I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[inkypete]

Oh! I want Lihit Aqua Drops for Christmas. All those lovely colors.

 

The paper is very FP friendly.

[Tasmith]

I think wandering around a good cooking store like Williams-Sonoma or Sur La Table is a close second to stationery/office supply stores.

[goodpens]

I think wandering around a good cooking store like Williams-Sonoma or Sur La Table is a close second to stationery/office supply stores.

 

Yes!

 

I believe, deep down, that in both of these examples, I like the items (stationery, cooking items) not just because it is cool stuff that I can accumulate, but because I like to think about what I (or someone else) can create with it.

 

I have a much more difficult time in a stationery, art supply, cooking, book, or knitting store than I do when I go clothes shopping.

[Misfit]

I agree. I don't get into cooking stores much lately, but really want a good non-stick 8" pan for omelets.

 

@inkypete: glad to learn Aqua Drops are good for fountain pens. I think a green lined version will be under the Christmas tree for me. And a Midori Diamond memo pad in red should show up too. They have been residing on my wish list at jetpens.com for quite awhile.

 

Oh, I took advantage of the Field Notes "It's Wednesday" offer for the first time ever, and ordered a gift of the Clandestine notebooks, plus a steno pad for me. Well mine is starting to look like it will run out, soon, yes.

[Studio97]

I'm a complete stationery junkie.

 

I have shelves full of notebooks, notepads and loose leaf paper. Boxes upon boxes full of journals and assorted notebooks of varying sizes--A3-A7, B3-B7, slim A5 and semi-B5. Multiple traditional stationery sets for letter-writing. Multiple sticky note sets. Note cards out the wazoo.

 

And the collection is even international, with notebooks or paper from France, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy, Korea, China--Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and even a Jamaican journal with Bob Marley on the cover.

 

And then there are the FPs, inks, highlighters, ordinary pencils, erasers, and various art pencils and pens. Plus sketch pads.

 

 

I may need an intervention.

I also have shelves full of quality notebooks, large bins boxes full, top quality art supplies as I have my own art store at home and I am the only customer. I recently began gifting some notebooks and sold about 30 to a bookstore. Just too many. Gave away some art supplies too. I provided my own intervention and I still have a ghastly amount of supplies. Edited December 12, 2018 by Studio97

[1nkulus]

I also have shelves full of quality notebooks, large bins boxes full, top quality art supplies as I have my own art store at home and I am the only customer. I recently began gifting some notebooks and sold about 30 to a bookstore. Just too many. Gave away some art supplies too. I provided my own intervention and I still have a ghastly amount of supplies.

 

A true stationery connoisseur/hoarder. The pinnacle is having your own store.

[Aquaria]

@inkypete: glad to learn Aqua Drops are good for fountain pens. I think a green lined version will be under the Christmas tree for me.

 

The Lihit Lab notebooks are indeed FP friendly. I used one for my history class notes.

 

A few things to know about the notebooks that are minuses:

 

If you want to add more paper or move pages around, getting the rings open is a real pain in the tukhas. I have never been able to do it without a fight.

 

The paper itself uses real estate to tell you how to open the rings. On every page. It's small and at the bottom of the page, but it is there.

 

The holes don't line up with those of other B5 papers. Aqua drops is a system all its own, so you're stuck with using that system. This means that you can't load it with other, more readily available refill loose leaf paper in the B5 size. It also means the holes don't fit in the typical B5 binders like the Kokuyo Campus Slide for archiving. I wound up getting a pipe binder from Japan along with a B5 hole punch, and doing manual hole punching to archive some of my important notes that I know I'll need to hang onto as references for future classes and for grad school.

 

When I go to Japan, I plan to hit up one of their awesome stationery stores to see if Lihit Lab makes a legit binder for the Aqua Drops system.

Edited December 14, 2018 by Aquaria

[Aquaria]

I also have shelves full of quality notebooks, large bins boxes full, top quality art supplies as I have my own art store at home and I am the only customer. I recently began gifting some notebooks and sold about 30 to a bookstore. Just too many. Gave away some art supplies too. I provided my own intervention and I still have a ghastly amount of supplies.

 

You can gift me FP friendly notebooks, anytime. Sketch pads, I think I'm good. For now. Maybe.

[Aquaria]

I think wandering around a good cooking store like Williams-Sonoma or Sur La Table is a close second to stationery/office supply stores.

 

My second weakness is hardware stores. My grandfather was a general contractor and the last smithy in his neck of the woods. He would take us to his hardware haunts, which weren't like these fancy stores now. These were the places where the professionals like him shopped for their hardware needs. Products out on the floor had these arcane descriptions on the labels and the prices were listed by gross, gallons, ohms per thousand feet--really old school labeling. These places were so bare bones in decor that they make Home Depot look like they got a Martha Stewart makeover.

 

I spent many a weekend exploring these stores while Granpere talked business or simply shot the bull with guys he'd been doing business with for 30 or more years. And now I can't seem to break myself of exploring when I hit a hardware store, even though he's been dead 45 years now. As soon as I set foot inside one, I can't seem to get out of it for hours, because I have to look at everything, touch everything, run my hands through barrels of nails--it's like a drug to me.

[Retro-user]

I just ordered a five-drawer storage unit to help keep my desktop clear. #intoodeep

[XYZZY]

 

My second weakness is hardware stores. My grandfather was a general contractor and the last smithy in his neck of the woods. He would take us to his hardware haunts, which weren't like these fancy stores now. These were the places where the professionals like him shopped for their hardware needs. Products out on the floor had these arcane descriptions on the labels and the prices were listed by gross, gallons, ohms per thousand feet--really old school labeling. These places were so bare bones in decor that they make Home Depot look like they got a Martha Stewart makeover.

 

I spent many a weekend exploring these stores while Granpere talked business or simply shot the bull with guys he'd been doing business with for 30 or more years. And now I can't seem to break myself of exploring when I hit a hardware store, even though he's been dead 45 years now. As soon as I set foot inside one, I can't seem to get out of it for hours, because I have to look at everything, touch everything, run my hands through barrels of nails--it's like a drug to me.

 

Thanks for that story, it brings back some of my own childhood memories. My great grandfather owned & ran a similar sounding hardware store in a tiny west Texas town. I don't remember my great grandfather, and he sold the store before I was born, but in my youth my Dad took me to the same store and told stories of my great grandfather and when my Dad helped out there in his own teenage years. And it was great to rummage through the tools and listen to my Dad shoot the breeze with the old-timers who hung out there. It too was a hardware store for professionals, long before modern "home improvement centers" did away with that.

[Pen Nut]

I also have a nasty 'affliction' for wandering around stationery shops / stores........doesnt make me a bad person though does it

[Misfit]

The Lihit Lab notebooks are indeed FP friendly. I used one for my history class notes.

 

A few things to know about the notebooks that are minuses:

 

If you want to add more paper or move pages around, getting the rings open is a real pain in the tukhas. I have never been able to do it without a fight.

 

The paper itself uses real estate to tell you how to open the rings. On every page. It's small and at the bottom of the page, but it is there.

 

The holes don't line up with those of other B5 papers. Aqua drops is a system all its own, so you're stuck with using that system. This means that you can't load it with other, more readily available refill loose leaf paper in the B5 size. It also means the holes don't fit in the typical B5 binders like the Kokuyo Campus Slide for archiving. I wound up getting a pipe binder from Japan along with a B5 hole punch, and doing manual hole punching to archive some of my important notes that I know I'll need to hang onto as references for future classes and for grad school.

 

When I go to Japan, I plan to hit up one of their awesome stationery stores to see if Lihit Lab makes a legit binder for the Aqua Drops system.

Good to know about the removal issue. Now I won’t be surprised and think something is wrong with the notebook. I have a couple Circa notebooks and got the small punch. Tul from Office Depot will fit, but maybe not quite as well.

[Newjelan]

Well, as I only have 3 lifetimes worth of notebooks, paper and stationery supplies, I simply had to order 4 Rhodia Heritage Notebooks (2XA5 and 2XB5) that were on sale at Milligram.com.au (no affiliation), as well as multiple rolls of washi tape and some notepads.

[inkypete]

Well, as I only have 3 lifetimes worth of notebooks, paper and stationery supplies, I simply had to order 4 Rhodia Heritage Notebooks (2XA5 and 2XB5) that were on sale at Milligram.com.au (no affiliation), as well as multiple rolls of washi tape and some notepads.

 

The Rhodia special is half price - great value. You should have bought more.

[Newjelan]

The Rhodia special is half price - great value. You should have bought more.

I know, I was sorely tempted. But I have no storage space left and believe me, that’s saying something as I have a large room full of storage that’s dedicated to storing pens, inks and paper.

[Studio97]

I have been moving a number of Moleskine notebooks on and out and replaced them with more 003 Midori inserts. I didn't need the inserts right now, (I have 10), but everyone here knows how that is.

[inkypete]

I have been moving a number of Moleskine notebooks on and out and replaced them with more 003 Midori inserts. I didn't need the inserts right now, (I have 10), but everyone here knows how that is.

 

You have to be prepared for the Global Stationery Crisis, should it ever happen. When stationery is in short supply I will make a killing. OK - not the most likely thing to happen but if it does - I'm prepared. I have enough notebooks, good pens and ink to last 30 years - reckon that should be enough. Hmmmm - might top up a little more. Just in case.

[Studio97]

Some of the moleskine had to go. Even some rollerballs and gel pens would not work on that paper. So I'm going for more Midori inserts. No problem there so far. Of course I have years worth of supplies, paper pens FPs ink and wood cased pencils and "disposable" mechanical pencils, but overall I have slowed down on purchases from what I used to do. Some of those Molrskines became gifts for Non-FP family.

[A Smug Dill]

When stationery is in short supply I will make a killing. OK - not the most likely thing to happen but if it does - I'm prepared.

No, no! You won't make a killing, because you'll keep them all to yourself so that you can write the only surviving record of 'history' the way you see it.