I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[A Smug Dill]

I ordered this on AliExpress during the previous site-wide sales campaign, and it arrived at my doorstep fairly quickly, all things considering.

 

 

[essayfaire]

@txomsyVery well said.  

 

@Chimera01 Interesting read, though I think I interpret the article differently than the authors intended.  The article says:

 

In a recent report based on a 40-year study of roughly 1.2 million Swedish people, Simon Kyaga and colleagues found that with the exception of bi-polar disorder, those in scientific and artistic occupations were not more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorders. So full-blown mental illness did not increase the probability of entering a creative profession (even the exception, bi-polar disorder, showed only a small effect of 8%).

 

I think this implies that if you added all the psych disorders together, there would still be not be a higher level of overall problems among those who are in jobs categorized as artistic/scientific.  Without the raw data, I'm not sure if this is what they mean, but I suspect that if they break out all the conditions one by one that only bipolar disorder has a higher sample mean than population mean. But I can't tell without the data. 

 

What was striking, however, was that the siblings of patients with autism and the first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and anorexia nervosa were significantly overrepresented in creative professions. Could it be that the relatives inherited a watered-down version of the mental illness conducive to creativity while avoiding the aspects that are debilitating?

 

I don't see anywhere in the article why they jump to genetics here.  It may be, as I was eluding to above with the remark about sad fodder, that the experience  of having a creative person as a first-degree relative can drive one mad. 😉

 

There's also the issue that this article talks about creative professions, while the discussion above mostly concerns talent.  One can be a sub-par artist, just as one can be a lousy accountant.  I might even posit that many artists are not especially creative, though they may be quite successful.  

 

Apologies for my formatting problems with the fonts.  I was trying to distinguish the article from the discussion but have only managed to make a hodgepodge on letters.  

 

@MisfitNever confuse current spending with your stationery junkie status!  You've shown us at least part of your notebook cache.  Let us know if you run out of notebooks... I'm sure we all have some to spare!

 

 

 

[essayfaire]

6 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

I ordered this on AliExpress during the previous site-wide sales campaign, and it arrived at my doorstep fairly quickly, all things considering.

 

 

But I've already finished my Christmas shopping!  C'est chic et du bon goût!

[Chimera01]

10 hours ago, essayfaire said:

It may be, as I was eluding to above with the remark about sad fodder, that the experience  of having a creative person as a first-degree relative can drive one mad. 😉

I'll second that. I've driven my entire family crazy 😆

[Misfit]

On 12/8/2022 at 8:51 PM, essayfaire said:

@MisfitNever confuse current spending with your stationery junkie status!  You've shown us at least part of your notebook cache.  Let us know if you run out of notebooks... I'm sure we all have some to spare!

That is so very sweet of you. Sad to say most of the notebooks I show have never been used. I see the cover, “I want” goes off in my head, then buy it. For now I have more than enough. But if I ever do run out, I’ll certainly post I did. 

[essayfaire]

13 hours ago, Misfit said:

Sad to say most of the notebooks I show have never been used.

This is exactly why the comment about pulling your weight on the thread is so funny.

[Misfit]

6 hours ago, essayfaire said:

This is exactly why the comment about pulling your weight on the thread is so funny.

I could always get a notebook I have but never shared, and post its photo. 

[Penguincollector]

Just received some Tomoe River (Shizuoka #9) in 52gsm A4 and 68gsm A5, and a Co-Lo-Ring. I need to slow down, but that paper is almost gone and I want to have all the different iterations.

[Misfit]

My friends and I had our Christmas exchange today. I received a notebook with a pen/pencil band to match. It is Buckaroo Notebook A5 size by If. It has an owned by page, two table of contents pages, then lined 70gsm paper. Each page has a spot at the top for a date, plus a dashed line at the bottom to put the page numbers. It has a red ribbon bookmark. No pockets in it. They have other bands including to hold a phone, to hold glasses, a pen loop like Leuchtturm’s, and a band to hold multiple items like scissors, pens, pencils. They are designed in the UK, and made in China. 
 

I have not tried it. Maybe I will. 
 

[essayfaire]

14 hours ago, Misfit said:

My friends and I had our Christmas exchange today. I received a notebook with a pen/pencil band to match. It is Buckaroo Notebook A5 size by If. It has an owned by page, two table of contents pages, then lined 70gsm paper. Each page has a spot at the top for a date, plus a dashed line at the bottom to put the page numbers. It has a red ribbon bookmark. No pockets in it. They have other bands including to hold a phone, to hold glasses, a pen loop like Leuchtturm’s, and a band to hold multiple items like scissors, pens, pencils. They are designed in the UK, and made in China. 
 

I have not tried it. Maybe I will. 
 

You are lucky to have such good friends who pay attention to the details!  Or you choose your friends well!  Enjoy!

[Misfit]

I’ve known them since 1994 or 1995. I put notebooks in my Amazon wish list. The one I received was not on it. I might try the paper today. I’d like to use the new Lamy Joy another friend gave me yesterday. I’m not sure if it’s worth going to my room to find a Lamy with an empty converter. After doing something I should not have done yesterday, I’m not going to risk my recovery from getting hurt in caregiving (right hip area). Today I need to take care of myself. 

[amberleadavis]

@Misfit  I Like the package! Seems like a great gift. Please tell us how you like it.

[Penguincollector]

That’s a sweet notebook and pen pouch, @Misfit! Yes self care is important, easy to reinjure yourself unawares. I hope your hip gets better soon.

[Misfit]

I might try out the notebook tonight. I’m curious how it will take fountain pen ink. I’ll post photos once I try, plus a photo that shows their other bands for storage with the notebook. After all, those bands would fit other brands of A5 notebooks.  I should have asked where they found the notebook. They (a couple) tend to shop in person I think for gifts. Could be wrong though. None of what they gave was the amazon list. The other friend gave the Lamy Joy from my amazon list. 
 

Thank you @Penguincollector  I have learned my lesson from yesterday. Plus when my brother comes to visit in January, I’m determined to get a lift chair that fits my Mom. That would make everything easier and safer, and better for her body too. 

[Penguincollector]

A kift chair would be ideal, and probably covered by insurance. 

[Misfit]

1 hour ago, Penguincollector said:

A kift chair would be ideal, and probably covered by insurance. 

I hadn’t thought of it being covered by insurance. I wonder if that dictates where you buy it. 

[Misfit]

Back to stationery. I wrote in the If Bookaroo notebook. I’m happily surprised to see show through but no bleeding through.  Images show the results, plus the accessories that can be bought for A5 notebooks. I looked at other colors, and they vary the color of the elastic for the notebooks.  
 

I tried a few pens in the pen pouch. A Moonman C1 challenged it, but fit. The Stabilis is a tall pen, and it fit. But both pens took up all the room. I imagine in our fountain pen world, it’s a one pen pouch. 
 

[inkypete]

To all my sad, pathetic stationery junkies I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Inky year ahead. That you to everyone who contributes to this wonderful thread. My year was not particularly good in a few ways but coming back to this thread always entertained me. Love to you all and thank you for lifting me when I needed it.

[Misfit]

@inkypete very well put. My year hasn’t been especially wonderful.  Starting February 1, I became solo caregiver for my Mom. I dealt with a van that died in front of Walmart. Which meant both vehicles needed work this year. I continually struggle with wake/sleep hours. 
 

I too wish all Stationery Junkies a very happy and Merry Christmas with ink, pens and paper under your trees or otherwise coming your way. I hope 2023 is better for everyone. Sending love and thanks for posting about all the goodness of stationery. 

[txomsy]

Recently (well yesterday, actually) I found some other brands at a physical shop that seem to be (at tact) friendly as well, and rather cheap, sorry I cannot remember the names now, and is a Holiday so the shop is closed. But what struck me was that they seemed to have several such brands. Some I remember were stated to be made in Poland, others didn't say where. Anyway, I already have too many notebooks.

 

At Copenhangen I also found various unknown brands. I ended buying four sets of pocket notebooks from Tiger (Kratf bound, cream color paper, sold in sets of two tied with rope) to use with my leather pocket notebook sleeves (they had the right size). Pretty decent, FP friendly paper.

 

This is the Leabags pocket notebook leather sleeve for 9x14cm notebooks

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LEABAGS-Pocket-Leather-Sleeve-Notebooks

 

They costed me about 6-8 EUR each (I always carry two in a back jeans pocket).

 

 

And these are the Tiger rope-bound  two-notebook sets

 

 

Which, as you can see, take FP ink very well:

 

 

The yellow is Diamine Golden Sands and does show the shimmer very well actually.

 

To me it looks like there are new brands/trade marks showing up, which might indicate there is a renewed interest in handwriting, at least in some places.

 

Edited (posted incomplete)

 

A few days ago I went to pick a couple pair of skis from repair and found a physical shop from an stationary chain (again, can't remember the name now of the chain) and saw several more brands, some of which I hadn't seen before.

 

One was an spiral bound one with thick pages, ruled for copperplate. I hesitated and ended getting one (~5 EUR). I've been doing some tests today and it seems to work very well. It is chlorine free paper and FSC certified. I tried it with a few inks and pens and, so far, no show-through, bleeding or feathering, but it is still too limited a sample. Anyway, I checked and it seems to also be available on Amazon and online in their own shop,

 

https://www.rubio.net/cuaderno-de-bocetos-caligrafia

 

 

In Spanish, it says "Practice your Calligraphy / Sketchbook"

 

 

Which seems to tick the marks for environmentally conscious paper, and behaves like this:

 

 

The page above is written on the other side and shows no see-through despite having laid out thick ink lines.