Posts Tagged ‘notebooks’

Friday review roundup

Posted January 27, 2012 by
in Product Reviews | 3 comments »

Happy Friday, everyone! What better way to kick off a winter weekend than with some constructive criticism of Habana notebooks:

  • Azizah at Gourmet Pens compares the new, ivory-paged Habana to its old white-paper counterpart. The verdict: more showthrough on the new Habana with fountain pens, and “even though the ivory paper is satiny smooth, the white paper is so smooth that it’s practically glossy. It gives start contrast to any color of ink and makes them look outstanding. I miss that.”

  • Jake Seliger tackles the small Habana’s big problem at The Story’s Story: “it’s not quite a pocket notebook. It’s also not quite a full-sized notebook, either, at 4″ x 6″, it’s uncomfortably in between, too large to carry around and too small for classrooms.”

I know Azizah’s not alone in her preference for the old, white paper. Do you agree with Jake that the small Habanas are awkwardly sized?

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Reusing old planner covers

Posted January 20, 2012 by
in Pens, Paper & People, Planning Tips | 1 comment »

A few years ago, I discovered that my old Sapa X covers fit perfectly onto the smallest size of staplebound Clairefontaine notebooks. It was a particularly handy thing to know when I switched to the Space 17, and it got me wondering about other planner/notebook cover combinations.

Of course, it then took me a while to track down the covers and notebooks I needed to experiment with, and even longer to get off my duff and write up the results. Nonetheless! Here are the combinations that work:

  • Sapa X + small (3.5 x 5.5) staplebound Clairefontaine, pictured here

  • Visual + medium (6.5 x 8.25) staplebound Clairefontaine, pictured above and below

  • Visual + medium (6 x 8.25) clothbound Clairefontaine, which fits quite similarly to the previous combo, so I didn’t photograph it

  • Prenote + large (8.25 x 11.75) clothbound Clairefontaine, pictured below

  • Notor or Textagenda + Exacompta Forum journal, pictured below

And here are some more pictures, plus the combos that didn’t work… Continue reading »

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Old products for the new year

Posted December 28, 2011 by
in Editorial, Product Reviews | 14 comments »

It doesn’t always happen immediately, but we do sometimes bring back discontinued products and give them another chance to succeed.

Of course, before we do, we need to make sure that people want to see the product return, and are passionate enough about it to actually make a purchase. So in honor of the coming new year, let me ask: what would you like to have back? A few items we’ve toyed around with:

  • Habana notebooks with white paperExacompta journey notebooks

  • Businessnote planners
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A paper review smorgasbord

Posted December 9, 2011 by
in Pens, Paper & People, Product Reviews | Add your comment »

From Pens and Paper, the site of a UK based organization (or organisation, I suppose) that teaches composition and handwriting and blogs about the life creative, comes this phenomenally comprehensive review of twelve different notebook papers — from the Habana to the Webnotebook and Moleskine, Leuchtturm 1917, and many others.

Each review is written with a careful and comparative eye, which makes it very useful indeed to have them all in one place.

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Friday review roundup

Posted December 2, 2011 by
in Product Reviews | 2 comments »

We’ve got some great reviews to share with you today… and even a contest!

Happy Friday, everyone…

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What’s on your stationery wish list?

Posted November 29, 2011 by
in Editorial, Pens, Paper & People | 8 comments »

We’ve talked about office supplies; now it’s time to talk pens and paper… What’s on your stationery wishlist? I’d like another Pelikano since it’s a pen I find myself reaching for all the time, and a Duo Cover for my Space 17.

What about you?

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Herzog’s notebook

Posted November 16, 2011 by
in Beautiful Creations, Cabinet of Curiosities, Pens, Paper & People | 1 comment »

I watched a documentary over the weekend that German filmmaker Werner Herzog made about his relationship with the actor Klaus Kinski. To call the relationship tempestuous would be an understatement, and it’s a remarkable thing to watch. (For a brief glimpse, check out the trailer on YouTube.)

Also remarkable was a scene with actress Claudia Cardinale, who recalled, among other things, the notebook Herzog carried with him while they filming Fitzcarraldo. Kinski was suspicious of it, because, as Cardinale pointed out, it didn’t concern him, and he never knew what Herzog was writing. Of course, neither did anybody else, because — talk about tiny writing! Just get a load of the screenshot above and try to decipher the text.

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Paginated notebooks?

Posted November 10, 2011 by
in Planning Tips | 19 comments »

Image via twitchcraft

A couple of days ago, an intriguing suggestion came through via Twitter… “Notebooks with discreet page numbers.”

Do you like the idea? Should we try it?

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Small writing

Posted September 7, 2011 by
in Editorial, Pens, Paper & People | Add your comment »

Werner Herzog’s notebook, which I blogged about the other week, reminded me of a great post by John at Pencil Wrap. (I got to it via The Pen Addict and have been meaning to write about it ever since.)

As a mid-height chicken scrawler, I’m always awed by examples of small writing, which look so neat and coherent on the page. Of course, in Herzog’s case, as one of our commenters pointed out, you might go blind trying to read it.

How small (or big) is your handwriting?

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Nice paper, good pen, deep thoughts

Posted August 1, 2011 by
in Editorial, Pens, Paper & People | 4 comments »

I had to smile when I read Palimpsest’s recent post about handwriting:

There is pressure. G. Lalo invites me, nay demands of me, to perform not only my best handwriting but also to put down my best thoughts lest I defile with meaningless outpourings the ribbed writing surface, and what then? Erasure is of course impossible.

I, and I suspect many others, go through something similar every time I start using a new, non spiral-bound notebook… do I have a purpose for this notebook? Is this thought really worth recording? Once I’m a few pages in, the anxiety dies down, and I realize there are more important things than good handwriting and perfectly articulated ideas.

Do you have new notebook anxiety?

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