How To Use Your LOCHBY Refills: A Quick Guide
Here's another question that we get a lot of around here: how do I use my LOCHBY refills?
Our refills are made with acid-free, 68 gsm Tomoe River paper—renowned across the fountain pen community and beyond as fountain pen-friendly paper—with five varieties to choose from for the Field Journal version, and three for the Pocket Journal version. Each one can be used any which way you want, of course—but what are some of the common uses?
For a lot of avid journalers, writers, artists, planners, bujo enthusiasts, trackers, and so on, we already have our preferences and it's easy to pick out which refill to use for what purpose. But for everyone else new to going analog for the above purposes and more, or perhaps simply returning to these practices—welcome back by the way!—this one's for you! The rest of us can still take a look to see if there's something we haven't tried that we might want to of course.
Without further ado, let's quickly answer this question one refill at a time!
Ruled & Wide Ruled Refills
If you're looking for something simple and straightforward for your writing needs, then the Ruled or Wide Ruled are the refills for you. They have a 2mm difference which is good to know if the space between horizontal lines is important to you. Other than that, they're similar. You can use them for:
- Journaling
- Notes
- Lists
- Other writing
The lines are really useful as a guide if you're not really going to do anything else than use text alone. Otherwise, the lines can be restricting just because they can get in the way of, say, doodling or sketching.
Dot Grid Refill
This one's a favorite by a lot of people! Compared to the Ruled, the Dot Grid provides more freedom while providing a guide at the same time by way of the dots, as you write, sketch, doodle, or create tables and lines.
You can use it for:
- Habit tracking
- Bullet journaling
- Calligraphy/handwriting
- Calendar/planner
- Sketching/doodling
It's also easier to create lines and tables just in case you don't have a ruler (or anything that could substitute as one) around! Just connect the dots and you're all good. Here's a video of how you can use the Dot Grid refill as a habit tracker.
The reason Dot Grid is preferred by many goes back to how it's not as restrictive but doesn't leave you with a blank page either. It's great when you're practicing handwriting or sketching and doodling because of the dots, at which point you can move on to the next refill on our list once you've got the hang of things if you so prefer.
Plain Refill
If you want complete freedom to write, draw, and create as you wish, then your number one choice is the Plain refill. With all that blank page, you can do absolutely anything that you would do with other refills but, this time, it's completely made by you from the ground up, every dot and line and shape.
You can use it for:
- Drawings and sketches
- Junk journaling
- Calligraphy/handwriting
The great thing about all the white space is that it's waiting to be filled by whatever you want. Washi tape? Other ephemera? Fountain pen ink? Watercolor? Text? Photos? You name it, you can put it there.
Planner Refill
This one is a more recent addition to our refill lineup. The Planner provides you with 6 monthly spreads and 26 weekly spreads and what truly sets it apart from other planners is how it only has the days of the week filled in. But so what?
This means it can be May of this year and you can still use it—no paper wasted! You don't have to wait until the beginning of the year to start on your planner because you can do it anytime: just fill out the month and dates to your liking.
The Planner refill can be a useful addition along with your other refills if you want a dedicated one to get a bird's eye view of what's ahead on a weekly and monthly basis. Just mark which page you're in using one of two grosgrain ribbons in your Field Journal.
