Takeo Dressco Notebook Onionskin Large Pale Blue

The Takeo Dressco Notebook Onionskin Large light blue is a Japanese notebook that brings together three carefully coordinated paper types into a harmonious whole. At its heart is Kate Jo Onion Skin Pale Blue – a featherweight, blank paper with a characteristic, crêpe-like crinkled texture and a delicate, smoky blue tone. The cover in Pulper White with rough, natural cellulose texture and the endpapers in Arabelle-FS Slate Blue frame this interior with deliberate care.

Features

• Kate Jo Onion Skin Pale Blue – blank: The paper is thin, slightly translucent and features a fine, even crinkled texture. This texture creates a noticeable, slightly crispy feedback when writing – quite different from a smooth, calendered surface. The smoky light blue tone shimmers through all pages and gives the notebook its distinctive character.
• Pulper White cover: The rough, grainy surface of Pulper White is created by the deliberately visible cellulose. The result is a matt, natural cover that feels tactile and grounded – a conscious contrast to the delicate blue inside.
• Arabelle-FS Slate Blue endpapers: The Arabelle paper with its fine, soft surface texture forms the design transition between cover and main paper. The Slate Blue tone echoes the blue of the interior pages and visually connects both halves.
• Thread binding: The binding lies flat on the table, opens completely, and remains durable even with intensive use. Individual pages do not come loose unintentionally.
• 200 pages, blank: No grid, no ruling – the space is free for notes, sketches, lettering or freehand writing.

Use & Tips

• Pencil: On the crinkled texture of Onionskin paper, a pencil writes with pleasantly tactile feedback. The texture holds the graphite well without smudging.
• Ballpoint: Oil-based ballpoint refills flow smoothly across the paper and dry quickly. The texture is fine enough to produce clean lines.
• Fountain pen: The paper absorbs ink, but its thinness does show ghosting – the writing appears as a shadow through the reverse side. The paper works most reliably with dry, slow-flowing inks and fine to medium-width nibs. Wet inks and very broad nibs can cause stronger show-through.
• Lettering and calligraphy: The crinkled texture gives letters a lively, handmade quality. For precise calligraphy with a stub nib, a test run with your own ink is recommended.
• Sketching and tracing: The slight translucency of the paper is ideal for tracing templates – simply place it over a light source or a bright surface.

For Paper Enthusiasts

Onionskin paper was historically a working paper: thin, lightweight and robust enough for thick dictionaries, carbon copy documents and airmail letters where every gram counted. In Japan, machine production ceased in 2010. Takeo then searched for a suitable manufacturer, conducted sample trials and relaunched the Kate Jo Onion Skin in 2020. The Pale Blue was developed in autumn 2023 as a Takeo proprietary design and is not archival – the smoky colour is based on the paper's own colouring, not a coating.

Technical Specifications