I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[AmandaW]

26 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

My wife and I are so lucky to be recipients of your artistry and generosity. Amanda, thank you very much! I'll leave her to open hers when she's ready, but since the tag on mine did not admonish NO PEEKING!, I just went ahead and opened mine ahead of Christmas.

 

 

 

It couldn't be more perfect! 💯

 

 

 

 

Good match for the pen. Yay.

[Runnin_Ute]

picked up a A5 Leuchtturm 1917 dot grid in Forest Green at the local Barnes and Noble. I would have preferred a black, or gray for the use case for this one, but this will work.

[Misfit]

@AmandaW and @A Smug Dill that is a beautiful notebook cover. Congratulations to the maker and recipient.  The smiley face is a fun touch to a very cool fabric. 

[Penguincollector]

Mad props to you, @AmandaW, that notebook cover looks really well put together. You have a good eye for design. Enjoy your new cover, @A Smug Dilland Mrs. Dill!

[amberleadavis]

20 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

Mad props to you, @AmandaW, that notebook cover looks really well put together. You have a good eye for design. Enjoy your new cover, @A Smug Dilland Mrs. Dill!

 

I agree!

[Bo Bo Olson]

A or B side of a non-watermark paper?

 

A lady I know from old folks gymnastics course, whose father's semi-flex Pelikan 400 and two MB's of that era, I sent off for repair, brought me some paper.

Gmund, 90 or 100g...she didn't remember. Nor did she know there were three or four different types.

 

She was on some sort of old folks bus tours, in I don't see anyone driving who was new to fountain pens and paper stopping off at a paper mill on their own., 300K/180 miles from home........And she got to a major pen shop in Munich, in she'd sent us 4-5 pictures of trays full of MB pens. The prices were to a 'noobie' most astounding.

 

Eye opening what good to better paper can cost. I have been giving her samples of various good to better papers so she decided to return the favor.

 

She didn't know there was an A or B sided. So I tested the 11 pens I have out on both sides of the paper and hauled out my Honking Big 1 1/2"/7cm thick Magnifying  glass, to see which inks had a slightest touch more woolly line.....and the difference was ever so slight.

 

Shock.....Lamy Crystal Agate SHEENS.  It is a topaz-brownish ink. And was something I'd not noticed before when testing that Lamy Crystal ink on Mondi 100g paper.........wasn't looking for it either.

 

I have many old inks, made before they added sheen to their new formulas, so to me when an ink sheens, it has an unexpected WOW factor.

 

 

If you want to spend a fortune on very good papers. Gmund is one of the possibilities...

I suggest getting the two free sample sheets and getting some 8-10 assorted others (don't know what it costs today, but a decade ago it was €0.85 a sheet./looked €1.07 a sheet.). Do tell them to send you fountain pen friendly papers....not Art Papers, which are not fountain pen friendly.

 

I liked after dithering three or more years of a one phase, ink test of all new inks, the 120g paper was  best, but at the last second chose the second best paper, the 170g paper because I like heavy paper.

Found at €1.07 a sheet Gmund Original smooth beige 120g, A4....The one I liked best, better than Gmund Original, was the beige-beige style in cream.

[inkypete]

I always write on the watermark side facing you - so that you can actually read the watermark. That is the A side.

[Misfit]

My sad, pathetic Addict first paper purchase of the New Year happened when Levenger offered a 25% off coupon code that had a half hour left when I went to their website. I ordered two Circa sizes I don’t have in the compact and Jotlet sizes. Don’t need them at all, but Addict right? And Levenger knows what they are doing. They were already offering 20% off with a coupon code. Why not offer 25% to move me to complete a purchase?  It worked. 

[mhguda]

This past weekend, I scored 4 new notebooks from my local supplier. Up&up, distributed by Target (in the US), made from sugarcane-made paper from Vietnam. 120 pages. I numbered one, and fell in love. In fact, I first bought two, then numbered the one, then went back and bought the last two in the store...

Then I numbered one of four I'd bought from Lansoon Life store on AliExpress, called Creative Colorful Page, and it happened again. I love that paper, too. Now there are four more winging their way to me...

[Misfit]

@mhguda are the Up & Up notebooks hard cover?  I got two hard cover versions last year after seeing a post about them. I’ll  have to check them for a country of origin, and paper stock. 
 

Mine are sugar cane paper, 120 pages, with China as the country of origin. 

[mhguda]

Yes they are hardcover, with an elastic band, and 120 pages. They are college lined. As mentioned, Vietnam as the country of origin.

I liked the way the paper takes ink.

[Misfit]

I hope mine do as well as yours since the country of origin is different. Everything else sounds the same. They have patterned end papers too. 

[mhguda]

Yes mine are striped brilliant green and darkish blue. Almost eye-searing...

[A Smug Dill]

Why do I do such things to myself?

 

 

I was shown this little punching tool, for making cutouts on the edge of pages of presumably a thick notebook or journal, so that the user could get to a particular section or month quickly and without using bookmarks, removable metal clips, Post-it flags, etc. to mark out each section/month. So, I just had to order one.

 

I'm not even halfway through punching cutouts on the pages of a Midori MD 1 Day 1 Page journal, and already it's taken me well over an hour in prepping the book and operating the tool. Trying to get all the cutouts to align is extremely labour-intensive, painstaking work; and my results are far from perfect.

[Misfit]

@A Smug Dill that reminds me of dictionaries of the past. I wish you well as you continue to use the cutout tool. I suspect you’ll get better at it.  

[ParramattaPaul]

6 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

Why do I do such things to myself?

 

 

I was shown this little punching tool, for making cutouts on the edge of pages of presumably a thick notebook or journal, so that the user could get to a particular section or month quickly and without using bookmarks, removable metal clips, Post-it flags, etc. to mark out each section/month. So, I just had to order one.

 

I'm not even halfway through punching cutouts on the pages of a Midori MD 1 Day 1 Page journal, and already it's taken me well over an hour in prepping the book and operating the tool. Trying to get all the cutouts to align is extremely labour-intensive, painstaking work; and my results are far from perfect.

It's called "Ooh, I want that" syndrome.  It struck me a while ago and I bought something completely useless.  Fortunately, I now have enough antibodies to prevent a re-occurrance.

[A Smug Dill]

3 hours ago, Misfit said:

I wish you well as you continue to use the cutout tool. I suspect you’ll get better at it.

 

Thanks. Sadly, I messed it up — irreversibly, of course — when the end of the task was in sight.

[Misfit]

@A Smug Dill it was your first time using this tool. Pity it was near the end when the mess up happened. Trying to be encouraging. 

[XYZZY]

9 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

It's called "Ooh, I want that" syndrome.  It struck me a while ago and I bought something completely useless.  Fortunately, I now have enough antibodies to prevent a re-occurrance.

Indeed.  "Need that!" was my thought after the first sentence.  Fortunately I read the rest of his post.

 

@A Smug Dill can you share a link?  I still want to know more about it.  What makes it hard to use?  

[Penguincollector]

  Well, 10 days into the new year and I have bought 4 different types of paper. The first was a little sample notebook that my local art store put together for watercolor artists. They’re trying to get a sampler going for fountain pens/calligraphy and asked me for ideas. After showing me the $2.99 sampler I added it to my ink purchase to show support. I actually really like some of the watercolor paper. The second was a little Aquaman notebook from India or Vietnam (can’t remember off the top of my head) full of green lined paper. I have a thing for regular notebook paper with lines that are not your usual blue. The other two were Clairefontaine,  a Triomphe blank pad and a 1951 cahier. I like the cover on the 1951.