Map It, Graph It & Design It With Mead’s Quadrille Notebook
Written: Jun 10 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A great alternative to graph paper, perforated pages, 5 squares per inch
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: Crafter in need of graph paper? Charting the progress of an experiment? Need to get things organized? Mead Quadrille Notebooks are the solution to all of the above.
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| Freak369's Full Review: MEAD PRODUCTS Mead Quad Notebooks |
If this secret ever gets out my reputation of being a hard-core freak will be blown to pieces. I’m a cross-stitch freak. I got into doing the kits when I was pregnant with my first son and needed something to take my mind off the back pains I was having in the last trimester. Little did I know I’d get hooked on the kits and then started making my own patterns. If you’ve ever done cross-stitch you know how important it is to have a pattern that you can read easily so when I started to branch out and test my design skills on a blank canvas I knew I’d have to get graph paper to help me out. Over the years I’ve tried numerous brands including those made specifically for the cross-stitch designs but none of them really suited my needs for cross-stitching until I came across the Mead Quadrille Notebook. The biggest perk to this product is that it comes in a notebook form with perforated pages, you can work on various designs without having to worry about the papers getting scattered all over the place, lost or otherwise destroyed.
Mead Quadrille Notebook
This is standard sized quad or graph paper with five squares per inch, simply put one square inch will contain twenty five square – five across and five down. This might be a little too roomy for expert stichers but for me its just the right size. Outside of crafts, this is great for making rough sketches or when you need to create templates with sharp lines. My boys really like these notebooks since they – duh – are in notebook form and they can use it for charts, graphs and notes when they are on their field trips or at a day camp. Since they are standard sized they fit perfectly in their backpacks and are a great alternative to the smaller grid line index cards they use at home. The paper is thick enough to handle most pens, markers and gel pens but not so thick that cutting or bending it is a problem. I use a black gel pen on my designs after I work out most of it with a pencil, even after erasing large areas the paper is still smooth and accepts the ink without any bumps or ridges – something that you really want to avoid when working with a gel ink.
Unlike most notebooks that have the spine on the left size, this one is on the top which is a true godsend, no spine to get in the way when using a ruler so you can get a nice crisp line each and every time. There are two types of quad notebooks from Mead, one with a blank back page – perfect for notes – and one with the quad design on both sides of the paper. I have purchased both of them in the past and they are identical except for the backing pages. You won’t find any subject dividers or pockets in this so you’ll have to figure out some other way to store loose papers or pages. The perforated edge leaves the removed piece clean and free of paper nubs and the pieces that are left behind stay inside the spine but that doesn’t mean you won’t get a few strays from time to time.
Price
I’ll be completely honest here, these aren’t cheap but you are getting a top quality quad notebook suitable for homework, formulations, art projects and general crafting. If you are buying these one at a time you can pay anywhere from $2.99 to $4.99 for them depending on where you shop but, as usual, office supply stores usually have the best price. On the off chance that you find these in bulk – usually a three pack during the back to school sales – you can pick them up for about %5.99 to $7.99. Are they worth it? To me they are; the paper is heavy and great to work with, the perforated pages remove easily and the gridlines are fairly consistent. Sure there are other quad notebooks on the market that are cheaper but if you are going to invest the time into a project or taking good notes you might as well spend a little extra and get something that is going to keep up with you and not end up falling apart after a few weeks of heavy use.
The Bottom Line
For me, this is the only standard sized quad notebook I’ll buy. The smaller, junior sized ones are nice to have on hand for light sketches or when a design or idea hits you out of the blue but when it comes time to work out the details and refine things, you need space to work and a notebook that is going to be able to handle the workload. I have absolutely no qualms about paying extra for this notebook, I’ve gone through more than a handful of them over the years and my boys are creating their own little stack of used-but-not-ready-to-be-thrown-out notebooks of their own. For schoolwork this is an essential for those who are taking advanced math or science classes and need graph paper to work out problems, given that the pages are perforated you almost eliminate the chance of pages being lost, wrinkled or damaged. Be warned though, you’ll never be able to use that old excuse of “I lost my homework” again …
For more information about the Mead line of products, visit their site at: www.meadweb.com/cgi-bin/meadweb.storefront. There’s new item previews, great ideas for getting organized and if you are lucky, you’ll be able to catch a few of the interactive games!
As always, thanks for the read!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2004 Freak369
Related reviews …
• Mead Five-Star Notebooks • Roaring Spring Composition Notebooks •
• Avery Wirebound 1-Subject Notebook • Mead Standard Composition Books •
• Spiral Bound Index Cards • Spiral Bound Single-Subject Wide Rule Notebook •
Please note – the photo used on this page is incorrect, it shows the standard one subject Mead notebook, not the quadrille version. Also the price is inaccurate, if you can find these for $1.99 then you are getting a great deal.
Recommended:
Yes
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