I was very excited to find my new Rhodia Webnotebook waiting for me in my maibox last Friday. Many thanks to Stephanie and Karen for getting this notebook to me to review. Be warned, however - this is a lengthy review!
This is the large, unlined version of the Webbie with an orange cover (my photo really doesn't do justice to the brilliant orange colour). The cover is made of a smooth, rubbery-feeling material and is slightly flexible. The Rhodia logo is prominently displayed on the front. Although this is the large version, it really isn't all that large, having dimensions of only 14 x 21 cm or 5½ x 8¼ inches: still quite portable.
The notebook closes with an elastic band; the elastic feels tight and secure when closed. The elastic leaves some dents in the soft material of the cover when it is removed.
The endpapers are orange. When I first opened my Webbie, the front and back endpapers and the first and last pages of the book were stuck together with some stray glue and there was a tiny bit of glue on the cover as well. That seemed a bit sloppy, but at least the pages peeled apart with no harm done.
The paper is very smooth (seriously, if it was any smoother, you probably wouldn't be able to feel it at all), and a pleasing off-white colour that I always think looks so much more sophisticated than plain white.
There is also an orange ribbon bookmark (creased from being folded into the book) - nothing special there.
The book contains a back expanding pocket - again, this seems fairly standard, and I never use these things anyway. (Do you use back pockets? If so, what do you use them for?)
One great thing about this book is that the pages lie flat, although possibly not quite as flat as the Heinz Jordan Permanent Sketch Book that I reviewed a while ago, and the pages required more creasing and pressing on to lie in the flat position in the first place.
The Webbie contains 192 pages or 96 sheets, made of "Clairefontaine brushed vellum 90g paper." I don't really know what "brushed vellum" means, but, as I mentioned before, the paper is very smooth and is an off-white colour. I tested several pens on the paper:
The smoothness of the paper made all of these pens a joy to write with. They all performed very well, although there was some very slight feathering with the Uni-ball Vision and the Pilot V5 Hi-Tecpoint (both of which seem to feather on just about everything anyway) and an even slighter, barely noticeable bit of feathering with the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner. I wouldn't consider any of it much to worry about. There was slight showthrough with all of the pens, but no bleedthrough at all.
I can definitely see this notebook becoming one of my favourites, and I would also like to try watercolours and some other media in this notebook some day, but that will have to be the subject of a future post. Now, my only concern is: what will I use it for? The unlined pages would be ideal for a sketchbook, but it will be quite a while before my current sketchbook is finished and I don't really need another one. Perhaps a journal of some sort?
How much do Rhodia notebooks run and what is/are their most famous/popular size(s)?
ReplyDeleteSygyzy, I have seen Rhodia notebooks available at a variety of prices, but they seem to be generally around $20 or so. Shop around and try to find the best deal. They are available in a small size (3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches) as well as the large size (5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches) that I reviewed here.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about the drying time for Rhodia notebooks? I am concerned that with the smoothness of the paper the ink wont dry quick.
ReplyDeleteMarco, the drying time will depend on the type of pen that you are using. Most of the pens that I tested dried in 1 or 2 seconds or less. The liquid ink pens - the Pentel EnerGel, Pilot Hi-Tecpoint, and Uni-ball Vision - were slower to dry. The Pilot FriXion was also slower to dry than the other gel pens. I did not have any problems with the drying time in this notebook.
ReplyDeletePretty informative review. Looking forward to seeing your future post on the performance of this sketchbook with watercolors. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sunny. I'm not sure when I'll get the watercolour test up, but hopefully it won't be too long, so stay tuned!
ReplyDeleteRhodia makes quality notebooks and paper but I'm forever hooked on the Moleskine line. It's an obsession. I have five of them going at the moment; a 5x8.25 as a journal, a reporter's book in 3.5x5.5 for field notes, two plain 3.5x5.5 and one of the new inexpensive brown covered 5x8.25 as an office diary (nice creamy, toothy paper). And I use the inside pockets often, mostly to stash business cards, phone numbers, web addresses etc that I accumulate on the road. I love your blog and your well written reviews.
ReplyDeleteThanks, HC. It seems as though there are some people who use one kind of notebook, pen, etc. obsessively, while others are constantly trying different kinds. I am probably the latter type myself. I'm planning an upcoming review that will compare Rhodia and Moleskine notebooks, so stay tuned for that!
ReplyDelete