Baron Fig Askew
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The Baron Fig Askew-it's a polarizing notebook. You love it or you hate it, let's look at why. The Askew is one of the limited editions of the Confidant notebook.
Baron Fig is a brand that started on Kickstarter. Their office is in New York, where they design their products, but their products are made in different countries. The Confidant (Askew version as well) are made in Taiwan, China, Portugal, and Germany. You can find this notebook on Baron Fig's website, here.
The box the Askew comes in is a great way to store the notebook.
The Askew opens flat, with the cover in "Blue pen blue." It has a red bookmark that matches some of the lines on the pages. Yes, I already spilled some ink on the cover. One downside to this book is that it's easily stained.
The notebook is the standard Confidant Flagship size, 5.4"x7.7". There are 12 perforated pages at the end of the book, and 192 pages.
The paper is where this edition differs from the classic Confidant. Every line on the page is hand drawn, designed by Debbie Millman. The paper seems thicker than the regular Confidant, even though Baron Fig's website states that all of the Confidants have 90gsm paper. The lines mimic the classic notebook paper, with the red margin line and the blue horizontal lines. Some of the pages look like slightly crazy notebook paper, and others look completely wonky, but that makes it fun.
Here are a few of the fountain pens I have currently inked up. There is no bleeding, feathering, and low show through.
The paper handles the fountain pen ink swabs really well. There is no bleeding, and the paper shows the shimmer, and some of the shading, however it does not show sheen.
Here are the pens I have sitting on my desk. The paper handles everything wonderfully, except the Prismacolor Premier marker and the Sharpie marker. This paper felt amazing with the pencils, especially the Blackwing 602.
On the left is the Askew edition, and on the right is the standard Confidant. The ink looks better, less washed out on the Askew.
This is the back of the Epinard ink test. The left shows the Askew and the right shows the standard Confidant. The Askew shows low show through and no bleeding, while the regular Confidant shows high show through and bleed through.
Overall I prefer the Askew over the standard Confidant. The paper is thicker and more fountain pen friendly. I've come to love the crazy lines. I do think it is a nonstandard Confidant, and as such, I'm not sure it should be included in the Confidant subscription. I loved fountain pens on this paper, as well as pencils, especially the Blackwing 602. I think it's worth a try before they sell out.
Disclaimer: I purchased this notebook myself, and all opinions are my own. Below you can find a link to the Blackwing 602 pencils on Amazon.
