Paper Sample Reviews: Midori and CIAK

Yesterday on my calligraphy travels on the Internet, I saw people using Midori notebooks. The ink flow looked spectacular! So I did some research, trying to find out more about Midori notebooks when I came to The Journal Shop. This website is like a heaven for me. It stocks high quality products at reasonable rates. There's quite a few special offers on and it stocks a whole variety of products, from notebooks and pens to quirky office accessories. I was looking in particular at the Midori notebooks and they look very cool. I came across a free sample section and originally thought it too good to be true, but you are able to add free sample papers to your basket and checkout without entering any payment information.  I decided to get some samples of the Midori range and the CIAK range. I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up this morning to find that they've already arrived. Well done on your free, super fast delivery The Journal Shop! 

Here we have, from left to right: 

-Midori Travelers Notebook 012 Sketch Paper Sample

-Midori Travelers Notebook 013 Lightweight Paper Sample

-Midori Travelers Notebook 003 Blank Paper Sample

-Midori Travelers Notebook 002 Grid Paper Sample 

-CIAK Paper Sample- Plain

-CIAK Paper Sample- Multicolour

I've only got around to sampling 3 pages, I'll do the others on another day! Today I saw how the papers responded to Promarkers, Diamine Ink from a Noodlers Creaper Fountain Pen, Sheaffer Calligraphy Pens, Pilot Parallel Pens and Tombow Brush Pens. These are the pens I use most frequently. I often have to use different notebooks for different pens because they all just react very differently.

-Midori Travelers Notebook 002 Grid Paper Sample

The Pilot Parallel pen is very ink heavy anyway, so it didn't respond very well. At first I marvelled at how smooth it was, but there was a bit of bleed at the end of my strokes.

The Diamine ink worked quite well. The colour is a bit more red on this paper, in comparison to what it looks like on a Rhodia pad. On there, it is much more pink.

I usually have a terrible time trying to find papers that work well with Promarkers. Currently, there's only one sketchbook I use, which I got from Asda for £2, but believe it or not, is the best with Promarkers and is actually a really good quality of paper. This works okaaaay, but not great. Better than a lot of other papers, so it will be quite high on my list. Nothing can compare to Asda though!!

-CIAK Paper Sample- Multicolour

I was happier with the Promarkers on the CIAK paper. It bleeds very little if you put more than one layer, but other than that, I'm very pleased with it.

There was significant bleed across the page for inks, even for normal note taking with a fountain pen. I wouldn't use this paper with a fountain pen.

 -Midori Travelers Notebook 012 Sketch Paper Sample

This paper performed the best out of all of them. It is actually a really good quality sketch paper. Tomorrow I'll try to do a few drawing on it to see how it goes with it.

For a sketch pad, I would have thought my markers would be a little crisper than this.

 Tombow Brush Pens performed so admirably on all the papers. It just came out so perfectly. Even on the grid paper, which is quite thin, it didn't bleed through. Overall, I would pick the Midori because it works better with fountain pen ink.

Tomorrow when I try the CIAK Plain Paper Sample, I will probably pick that if it does as well with Promarkers as the lined did.