Expensive Notebooks & Journals

[KrazyIvan]

I used to be scared of expensive journals. Now, I just think they're expensive.

[Gloucesterman]

To all,

regardless of the money spent on a book or paper, it is my opinion, not humble at all, that the true Value is determined by what YOU PUT ON the pages. As to the Cost, the True Cost is that which is of value that you fail to put on the pages!

 

And finally, how do we know, from our limited perspective, the full VALUE of what each of us has to offer?

 

Sid

[Sailor Kenshin]

I was just reading the Epica thread, and was wondering about journals that cost upwards of $150. I've been given a couple of journals like that as gifts, and found that, despite my firmest resolve and best intentions, I CANNOT bring myself to write anything in them. (I'm lying a little - I did once write my name and address on the flyleaf of one. But that was as far as it went.)

 

I have no trouble writing in other notebooks, though my comfort level in writing is inversely proportional to the price. I usually use composition notebooks with Brazilian paper, or the Staples Bagasse spiral-bound notebooks. Both are fountain-pen friendly. I buy them when they're on sale during the summer, and have paid as little as ten cents apiece for the composition notebooks. I fill these rapidly, mostly with unmitigated emphaloskeptic garbage - but at least it flows. The more expensive a notebook is, the more of a feeling I have that what I write in it has to be "worthy". And once a notebook gets to be more than $10 or so, I'm totally blocked. (I guess this means that I don't believe my thoughts are worth more than $10 a pound...)

 

Does anybody else have trouble writing in a really expensive notebook/journal?

 

Ab. So. Lute. Ly.

 

I once got a hand-sewn notebook nowhere near as expensive as yours and all I can do is admire it.

[Letterman]

Twenty years ago I bought several Strathmore artists' sketchbooks. They were beautiful with pages as white as virgin snow. I somehow could not bring myself to commit ink to the pages and for years they sat upon the shelf gathering dust. I gave one to my brother who is an artist. I did attempt to start a journal in one of them but the words did not live up to the potential of the book. So now I'm using a loose leaf binder with some above average quality paper. That way I can always remove the pages that don't come out right.

[Nevets]

Hello. Thank you for your comments, suggestions and invitations to Friendship. I admit to being overwhelmed. Finding The Fountain Pen Network reminds me of my first year at College. I am the product of a wilderness Quaker high school of 20 students in a subsistence farming community of less than 100. Our internet consisted of two telephone party lines.

 

Today, as a traumatic brain injury survivor, I live independently in my community on an island in the Puget Sound. Here, I have watched the tides roll in and out for a decade. This is not as easy as it seems. Small towns revolve on small chatter.

 

The Pen Network for me is like walking out of the wilderness into social wonderland. We share a cognitive reference. The sensation of nib on paper, brains diligently working hand and eye, converting images and characters into our own completely particular expression.

 

We have this in common, and a fundamental tradition. Our bond to paper and ink.

 

Please accept my apologies in advance. Consider me a legal alien. Many of the functions of this network that are second nature to you, are still inaccessible to me. There are a lot of buttons and toggles in the cockpit, here. Sometimes I fade rapidly. This can be awkward in mid flight.

 

My lack of response, my social defiance may be an inability to respond. Sometimes I am very defiant with good reason. Or without. Thank you again for your encouragement. Photos of the World's Second Largest Journal, and a short dissertation on 'The Binding of Large Books: Random Recommendations for Archival Bindings Rated One Hundred Years Plus', will follow soon. This will take me some time.

 

In my irritation with Epica, I seem cavalier about spending $1,000 for a journal. It is a purchase for a commission and not my personal purchase. It is not mine. This makes it easier for my intended purpose to write in it, bind extra pages of bible paper into it, tip watercolors into it and, if necessary, mess it up.

 

Whether I noodle away my time in a fugue state, blotch and splatter every page, and leave a trail of crumbs from breakfast, lunch and dinner, this is all my particular expression. John Donne Sermon No. 10, in summary, "Nothing is perfect. No Thing endures forever". On that light note, thank you again for being here. Nevets

[Lawrence Fox]

Fear of "ruining" good paper is endemic in many circles. (I don't know if it's in the DSM yet, but these days, who knows). I know it's quite rampant in the watercolour world--many people will stare at that white paper with fear before dipping their brushes.

 

I confess that I have bought some really nice sketchbooks and that they've sat gathering dust until I got up the courage to start using them--and then the fear goes away. (In fact, I, and some of compatriots often just do a silly little doodle on the first page of a sketchbook, just to "get 'er started" and start to get away from the fear that what I put in there won't be "worthy" of the book! (I just did this this weekend with a brand new Stillman & Birn sketchbook! And then wondered why I waited so long to actually start using such a wonderful book!)

[humblescribbler]

Fear of "ruining" good paper is endemic in many circles. (I don't know if it's in the DSM yet, but these days, who knows). I know it's quite rampant in the watercolour world--many people will stare at that white paper with fear before dipping their brushes.

 

I confess that I have bought some really nice sketchbooks and that they've sat gathering dust until I got up the courage to start using them--and then the fear goes away. (In fact, I, and some of compatriots often just do a silly little doodle on the first page of a sketchbook, just to "get 'er started" and start to get away from the fear that what I put in there won't be "worthy" of the book! (I just did this this weekend with a brand new Stillman & Birn sketchbook! And then wondered why I waited so long to actually start using such a wonderful book!)

 

My daddy back in the day suffered greatly for months over newly-purchased cars. My uncle, his brother, would buy a car, park it in his driveway, go grab a ball pein hammer and bang hard once or twice on the front fender. "There, that's over!"

No worries.

[Runnin_Ute]

I've seen this in every hobby I've ever had, and in daily life... When I was making custom knives for a living-- I HATED collectors, they would admire and love my work, but whats the point if it sits on a shelf for the next hundred years? All of the care and work of making it wasted.

 

My philospohy has always been, it was made to be used, so not using it is a direct insult to the person that made it...

 

So, I wear my $200 watch, Use and don't worry about my $300 pocket knife, wear my high end cowboy boots and hats in all weather and muck... I have $250one of a kind tools that are used, abused, dropped, and tortured daily. A $150 journal? If its that nice of quality to cost that much, then I am absolutely going to enjoy every aspect of it, in writing in it, and then theoretically, it should last for a looong time after, to be read and enjoyed later.

 

You buy quality for a reason; to use that quality-- if your just gonna stare at it, you might as well get the cheapest Cr@p you can, IMNSHO.

 

G.

 

I completely agree. Could I ever spend $100 on a notebook? I don't know. Better have a pretty fancy leather cover.That being said, I do use a Franklin Covey day planner which uses a very good quality paper. A years refill is about $30.

What I am writing on lately - last few days - is a very nice 24 lb Southworth 25% cotton granite paper in a beautiful gray color. It is something I have used for resume's on occasion. In fact, that was the primary purpose I picked it up when I did. I was in the job market. My fountain pens sure like it though....

Edited December 12, 2012 by Runnin_Ute

[inkstainedruth]

I used to be scared of expensive journals. Now, I just think they're expensive.

 

My thoughts exactly. I look at the $40 US leather bound journals and think "wow, those have got some really lovely tooled designs on them." And look at the price and go ; then walk right past them to the $4.95 B&N brand journals....

$150? There's no *way* I'd pay that just for what would be, for me, a really fancy notebook. If someone got me one, I would certainly use it (hoping, of course, that the paper was good with my FPs and ink). But I would never buy one for myself. When writing 3 pages a day in a journal, what I want is a lot of pages of relatively decent paper for the money, so I don't have to keep going out and buying more all that often (whether the paper is good or bad on Moleskins is immaterial to me -- I just would go through them too fast to make it *remotely* cost effective for me to keep buying them at the price I've seen for them, even at places like Target).

My favorite journals were ones that I can't seem to get any more, from a company called Michael Roger Press. They were hardbound, relatively thick, and used unlined, recycled paper. They ran around $14, which given the number of pages was worth it. The only place in the Pittsburgh area that carried them stopped after moving into smaller digs, and then went away itself. And that style of journal doesn't even appear to be on the Michael Roger website anymore.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[swduncan]

Use it. No matter what the item is, or how you got it. The person who gave it to you thought you were worth it - who are you to argue?

 

I suffered the feeling of unworthyness to use nice paper, nice paints, a good peice of wood, etc. for a long time and it sucks.

 

I finally break the seal, use the stuff, find that it really is (or maybe isn't) as good as I'd thought it would be and then finally I've used/filled it up and discover that the only thing better than admiring a supremely high quality consumable is genuinely needing a replacement, and having all the justification in the world to go out and get it 8-)

 

Of course, some mighty expensive habits can start this way, and only you can decide if it's worth it to continue using that particular item.

 

And when I discover that the super-ultra-high-end whatever it was didn't live up to the hype, I have the delicious pleasure of knowing first hand for certain.

 

Either way, life is much richer for the experience.

[dcaesq]

One of the things i try to teach my students is to recognize and appreciate decent materials.

While i would never use an item with leather as a component, i do draw on good paper.

 

I try not to think of cost of a materials when i use it, if i do it gets intimidating, especially for those of us who need materials to work and are on limited income.

 

I find that students, if they get used to "cheap" paper will never be able to draw on decent paper.

So, pretend your expensive paper isn't.

 

Besides, you will never learn the differences in materials if you don't use them.

 

 

A hearty second on not using leather. I'm very happy to see that I'm not alone in that.

[Zdenek]

Can Epica journals be obtained from a European dealer?

Edited February 17, 2013 by Zdenek

[meghan]

Nice journals, papers, and pens were made to be enjoyed. We all have the hoarding tendency, but once you give in to the temptation and use the [insert expensive item here] for its intended purpose, you'll have the chance to appreciate why the item was expensive to begin with (or dispel that logic entirely). I make handcrafted letterpress stationery, and it is expensive because the paper is very high quality, and because each piece is very carefully hand pressed on century-old equipment that requires a lot of planning and maintenance. Having made these, I want them to be used and enjoyed!

 

The people who were thoughtful enough to give you a fine journal want you to enjoy it. Live a little and do so!

 

P.S. One of the nicest gifts I've ever received was a hardcover Moleskine journal that a dear friend gave to me. It was intended to be a travel journal, and he'd filled the first few pages with some wonderful history of the place we were visiting. I've written in it an will always treasure it!

[geruvah]

**Warning: Photos**

 

I use an Hermes Ulysse MM and I'm so glad I took the plunge. It's a real pleasure to use it and I love how the ink settles on it. The togo leather is buttery soft and still keeps its scent. Absolutely no feathering. Refills already cost about $60 but I've had mine for about a year without a refill, and I use it for damn near everything as a creative. Every single thought or idea is written on it.

 

I spoiled myself on this and it was worth it.

 

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