Review of the Quo Vadis Habana Notebook Large

Recently I won a Quo Vadis Habana in the large size.  I've reviewed the Habana before (Past review of the Quo Vadis Habana) and this one is the same except for the size, so I won't go into as much detail. 

The paper is Clairefontaine French-milled paper, and lovely to work on.

I do like this size immensely--it's large enough that you have plenty of room to expand and explore, but small enough to fit on my scanner.  It's light for its size and I wouldn't hesitate to carry it around.  The ivory color adds elegance to any ink you add, but is close enough to white that colors stay true.



The pages lie flat. Usually with a hard-cover I need to fold the book back before the pages will lie completely flat, and in fact the Habana is so flexible you can fold it as though it were wirebound!
You just don't have to.

For my example page I started with Tim Holtz Distress stains-fluid water-based dye ink stains, rubbing the colors over most of the page.  These are very wet, but the page didn't dimple or curl, and there was no bleed-through.  For my line work I used a plethora of pens--a Bic Atlantic, a Zebra Zmulsion EX and Pilot B2P bottle ballpoints,  a Pentel Energel liquid gel pen and a Uniball Signo rollerball pen.

I also used Noodler's Australian Roses in Black Swan fountain pen ink.  I wanted it to be very wet so I loaded up a waterbrush.  It promptly leaked a huge blob onto the page, which made it very wet indeed, lol, and I succeeded in smearing it on myself, the next page and onto the table.  None of it bled-through though the page though!

The drying times for the inks were what I would consider average.  The Zmulsion EX and Energel, and Noodler's took several seconds and the others dried almost immediately.  

I fnished up with Lyra Rembrandt color pencils to burnish the ink stain colors and to add some bubble effects.   The highlights were done with a Pentel white Sunburst gel pen.

There was no bleed-through.  Where I layered heavily with the ballpoint pens there is some light show-through and dimpling from the impression.  I wouldn't hesitate to draw or write over it.

I had high expectations for this notebook, and I was not disappointed.  

Specs

Size: 8 1/4 x 11 3/4 (large) aka A6 aka 148 x 105 mm

No. of Pages: 160 Blank Pages (80 sheets)

Binding: Hardbound, Sewn

Paper: Clairefontaine

Paper Weight: 85g

Paper color: Ivory

Extras: Accordion Pocket, Elastic Band, Ribbon Bookmark, Rounded Corners, PEFC Certified Paper-acid & Chlorine free

Cover colors available: Black, Red, Anise Green & Raspberry

Other reviews: A Penchant for Paper, Plannerisms, Ink Nouveau.