The Well-Appointed Desk

On App.net yesterday, there were some conversations about the Moleskine Postal Notes so I thought I’d mention them here. I know Moleskine takes a lot of ribbing from the paper elite but they do make some beautiful albeit not-all-that-fountain-pen-friendly products.

First, there are the postal notes. They are available as a note card or as a notebook. Both versions come in the small 3.5″ x 5.5″ size and the larger 4.5″ x 6.75″ size. The note card is a card stock cover with a one-page signature which is stitched into place with thread to coordinate with the cover and comes with an envelope for mailing. The postal notebook is an 8-page signature self-mailer. The covers have additional flaps that fold over the seal with a sticker making it look like an envelope. They have been available since 2012 in six deep tones– kraft, maize, light grey, terracotta, navy and red– but this year, they’ve introduced the postal notes in pastel hues as well. Prices range from $3.95 to $7.95.

In other Moleskine news, the new 2013-2014 “academic year” planners are now available. If you did not start a new planner in January and want to jump start your organization mid-year, the academic calendars are a great way to get started. They start on July 1 and go through 18 months. There is a new “turntable” design which is a more open format planning method. Dates are at the bottom of the page, at an angle, and the rest of the page is open allowing the user to use the spaces vertically or horizontally depending on the kind of week you might be having.

The Turntable 18-month planner is available in the small (3.5″ x 5.5″) size and the large (4.5″x 6.75″) size as well in a rainbow of colors as well as special Star Wars and Peanuts editions. The planners are available through Notemaker and other fine online retailers.

And finally, Moleskine is now selling covers to protect your iPhone, iPad and tablets which includes a volante-style reporter notebook on the left hand side of the case and a place to secure your digital device on the right. Prices start at $39.95 for a Kindle 2 case and go up to $89.95 for an iPad 3/4 case which is available in classic black or an array of cheery colors.

(shout out to our friends at Notemaker for the tip)

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Ask The Desk: Stationery

AnaJune 4, 20133 Comments

Yesterday on Twitter Roxtime asked

Where do you buy writing paper?

When she asked, I had just posted a photo of my outgoing mail on Instagram so I assumed she meant stationery rather than bound notebooks and the like.

There are lots of lovely options for stationery and writing paper but, like notebooks, each option has its own set of criteria, costs and advantages. I hope to cover a few but please leave comments and questions if I missed something.

If you’re looking, first and foremost, for paper for fountain pens then I would recommend purchasing Original Crown Mill ($9 for a pad of 100 half-sheets) or G. Lalo ($12 for 50 half-sheet pad) paper and envelopes ($9-$14.50 for pack of 25), both available at Goulet Pens and other fine shops that sell fountain pens and stationery.

Paper Source sells full 8.5″x11″ sheets of paper (a 10-pack is about $2.50 though I’d avoid the metallics which tend to resist ink more so than plain paper) in packs and could be cut in half for a more classic letter size in an array of colors. Not of all the paper will be great for fountain pens but its a small investment and most papers should work well with other sorts of writing tools like gel ink pens, ballpoint or rollerball. Or you could order paper directly from a paper company like French Paper — straight from the source.

If you’re feeling particularly decadent, you could purchase some of Smythson’s fine writing paper ($25 for 50 sheets) Crane and Co. carries letter sheets, some can be personalized as well but this is not an inexpensive option.

If you’re looking for flat cards, Greer Chicago carries some Original Crown Mill and G. Lalo card sets with tissue-lined envelopes and deckle edges — quite sumptuous! The Vickerey also sells a lot of European style notecard sets.

If what you’re wanting is something with decorative designs on it, first I’d recommend Rifle Paper Co. They have some lovely stationery sets and various flat and folded notecards. Chronicle Books also carries lots of paper sets and blank notecards with a wide array of designs. The paper is not always the best for fountain pens, if that’s a concern but the sets are lovely and often come with stickers to seal or use to address your envelopes.

If you still haven’t found what you’re looking for I’d recommend heading to Etsy. Some of the great options I found were letterpress lined papers from Ilfant Press, playful letter sets from La Paperie, and lots of vintage stationery and letter sets. Just do a search for “vintage writing paper” or “vintage letter sets” and you should find lots of options to choose from.

And finally, if you’ve decided to go with a plain paper option but would still like to add some flourish to it, you can look about the internet for downloadable PDF files that you could copy onto your stationery. I would recommend copying one sheet first and testing to make sure that the copier did not coat your paper in fuser oil of other ink resistant goo before copying onto all of your lovely paper. A great example of well-designed, free downloadable stationery is from How About Orange (show above).

The recent Uppercase Stationery Guide is a great resource for finding a stationery shop or custom printer near you.

(shoutout to Letter Writers Alliance for the Uppercase Stationery Guide tip)

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My Favorite Dymo: The M-6

AnaJune 3, 20135 Comments

I collect Dymo tape labellers with the same enthusiasm that I collect other desk accessories. I have a whole plastic bin full of tape labellers, mostly Dymo brand though occasionally I’ll stumble across a store brand or off-brand. They all take the same 3/8″ labels though some will also accept the harder-to-find 1/4″ label tapes.

My favorite of them all is a Dymo M-6 which came with two different removeable type discs: one in the classic blocky letters and one in a lowercase script. Did I mention the labeller is green? Why yes it is one of the items on the “if the house is burning down and the family is safe, I’d grab” list.

I’ve seen other discs that can be used with this Dymo on the internet but have yet to find any I could purchase. Yet another collection to grow!

I also have a label tape collection. My favorite is the wood grain which is running dangerously low and the cloth tape for labelling clothes on top. I want to get some of the metal tape to use with my larger industrial Dymo.

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Solutions for Whiteboard Clean-Up

AnaJune 3, 2013Leave a comment

babywipe-demo

Does you whiteboard eraser work poorly and leave you with ghosted writing from your previous notes, meeting or brainstorm? I know ours sure did until one of my clever co-workers grabbed a baby wipe in an effort to clean off the whiteboard. Lo and behold, the whiteboard was completely spotless and looked brand new. We use unscented baby wipes with moisturizers, to my co-worker’s point, “When I have to wipe off as many whiteboards, as often as I do, I want my hands moisturized.”

babywipes2

Our only tip is to wait a couple minutes for the board to dry a little but we have a theory that the moisturizers and whatnot in the wipes actually make the board easier to write on rather over water on a paper towel.

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Review: Midori Traveler Star Edition

AnaJune 1, 2013Leave a comment

I heard about the release of the Midori Traveler’s Notebook Star Edition on the first anniversary of my trip to Hong Kong so I was particularly nostalgic about this special edition. To add to my sentimentality, I also rode on the Star Ferry several times while I was in Hong Kong so this kit meant something to me personally. The Star Edition collection includes a lot of additional accessories beyond just the leather notebook cover and I took this opportunity to indulge in purchasing just about the entire kit. There is Star Edition washi tapes, a passport-style Star Ferry stamp, a bullet pen, Star Ferry-themed sticker set, a special Star Ferry notebook refill and charms designed for the theme. I purchased the life buoy charm but there is also a brass plate charm available as well. The only thing I didn’t indulge in was the die cut brass paper clips in the shape of the Star Ferry.

Tucked inside the kit is one free ride on the Star Ferry coupon but as I mentioned before, the cost for a ride across the harbor is less than a dollar so I would rather keep the coupon with its gold foil accents as a momento.

The leather notebook cover is a warm brown color with a green elastic closure though the kit came with an extra brown elastic. Needless to say the green elastic is perfect for me. The leather is thick but flexible and feels quote durable. The cover will show scratches and nicks but it adds an interesting patina to the cover that will probably become more enjoyable over time. There is one brown cord bookmark attached to the cover itself (you can see the knotted end on the lower left corner of the photo above).

On the back of the cover is stamped the details of this notebook being a special edition. I also added the life buoy charm to it and left the ties hanging down like an extra bookmark. I’m still trying to figure out the best way to attach the charm as the cord is woven around the buoy.

Inside, the special custom notebook features a gold foil stamped cover on green linen cardstock. Inside, the book includes history and information about the Star Ferry Company. It would be a great place to include ticket stubs and travel momentos from Hong Kong but I’m not sure I’d blemish this notebook with everyday grocery lists and to-dos so I also purchased a couple of the notebook refills in plain paper and lined. I have yet to purchased the higher end MD refills but I might add that to my list soon.

I was curious if the “passport size” really was passport sized and if the cover could be repurposed as a passport cover and, lo and behold, it is exactly passport sized. Now you know.

Next I wanted to compare the Traveler passport notebook to the Field Notes. I’ve heard some people suggest that they refill Traveler with a Field Notes but I found that I could not fit the Field Notes in the book as it is about an inch too tall. The refills for this notebook are held into place by an elastic down the spine. Just open a notebook and slip half the pages onto one side of the elastic and half on the other to secure it. There would be no way to squeeze a Field Notes into it without damaging either the spine and elastic of the cover or cutting or damaging the Field Notes to get it to fit.

I have a larger Pelle Journal which has elastics to hold up to three notebooks inside. The passport sized Midori Traveler’s Notebook appears to only hold one notebook which is a bit of a disappointment for me.I used my Pelle while traveling in Hong Kong and China last year and liked having a lined paper insert for notes and a plain paper insert for sketching and a place to collect paper ephemera from the trip. (Correction: I found a tutorial to add more than one notebook insert to the Traveler Notebooks. Duh!)

Of course, the final test is how the paper in the refills actually performs. Since the notebook itself is quite small (3.5″ x 4.5″), I was not inclined to use a wide writing implement. As it is with my small writing, I could only comfortably fit about six words per line so all the tools I chose to test were fine line gel pens, pencil or a very fine line fountain pen.

What is surprising is that the paper feels very thin, comparable to the weight of a Moleskine but performs much better than Moleskine. There was show through on the reverse of the paper but no bleed through. The Ohto Graphic Liner left the most noticeable show through but for as thin as the paper is, I expected much worse. I will definitely try the higher quality MD paper refills to see if it stands up better to fountain pens.

I am not inclined to like ballpoint pens in general so I was quite surprised to discover that I had accidentally ordered the Star Edition bullet pen. I thought I was ordering a pencil. When I opened the package though, I discovered what a fine point this ballpoint had and was pleasantly surprised. I’ll include a more thorough review of the Midori Bullet Pen in the future but if you like this compact size and a razor-fine tip you may want to seek out one of the Midori ballpoint pens. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised too.

The whole kit was quite a treat and made me a little nostalgic for my epic trip, especially since the time I spent in Hong Kong was my favorite part of the whole, exhausting journey. I don’t know if anyone else would get the same enjoyment out of the Star Edition kit that I did unless you live or visit Hong Kong. As this was my first purchase of an actual Midori Traveler’s Notebook, I will admit that its lived up to its hype. The attention to detail makes it a lovely gift and the quality of the materials makes it quite useable for the long haul.

For other reviews, check out:

(I purchased the Midori Traveler’s Notebook Star Edition from Resor Shop who kindly included extra stickers and stamps as a kindness to the delay in shipping that many encountered as a result of delays from Midori. It was unnecessary but wholly enjoyed. Resor packages their orders beautifully and kept me well-informed throughout the shipping process. If you are looking to buy Midori Traveler’s products in the US, I highly recommend them.)

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The Search for the Perfect Green Pen Continues…

AnaJune 1, 20136 Comments

It will come as no surprise to anyone that green is my favorite color and I will always order a new green pen when I place an order online or see a brand or shade I don’t own in a shop. I haven’t bought a ton of green fountain pen inks but just give me a little time, I’m sure I will.

That said, I thought I would share my latest compare and contrast in the area of green gel pens (with a few other varieties thrown in for kicks). I’ve done this before but my collection has clearly grown over the past year or so.

I did not have room to include the specific shades of green in my handwritten sample but they all tend to be labelled either “green” or some shade leaning into the lime green, apple green or something else with the word “green” in the name. I do think that the new UniBall Signo RT1 0.38 is going to become one of my favorites. I like the yellow greens but they sometimes get too pale and hard to see, especially on lined paper.I have noticed that with some of the colors, going up from an 0.3/0.4 size to a 0.5 makes the color easier to use since it lays down a bit more ink making it a bit more readable.

What amazes me is how much variety the manufacturers can create with these colors. Its what keeps me trying new ones.

I’m starting to developing an equally large collection of blue-black pens too. Does anyone else buy every brand in their favorite color? If so, what your go-to color?

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Bluetiful Desks

AnaMay 31, 2013Leave a comment

From aqua to navy, blue is a soothing color and a great backdrop for those shiny silver and black computers we all use. I have collected, from all over the internet, an array of bluetiful desks from tres feminine to manly and retro.

RS_Duneier-Blue-Ladies-Sitting-Room-Desk-Chair_s3x4_lg — (via HGTV Remodels)

Do you prefer a natural work surface or would you consider using getting a can of paint and having a more whimsical desk? If not blue, what color would you choose?