In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Notegeist Bindery Handbound and Everyday Editions

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Notebook Review: Notegeist Bindery Handbound and Everyday Editions

Review by Tina Koyama

Last fall I reviewed Notegeist Bindery’s Everyday line of pocket notebooks. Among the many designs owner Gary Varner has added to the collection since then are very limited handbound editions. He has some new size formats, too.

First up are 3 ½-by-5 ½-inch Butterflys & Peacocks (currently discounted at 2/$12) with lovely covers printed in Italy. The mango leaf Kozo tissue flyleaves are a luxurious touch. The two designs are handstitched with waxed thread in coordinating colors.

Another handbound limited edition was By the Bay (now sold out), an homage to San Francisco. A century-old map of the city with fun illustrations is reprinted on the covers. The current limited edition is Dark Skies, which comes with a matching shelf bin.

Both of these handbound editions contain dot-grid ruled, 80-pound Maruman Mnemosyne paper, which is the same as was used in the editions I reviewed previously (paper tests shown in that review). The smooth paper performs better than most pocket-size notebooks when using broad fountain pens and inks that typically bleed or feather.

A new edition in the Everyday staplebound collection features the intriguing work of 16th century artist Lorenz Stoer (3/$14). Designs shown here are in Pack A. Pack B includes three more designs. (Several other designs available in this series; check out the lovely parrots!)

This series features unruled, 70-pound French PopTone paper (graph and ruled options also available), which I prefer to the smoother Mnemosyne. Testing it with my usual assortment of pens and other media, nothing bled through or feathered, not even a fat Kuretake brush pen or my juicy Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen with Platinum Carbon ink. While it’s still smooth enough with fountain pens, the subtle tooth makes it better with graphite and colored pencils. I’m looking forward to using these unruled books for sketching.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Notegeist for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

tina-koyamaTina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Lauren Phelps A6 Live | Plan | Dream® Notebook

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Notebook Review: Lauren Phelps A6 Live | Plan | Dream® Notebook

I was delighted to meet Lauren Phelps at the Little Craft Fest event in Houston a couple weeks ago. Owner of Lauren Phelps Designs and journal goddess, she is a fountain pen fan herself, she produces journal/planner/notebooks that feature Tomoe River 52gsm paper in her date-free planner/journals called Live | Plan | Dream series.

These notebooks are available in Standard Travelers, Weeks, A5, A6 and (oh joy!!!) B6! I sampled the A6 size (148 mm x 105 mm, $32.99) with a flexible leatherette cover in a muted peachy-pink color. The notebook includes 392 pages of 52gsm white Tomoe River paper and the majority of the pages feature 4mm dotted grid. The notebooks is threadbound and flays flat and has slightly rounded corners. The quality is excellent.

In the front of the notebook is twelve, 2-page monthly calendar grids making it possible to start your planning in May or August or whenever you want to jumpstart your journal or planning goals for a whole new year.

On the back page is a page spacing and tab placement guide. This is such an interesting addition. I totally understood the tab placement guide on first glance but the other guide info took me a minute to understand. The guide info includes numbers to indicate the number of grid boxes on the page both horizontally and vertically as well as marks to show how to divide the page into sections. Its a pretty clever way to help if you like to divide your pages.

I also got a Moon Child Planner Cover – a collaboration with Nib & Fleur ($23.99) which is a clear, flexible vinyl cover, printed with an opaque white design of flowers, moon and stars. The inside front cover features two small horizontal pockets to store extra ephemera. I love this cover and can still add additional decorations on the notebook cover under the vinyl cover.

At present, the prices for these undated Tomoe River planner/journals are less expensive than most Hobonichi branded notebooks while the quality is on par or exceeds the Hobonichis.

Of course, I do not have information as to the notorious Tomoe River paper issues regarding the Lauren Phelps Designs but the sample I tested performed well and met all my expectations for paper quality. I love that these planner/journals are available in a variety of sizes for whatever size you prefer, are undated and less expensive than Hobonichi. They are worth the investment.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Lauren Phelps Designs for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: My Year of Reading

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Link Love: My Year of Reading

I have re-embraced my love for reading this year. It’s my safe place and my way to escape the doomscrolling. Instead of Pod Save America, I am listening to audiobooks while doing household tasks or exercising and instead of nightly news reports, I read fantasy and sci-fi and all kinds of other fiction. Even my knitting has taken a backseat since I often watch tv or movies while knitting and I just haven’t felt called to watch anything — even fictionalized shows. I prefer to fall head first into a book.

As a result, I blew past my personal reading challenge goal in March or April and keep reading. I visit my local library to pick books up off the “new releases” shelf or books I’ve requested from the hold shelf. I download ebooks through Libby/Overdrive onto my Kobo Libra 2. Our Patreon (Inktellectual and Pen Champs tiers) even have a book club that makes sure I read more diversely. I am even involved in a local book club that also pushes me to read books I might not have chosen myself or sometimes to re-read a book which I seldom do because “there’s always more to read.”

I have even started a book journal where I log each book I’ve read with a small photo of the cover to help me remember the book. Since so many books I read are ebooks or on loan from the library, these little thumbnail images are the only way to “keep” the books and my memories of them alive.

These are a few of the books I’ve read in the last month or so.

With the exception of the purchase of the Kobo device last year, the hobby of reading books is relatively inexpensive. What I don’t borrow from the library digitally or physically, I either buy secondhand or through online ebook sales (bookbub.com is a great source for deals).

What is bringing you comfort and respite in these tumultous times?

Pens:

Ink:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

If you join our Patreon today, you can listen to our exclusive podcast tomorrow! I’ll be talking about the Little Craft Fest Stationery Event and lots of other gossip and news from around the pen community. For our current Patreon supporters — thank you! I love you for all your support!

In Pen Review

Pen Review: Writech 2-in1 Retractable Gel Pens (Vintage + Black 0.5mm)

Author AnaPosted on 6 Comments
Pen Review: Writech 2-in1 Retractable Gel Pens (Vintage + Black 0.5mm)

I was so surprised how much I liked the Writech Dual Color Multi-Pen (Vintage Color Set) that I went ahead and purchased the Writech Dual Color Multi Pen – 0.5 mm – 4 Vintage & Black Color Set ($8.25 for the set). This set uses four “vintage colors” — one in each pen body paired with black. At first, I didn’t quite get the appeal of having FOUR pens with black until it dawned on me that I would most likely carry just one of these pens at a time with my monthly journaling kit and would have TWO pens in one barrel. So convenient!

The “vintage colors” are really just subtle colors: Milk Tea, Burgundy Red, Dark Blue and Lilac. All these colors are paired with the Black so I have a lighter, interesting color plus the ever-functional black for those everyday uses.

The only duplicate color to the Dual Color Multi-Pen Set is Milk Tea which I don’t mind in the least as it is my favorite and one of my favorite gel pen colors to date. I wish there were options to buy refills when I use up all the ink in these pens.

Once again, I am impressed with the quality and colors available in the Writech gel pens. If you have not tried these out yet, now is the time.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In feature

Giveaway Winner: Little Craft Fest Goodie Bag

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments
Giveaway Winner: Little Craft Fest Goodie Bag

Thanks to everyone who read our recap of the Little Craft Fest in Houston. And of course, for entering our giveaway for our tote full of goodies graciously provided by many of the vendors who were at the show. A list of the most of the vendors that contributed are in our original post. Please consider supporting these small businesses.

Now, for our winner:

If anyone knows how to fix this weird glitch in my comments, let me know!

Sailor is a great place to start. I hope to see you at the event next year, Yen Draws! I’ve emailed you directly so check your email and reply soon!

Stay tuned for future recaps and giveaways. There’s lots more shows this year!

In Planners & Organizers

May Planner/Journal Set-Up: Black & White & May All Over

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
May Planner/Journal Set-Up: Black & White & May All Over
My key tools: Galen Leather 3-pen case with Hot Dang Press Iron-On transfer, Hobonichi Pocket Drawer in Ukranian Flowers and my B6 leather notebook cover from Etsy with B6 Stalogy and Creeping Moon Draco Clip

This month, I wanted a clean, simple theme for my planner set-up and decided to go with “Black & White & May All Over”. Printables in a variety of sizes with calendar and artwork are available to download FREE to Patrons if you want these files too.

I have recorded another video where I babble about all the tools and materials and even test drive a few new items I picked up at the Little Craft Fest stationery event last week.

My goal will be to post more “plan with me” style videos later this month. Please let me know if you’re interested in this type of content.

Now, for a whole laundry list of all the tools I used this month.

Pens:

Inks:

Ephemera:

If you want access to our FREE printables each month, consider subscribing to our Patreon. Your patronage supports this site and allows us to make more cool stuff. Thank you!

In Link Love

Link Love: A Vision for Summer

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Link Love: A Vision for Summer

I thought I’d share the vision board that I created in the Plotter workshop at Dromgoole’s last week. It was a fun little process to write a list of three or more things that you’d like to do, do more of or improve how you’re doing them. My key phrases were to make more time to exercise (go for walks and bike rides), play more often and work a little less and replant some of my houseplants (I am not an outdoor gardener). These are not BIG goals but I think with everything going on in the world, I wanted to focus on things that will make me feel better and help my mental health.

If you want to try making your own vision board, the steps are simple. Make a list of 3 or 4 things you’d like to do in the next quarter (or month) and then collect images from ephemera, old books and magazines, washi and stickers and work out a layout that appeals to you. Be sure to figure out your layout before you glue your items down. Fun!

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

The Well-Appointed Desk is a resource for you. If you’d like to help keep us going, get extra bonus content like a bi-weekly podcast, printables and more consider joining our Patreon. Your patronage supports this site. Without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!