I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[Misfit]

@DilettanteG I think she left love notes using a red fountain pen filled with an ink the color of Burmese rubies. 

[Misfit]

Meanwhile I lost a Levenger Circa item in an eBay auction while I was helping my Mom. I thought I had more time to up my bid. But nope. Still, I have a Levenger True Writer pen that I’m almost certain is the Kyoto version I’ve been looking for, and I’d rather have it than another Circa notebook and refill package of paper. 

[inkstainedruth]

I'll admit I'm not as much of a paper connoissieur as some people here.  But I was killing a bit of time before going to my local pen club meeting and stuck my nose in a nearby Staples store, and they had some brand of composition books (both wide-ruled and college ruled, and with plastic covers) on clearance for 46¢ (!) US.  Brand is called "pep rally" and they're apparently made in India.  
Think I'm maybe going to run out to a couple of other Staples locations tomorrow and see if I can get some other color covers (I got a pale pink one and a brighter pink one, and I think there was also a light greenish blue).  The Staples website doesn't seem to show the solid color cover ones -- just ones with designs that seem to be aimed at kids, so who knows....

We'll see how the paper is with FP inks -- but it does seem to be pretty smooth and generally good quality.  And for that price?  Sure....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DilettanteG]

8 hours ago, Misfit said:

@DilettanteG I think she left love notes using a red fountain pen filled with an ink the color of Burmese rubies. 

Just in time for valentine’s day 👍

[essayfaire]

On 2/7/2024 at 7:29 PM, Misfit said:

@essayfaire are you going to use the stencil?  The weather stencils could be useful. Now I’m going to look up OffiGift

 

Edit: sigh of relief. I can pass on this notebook. I’m bidding on a Circa notebook on eBay, so I need to focus on that for another Sad, Pathetic purchase. 

Probably not- maybe on a rainy day...

 

More and more of my experimental journal purchases seem to come with stencils.  If you would like them PM me and I will mail them to you.

 

And the OffiGift was a lot cheaper than a Circa.  But the pen loop surprised me- although it's narrow, I am able to put a Benu in it(a regular-sized one, not a Briolette), though I think it will eventually stretch out if I were to do that regularly.

[essayfaire]

FYI, all my leather goods from Levenger have been high quality and held up over time.  I have an ancient  "2 pens and your glasses" eyeglass case that has the most lovely patina.

[txomsy]

You had to mention it, didn't you? Now I want one of those eyeglass cases as well!

 

Would you mind sharing a picture of yours? I'm most intrigued and think it is a great idea.

[essayfaire]

9 hours ago, txomsy said:

You had to mention it, didn't you? Now I want one of those eyeglass cases as well!

 

Would you mind sharing a picture of yours? I'm most intrigued and think it is a great idea.

Sure.  It was a lighter color when purchased than it is now. Pix taken while holding two pens and one pair of reading glasses.

[Gloucesterman]

1 hour ago, essayfaire said:

Sure.  It was a lighter color when purchased than it is now. Pix taken while holding two pens and one pair of reading glasses.

Looks like a Pilot VP and a Pelikan Souvrain(sp?), side by side.

What's the imprint read, can't make it out.

[txomsy]

Thanks, that really looks interesting, and the aging has gone very well, I should  add.

[Misfit]

3 hours ago, Gloucesterman said:

Looks like a Pilot VP and a Pelikan Souvrain(sp?), side by side.

What's the imprint read, can't make it out.

I can answer that. It’s the brand name Levenger.

[Gloucesterman]

14 hours ago, Misfit said:

I can answer that. It’s the brand name Levenger.

Thank you

[SLinkster]

Picked up a StudioNeat Panobook at the used book store for more than half off, still in the factory shrink. The spec looks good for fountain pen use.

 

Also found a black paper dot-grid journal that I hope will be interesting with high-shimmer inks and a dip pen. And a couple of 3-packs of A7 pocket journals for the "Christmas is coming" box. 

 

Aaaand ordered a couple of Cosmo Air Light notebooks, probably overpriced but still cheaper than what little loose leaf of the stuff I've managed to locate. 

[inkstainedruth]

Yesterday I picked up some more of the "on clearance" composition books for my husband, although I have not been able to find them except at the one Staples location.  I kept the purple cover one, even though it's "wide ruled" instead of "college ruled" (which is my personal preference) just because, well, purple (actually more like lavender).  But for 46¢ apiece on clearance?  Sure, I'll buy them.  I got my husband the two different pink cover ones and the light teal one.  Don't know yet how good the paper is, but it seems to be pretty smooth (way better than some "banana" paper I got a few years ago at either there or one of the other big box office supply chains (Office Depot and Office Max merged a few years ago), and I discovered the other day that the Office Max store that was near me is now gone and replaced with something else in that particular strip mall; I just checked online and there now only seems to be OD and OM each in the greater Pittsburgh area (neither particularly easy to get to) plus another Office Max in Steubenville, Ohio and one in Greensburg, PA (about an hour east of me...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

Yesterday I won an auction for Levenger Circa compact refill paper. Much cheaper than buying it from Levenger.  

[Gloucesterman]

3 hours ago, Misfit said:

Yesterday I won an auction for Levenger Circa compact refill paper. Much cheaper than buying it from Levenger.  

keep in mind that the purchase of a medium or heavy duty "circa" style hole-punch turns all paper, dividers, plastic & card stock into compatible filler. I have two that I will be selling on another site in the near future.

 

Why pay a premium for paper stock simply because it's punched differently?

[Misfit]

Oh yes, I do have the smallest punch. I don’t often think of punching other paper, so thanks for the suggestion. 

[Anne-Sophie]

 

I  am running out of Rhodia A4 stapled notepads and I think I won't buy anymore because it is a struggle to get cleanly teared pages.

 

I will only buy top wired notepads in that size or loose leaf paper.

 

The good news is, my husband brought me all sorts of fountain pen friendly paper, whith my original M nibs, which are awaiting  testing with my new B, 1.1 and the Kugel nib I bought a long time ago, but never used, because I believed, it was a special issue with the Vista.

 

Kugel nibs are standard in Lamy fountain pens for children.

 

[Misfit]

@Anne-Sophie the Rhodia pads with spiral rings at the top have pages that tear easily. I tore two or three pages at one time cleanly. Mine is like an A5, the No. 16. 
 

I know what you mean about the stapled pads. I’ve had that problem with them. 

[Anne-Sophie]

1 hour ago, Misfit said:

@Anne-Sophie the Rhodia pads with spiral rings at the top have pages that tear easily. I tore two or three pages at one time cleanly. Mine is like an A5, the No. 16. 
 

I know what you mean about the stapled pads. I’ve had that problem with them. 

 

It confirms my experience, I believe that the stapled pad with weak tearing indentations, end of stack pages were bound together for notepads exported to the U.S, and manly distributed by big box stores, at bargain prices, with the assumption, that the general American public, didn't know anything about the brand reputation for quality paper.

 

For many years, it seemed to work, but some of those notepads have surfaced in specialty  retailers online shops. That is how I got them.

 

Because of the pandemic, I haven't set a foot in a big box store for a couple of years, I need to check their website to see if they still carry the stapled bound A4 notepads.

 

 

I think the spiral top exist in A4, No. 18. I believe I saw it on the RhodiaPads website, now I have to find a retailer, ideally someone who also sells Herbin inks.

 

Since Herbin and Rhodia have the same U.S distributor, that should not be a problem. 

 

But... the Exaclair catalogue shows a store display of their small 6 ml Herbin bottles, which are perfect samplers.

 

However, most U.S retailers with an online presence, do not sell them or, only sell them in group of 6, which would be great, if the 6 bottles were not in the same color, which defeats the purpose of the sampler size. 

 

It is late, please forgive any spelling mishap.