This 15 × 12 cm journal holds 45 pages of handmade Lokta paper and was made in Nepal. Flowers built from pressed plant parts decorate the cream cover, with green, red and orange petals. The cover flap ties to a round button with a cord, and a slim wooden bookmark is tucked under the cord.
Paper from the bark of a Himalayan shrub
Lokta is a shrub that grows in the mountain forests of the Himalayas. Its bark is used for the paper: it is boiled, beaten to a pulp, spread onto a frame in water, and the sheets are dried in the sun. A cut shrub grows back within a few years. In Nepal, people have written on lokta paper for centuries, official documents included.
Lokta paper is valued for its durability and its distinctive fibrous surface. The pages are not perfectly smooth; run a finger over one and you can tell this is not machine-made paper.
Button, cord and wooden bookmark
The cover flap keeps the journal closed. Wind the cord around the button, and it will not fall open in your bag. Slip the wooden bookmark under the cord, or put it between the pages where you stopped writing.
A medium size that fits the hand
At 15 × 12 cm the journal sits comfortably in the hand and fits in a small bag. Use the blank, unlined pages for daily notes, a travel diary, recipes, or a record of what you sowed in the garden and when. It is good for sketching too.
Because of the pressed flowers, every cover is a little different, so yours will be one of a kind.