I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[AmandaW]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

Maybe a Sailor Shikiori Hisakata Uchimizu

That is very attractive. Is the nib is in the Shikiori series like the Lecoule? The Lecoule Pale Brown i received recently on your recommendation has been a pleasure to write with.

[A Smug Dill]

7 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

Is the nib is in the Shikiori series like the Lecoule?

 

No, the fountain pens in the Shikiori Hisakata series are Procolor 500 models by any other name. Before Sailor changed the nib logo stamping last year, their nibs would have the old 1911 imprint (whereas the flatter nibs on the Lecoule and Profit Jr. models never did). The Procolor pens only come with steel F nibs, whereas the Lecoule only come with MF nibs; and, being closer to the gold nibs on the Profit Standard and Professional Gear Slim also bearing the 1911 imprint, those F nibs would be physically stiffer, write more precisely, and produce more feedback. (The profile of the body of a Procolor steel nib is more like a long rectangle, without the flared shoulders of either the gold 1911 nibs or the even wider Lecoule nibs.)

[A Smug Dill]

I picked up one of these Blueline Executive Journal (model A7.BLK) in black, in a Prime Day Deal from Amazon.com.au at some ungodly hour this morning, just before I fell asleep. I can't find any useful reviews of the product (at least not before I took it through the checkout process), but for just A$4.67 (~US$3.11) and with only one unit left in stock at the time, I'm prepared to take the risk and find out just how bad the paper is. As soon as I ordered it, the price went up to $16.62; and then, a short while later, $24.39 (with the default seller switching to Amazon US). Hmmm.

 

Anyway, looking at Blueline's own product page just now (because I didn't think to find it at 4AM), it appears Amazon AU's description could be wrong (on account of the number of pages the book contains), and Amazon US's product page is even further off the mark (by stating, in the title, that there are 150 sheets). Yes, the information given on Blueline's product page is inconsistent, both 144 pages and 150 pages are there concurrently in writing. Which means I'm going to have to count the pages and number them as I go along; and, if the number of pages is indeed 144 and not 150, then Amazon isn't going to want me to send the unsaleable item back, but will simply issue a refund for the trivial amount I paid.

[AmandaW]

35 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

Amazon isn't going to want me to send the unsaleable item back, but will simply issue a refund for the trivial amount I paid.

 

Made my day. Thankyou for the laugh (at Amazon's expense)

[Misfit]

3 hours ago, AmandaW said:

Can anyone recommend a pen to fit in the pen loops of a Hobonichi A6 cover? I think it will need to be blue and have a clip so it doesn't fall out.

If only you were in the US, I’d recommend the Goldspot exclusive Retro 51 Ombre Blue Lagoon. I have one. It’s two tone blue, and I love mine. 
 

https://goldspot.com/products/retro-51-tornado-fountain-pen-in-ombre-blue-lagoon

[A Smug Dill]

On 7/10/2023 at 11:22 PM, A Smug Dill said:

I might still yet one of the Kaco branded (fabric) ones on AliExpress, if I can figure out how to game the system hard enough to make it cost me less than a leather notebook cover. Unfair comparison, I know; the Kaco ones are packaged with a notebook and a gel pen each; but I do not have the option of just getting and paying for the cover alone.

 

I didn't end up getting any of the Kaco A5 notebook+cover sets, even though the impression I got from the marketing collateral is that the covers are made of better material and of a neater design (by my reckoning, subjectively) than the Kinbor ones. I did, however, “figure it out”, and so now all of available variants in A5 size of these have been ordered, working out to about A$22 (taxed and delivered) for each 256-page notebook+cover set:

  

which makes the marketing message in the panel of the first image all the more ironic.

 

One thing by which I'm impressed, from afar, is that the manufacturer went to great lengths to show how well the paper in its notebooks performs, and included photos of writing using various (fountain, gel, ballpoint, highlighter, marker) pens on one side of the page, and the reverse side to illustrate how little show-through and bleed-through there is.

 

(It should be the same type of paper @truthpil here, unless something has changed since 2018.)

 

That made paying some portion of my spend for the notebook component feel much less of an unwanted imposition to me. The notebooks in the Kaco sets have fewer pages, and are likely to be of lesser quality or less fountain pen friendly; and so I don't want to pay for them. Especially now that I'm “sold” on the notebook component, suddenly my perception of the Kinbor sets of changed (and it helps that I found cheaper variants than the one I was looking at initially), and if only half the price of each item is going towards the fabric cover, then it now looks like an awesome bargain.

[A Smug Dill]

OK, I really am a junkie, and things are getting out of control.

 

Just this week (so far!) alone, I've ordered a total of eleven A5 notebook covers and three A6 notebook covers (and a ‘bonus’ A6 notebook sleeve made of some garish fabric, on account of a multi-buy for refills). Never mind that at least four of them will end up as (probably Christmas) gifts for young cousins and friends-of-the-family, including (multiples of) these:

 

 

I would have gladly ordered this simple fabric B6 notebook cover, too, had it been available from the particular seller with whom I chose to place my first Taobao order (that is not expected to be cancelled, but will actually be delivered); the goose one isn't half-bad, either.

 

[Misfit]

Oh! @Penguincollector will like the bottom left cover in @A Smug Dill’s photo. 

[AmandaW]

And Amanda rather likes the ducks. 🦆

 

Did I ever mention I keep ducks... as pets. The first were ducklings that had to be kept in a box with a lamp over them to keep them warm. Then they grew up. And we got some more of different breeds. And a few ex-travelling farmyard ones that were no longer cute enough to go kids' parties... All found a home here and made their own ducklings. Currently there are about 20 in residence, the oldest are now about 10 years old.

[inkstainedruth]

On 2/4/2023 at 4:03 AM, ParramattaPaul said:

"Cozy padding on the walls"? A place with white coated men to attend to your every need per chance? Would you like one of those snug jackets with extra long sleeves and buckles at the back as well?

Oh dear.  Read this just now and my mind IMMEDIATELY went here:

Of course, the URL has now been added to a note file I have on my computer which is entitled "Yeah... you know" and is a bunch of links of goofy stuff to play at phone spammers: novelty songs; SF filk (including Neil Gaiman getting up on stage at I guess some SF con with his wife's band to sing the theme song for the old Supermarionation show Fireball XL5); the full recording of "Alice's Restaurant (original version -- although there's an updated version that my husband found on YouTube that includes Arlo Guthrie talking about being invited to Jimmy Carter's inauguration); a non-cover recording of "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream"; a couple of songs by The Kinks; the old Barry Maguire song "Eve of Destruction" (the first song since I think I was in high school where I looked the lyrics up, and certainly the first song I looked up the lyrics for online); and the one that I will NOT mention by name but is the reason for the title of the file....

If you ever hear me say "Goofy with a capital 'Goo'" -- that's the song I mean, because I want to have been a fly on the wall for when the executive decision to record it was made... JUST to see how how much in the way of drugs and alcohol were involved in the decision making process....   [Even the review for the album it's on in an old issue of Rolling Stone sort of glossed over that track, IIRC, and just said "and of all things..." and didn't go beyond that in the review.... ]

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Penguincollector]

4 hours ago, Misfit said:

Oh! @Penguincollector will like the bottom left cover in @A Smug Dill’s photo. 

 

  Who knew I needed a notebook cover‽ My favorite color, too.

 

@AmandaW I love ducks, they’re so fun. We had a hobby farm while I was growing up and  my dad kept chickens, ducks, and other random birds. The ducks were fiercely protective of me, because I would share my food with them.

[jchch1950]

12 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

OK, I really am a junkie, and things are getting out of control

You are not alone. Only space and money are my limits.

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, Penguincollector said:

Who knew I needed a notebook cover‽ My favorite color, too.

 

Well, just now I found those listed on AliExpress, at a horrific mark-up.

 

And now I realise, even with all the stacked discounts, how much of a sucker I must be, to have ordered all those Kinbor fabric journal covers from that seller earlier this week.

 

Oh well. Lesson learnt!

[Gloucesterman]

3 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Well, just now I found those listed on AliExpress, at a horrific mark-up.

 

And now I realise, even with all the stacked discounts, how much of a sucker I must be, to have ordered all those Kinbor fabric journal covers from that seller earlier this week.

 

Oh well. Lesson learnt!

I have to admit that your previous posting of the latest purchases did have me wondering why anyone would make all of those purchases. But then, I realized that each of us has our own reasons (not that we need a "reason") to do what we want. My question transitioned to a simple wish that you were able to really enjoy whatever you purchased.

 

As a result of being on this site over many years I have come to accept, and, at times, understand many different behaviors, including some of my own, that I probably would have made critical judgments about in the past.

 

Thanks to all for sharing your experiences with me/us.

 

As an old friend used to say, "what other people think of you is none of your business".

Enjoy...

[A Smug Dill]

7 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

Who knew I needed a notebook cover‽ My favorite color, too.

 

What about these tall and narrow books with 176 pages?

 

Shipping from China is a hassle and expensive proposition, but even so, an order on Taobao of ten of those would set me back by a bit under A$32 taxed and shipped to Australia, which would then put the averaged effective price of each unit at under what Daiso's lowest base price per item in Australia is today.

 

[lascosas]

A Smug Dill...

I followed you over to the Kinbor seller, and I didn't find the price bad.  It is my understanding that the A5 cover comes with a 288 page Kinbor notebook.  And I added to it a 488 page Kinbor A5 notebook that was $16.07 yesterday (before the $3 off on $30 for the whole order) and today that notebook is $23.28, so the prices seem to jump around.

[Runnin_Ute]

Let's see... went office supply shopping this morning at Office Depot. The back to school stuff is on Sale.

15 made in Vietnam College ruled composition books. ($0.50 each for up to 12), then somehow got 3 for 6.98 rather than 3.49 each,  a A4 wire bound Red n Black, a different comp book labeled for "primary" which has handwriting lines and a new expanding folder for my writing stuff. The current one is usable but getting beat up. It's probably 8 or so years old 

[Penguincollector]

8 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

What about these tall and narrow books with 176 pages?

 

Shipping from China is a hassle and expensive proposition, but even so, an order on Taobao of ten of those would set me back by a bit under A$32 taxed and shipped to Australia, which would then put the averaged effective price of each unit at under what Daiso's lowest base price per item in Australia is today.

 

Oh, that’s super cute! I haven’t set up a Taobao account because I’m trying to rein in my spending and 我普通话瘦的不好. I will take a look and see if AliExpress has it. 

Edited July 13, 2023 by Penguincollector
Added text

[A Smug Dill]

On 7/12/2023 at 12:15 AM, A Smug Dill said:

now all of available variants in A5 size of these have been ordered, working out to about A$22 (taxed and delivered) for each 256-page notebook+cover set:

 

7 hours ago, lascosas said:

I followed you over to the Kinbor seller, and I didn't find the price bad.  It is my understanding that the A5 cover comes with a 288 page Kinbor notebook. 

 

You're right; it's a 256-page planner for the A6-sized journal covers, and a 288-page planner for the A5-sized ones. I also thought the price wasn't bad,

 

On 7/12/2023 at 12:15 AM, A Smug Dill said:

Especially now that I'm “sold” on the notebook component, suddenly my perception of the Kinbor sets of changed (and it helps that I found cheaper variants than the one I was looking at initially), and if only half the price of each item is going towards the fabric cover, then it now looks like an awesome bargain.

 

until I discovered last night that it would have cost me^† less than half of that to order the same thing on Taobao; the base price of the item is CNY 29.00 (~USD 4.06 today). I paid just under USD 28 for each order of two units of those A5 covers, after stacking multiple discounts.

 

It's too late for me to cancel my AliExpress orders, but last night I just ordered all of them on Taobao, and I'm hoping I'll be able to return my AliExpress orders at acceptable shipping charges (at my expense) after they arrive; I cannot find any information on how much it would cost me from any information page, and it seems the only way to find out is to actually initiate a return request. If that doesn't work out to be worthwhile, I guess some family members are going to get journal covers this Christmas!

 

In the ‘ideal’ case, I ‘overpaid’ about A$42 for the goods but hopefully I'll be able to return all four units as a single package by Australia Post Parcel Post to AliExpress's local depot, which would cost me maybe A$10.50.

 

^† Including tax and non-nil international shipping charges, plus the percentage ‘fee’ paid AliPay, as opposed to Visa or my card issuer, charges for my using a foreign credit card, plus the less favourable currency conversion rates Taobao now forces upon its customers, as there was a message that popped up advising that it won't accept foreign credit card payments in Renminbi any more after 2023.03.31.

 

3 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

I will take a look and see if AliExpress has it. 

 

I found them. That same seller @lascosas and I are talking about are asking USD 11.19 (with ‘free’ shipping) for each unit of that penguin weekly notebook, before applying any discounts.

 

The same item can be ordered for CNY 9.90 (~USD 1.39), before applying the 10% discount or any seller coupons currently in play, from the Kinbor flagship store on Taobao, per unit, although shipping charges are extra and non-trivial at that.

 

I'll acknowledge that I've based my earlier comparisons using Taobao's direct sea mail (as opposed to air mail and/or consolidated shipping service), so it isn't strictly comparing apples with apples, but only looking at what's the minimum cost to me for the same ultimate end result.

 

Looking just now, if I want to order just one unit of the penguin weekly notebook on Taobao, and have it shipped by direct air mail, it'd cost me about A$12.50 (~USD 8.62). If I order ten units at once on Taobao, it'd be about A$30 all up by direct sea mail (~USD 20.60), or A$57.80 (~USD 39.80) by direct air mail; on AliExpress, the order would come to USD 12.07 (~A$17.75) for one unit, and USD 110.54 (~A$163) for ten at once.

[inkypete]

22 hours ago, jchch1950 said:

You are not alone. Only space and money are my limits.

Thats two out of three for me - add 'the wife'.