Archive for August, 2007
Almost smells perfumed
… I like the Rhodia notebooks a great deal. I think that probably I will write much more of my fiction longhand in the Rhodia–they just seem to invite “rough drafts” and I’m using the pencil in THESE–somehow they invite it more (I noticed, I suppose, because I had no pencils in house and was suddenly compelled to go and buy some). Liking this as I am, I’m surprised that I don’t want any mechanical pencils (usually I’d have some excuse to rush out and buy these things)–but number 2 pencils are really rather perfect as the are. I was actually waxing nostalgia over the things–but really I have been having an enormous amount of fun here–try it!
A lot of people seem to think of Rhodia as a less expensive habit, but it’s pretty comparable because they are relatively thin, like legal pads. They are just as wonderful, but for completely different reasons. And Clairefontaine paper (owned by the same company) I think almost smells perfumed. So I was walking around smelling notebooks and found that some do not–you may not want to do this because the store owner was giving me some pretty cautious looks. So I explained and then we were walking around smelling the Clairefontaine together!
So I’ve gone eclectic. It’s a wonderful feeling.
Sophie Brown shares her story at Notebookism’s Blank Page #56
Flickr Friday
What’s in DesRob’s bag?
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Sighting: HK’s Milk Magazine
Rhodia signature black notebooks were featured in Hong Kong’s Milk Magazine #317.
Started in July 2001, Milk magazine represents fresh, fashionable and trendy, a highly creative and innovative magazine that positions itself to Hong Kong’s young and affluent readers who are attracted to “some very interesting and exciting things”. It aims to “navigate readers’ horizons towards a new and different level”, covering trends from all over the world, while breaking the tradition of the local lifestyle media’s focus in entertainment-only publishing.
Visit the Milk Magazine website (Flash required)
Copyright © Milk Magazine. All rights reserved.
The World of Paper on the web
Q: What is Paper?
A: Paper is a homogeneous sheet formed by irregularly intervening cellulose fibers.
Paper On Web is your ultimate pulp & paper resource & information site and also one of the most visited paper sites on the web. You can start with Ask Harry, a Paper 101 FAQ list, then move on to its repository of paper information.
The site features industry and forestry news, abbreviation & acronyms related to paper, a comprehensive dictionary, a list of paper & waste paper grades, ISO sizes, the chemistry of paper manufacturing, common basis weight, density of paper and bleaching stages. Also listed are more than 1600 sites of paper manufacturers, pulp manufacturers, chemicals, machinery and control system manufacturers, paper converting, consulting, testing, repair, recruitment, trading, distribution, education, and waste management service providers.
Rhodia at Stylus Magazine
In its August/September issue, Stylus magazine interviews Detlef Bittner, owner of a store in downtown Carmel, California called The Pleasure of Writing.
The name of the store expresses Bittner’s worldview and also alludes to the offerings available at the small but exquisitely appointed store. As a retailer and a true pen lover with a flair for writing, he is knowledgeable about all things related to making the writing experience pleasurable — pens, papers, inks and personal creativity.
Bittner: I love handmade cotton rag paper like Velke Losiny (Czech) and Fabriano XIII (Italian) paper. Amalfi, which is Italian, and Crown Mill, which is Belgian, are also good papers. For everyday and for testing pens, you can’t beat Rhodia pads from France.
Nibs work differently on different papers. Fine and sharply cut nibs need smoother paper without a lot of tooth. Also, good papers won’t bleed when a fountain pen puts down a lot of ink.
Copyright © Stylus Magazine. All rights reserved.
Flickr Friday
How do I like my lines?
A good friend picked these up at the Blick store in Wheaton, IL. He called to ask me what I wanted, describing the sizes. I opted for a #16 blank and #11 gridded. I remember someone writing they would only use one notepad for writing letters – I agree.
Image: maria1963 @ Flickr
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A pastor’s Rhodia
Each day when I sit down to plan out my actions , I do so with what I believe is the best notebook made. The Rhodia pad. I know you could use any old notebook but Rhodia’s hold up great. I use several different kinds for different tasks.
I used to use a PDA for all of this and someday, I may have one of those all in one phones to do all this but I don’t think so. My PDA ate up battery juice pretty quick. I always had to worry about it getting dropped, rained on, or have someone spill soda or drop food on it if I was out with a client. Not any more. The Rhodia pads are built to a level of quality that make them geekishly fashionable to the professional crowd while being relatively affordable (about $2-$4 a pad depending on size and how many you buy).
Part of being a productive pastor is writing down the myriad of things that come at you from all different directions. If you’re a church planter like I am, there’s even more debris flying at you from everywhere. Rhodia pads are great to take with you to write stuff down as it happens.
The Productive Pastor is a weblog designed to share productivity tips and tricks with others to help them become more efficient and organized in their work.
Handmade leather journals
My goal is to create books which are great to look at, lovely to touch and a joy to use. Maybe I can’t cut the paper as accurate as a cutting machine, and there may be a little fold somewhere or something is a bit uneven … But each of my books is unique, carefully handmade with love and a lot of good vibrations!
Kreativlink shop at Etsy
Rhodia mousepad
If your cubicle is covered in Post-It notes, or have limited space on your desk; the Rhodia Mouse Pad Paper Pad will be the perfect addition to your office. It functions as both a mouse pad and a pad of graph paper. There are 30 sheets of graph paper with a grid size of 25 squares per square inch. You won’t ever have to step away from your PC in search of paper to take notes on, again! Now if only you could stop misplacing your pen…
Rhodia mousepad featured at Shiny Shiny, a girl’s guide to gadgets.
Night visions
A page from the Rhodia. The bear came to me one night before sleep. He was a very dark shade of brown, almost black, almost merging with the night. The branch he was sitting on was black. The trunk and its swirls were black. The leaves interwined into blackness. And the bear was smiling a little. Like he knows something I don’t. And I remember wanting to rush up to him and sit on his comfy lap and snuggle to sleep in his embrace.
I still have slightly less than half of the Rhodia to go.
Images: jacklynl @ Flickr
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Meeting doodles
I love your graph paper notebooks, especially the wirebound 6″ x 8.25″. I started a new feature on my blog titled, “Meeting Doodles” where I scan and post my latest sketches and/or cartoons.
Mitch Lenzen doodles at Flamingblog
Thanks, Karen!
The quest for a blank writing pad
Does anyone know where I can find a perforated “legal” pad (bound with glue and/or staples on the top) that is 8.5″ x 11″ which has NO LINES?
AH Rajani ends his quest for a blank writing notepad in downtown Berkeley:
When I started to describe to the two clerks at the counter what I was looking for, one of them smiled and immediately blurted out “Rhodia.” Both of them were totally cool with me not knowing the specifics, which only confirms my observation that art store-clerks are MUCH nicer than bicycle store-clerks (want independent confirmation? Just visit Berkeley’s Missing Link Bicycle Cooperative).
The paper and binding quality are superb. Gel and ballpoint pens glide effortlessly from start to finish. The paper is slightly on the thin side, though thick enough so that bleeding is not an issue. Although the cover has grooves in it so that you can fold it backwards, I found the cover to be in the way and cut it off.
Read the rest of the story at Cause and Defect
Rhodia ePure notebook in Hong Kong
Reader Yue Wang of Hong Kong emails a report about ePure notebooks:
The ePure feels ok. Just like other 100g or heavier paper, it is not so white and smooth but thicker than the 80g paper. If the 100g paper is as smooth as Rhodia 80g paper, I will be a ePure fan. And it would be more useful for me if ePure has A4 size version.
I also bought some Clairefontaine notebooks together with the ePure. Even though it is the first time that I bought Clairefontaine, I must admit I prefer Clairefontaine to ePure.The paper is white and smooth and also has light fragrance. The moment I saw them, I love them immediately. They are worth the time I spent on the way to the only Clairefontaine distributor in Hong Kong.
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Rhodia ePure notebooks will be available in the US by 2008, but you can special order now. For more details, check out an earlier post.
More of Rhodia ePure at the Clairefontaine-Rhodia website
Rhodia for fieldwork
Excerpts from The Birder’s Vest by Rick Sussman published at Maryland Yellowthroat, the newsletter of the Maryland Ornithological Society, November-December 2006 issue:
On the table before me sits a stack of journals and notepads in a variety of sizes and colors, begging to be written in. There is an oriole orange Rhodia pocket notebook (Bloc Rhodia No. 12) for my field notes (and for jotting things down throughout the day as I become more forgetful), a bright goldfinch yellow Rite-in-the-Rain Birder’s Field Notebook with its all weather paper, an attractive mediumsized blank journal (Paperblanks) with its “intricate inlay” cover looking like some exotic snakeskin, a traditional black Moleskine (pronounced Mahlaskeena) pocket journal, and a nice leather-covered Exacompta journal.
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The downside of fountain pens is that most regular paper is not fountain pen friendly—the ink typically runs or bleeds. This is not a problem with the Rhodia line of papers. These notebooks come in a great variety of sizes, most with 5×5-mm grid paper that makes sketching easier. This is high-grade vellum paper with 80 sheets per pad, and the sheets are scored to make them easy to tear out. This is like fine stationary in your pocket; the pen glides across the paper. The bright orange covers make them easy to find, and they are backed with a sturdy cardboard. I use the smaller No. 11 for work ($1.95) and the slightly larger No. 12 for other times ($2.25).
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I also like to keep journals of my travels. One of the main manufacturers of fine paper and journals is Exacompta (which makes Rhodia as well as Clairfontaine papers). Any journal with the Exacompta name is of high quality and will take all inks well. Many quality journals are available at places like Border’s Books and Barnes and Noble.
Visit the Exacompta products page
Read the November-December 2006 issue (pdf, 556kb)
Copyright © The Maryland Ornithological Society. All rights reserved.
A Rhodia for the quilter
When I became a quilter, I started using a graph paper notebook leftover from chem lab to draft blocks and layouts. In my heart I pined for my old French gridded paper. It was such a pleasure to write on, and embarrassing as it is to admit, I felt that the quality of those elegant sheets would somehow transform my designs into something more worthy than they were.The powers that be must have been moved by my deep and wishful sighing, because just before Christmas I discovered this little French notebook in the UI bookstore. I love it. It’s small (3.3 x 4.7 inches, or 8,5 x 12,0 cm), fits easily in my purse, and I can take it wherever I go. Best of all, the paper is silky and has a blue grid from edge to edge.
Cheri Sullivan reports at Jovaliquilts
