The Banditapple Carnet Tablet, a nifty almost-A5 32-sheet notebook that’s available in blank, lined, graph, and planner ruling.

The cover is completely blank, giving full way to the awesome feel of the cover paper. I would almost describe is as hairy, and in the best way possible.

The notebook itself is held together by some very intricate stitching. Seriously, look how small those stitches are! Or whatever they’re called. They let the notebook lay completely flat (and even fold back on itself) once you put a little pressure in, and then with a little reverse pressure get back into its folded state (for the most part anyway, nobody’s perfect).

The paper is thick and textured. If you’re looking for glassy smooth paper, this is not your notebook. I personally like not having my pens slip away from underneath me so this works fine. Don’t worry though, it’s not even close to “rough”, so you’re never going to feel hampered by the texture—no paper ripping between the tines of your nib.

For the most part, my inky M-EF nibs do fine on this paper. However, there is some minor feathering from time to time, and when there isn’t, lines don’t look as sharp as they could be. I feel like the strange texture of the paper might have something to do with this. Of course, if you’re a gel pen or pencil user, you’ll have none of these minute problems. Lucky.

Due to the thickness of the paper (seriously, it is crazy thick, and feels waaay thicker than the 80gsm that it’s rated at), bleedthrough is nonexistant, and showthrough is just a whisper.

The paper is a bright white (even though the photos above might say otherwise) with medium blue lines in the graph version. I wish the lines were a tiny bit lighter, as they definitely make themselves apparent currently. I hear the lined and blank versions have cream paper, but I’ve never tried them.

Altogether I’m really enjoying this notebook for, well, taking notes. I’ve taken a liking to smaller notebooks as of late (because I can’t really change the size of my desks), and this one packs a lot into its small, completely unimprinted covers.

Really my biggest complaint is that this notebook is rather difficult to purchase as no US retailers currently carry it! Thankfully the great folks over at Banditapple let you order samples directly from them. Shipping is going to be from South Korea I believe though, so it’ll take a bit. Definitely worth the wait!

Pens used:

• Lamy Safari F nib w/ Iroshizuku Kon-Peki
• TWSBI 580 EF w/ Diamine Sunset
• Montblanc 144 M w/ Private Reserve Electric DC Blue
• Pilot Hi-Tec-C w/ 0.4mm Cherry Pink + Apple Green