Calling all Travelers Notebook users

[Anne-Sophie]

6 hours ago, Misfit said:

Prices vary. I got mine at Office Depot. It was a better price there. 

 

What I meant was, is it lined, plain, etc?

 

Is the paper more fountain pen friendly than other notebooks?

 

If you have a suggestion for a lightweight paper, grid or plain,  letter/A4 size from notepad or loose leaf, let me know.

 

 

[Misfit]

Oh, sorry. It is A5 dotted paper with a place at the top to add a title, and an area to circle or highlight the month and date. It has a circle at the bottom to add a page number. I use lots of 1.1mm stub nibs when writing in it, and I don’t get show through. I’d say I don’t write lightly, but also don’t put a lot of pressure. The paper would not be considered as lightweight. 
 

[Anne-Sophie]

 

Thank you for taking the time to take a picture, Misfit!

 

The notebook layout is a nice concept for notes but, dot paper is not for me.

[Misfit]

This might help you @Anne-Sophie

 

https://www.gentlemanstationer.com/blog/2023/9/19/drafting-in-longhand-my-love-for-a4-notebooks

 

[paomist]

I love the system that traveler's notebooks use!

I have two leather notebooks that I had made here in my country, the size is passport and standard.

[Misfit]

I am welcoming @Particular_Song3539 to this thread before I even see a post. 

[Particular_Song3539]

Thank you @Misfit . So it is a month left for 2023, I need to plan about how to use my TN in 2024, which cover to use, any improvement from 2023's styles and all that.
The thinking period is fun (but usually happens when I am in bed, ready to sleep but have nothing to write down ) 

[Misfit]

Not even a TN? 😉

[Anne-Sophie]

On 9/21/2023 at 4:56 AM, Misfit said:

This might help you @Anne-Sophie

 

https://www.gentlemanstationer.com/blog/2023/9/19/drafting-in-longhand-my-love-for-a4-notebooks

 

 

Thank you so much Misfit! It is an extremely clever and interesting system.

 

I need a lightweight and flexible way to archive A4 paper folded in two to make A5 double sheets. 

 

Please feel free to share, any other system you come across, for that format.

[Misfit]

@Anne-Sophie when you write archiving paper, is that to save it, or to use it?  
 

If to use, maybe disc bound systems?  They have punches that let you add the paper of your choice. Office Depot has Tul, and they do sell some plastic covers. You have to buy the discs.  There are other disc bound systems. I don’t know what country you live in. That would affect choices. 
 

I’ll keep thinking about this. 

[wallylynn]

I used to stitch and bind the folded papers into a journal. But I wouldn't call it flexible

[Particular_Song3539]

@wallylynn I actually only used customized TN inserts now. I can use whatever paper, paper combinations, pages and cover I like.
I got a stapler that has a long reach and it just takes a few secs to bind it . Super flexible.

[Anne-Sophie]

On 11/8/2023 at 4:46 AM, Misfit said:

@Anne-Sophie when you write archiving paper, is that to save it, or to use it?  

 

To save already written pages.

 

 

 

[Anne-Sophie]

On 11/8/2023 at 4:46 AM, Misfit said:

f to use, maybe disc bound systems?  They have punches that let you add the paper of your choice. Office Depot has Tul, and they do sell some plastic covers. You have to buy the discs.  There are other disc bound systems. I don’t know what country you live in. That would affect choices. 

 

I live in the U.S, I briefly considered every disk bound system from Circa to the cheapest setup with big office supply stores brands.

 

Before I found a simpler 3 ring binder in A5 which contains my A4 sheets of printer or Rhodia paper in A4 folded in half then punched.

 

When it gets full, at the end of the year, I need to archive the written pages. There are plain A5 3 rings binders, but a minimum of 2 for each year, they are too bulky for multiple years.

 

The system you showed gave me the idea to DIY something with a thin cover and secure each month, then year pages with a metal fastener.

 

I usually use thread to bind together upcycled thin card covers  with the paper but, it leaves the spine vulnerable. I need a lightweight solution for that.  

[Misfit]

@Anne-Sophie clever you. I’m glad anything I showed helped you come up with a solution. 

[Anne-Sophie]

 

Thank you for the compliment, Misfit.

 

I am wondering what kind of lightweight cover and spine material would be water resistant.

 

If you have any suggestion, thoughts about that, feel free to share.  

[wallylynn]

On 11/10/2023 at 9:30 PM, Anne-Sophie said:

I am wondering what kind of lightweight cover and spine material would be water resistant.

Tyvek? Maybe too lightweight...

My dollar tree has rolls of self adhesive vinyl sheets.

[Anne-Sophie]

 

I saved loads of Tyvek envelopes to protect the journals' years already threaded together.

 

I what eco-friendly material is also waterproof?

[wallylynn]

The only materials I could think of so far are Glassine (the postage stamp envelopes) and waxed paper, but they're just water resistant not proof.

 

Aluminum foil is water proof but does that count as eco-friendly?

[txomsy]

Water is a very small, polar, reactive molecule. I fear that if one stretches the term, very little things are actually waterproof (over the aeons).

 

However, if one uses waterproof ink, I have found that -with a bit of patience- many things can survive a water test.

 

I have already mentioned several times my absent mindedness, that I like to carry A6 or A7 notebooks in a pocket, and that I once forgot one in the laundry. If I remember well, it was a plastic bound, A7, Miquelrius, Liderpapel or something like that, cheap one. Afterwards, I left it dry open  in the air (took a week or so), and while all non-waterproof ink had washed away, and the paper surface was rougher, all waterproof ink remained and it was still usable (although I had to store it under weight until it recovered its shape), and could continue using it (yeah, I'm a cheapie too).

 

Lately I use thinner A6, kraft paper bound, notebooks within a leather sleeve (usually carried too in a jeans' back pocket, one for writing -coated Rhodia-like paper- and one for sketching -cheap uncoated Moleskine). A couple of weeks ago I went for a "short" 13 Km stroll in the woods under light rain. After 3 hours my coat (and me too) was soaked wet. The leather covers were also wet (not that much), but they went through it without any problem (they're still within my jean's back pocket) and the notebooks were totally OK.

 

So, while just anecdotal, I think that -if one is willing to allow for the patience needed to wait for the notebook/sleeve to dry naturally, and to use waterproof ink- any decent-quality notebook and a leather cover may just be enough.

 

If you want vegan, cork is also a great -if not better- alternative to leather, it is vegan, and if good quality, can be as resistant (to water, cold, heat -even fire) or more as leather, nice looking and very soft-touch. The only problem with good cork is that it is typically produced in a relatively small fraction of the World (typically the Western Mediterranean area, Spain, Portugal and Northwest Africa). If one lives relatively near (e.g. EU), getting excellent, top quality goods in cork can be very cheap, but farther away it may become very expensive.

 

If that is not an option (you do not want to use waterproof ink or do not want to wait for them slowly drying before continuing using them), either a second notebook for use while they dry, or a self-sealing plastic bag without holes, like many of those 1 L self-sealing bags you are required (and sometimes get for free) at airport clearance to carry liquids, may be the best option.

 

Second best, plastic film, or a plastic sheet you may wrap around your notebook (here, a like for Origami may help finding the most protective wrapping).

 

The main inconvenient with plastic, for me, is it is non-transpiring and tends to become uncomfortable when carried in a pocket.

 

Or do away with protection, and get a backpack or a purse that is waterproof (there are some that have a plastic inner covering and a transpiring exterior, but in my experience they are not so easy to come by). Or wear them in a pocket in a coat/jacket/whatever that is waterproof. But that is not eco-friendly.