feathering or bleedthrough but not so much that I could not use both sides of the page. Brush pens were okay but markers did bleed through, which is not unusual.

As I mentioned, the paper is fountain pen friendly, handling a wide range of inks and nibs. I experienced very minimal feathering, often where my hand oils had smeared on the page. Wet writers did bleed through here and there but show through was not terrible. I tested with pretty heavy ink application and I think it held up pretty well. For normal writing, it works great. I enjoyed the writing experience and I found inks showed nice shading, sheen, and particles were also visible. Overall, very pleasant.

The dot grid is easy on the eyes, and I love them!

OVERALL

LOVE. While these are not inexpensive notebooks, I think they are worth a splurge. Beautiful covers, so handy to carry and use, fountain pen friendly. Yay!

Milligram x Melbourne Museum Notebooks

Size:  A5/21 cm x14.5 cm

Ruling: Plain & Ruled

Page count: 80

Cover: flexible card cover

Paper weight: 80 gsm

Price: ~ $20 USD

Where to buy: Milligram

The Archive & Library collection notebooks come in a set of two. The designs of each notebook draw from the Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria and William H. Harvey's Nereis Australis. The designs bring museum works to life, with gorgeous foil work and adorable endpapers. Such simple and beautiful designs, perfect for lovers of nature, history, and stationery. Well, they're also perfect for museum lovers, explorers, and writers. Love these collaborations. 

The paper performs the same as the above notebooks!

I received these items free of charge for a review. I was not compensated monetarily. Everything you have read is my own opinion.