Trav•e•logue Series Journal Review

hand•book journal co. ™

Information on the “belly band” of the notebook.
Pocket Portrait
5.5” X 3.5”
Trav•e•logue Series
128 Pages
Acid-Free
#721211
“Hand bound durable cover has just the right flexibility. Contains 128 pages of heavyweight buff drawing paper with a good tooth. Great for pen & ink, pencil, and markers. Accepts light watercolor washes without buckling and, of course, it’s 100% acid-free. We wrap it all up with a durable elastic closure and tuck a very useful clear envelope inside the back cover. Hand•book-journals that are just right.”
Also available: 
8.25” X 5.5” Large Portrait
3.5” X 5.5” Pocket Landscape
5.5” X 8.25” Large Landscape
5.5 X 5.5” Square
Cost - $9.95
Manufactured and Distributed by GLOBAL ART MATERIALS, INC., Kansas City, MO
Made in India

I was attracted to this notebook because of the colored covers. Yes, they come in the usual black, but also in green and blue cloth. I was attracted to the book by the cover. I had looked for a Moleskine Van Gogh but had not found one. These books were displayed with Moleskines making me believe from a distance I had found some.

The Moleskine Sketch book, which I will compare this notebook to, has 40 leaves for 80 pages. The hand•book contains 64 leaves for 128 pages. The Moleskine paper is slightly stiffer than the hand•book, however, the hand•book has a toothier paper allowing more pages to the book. The paper accepts watercolor paints much better than the Moleskine sketch. The paper handles a variety of fountain pen inks very well. I did get bleed through on the pages with both regular point and ultra-thin Sharpies. I do prefer the tooth of the hand•book paper for pencil work. The tooth is very nice for creating more textured images. I used several different types of pencils and grades of lead with no disappointment.

Currently the only problem I have with this new notebook is its availability. I have not been able to local retailers for the book beyond the shop where I purchased it.

All in all, I find this a definite alternative to a Moleskine notebook. Especially for those who want a little more for their money.

GrannyKass
View her FLICKR Photo set
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Per discussion here, Blick Art Materials has just added this item to their online catalog.

Comments

[Chris Meisenzahl]

Thanks, I'll keep me eye out for those.

[Steve]

I called the company and a very helpful rep there said that these are available from Dick Blick, though they don't seem to be on the Dick Blick web site. However, she said they are in the printed catalog, so a call to Dick Blick might be all that's needed to secure one of these.

[Matt Yoder]

I picked up one of these recently, because of its nice feel, and reasonable price.

I'd say, though, that the clear envelope in the back would be significantly more useful if it were adhered with a glue that didn't let it fall out immediately upon opening for the first time.

[Anita Rose]

Since we're on the subject of journals that are shaped like Moleskines but have cloth covers, at Barnes and Noble they have a journal similar to that one. But the paper isn't fancy and I think they're all lined.

[Armand]

Here's the response from Blick Art Materials:

"These are brand new to us and in our catalog that comes out next week. We should also have them on our website by mid next week. The item number starts with 11869-xxxx. Xxxx is the size and color variation so it varies."

They're working to get the item on the web and will send us the link to the product page once its online.
....
Voila! Check the item here:
http://www.dickblick.com/zz118/69/

[jgodsey]

is it bad that a post about new notebook makes me hot?

[Ryan Loghry]

They must have fixed the clear plastic envelope problem, as I have gone through two of the landscape format books and had no problems with them at all. I have found these books hold up well to every day use.

Thanks for the link to Dick Blick page, my local art store was out.

[Lee Mikles]

Does anyone know where we could get these moleskine type notebooks customized with logos on the cover?

[Felicia French]

The Rollabind notebook has the flexibility of a three ring binder with the convenience of a spiral notebook. The notebook lays flat and its pages turn 360 degrees, you can take pages in and out with ease and without damaging the paper. Pages can be interchanged among different Rollabind books and different sizes of paper can be used in the same notebook. We have a great variety of plastic and leather notebooks available.
http://www.rollabind.com/