REVIEW: Hahnemühle 1584 Notebook

Since 1584, Hahnemühle has used experience, innovation and high-quality materials to create art papers. They have introduced a Stationery FineArt product line and this year’s offering is the Hahnemühle 1584 notebook.

The textured, cloth-bound hardcovers, three color-coordinated marker ribbons and elastic bands make it a beautiful book. Filled with both dot-grid and plain colored paper, it’s a pleasure to work in.

Hahnemühle 1584 Notebook Specs

• Size: 5.83 x 8.27 in /A5
• No. of Pages: 100 sheets/200 pages
• 80 sheets/160 pages of dot grid, 90 gsm
• 20 sheets/40 pages of blank purple paper, 100 gsm
• Cover: Hardback
• Binding: Sewn
• Extras: Three marker ribbons, Elastic band
• Available Colors: Lilac (Shown here), Peach and Sea Green

I’m reviewing the Lilac version.

Video

1584 Notebook Look and Feel

The cover is more finely-grained than it looks in my photo. It’s a neutral gray that coordinates well with the lilac elastic band and papers. It’s clothbound but has a textured feel. It makes me think of stone, almost rough, but smooth enough to be pleasant to the touch.

The corners are squared and the edges of the cover overlap the body of the paper. The elastic band is color coordinated to the color of the book.

The dots are a faint gray – so faint that I had a difficult time getting them to show on scan or photo and had to do a closeup so they would show here. They provide a guide while writing or drawing, but fade to eye so they don’t interfere with the finished work. On the other hand, some people will find them hard to see.

Dot grids are great for bullet journaling, writing of any kind, and figuring out perspective and proportions in your sketches.

It’s a nice paper to write on. It’s smooth, hard-surfaced and just slightly slick. Every pen I used moved across the page without skipping and without smudging.

What really makes the book stand out is the section of blank lilac paper nestled between sections of white dot grid paper. There are:

• 40 sheets of dot grid
• 20 sheets of blank lilac paper
• 40 sheets of dot grid

The dot grid is 90 gsm while the lilac is 100 gsm. The lilac has a slightly different feel, less slick.

I’ll be using this lilac paper for sketching (well, to be fair, I’ll probably use the whole book for sketching). I love toned paper and this lilac screams for colored inks.

The elastic band is inset into the back and is hidden on the inside by the lilac end-papers. The only ornamentation on the book is the 1584 embossed at the bottom of the back cover.

There are three bookmark ribbons to help you keep track of the items you find most important in your book.

This book is very tactile in feel. The covers, ribbons and elastic band all have a slight texture which contrasts with the smooth, almost slick feel of the paper.  In Hahnemühle’s blurb, it is described as feminine. I’m not quite sure I agree with that.  There are people who don’t like color in their notebooks, especially for the office, but I think it is useful for organizing notes and charts.  The color is more of a highlight, and the gray is very neutral.

Performance

Even though the paper feels slick to the touch, and pens do glide across the page, it is absorbent enough that ink and paint dry quickly and I had no trouble with either smudging or skipping (and I’m a lefty).

Bleed-through was about average. The permanent pen with alcohol ink bleeds through everything but 300 lb. and paper with surface sizing for such ink. The circles where I saturated the color had specks of bleed-through. Surprisingly the watercolor didn’t bleed-through at all.

There was more show-through than I expected. It isn’t enough show-through to bother me; I’d write on the back of the page. I know that some people would find it to be too much.

My favorite use for a dot-grid paper is doing step-outs like this one. The grid helps with drawing the squares for each step. When you are doing a step-out, you have to draw several elements (the horns, the face, etc) over and over. Keeping the elements approximately the same size and in the same place is difficult for me – I tend to be a messy inker. The dots helped immensely.

While, I want some parts of my step-out to be as exact as possible, I want to go wild elsewhere as in the optional area. When I’m doing those illustrations, it is easy to ignore the dots.

I pulled out my Sarasa Clip Pens and went crazy on the Lilac paper. Opaque colors POP on these pages.

When I started my Leaf Sheep step-out, I goofed up on the fifth step (alll-most had it, darn it!). I decided I’d do a ‘save’ on it. A good test and one of my favorite things to do.

I took a technical pen and scribbled all over the page. I had carved a leaf sheep stamp earlier and I loaded it with watercolor and stamped in a couple of places (around the chest and legs area).

Starting with watercolor, and leaving the shape of the hippo unpainted, I blended colors all over the page, getting it wet enough in areas to puddle. Then, with the brush almost out of paint, I dry-brushed color over most of the hippo.

Once that dried, I added gouache fresh from the tube to add the flowers (mostly to hide the step-out drawings) and to add the ripples in the water.

There was some dimpling in the paper, but it shows on the back and not the front. The texture of the paper changed (again, to be expected with this kind of paper). It feels rougher and makes a crackling sound when you turn the page. I actually love that sound and drive my husband crazy by flipping the page back and forth so I can hear it, lol.

Another project that I worked on was for a postcard painting of a Golden Snub-Nose Monkey. The BBC channel had been advertising one of their beautiful documentaries, and the trailer included one of these guys. Hubby kept asking me for a painting of one.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a good reference photo that was free to use, so I had to figure out how to draw one freehand.

Looking at several photos online, I did a study of the overall shapes and proportions and …

… then I did a study of head and face. The finished work was done on a postcard so I won’t show it here.

Hahnemühle 1584 Notebook Overall

Although manufacturing methods have changed since 1584, Hahnemühle is still producing fine papers. The 1584 notebook is an elegant offering, tactile to the touch and a joy to use. The look is elegant and it is pleasant to hold in the hand.

The book has 100 sheets/200 pages altogether. There is a section of lilac-colored paper nestled between sections of dot-grid paper.

The paper does have enough bleed-through and show-through – I would take care not to use mediums that are too wet – dryer fountain pens, inks, and light watercolor washes are fine. Technical pens, gel pens, pencils, water-based markers all work well. I had no problem with smudging or skipping.

The dots might be too light for those with poor eyesight, but for most they are just dark enough to guide when needed and light enough to fade away when they are not.

Opaque colors really pop on the lilac paper.

You can find the Hahnemühle 1584 at:

• Opus in Canada
• Wet Paint Artists’ Materials & Framing
• Paul’s Photo – California, U.S.
• Looking Glass Photo – California, U.S.

Other tools Used in this Review:

• Zebra Zensations Technical Pens
• Zebra Sarasa Clip 0.5mm Ballpoint Pen, 8 Color Set
• Zebra Pen Metallic Brush Pen 
• Zebra Pen Zensations Sarasa Fineliner Pen
• Zebra Pen Zensations Fountain Pen, Fine Point
• Zebra Zensations Mechanical Colored Pencils, 2.0mm Point Size, Assorted Colored Lead, 24-Count
• Zebra Pen Zensations Sarasa Fineliner Pen
• Zebra 54012 Stainless Steel Mechanical Pencil
• Zebra PM-701 Stainless Steel Permanent Marker 
• TWSBI ECO Fountain Pen White B Nib
• Cornaline d’Egypte Fountain Pen Ink
• DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Watercolor 15ml Paint Tube, Quinacridone, Gold
• Princeton Travel Brush, Neptune, Series 4750, Round, Size 8

Disclaimer:

Hahnemühle sent me a copy of both the 1584 Notebook for the purposes of this review. I received no other considerations, though this post may contain affiliate links which help support Doodlewash. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.

Sandra Strait

I’m a self-taught artist who dances about with all sorts of artistic mediums. My main loves are Watercolor, Zentangle and Ballpoint pen. The subjects of my work are many and varied and change at whim. I’m a little bit crazy, but doesn’t that come with being an artist? At my Life Imitates Doodles Blog, I post a list of resource links for Tangles, Tutorials and Giveaways three times a week. I also write reviews, hold giveaways and share my art work.

See author's posts