I was recently introduced to a notebook company with a pretty long history called Dingbats*. The company was started in the early 19th century in Lebanon and has been passed down to the current great-great grandsons who have brought the business into the 21st century with a very interesting line of products. I got to…
Showing all posts tagged review
Review: Manuscript Notebooks & Crate Info
Manuscript Notebooks is a company that specializes in notebooks with a literary bent. They offer Large (A5), pocket (passport) and hardcover (pocket-sized) notebooks featuring classic literature covers. The covers are a matte finish coated stock rather than the uncoated paper used by a lot of other companies giving it a slightly more durable feel. On…
Review: This Is Ground Medium Leather Notebook Cover & Notebooks
What could be hidden inside these silky, black nylon bags? I wondered the same thing when they mysteriously arrived in my mailbox recently from This Is Ground, most known for their high-end leather goods designed to hold electronics like iPads and iPhones. What I found inside the luscious bags were two perfect-bound notebooks (perfect, of…
Sharpeners for Thick-Barreled Pencils
Review by Tina Koyama My vast love of colored pencils is directly proportional to my frustration with sharpening them. While my desktop Carl Angel-5 does a decent (and sometimes very good) job on most colored pencils of average barrel diameter, it can’t handle pencils of slightly larger girth, which happens to be the case for…
Pencil Review: Dixon Reach Deep Hole Pencils
I confess that when I saw the Dixon Reach DEEP HOLE pencils I laughed uncontrollably. My reaction to these pencils (or at least the branding and packaging) was similar to the reaction a lot of people had to Bic for Her pens. I understand that there is a use-case for these within the construction industry but…
Notebook Review: Baron Fig Vanguard Black Box
The Baron Fig Vanguard Black Box is probably no longer a big secret but I’m going to hide the photos of the actual covers of the notebooks behind a “read more” so if you don’t want to have the surprise ruined, you don’t have to click through. Especially since the NEW Vanguard Edition launched last week.…
Review: Plumchester Square Sketchbook
Review by Tina Koyama When I first saw it, I was immediately thrilled by the rich plum color of the new Plumchester Square Sketchbook – with a yellow-gold elastic and matching ribbon bookmark! I don’t know about you, but I don’t see nearly enough of the purple/gold complement anywhere, much less the stationery world. Let’s…