I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[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. 

[A Smug Dill]

15 hours ago, XYZZY said:

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

 

https://www.sun-star-st.jp/items/220706151136/

 

15 hours ago, XYZZY said:

What makes it hard to use?  

 

I apologise if I gave you the wrong impression. The Sun-star device in question is not hard to use at all, any more than a sufficiently sharp bread knife would be hard to use; if anything, the former is easier to use.

 

But, analogously, the difficultly would be trying to use a sufficiently sharp bread knife to cut 16 slices, of even and equal thickness, from a loaf of bread. Then repeat that for another ten or eleven more loaves.

 

 

I could not simply trust the pre-printed guide marks to be aligned, page after page, in a 176-page Midori MD notebook, let alone a 368-page Midori MD 1 Day 1 Page journal. The magnitude and direction of any displacement is unpredictable.

 

 

So, I had to look for some other way to ensure alignment of the position of the cutouts (as best I could), shifting it every 15 to 16 pages.

 

Then, the pages in a Midori MD notebook or journal are not pre-printed with page numbers. To know how many and which pages to punch where, you have to number (or date) the pages of the entire book first. I've already screwed up a STALOGY 365 Days book, earlier this month, by not detecting that two pages were stuck together when I went through and dated (thus far) the first half of book, until it was way too late. I was extra careful with the Midori MD 1D1P journal, which should be (and actually was) less tricky, on account of having thicker paper. Even so, I managed to make the same sort of mistake in the page numbering exercise upfront, except that I managed to catch my mistake with only three or so pages incorrectly numbered; and this time I did it with an H hardness grade pencil instead of a fountain pen, so it was easy enough to correct.

 

The edge puncher device has a (nominal) maximum cutting capacity of three 64gsm sheets at once, which makes for two relatively thicker sheets of Midori MD paper. However, even though Midori MD notebooks supposedly lie flat for writing, when you try to hold two sheets together so that they overlap each other perfectly, that'a a different story; how difficult that is depends on where those sheets are in relation to the signatures in the thread-bound book.

 

Also, the very act of operating the puncher device can cause (slight) shifting of the sheet(s) of paper between its ‘jaws’, if you're not extremely careful. On the odd occasion, then device has trouble cutting two sheets of Midori MD paper at once, ceasing up 20% of the way through (cutting ‘successfully’ closest to the edge, but then failing to go further). Remedying that situation with a second pass is apt to not be perfectly aligned with the partial cuts already made.

 

A more seasoned and/or expert paper crafter would have no problems pre-empting the issues there and maintain easy control. As a novice at that sort of thing myself, I really struggled, took much longer than I thought punching 183 sheets of paper would, and still managed to make a mess of things.

[ParramattaPaul]

5 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

cut 16 slices, of even and equal thickness, from a loaf of bread.

"Even and equal" did you say? It won't work for paper or journals but bread, yes.

[A Smug Dill]

8 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

It won't work for paper or journals but bread, yes.

 

I did think of that; but that frame would not be part and parcel of the bread knife.

 

Someone could equally build a frame or guide to make punching the edges of a Midori MD notebook easier, but it wouldn't be part of the punching device as-is.

 

Then, of course, there are more sophisticated machines for each of those tasks. Having said that, I find that even with some prepackaged loaves of bread at the supermarket, the slices aren't cut completely evenly by the industrial machines, which do not appear to deal adequately with not letting sufficiently fluffy or soft bread get deformed in the cutting process to ensure a perfectly vertical cutting plane.

[ParramattaPaul]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

I did think of that; but that frame would not be part and parcel of the bread knife.

 

Someone could equally build a frame or guide to make punching the edges of a Midori MD notebook easier, but it wouldn't be part of the punching device as-is.

 

Then, of course, there are more sophisticated machines for each of those tasks. Having said that, I find that even with some prepackaged loaves of bread at the supermarket, the slices aren't cut completely evenly by the industrial machines, which do not appear to deal adequately with not letting sufficiently fluffy or soft bread get deformed in the cutting process to ensure a perfectly vertical cutting plane.

All true. 

 

I prefer whole wheat, whole grains, and crusty breads to soft fluffy bread. Making a chip buttie is the only time I use and have soft white bread. I have one of the bread slicer frames. It works well especially for cutting French loaves and baguettes. 

[XYZZY]

Thanks for sharing your experience, and I like the bread knife analogy.  I think that the small capacity of that devicewould be the insurmountable shortcoming for any use I would would put it to.  

[Misfit]

Here is the first of my Levenger order. It’s the Jotlet, filled with Levenger’s 3” x 5” cards. The rings are clear, and in the photo they are showing the Leuchtturm Copper notebook that’s under the Jotlet. 
 

 

 

The cover reminds me of ice cream colors. 

[inkypete]

20 hours ago, Misfit said:

Here is the first of my Levenger order. It’s the Jotlet, filled with Levenger’s 3” x 5” cards. The rings are clear, and in the photo they are showing the Leuchtturm Copper notebook that’s under the Jotlet. 
 

 

 

The cover reminds me of ice cream colors. 

How is the paper quality? My experience with Levenger paper in the past has not been good., but that was a few years ago now.

[Misfit]

@inkypete

The Jotlet has their 3” x 5” card stock so it’s heavier than their regular paper. Think of index cards, though Levenger’s is different. I’ve had good luck with Levenger paper likely because I don’t have a heavy writing style. I noticed this when my brother and I wrote with the same pen. My writing was lighter. 
 

I just ordered a Waterman Allure in camouflage to go with the Jotlet. It was on amazon, and they offered a free month of Prime, so I ordered that for the Jotlet. 
 

Below is a writing sample with a Lamy Safari with 1.1mm italic nib filled with Monteverde Smoke Noir. 
 

[USG]

4 hours ago, inkypete said:

How is the paper quality? My experience with Levenger paper in the past has not been good., but that was a few years ago now.

 

I had a similar experience, also years ago....

[TMLee]

 

From ITOYA , Tokyo , JPN

😁

 

 

Their in-house production ...

 

 

each of the inside covers carries a cute short note ...

 

 

 

 

The grids are unique ...

They are oblong

Two oblongs make one square

and right at the top, there is this title line , demarcated by the waterline , it seems...

 

[Misfit]

@TMLee Those are nice looking notebooks. That wavy line is fun.  I hope you enjoy using them. 

[TMLee]

I think I made this last year ...

 

was like deciding to do a quick project,  stitch a  journal with leftover wrapping paper from ITOYA ... 😁

 

I cant remember what paper I used in the bookblock , only 5 signatures...

I think its some decent paper from DAISO .

 

 

 

 

incorrigible stationery junkie here ....

🤭

 

 

[TMLee]

3 hours ago, Misfit said:

@TMLee Those are nice looking notebooks. That wavy line is fun.  I hope you enjoy using them. 

 

Yeah , couldnt resist. they do look uniquely cute.

[PJohnP]

11 hours ago, TMLee said:

From ITOYA , Tokyo , JPN

😁

 

 

Their in-house production ...

 

Those are incredibly playful notebooks !

 

How do you find the paper in these for FP use, please ?

 

 

John P.

[TMLee]

On 1/14/2024 at 1:30 AM, PJohnP said:

 

Those are incredibly playful notebooks !

 

How do you find the paper in these for FP use, please ?

 

 

John P.

I haven't inked them in yet.

Will show when I do so.

But I am very confident of Japanese papers.

Even my cursory touchfeel test , meets my expectations of good quality (inkfriendly) paper.\

The gridlines are a very light blue. Doesnt distract. and if one shld photocopy, the blue lines wont appear.

 

[A Smug Dill]

I imposed upon a friend to get these for me from Japan:

 

 

The metal index clips I could have bought locally at roughly double the Japanese price, but the penguin clips not at all (that I know of).

[Gloucesterman]

6 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

I imposed upon a friend to get these for me from Japan:

 

 

The metal index clips I could have bought locally at roughly double the Japanese price, but the penguin clips not at all (that I know of).

Those penguin clips are really cute!

[inkstainedruth]

I was just thinking the same thing.

I bought some wire "cat" clips a few years ago when I was up in Toronto and before going to the conference I was attending I went to Wonder Pens, but I'm not sure what I've done with the box of them.  

I have some flat white clips (don't remember the design of those offhand) that I bought in the manga and anime shop across town from me, which turns out to across the street from where the borough tax office is, along with a PuniLabo standup case (the Calico one) but not sure where that package has ended up either....  Just that neither package of clips are where they're *supposed* to be, in the the basket with stuff like postage stamps and small envelopes and the checkbook and suchlike....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Anne-Sophie]

On 1/13/2024 at 9:23 AM, TMLee said:

I think I made this last year ...

 

was like deciding to do a quick project,  stitch a  journal with leftover wrapping paper from ITOYA ... 😁

 

I cant remember what paper I used in the bookblock , only 5 signatures...

I think its some decent paper from DAISO .

 

 

 

 

incorrigible stationery junkie here ....

🤭

 

 

 

They look fun and now, I am completely stomped by your technique.

 

The center embossed area is the small color as the main leaf, how come?