» 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)
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