A hard cover notebook 21 x 30cm, effectively A4, laid out in 5mm squares, in Pine Needle. The cover reads as a dark muted green, closer to a forest floor than to a lawn. Inside are 80 sheets of 140gsm acid free paper, roughly double the weight of ordinary notebook stock, which is the reason your pen stays on the page it started on. This is a desk and studio size. It will go in a bag, but it is not pretending to be pocketable, and the trade is that you get a full page to think on.

★ ART SHED STAFF TIP

Test your worst pen on the inside back cover before you start. Every paper has a limit, and you want to know where it is on a page you do not care about.

Perfect for

Plans and layoutsTables and trackersScale drawingLettering practiceSpread out workStudio and desk

The colour: Pine Needle

Matsuba-iro is named directly for pine needles, and pine in Japan carries the idea of something that stays green while everything around it gives up for the winter. It is a green with almost no sweetness in it.

Traditional Japanese colour name: matsuba-iro (松葉色)

What 5mm squares actually give you

The useful thing about a 5mm square is that it works in both directions. Down the page it behaves like ruling and keeps your writing level. Across the page it gives you columns, margins and scale without you ruling a single line yourself.

Grid is the right call when things need to line up. Plans, tables, charts, lettering practice, anything where a wobbly column will annoy you later. At 21 x 30cm you get a diagram and its notes side by side, which is the part people forget to think about until they are living with the book.

What you are actually getting

Paper

140gsm acid free FSC certified stock, 80 sheets giving 160 usable sides, in a warm cream white rather than a harsh bright white

Ruling

5mm squares, printed edge to edge with no pre-printed margin

Cover

Pine Needle hard cover, rounded at every corner so nothing curls or catches

Fittings

elastic closure band, bound-in bookmark ribbon and an expandable pocket in the back for loose notes

Questions about the squared Pine Needle notebook in 21 x 30cm

Can I write normally on grid paper?

Easily. Two squares to a line gives you 10mm spacing and one square gives you a tight 5mm, so you can pick your own line height instead of living with whatever the printer chose.

How big are the squares?

Five millimetres, the standard grid size. Each square works as one unit, so it doubles as scale paper for drawing and as an invisible baseline if you would rather write across it.

Is this actually A4?

Effectively yes, at 21 x 30cm against a true A4 of 21 x 29.7cm. It will sit in an A4 sleeve or folder without trouble.

Is the paper white or cream?

Slightly cream white. Sakura specifies it that way for legibility, and in practice it means less glare under office and shop lighting than a bright white stock, plus a little more warmth behind coloured inks.

Does it lie flat when you open it?

Not on day one, and no hardcover of this construction does. Open it flat in the middle a few times and work outwards over the first week and it will stay open on a table from then on.

Can I see one before I buy it?

Yes, if you can get to a store. Art Shed has a Melbourne store in Moorabbin and a Brisbane store in West End, both family owned and Australian run. Otherwise we ship Australia wide from local stock and orders move quickly.

(NU94156905)

SKU NU94156905
Barcode # 8712079544461
Brand Sakura
Shipping Weight 0.9000kg
Shipping Width 0.050m
Shipping Height 0.050m
Shipping Length 0.050m

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