Editing The Pen Addict 457/transcript (section)

== Croquis Notebook Review ==


'''Brad:''' So that's when people start looking online is like, oh, there's a white version of this page. And I'm like, oh, really? But they sent me another. They sent me a second. They sent me like 10 things. So they sent me a second sketchbook, a larger A4 model croquis, which is white page 52 GSM paper. And it's also marketed again. This is the croquis sketch pad where the small one is called the, what it's called the, oh, it's also called the croquis sketch pad. They're just A5 and A6 size, but they're completely different papers. Right. 60 GSM cream in the A5, 52 GSM white in the A4. I was like, well, that's confusing. I tested out the A4. It's pretty good. You know, it's great for a white background paper. Right. Just a, you know, a solid white for the most part paper and the fountain pens behaved well, but they didn't have the character or the ink or the shade of the 60 GSM cream. And so like that was kind of the results of that little test is like, I personally really like the cream color 60 GSM. It feels great. It looks great. It works great. Right. So why haven't I tried this before? Well, like I alluded to the, the marketing of this is this is a sketch pad. Now.

'''Myke:''' I mean, it unequivocally is right. Like that. As someone was saying in the chat, they don't, they don't do dot or grid markings. They call it a sketchbook. It's just plain. Like this is a sketchbook for people that sketch.

'''Brad:''' Right. So, and in sketchbooks, I generally think, you know, they're going to handle, you know, all kinds of media you can throw at them. Like, you know, even up to like watercolors from like pencils to watercolors is kind of what I think of a sketchbook. So I never even looked at the paper weights to this. Right. I just assumed they were the thicker pages, but 52 and 60 GSM paper is thin. Right. Like if you think of like a pocket notebook, like a field notes, those are usually around 60 GSM paper or 70. I can't remember. So yeah, it's a generally thin paper where sketch notebook, sketch paper is like thicker, like over a hundred, like a hundred, 120, you know, thicker. It's going to handle, you know, water, watercolors.

'''Myke:''' GSM, that, that, that grammage, that weight, I don't know where it's handling things well.

'''Brad:''' Right. But turns out, Myke, it is one of the coolest fountain pen papers I've used for me personally. Like I really, really enjoyed it. And I'm going to recommend the heck out of this. And I'm going to review it obviously well, because I love it. I've since written five pages in, in this little pad, just testing everything out. And it's good. Like not everyone's going to like it because it does have a little bit of texture, but that's what I like about the bank paper. Surely it bleeds through like wild. No, like zero. How? At 60? That's Tomoe River level of no bleed, no feathering. Literally zero.

'''Myke:''' I'm unhappy about this.

'''Brad:''' Like I'll take pictures of this.

'''Myke:''' I believe you, you know. And I think you're in the pocket of big croquis over there.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I'm not in the pocket of big Mormon. Yeah. Like this is, Mormon didn't ask me to do anything. They're just like, hey, I think you might like this. And as it turns out, I love it. I love it. But there was no way I was going to buy this product because it's for my needs versus how it's marketed. Right? I look at it. I say, cool. I love Mormon. But just throw up my hand. It's a sketchbook. That is not my product. This is a good quality fountain pen notebook. So now the question comes. Well, why can't we get this? And this paper is amazing. But I want it in like a traditional journal style. Like give me something soft bound like Midori. You know how they make all those journals. And this have like the soft bound covers. And you can get different things. Or you could even do like a big hard bound cover. They just come in these sketch pads, essentially. So I emailed them back. I was like, look. Okay. You were right. Here's the link to my video. And we were talking about, you know, why we would like this paper but in other formats. And they listened to that. And they sent me a link. They're like, oh, by the way, we have this product called the Morimon Gliffy. That uses the croquis paper. And it's in the stitch bound notebook that you want. I'm like, son of a gun. So if you look up Morimon Gliffy, it basically is non-existent. Except in a couple shops in Europe and in Japan. They have one in the Netherlands here, right? Yep. So I found one in the Netherlands. The rest were in Japan.

'''Myke:''' I'm confused about the sizes of these notebooks.

'''Brad:''' It's very interesting. So this is not exactly what I want. I want this 60 GSM croquis paper in like a more traditional journal. Either soft cover or hard cover. I don't care. Not like a pad. So this is a pad. This is a glue bound pad, right? You just tear the sheets out. They're very clean. They're great. The Gliffy is what I want. But the paper is thicker.

'''Myke:''' 90 GSM.

'''Brad:''' There's a 90 and then there's 128. These are the ones that should be called sketchbooks.

'''Myke:''' This is wild.

'''Brad:''' And like if you even go to Morimon's website, like the main Morimon website, Gliffy is not a product. Like I found one image and a broken link to the Gliffy. So Morimon.

'''Myke:''' Also 48 pages?

'''Brad:''' Yeah. So that seems light. Yeah. So it's the thicker page, right? It's 90 GSM. So if you look at the 24 page one is the 120 GSM, right? Because that's they're just trying to keep a small notebook binding.

'''Myke:''' Yeah.

'''Brad:''' Ready.

'''Myke:''' But then they're writing paper one and rolled one is 48 pages. And that's.

'''Brad:''' So again, these have squared. These have grids.

'''Myke:''' Yeah.

'''Brad:''' Like some of these have grids. It's like everything's so backwards. All right, Chad has found me a Gliffy page on Morimon's website. This is what I want with the 60 GSM. Morimon, I know you're listening. I'm going to talk directly to you. Dear Morimon, the 60 GSM cream paper in the croquis sketchbook is excellent fountain pen and other pen paper. It should be a standalone product in a more traditional binding and should be marketed as such. The word sketchbook should not be in this new product that you're going to make because of this podcast. Thank you, Brad.

'''Myke:''' Or alternatively, if you don't want to do it, you can just make available to me or Brad this paper and we will make a product of our own using said paper.

'''Brad:''' Okay. So I'm going to read a translation of this link that I got.

'''Myke:''' These are our terms. These are our terms. This is our demand.

'''Brad:''' So this is Google Translate. Take it for what it's worth. They're translating Gliffy into Griffy. So that's what we're working with.

'''Myke:''' Also, all I read is Giphy.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. That's all I read.

'''Myke:''' Yeah.

'''Brad:''' So the 60 GSM entry reads, it is a high class croaky paper with rough skin that reproduces the historical paper with the duck board traces duck boards use when making paper. That's just saying it's textured the way the paper's manufacturing. What's a duck board? If you look at, you know, how you can see like lines in the paper if you hold them up to the light and see like that tactile texture of it. It is compatible with drawing and writing with pencils, mechanical pencils, ballpoint pens, et cetera, various hardness and have been developed so that the delicate touch due to pin pressure can be utilized. Okay. That wasn't very helpful.

'''Myke:''' I really like the idea of like, hey, this paper is compatible with writing instruments. I like the need, the requirement. It is paper. It's not just for wrapping, right? You can write on this.

'''Brad:''' If they turn this into their mainline fountain pen notebook, it would do extremely well. The 50 white would not do as well because it's a little bit more absorbent. The 60 cream is like bank paper plus. It's like bank paper with more fountain pen friendly features, which is something that I like. So it's textured, it's cream colored, but the ink works really, really well on it. So that's my thought process on how this, like how this came about, how me figuring this out, you know, why have I missed it? Like I think about all these things. And then in the end, like realizing this is really freaking good. And it's just sitting there like untested for fountain pens mostly, right? Like, you know, I don't want to pretend like no one's used fountain pens on this, but it's just like, it's been out there for years. It just exists. It is freaking fantastic. I love it. But so this brought me into another rabbit hole, Myke. Okay. And my brain started working over time based on one aspect of this croaky 60 GSM cream paper. But first, we need to hear from our friends at Squarespace.

'''Myke:''' I'm actually quite excited about this ad today.

'''Brad:''' Really? Really?

'''Myke:''' Yeah, because we have, we have new Squarespace ad copy. And this is the first time I've read it. Awesome. I'm excited. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one platform to build your online presence and run your business. From websites and online stores to marketing tools and analytics, they've got you covered. Squarespace combines cutting edge design and world class engineering, making it easier than ever to establish your home online and make your ideas a reality. Squarespace has everything you need to create a beautiful and modern website. You start with a professional design template and use drag and drop tools to make it your own. You can customize the look and feel, the settings, the products you have on sale and more with just a few clicks. And all Squarespace websites are optimized for mobile. So your content automatically adjusts. So it's going to look great on any device. You'll also get free unlimited hosting, top of the line security and dependable resources to help you succeed. There's nothing to patch or upgrade. They have award winning 24 seven customer support and they'll even let you quickly and easily grab a unique domain name. Plus, you have everything you need for SEO and email marketing to get your ideas out there. You can use Squarespace to turn your big idea into a new website, showcase your work with their incredible portfolio designs, publish your next blog post, promote your business, announce an upcoming event and so much more. I recently rebranded my like redesigned my Squarespace website at Myke Hurley.net just to be like a nice little landing page for me. It's kind of like this is me. This is who I am. And this is all the stuff that I do. And it's just something I just spent a little bit of time on one day. Got it all set up really easy. Go to squarespace.com slash pen addict for a free trial with no credit card required. And when you're ready to launch, use the offer code pen addict to save 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain. At squarespace.com slash pen addict. And when you decide to sign up, use the offer code pen addict to get 10% of your first purchase and show your support for the pen addict podcast. Thanks to Squarespace for their support of this show and all of Relay FM.

'''Brad:''' It's hard to lead into this next topic. And I use the header meta, like a meta topic. Get no.