Tad Carpenter, a Kansas City illustration celebrity, has recently produced a notebook with a great typewriter illustration on the cover.
The notebook is softback with a textured cardstock cover and each page is lined. On the inside covers are pencil patterns and on the front cover it says “Inspiration is Everywhere”. There’s a place on the first page to write your name.
The paper is smooth, bright white and interspersed in the book are eight illustrated quotes to inspire and delight. The lines are wider than I prefer but they are a teal blue with a pencil illustration in the upper lefthand corner on the left hand pages. The lines are a little wobbly like they were hand drawn which makes them fun and cool.
I wish some of the pages had been left blank with just the little corner illustration so that the book could be used for writing or sketching.
I didn’t do a full-fledged pen test but the paper seems decently weighted so that it could probably handle a lot of everyday writing tools.
All in all, this is a super fun notebook and sells for $8 so what’s not to love?
This Film King Dur-O-Lite pencil. It is one of those weird and wonderful pencil goodies that occasionally find their way to me. This one came from my pal Bryan over at Field Notes (much obliged!).
It’s branding includes where is was made “Melrose Park, Illinois” (yeah!) and “Film lead D-1”. It appears to be a wood case pencil but it has a twist mechanism to reveal the lead. Around the lead point end of the pencil is a metal graduated cone in weirdly Clearasil flesh color with a gold clamp ring keeping it taut. Twisting the fleshy end will reveal more lead. I attempted to hack the pencil to see if it could be refilled and it seems a bit fussy in that regard.
Film pencils were designed with a different type of graphite to hold up better on film, mylar and other plastic-y papers used in drafting, print pre-production and by photographers and the motion picture industry. The characteristics of the graphite that made them write better on film is not as important to a modern pencil connoisseur as very few people have need of this specialized ability. I like the history of tool like this though. Dave’s Mechanical Pencils has a longer article about film leads, if you’re curious.
Leadholder has some great images of an ordering brochure for the Dur-o-Lite Pencil Company which has a great typography and a fabulous illustration. From the brochure, I can establish that D-1 is probably on the harder end of the lead grades offered and that it was touted as a disposable pencil with a cedar casing.
Finally, I found a short stub on Wikipedia that indicated that Dur-o-lite and Auto-Point were rivals in their hey day. Dur-o-lite shuttered its operations in the 90s but Auto-Point is still in operation. I love that they still produce their classic Twinpoint.
For some time now, I’ve kept and ear and an eye open for good quality writing paper for letter writing. Stationery (not note cards) is getting harder and harder to find so I’m always on the look out for it. I’m familiar with the French line G. Lalo but had not tried out their paper until recently. It’s a textured paper with a classic laid finish which gives it some toothiness. I was concerned the toothiness would cause ink to bleed or skip but I should have expected that an upscale French paper would be as luxurious as it sounds.
I’ve used the G. Lalo Vergé de France pad for a couple weeks to write letters and found it easy to write on. The pad is a standard A5 size (5.75 x 8.25″) with a glue edge at the top to easily tear away sheets. Each pad had a cardstock cover with a metallic finish and gold embossed logo. It folds back easily. Each pad has 50 sheets.
The pad I purchased is listed as white but I found the stock to be a warm white/ivory color which is pleasingly warm but not so dark as to alter ink colors dramatically. The paper is blank but I use an undersheet with lines or grid under it to keep my lines neat and straight.
The best thing about the paper is that not one single fountain pen I tried on it bled or splined or did anything untoward. This is THE paper for writing letters for sure. The paper is thick enough (100 gsm) to use both the front and reverse of the stock too so its economical — relatively speaking.
I purchased my pad at Patrick & Co. Office Supply in San Francisco but can be purchased online through European Paper for $11.50/pad (if you purchase two or more, the price drops to $11) and they stock a range of colors including a lovely pistachio green. I might have to grab another pad. Matching envelopes are also available.
I get a lot of Ask The Desk questions these days so I am trying to compile them into weekly digests. And please, if you have ideas or advice for those who’ve sent in questions, please leave your ideas in the comments. Thanks!
Scott asks:
I am a university student, with a modest budget but an eye for sharp lines. I need to turn in an A1 size poster with varying sections, basically a mounted essay. Any top tips or tools that would help a fella, with no cash for print services, produce something that doesn’t look scruffy?
If you are assembling your report on a computer before putting it on the board, you can tile your print outs so that you don’t need to make a late night run to a copy shop for over-priced, over-sized prints.
First, try to find a design student who can loan you an X-Acto blade and a metal straight edge or ruler. This will help you cut your pieces out neatly. In a pinch, a retracting box cutter will also work. A healing cutting mat is a bonus. If you can’t get one, find a large sheet of cardboard to cut on so you don’t scratch your floor (you want your security deposit back, right?).
(image via The Smartest and His Artist)
To mount them to your board, use a glue stick, not Elmer’s liquid glue as it will cause your pages to pucker and wrinkle. When applying the glue stick, lay your pages out on a larger sheet of paper like old newspaper or a paper grocery bag. That way, you can run the glue stick all the way to the edges. Remember to use a fresh sheet of waste paper or flip over the paper or bag each time you glue so you don’t accidentally attach your report to the waste paper.
For ideas on how to best present your sections, check out some of the infographics on Pinterest to inspire your mounted essay to design greatness! Best of luck!
And John asked:
I am a lawyer who, at any given time, has about 15 matters pending at a given time. I take notes every day, usually on tablets; I then tear off those notes and have them put into a file. But I often miss having my notes handy a few days or weeks later when I need to refer back to them. I see other lawyers using notebooks to keep their notes. I am looking for your recommendation on a good notebook that can lay flat, be photocopied fairly easily, look nice and classy (and not like a high school kid getting ready for math class), and also take fountain pen ink. Have you a recommendation? I thought I would like one with sewn-in pages, but I’m not sure that would be best.
My best suggestion for you, John, the Circa or ARC binding system. The Circa system is sold through Levenger and the ARC system is sold through Staples.
And what I really mean is getting the notebook covers, maybe some dividers and a punch and continue using the tablets you love. You can also purchase the pre-punched paper if you want. Or just get some covers and the discs and a punch, just to try it all out. Really, all you need are the discs and the punch. Find a couple sheets of heavy cardstock to punch for covers or use the clear plastic covers. You could even bind the whole thing from the top just like your legal pads but you could group them by client.
By punching and binding the pages into a notebook, you will have a lay-flat notebook that you can easily put into a photocopier, remove or rearrange pages and a slick, professional looking notebook.
And if you want a really upscale look, maybe the zip-up leather Bomber Jacket cover?
And Jim asked me a real stumper of a question:
I picked up a couple of old, used Sheaffer snorkel pens with the intent of rebuilding with parts from Anderson Pens. one of the pens has the “triumph” type nib. a very unique design. I recently saw a pen ad on the web showing a pen with a nib that looked almost exactly like the triumph nib. unfortunately I did not make a note of that pens identity. can you advise me as to the names of the other pens that carry a nib similar to the triumph design?
(via Pen Hero)
I found an article about the Sheaffer Snorkel/Triumph nibs on Pen Hero. It’s a very unique nib that looks like the nib wraps around the shaft in a single piece. Jim wants to know if any other pen manufacturer did a nib like this. I’m hopng one of you out there can help him as I don’t know enough about vintage fountain pens to answer his question.
I recently received my order from Nock Co‘s Kickstarter. I got a Maryapple and a Lookout case since I had received an early sample of the Hightower. I’ll be reviewing the Lookout soon, so don’t worry. In the meantime….
Since I already have a Hightower, I don’t really need the Maryapple. So, I thought I’d give it to one of the fine readers here. The Maryapple will comfortably hold two Field Notes-sized notebooks, one on each side or you can use one side for a notebook and one side for 3×5″ index cards, loose papers or clip some pens over the flap and go.
If you missed out on the Kickstarter campaign, leave a comment here to be entered to win this orange-on-orange Maryapple and get a taste of the fine craftsmanship of the Nock Co products.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Monday, March10, 2014. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Tuesday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner does not respond within 30 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. I’m feeling whimsical today so, this contest is open to any reader, US and international readers!
