the graphilo notebook has only one conceivable flaw and that's entirely based on how I'm using it (which is not as a notebook).
let's start with the statement that I'm an artist who LOVES inky pens—adores them, ruins them with sumi ink, drenches pages with them, it's bad. when I went looking for my next sketchbook—that's right, sketchbook—I went into the search with an eye out for something that would be a step up from standard rhodia paper.
why? for a few finicky reasons to do with certain supplies out muscling the weight of the paper but mostly because rhodia doesn't have the decency to make a blank, softback, staple-bound, travel friendly notebook for me to use. for my last sketchbook I had to bind it myself out of pages that were falling out of my A4 pad. workable? yes; it's my favorite sketchbook I've had so far. tedious to do yourself and almost more trouble than it's worth? absolutely. (rhodia? make a lightweight A5 bound notebook with blank white paper please!)
anyway, I went on the hunt looking for a notebook that would be a step up from the rhodia because I really wanted to be able to use the pilot shunpitsu pocket brush pen (soft) without it going straight through the page (I'll do a review of it some time, it's a fantastic pen but my LORD does it like to bleed onto the next page if you're not careful). now, normal people would get a thicker paper to help solve that problem but I'm testy about anything over 100 gsm for my general use sketchbook (rhodia standard is 80).
the kobeha graphilo notebook does not have that problem when it comes to the shunpitsu soft. the graphilo says bleeding is for mortal sucker chumps who need to go home crying to their mommies. for a paper just over 80 gsm? that's INSANE. the only materials I could get to bleed through was a papermate W10 permanent marker (HUGE chisel tip on this bad boy) and the freaking brush side of a copic sketch.
a quick summary of media I tried that didn't even try to bleed through: noodlers eel ink, pentel pocket brush pen ink, shunpitsu brush pen ink, frixion markers, higgens acrylic ink, j. herbin rusty anchor ink, zebra mildliners (gold/grey/dark grey), sumi ink, kuretake bitmoji brush pen ink, walnut ink, sharpies, and more.
the only ink that didn't perform well was my noodler's pasternak ink and even then all I did was get light feathering as the dyes in the bulletproof ink separated slightly. I will admit that my gel pens didn't work as well (the inks had a tendency to railroad around the ball tip) but this paper isn't made for them. even my ballpoints looked nice, though I wouldn't recommend them as the force needed to write dents the paper slightly. pencils go on smoothly and erase cleanly, even colored leads.
okay, yes, this paper is a joy to write on, you guys get it, now what about that flaw I mentioned?
ah, yes. well.
the ink doesn't freaking dry. the shunpitsu especially took forever to dry and it's branded as a quick dry pen! almost everything I used took ages to not be a wet puddle on the page and smeared or smudged even when looking dry. it's a serious turn off but also a problem of my own making. did I know the dry times would be longer? yes, but this is downright absurd! for a notebook this would be a hassle but not impossible to deal with for a right handed person. but as a sketchbook it's almost prohibitive to use without taking huge breaks.
unfortunately it looks like this is gonna stay as a test notebook for me. that's it for now but I'll update with any discoveries I may have later. in the meantime though wish me luck in my sketchbook search! ヾ(*'▽'*)
