I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[ParramattaPaul]

11 minutes ago, N1003U said:

That is another practical idea, but 1.) I already have plenty of A4 TR 52g paper, and 2.) it doesn’t sound creative enough...

 

Thanks for the suggestion though!

No worries.  My comment was meant as humour.

 

An actual alternative would be to donate it to a school's art department (assuming your local schools are actually functioning) for the students to use.

[N1003U]

18 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

No worries.  My comment was meant as humour.

 

An actual alternative would be to donate it to a school's art department (assuming your local schools are actually functioning) for the students to use.

Understood. I was also being a little tongue-in-cheek, as it were. Subtle humor seems tough sometimes in message board format...😛

 

Donating 50 sheets of paper is also a nice gesture, I suppose, but if the need is really there, I can do better than that. Thanks for the suggestion, I will look into it. I wonder how many students are aware of Tomoe River paper and/or have exploited its relatively unique properties. It is fun to go at with a brush or cotton swab, too!

 

A3 seems like it ought to be a fun size to play with, and Tomoe River 52g is a special paper that is also a lot of fun to experiment with using liquid ink and some tool to apply that ink (with fountain pens being prime candidates as the tool of choice 😃).

 

I am just seeking some possible creative ideas with which to enjoy the combination of size and writing properties.

[Misfit]

Fold the paper in half, and write your letters in “book” form.  A pen pal did that with A4 size, and I thought it was cool. I’ve written them that way too. You just have to be careful to write on the correct side. I’ve only goofed that up once. 

[N1003U]

4 minutes ago, Misfit said:

Fold the paper in half, and write your letters in “book” form.  A pen pal did that with A4 size, and I thought it was cool. I’ve written them that way too. You just have to be careful to write on the correct side. I’ve only goofed that up once. 

Great idea! Four pages in one!

[ParramattaPaul]

11 minutes ago, N1003U said:

I wonder how many students are aware of Tomoe River paper and/or have exploited its relatively unique properties. 

Probably none.  One wonders how many school art teachers have 'played' with quality, unique papers.

 

[brokenclay]

49 minutes ago, N1003U said:

I think that will be the fate of a few sheets, but I don’t know how many folks appreciate receiving letter on such large pieces of paper. I am also tempted in that case to divide the paper into columns like a newspaper and write column-wise.

 

One of my correspondents writes to me on A3 Tomoe River, folded once to create 4 A4 pages, which he writes on like a book.

 

49 minutes ago, N1003U said:

Sounds like you are enjoying you Galen box! I have been watching the Galen Leather products for a while, and they look both nice and interesting, but I haven’t yet pulled the trigger on a purchase. Thanks for pushing me closer! That is a great looking box.

 

I only just got it today. So far my only quibble is that it has two support sticks designed to hold the lid up at a slight angle so that you can use it as a writing desk, and those two sticks prevent you from putting a A5 pads or loose sheets in. I may just remove them. We'll see.

 

 

49 minutes ago, N1003U said:

 

Also, if I am seeing correctly, you are a Pelikan and Kaweco fan, so I already know you have exquisite taste! 😛

 

🙂

 

Yes, from left to right a vintage Pel 120, an M200, a modern M120, an Aurora Duo Cart (the new one, also a Christmas present, received yesterday), and 2 Kaweco Sports.

 

[Stompie]

14 hours ago, N1003U said:

 

 

A3 seems like it ought to be a fun size to play with, and Tomoe River 52g is a special paper that is also a lot of fun to experiment with using liquid ink and some tool to apply that ink (with fountain pens being prime candidates as the tool of choice 😃).

 

 

 

Write the letters! I did my first large letter on some Chinese Rice paper and, although you can only write on one side, it is so light that the postage is less than a normal letter in A4 but, it had such a nice feel to it when handling it and I am sure the recipient would enjoy it too! It's also quirky to get a huge letter that you then have to read across long lines, well, I would enjoy it!

[N1003U]

10 minutes ago, Stompie said:

 

 

Write the letters! I did my first large letter on some Chinese Rice paper and, although you can only write on one side, it is so light that the postage is less than a normal letter in A4 but, it had such a nice feel to it when handling it and I am sure the recipient would enjoy it too! It's also quirky to get a huge letter that you then have to read across long lines, well, I would enjoy it!

Thanks for the encouragement. I am already considering the possibilities.

 

One is to get out a couple of broad italic nibs or maybe narrower Parallel Pens and write in a calligraphic font. That is an extra challenge for me, as I am left handed, and to do calligraphy, I need to essentially write sideways to avoid disastrous smearing.

 

Of course even a regular letter in my normal hand on such a large piece of paper would be somewhat novel, and I tend to write long letters anyway, so even that is an interesting option. And yes, with the lightweight paper, going overweight for postage purposes is less of a risk.

[MHBru]

giving a shout out regarding a paper I learned about from a pen pal.  I've been using A4 Clairefontaine Triumphe and G Lalo ... both are very nice but a little pricey.  I just bought a ream of Southworth paper from Amazon and it is very good.  It's similar to G Lalo but a little lighter weight... no ghosting, feathering, or bleed through.... and for about $35 it's a no brainer.

[inkypete]

I'm excited. Heading to a shopping centre with a Daiso tomorrow - it's been a while. Hoping to pick up some 5x3 cards with vertical ruling and the B7 ruled Apica'ish notepads.

[N1003U]

On 12/29/2020 at 2:03 PM, Stompie said:

 

 

Write the letters! I did my first large letter on some Chinese Rice paper and, although you can only write on one side, it is so light that the postage is less than a normal letter in A4 but, it had such a nice feel to it when handling it and I am sure the recipient would enjoy it too! It's also quirky to get a huge letter that you then have to read across long lines, well, I would enjoy it!

Follow up: I did write a coupe of A3-sized letters, and I folded them down to A6 size (to fit into a C6 envelope), which he 52g Tomoe River stuff does happily. Both recipients were thrilled (at least claimed to be) with the novel size. One letter I wrote with a regular fine point, which meant I could put a lot of writing (with long lines) on one page, and the other I wrote with a fat, wet stub nib at an appropriately large size.

 

One interesting thing I noticed writing on large paper: plain text gets boring quickly on such a large area, and I kept getting the urge to embellish the text with illustrations, diagrams, borders, and other flourishes. I begin to understand why the monks and other scribes in the Middle Ages made an art out of book publishing.

 

Another challenge for me personally is to write in a straight line, so for guidelines I used a piece of A4 graph paper turned sideways, which worked fairly well.

 

 

[inkypete]

22 hours ago, inkypete said:

I'm excited. Heading to a shopping centre with a Daiso tomorrow - it's been a while. Hoping to pick up some 5x3 cards with vertical ruling and the B7 ruled Apica'ish notepads.

Picked up the Apica B7s but no cards. Daiso can be so frustrating when you can't get what you want.

[Stompie]

On 2/6/2021 at 10:50 AM, N1003U said:

Follow up: I did write a coupe of A3-sized letters, and I folded them down to A6 size (to fit into a C6 envelope), which he 52g Tomoe River stuff does happily. Both recipients were thrilled (at least claimed to be) with the novel size. One letter I wrote with a regular fine point, which meant I could put a lot of writing (with long lines) on one page, and the other I wrote with a fat, wet stub nib at an appropriately large size.

 

One interesting thing I noticed writing on large paper: plain text gets boring quickly on such a large area, and I kept getting the urge to embellish the text with illustrations, diagrams, borders, and other flourishes. I begin to understand why the monks and other scribes in the Middle Ages made an art out of book publishing.

 

Another challenge for me personally is to write in a straight line, so for guidelines I used a piece of A4 graph paper turned sideways, which worked fairly well.

 

 

 

Well done! Of course pictures and illustrations in a letter are always welcome and make for an interesting read in any letter!  So just go for it, letter writing is a hobby to be enjoyed and to have fun with, not a strict regime!  😁

[brokenclay]

On 2/6/2021 at 3:50 AM, N1003U said:

Follow up: I did write a coupe of A3-sized letters, and I folded them down to A6 size (to fit into a C6 envelope), which he 52g Tomoe River stuff does happily. Both recipients were thrilled (at least claimed to be) with the novel size. One letter I wrote with a regular fine point, which meant I could put a lot of writing (with long lines) on one page, and the other I wrote with a fat, wet stub nib at an appropriately large size.

 

One interesting thing I noticed writing on large paper: plain text gets boring quickly on such a large area, and I kept getting the urge to embellish the text with illustrations, diagrams, borders, and other flourishes. I begin to understand why the monks and other scribes in the Middle Ages made an art out of book publishing.

 

Another challenge for me personally is to write in a straight line, so for guidelines I used a piece of A4 graph paper turned sideways, which worked fairly well.

 

 

 

Very cool! Thanks for reporting back on the experiment. I love that the recipients enjoyed the big format.

[AmandaW]

16 hours ago, inkypete said:

Daiso can be so frustrating when you can't get what you want.

 

True, but being unable to get there at all is even more frustrating! Congrats on the visit and acquisition.

[Runnin_Ute]

I write quite a bit, and to go through a 100 sheet pack of A4 Tomoe River 52gsm it takes 10 months or so. But, if I was writing A4 letters it would probably go faster. I typically fold in half and get two A5's. Use both sides and that is a four page letter out of a single A4 sheet.

 

I do it because I enjoy writing letters on A5 better than on A4. At 15 cents a sheet ($14.95/100) it does make it more cost effective too, if I can get a 4 page letter for 15 cents, not counting the ink....

[Stompie]

3 notebooks arrived today! 

 

Got them from a chap in Wales as I like supporting local lads trying to put a crust on the table.

 

Arruma notebooks , jonny_scarramuzza on Instagram.

 

Tried them with a normal fine nib fountain pen and then Pilot Parallel 2.4 nib which is very wet. Only a faint show through on the Pilot pens, nothing otherwise so I am happy! Lined or plain paper available.

[Runnin_Ute]

Just today, an self inking address stamp I picked up at Simply Stamps showed up in the mailbox. They had some pretty cool designs and I found one I liked. This style:

 

 

[Runnin_Ute]

Birthday is in a couple of weeks. I was given a budget ($100) and I could get what I wanted. Ended up with two bottles of ink (Diamine Silver Fox, Levenger Amethyst) and some paper. (Original Crown Mill bi color note card correspondence sets- cream/green and cream/navy)

I have some of the note cards and they are very nice, and it seemed like a good time to get a second set of each. Each of the ones I have is low enough I would want to get them soon anyway.

[aimi]

I got a few sheets of Life paper recently. Excited to try this brand out! Recently I’m realizing I prefer loose sheets to notebooks...