5 Ideas for Best Bullet Journal Supplies
Exciting news from The Ink Pot HQ! We have just been featured in Prima Magazine! You can check out its newly published ‘BRILLIANT BULLET JOURNAL IDEAS FOR BEGINNERS’, which is helpful for anyone wanting to start a bullet journal. It includes some handy tips and suggestions from us, and others.
Looking through the guide we thought you might be interested if we took a deeper dive into the topic, particularly addressing the question we are always asked: “what are the best bullet journal supplies for starting, or making a journaling / notebook experience even better."
There are already some great ideas outlined in the Prima guide, but here is more information about what we recommend….and why.
What types of pens are best for journaling?
Journaling is a very personal thing. Everyone has their own aesthetic journal ideas and you can make it as simple or as artistic and complex as you want. The key to successful journaling is creating a system that works for you.
This includes finding pens and pencils that you feel most comfortable using and that create the finished look you are seeking.
The best place to start is to find really good black pens or black pencils. Our personal preference is to use gel pens or Pigma Microns as they always glide smoothly across the page. They can be used for every element of your journaling – from simple note taking and diary management to detailed drawings and shading.
Our favourite black pens are gelly roll pens from Sakura, or a microns pen. These have fine tips, so are incredibly versatile for creating your perfect journaling aesthetic.
What pens would you recommend someone keeps in their craft kit for journaling?
It depends entirely on what type of dotted notebook you buy; whether you pick a5 journals or a lined journal, and how you choose to use it.
Personally, we are big fans of colour! You can choose an a5 notebook that has a mixture of black paper, brown kraft paper and white paper, on which colourful pens look particularly amazing and fun.
Our craft kit always includes colourful Sakura gelly roll pens – for the fine detail work. They come in all shades; so whether you are looking for a gold pen, a neon pen or pastel pens, you’ll find something that ticks all your design dreams. Oh yes, a final tip, we never forget to have gelly roll white pens to hand – as these are great for covering up mistakes.
For quick colouring and drawing we suggest brightly hued thicker brush pens, like the Tombow brush pens and Ecoline and Koi brush pens.
Just make sure that your luxury notebook has premier paper – as there’s nothing worse than using a journal where you see ink bleeding and ghosting through to the other side of the paper.
For anyone who prefers pencils to pens, faber castell pencils are perfect – they come in every colour imaginable.
The next item in our kit is a ruler, for creating straight lines. Some people are amazing at drawing free-hand lines….we’re not!
Then we’d also recommend some glue, just in case you make an horrendous mistake and wish to cover it with paper, or even stick pages together to hide big errors. Sakura Quickie Glue is great for this. However, at The Ink Pot we always encourage everyone to embrace any mistakes and not worry about keeping your journal pages perfect. After all, journaling is a process.
Finally, we like to us a paper clip for keeping pages together, or marking important places in our journal. The cute designs by Midori always put a smile on our faces.
Do different pens have different uses/purposes?
YES! The joy of a bullet journal is filling it in whatever way brings you most joy.
From fine tipped pens and pencils and metallic pens, to thick black brush pens, or pens in every shade of the rainbow, it’s all about building a kit that helps you create the finished look of your dreams.
And the good news is that it’s so much fun experimenting along the way!
Why is washi tape a bullet journal essential – how do people use it in their journals?
The thing about washi tape is that whilst it may not be essential, it really can add to your journaling experience.
The first big plus point is that it sticks anywhere, yet it can also be removed without any effort, or leaving any marks, which makes it so versatile.
In addition, you can use to visually enhance your bullet journal themes: from sectioning a page or covering any mistakes, to making it the focus of your overall page design.
Many of our customers love creating a particular colour scheme in their a5 notebook, matching their pens and washi tapes in co-ordinating colours. The joy of washi tape is that it comes in so many colours and styles, including glitter tape or gold tape and a wide assortment of seasonal patterns. It’s great fun to play around with.
Finally, when you're choosing a journal what should you look for?
As we said in the Prima article – find a journal that you absolutely love, because you will be looking at it every day! Whether you want an a5 dotted notebook, a b5 size, or lined journals, choose something that sparks joy every time you see it….one that will continue to look good even after a great deal of use.
Paper quality is also crucial – after all, who wants to see what they’ve written or drawn on one side, bleed through to the other. This would render half your notebook unusable. It’s why each Ink Pot personalised bullet journal has 160gsm paper.
We hope these tips are helpful, especially with the new year looming. And, for those who haven’t yet tried bullet journaling….all we can say is, what’s stopping you?