Ellen Dudley of Revolver Bound Books (watch the video of how it works), was kind enough to send me a journal for review.
The journal itself is a mystery. There are two covers, two sets of pages, and the covers move much like the Jacob’s ladder toy. One set of pages is lined, one set is plain. Because I keep a raw-art- journal and a list of to-do tasks, notes, and phone numbers, it seemed like a good idea.
Revolver cover with instruction band in place.
Using the journal is no mystery. This one has a black cover. The cover is made by Ecological Fibers and feels like sturdy, water-proof plastic. The pages are 100 percent recycled paper. It seems to have two spines, but one is a magnetic flap. That was a surprise for me. More on magnets in a minute. You find the place on the flap/spine that has “Revolver” in silver script, and open the book.
Revolver journal open.
Inside are two paper journals each with 64 pages. Each is stitched on the long side and lies flat when opened. This is a must for me, and I was glad to see it. The paper is smooth and white. Both the lines and unlined are the same weight. The images here show tinges of browns and blues, but that’s a trick of the lighting. All the pages are crisp, bright white.
You can continue to turn the book inside out and create the other cover. But you can also open the book flat and work on both sides.
The journal open with both journal-parts showing.
If you want to work only on one side or another, you can do that by flipping the book over and use just one flat side at a time. I found that to be a delight. When you are taking notes in a meeting, you don’t take up a lot of table space, and your notes are private.
Both journals are permanently attached to the cover. There are no refills, you start a new journal when you finish one of the journals. You may have to carry two journals at the same time. I do that anyway, so that wouldn’t slow me down.
You can turn the book over to rotate covers. Here is where I ran into a bit of trouble. I’m left-handed and got a bit confused. The way around that is to write on the first pages of each of the journals, distinguishing them and giving an orientation to each book.
Flipping the journal inside out. Note that all pages are bright white, the color shift is due to the camera and lighting, not the journals.
The book flips easily, and stays shut firmly with the magnetic closure. And that brings up the problem for me. Magnets wipe out hotel keys, metro cards, and cause trouble for some iPhones, mine among those. Magnets are not good around old-fashioned floppy disks, thumb drives, and other computer storage devices.
Because I visit clients and carry one bag, I can’t put this journal in my bag along with thumb drives, my iPhone, and a hotel keycard. For journalers who don’t carry hotel keys or metro cards and other pre-paid- and ATM cards and iPhones in a briefcase, there is no problem.
The paper works well with most writing instruments. I wrote on both the lined and unlined sides with a Sharpie pen (no bleed, no mark-through), a fountain pen (no feathering or bleeding), a pencil (no smearing), and a roller ball. The roller ball did not bleed through, but I wouldn’t write on both sides of the page with a roller ball.
On the drawing side, I used the same instruments with the same result. Then I added the drawing inks made by
The silver side of the black covered journal.
Smooch–the brightly colored, thick-bodied decorative inks. They did bleed through. So did the Sharpie permanent marker–not the stick pen, the heavier marker. Neither one leaked onto the third page, however. The marker is a test for the toughest journals–I’ve never tried one that a Sharpie marker won’t soak through.
I also used watercolor pencils and used a travel water-pen with it. The page buckled when wet, and the back side of the paper did remain buckled after the drawing dried. Again, whether this is a drawback or something that’s expected with watercolor is up to you to decide.
The cut on the cover is the magic that helps the spine flip and the color of the cover become visible. It’s clever and handy and well-made. No elastic necessary, and the idea of two journals–one lined and one unlined solves a lot of problems from to-do lists to sketching.
—Quinn McDonald is a life- and certified creativity coach. She teaches people how to write and give presentations. She also teaches people who can’t draw how to keep an art journal.
Ah, well. Thanks for the response. I was wondering if it kept being useful, or got annoying once the neatness of the gimmick had worn off. Maybe I’ll just have to try one out myself.
And yes, magnets are definitely bad for cards of any sort with magnetic strips on them. Wouldn’t know about the iPhone, although with the direction switching problem, I could see how a magnet would mess with the phones’ accelerometer… Having a look at the video, it looks like they’re using quite strong magnets, too.
I love the journal because I can keep a to-do list as well as journal entries. I am a bit 3-D challenged and so have to fuss more than other people would. The paper is good for writing and sktechiing. It’s convenient to take along. There are many pluses to the journal and I’d encourage people to try it; but after I discovered the magnet problem I banned all magnets from my office. I’m not smart enough to keep a device on my desk but not in my bag. So the book is on the shelf, and wows visitors. And I use the to-do list aspect.
Hello, excuse this late comment, but to allay some of your concerns – CDs and DVDs are optical media, and as such unaffected by magnets.
Sounds like a fascinating product, nonetheless. Are you still using it? How well does the binding stand up to prolonged use?
People are commenting on some of my posts I wrote nearly three years ago, so you are certainly not late! Many kind people have explained to me what you have, and have also told me my iPhone can’t be bothered by magnets. And yet, that is exactly what happens. I’ve run extensive experiments to find out what the problem is, and it’s a magnet. Specifically, I’ve had hotel keys wiped out, my iPhone pictures disturbed, the abililty for it to switch from horizontal to vertical messed up, and my metro card emptied. Too bad it’s never been filled up! I love the journal but I keep it on a shelf, and use it seldom because of the magnet, so I can’t tell about the hard wear.