Archive for March, 2011
J. Herbin Ink Color Names.. Who Knew?
Did you ever question the names of J. Herbin’s inks? From what I understand, the chosen names for each color are poetic to preserve the originality of the brand, and as a French tradition.
For Example: Rose Tendresse shown above, whose name translates to English as “Tenderness Pink,” This is the rose of love and the flowers of the same name and symbol of love. The color represents the feeling of love and also tenderness shared by 2 lovers.
You can read about each of the names of the 30 inks on the J Herbin website. While you are there, feel free to poke around the rest of the site. Lost of great information to be found!
A History of Gfeller Casemakers
More and more people write to Exaclair asking where they can get a custom leather cover for their journal or notebook. Our diaries and sketchbooks are precious possessions, and nothing lends a sense of ruggedness and individuality more than a leather cover. After all, it was made especially for you.
Gfeller Casemakers makes covers for Moleskines, and recently they started to make them for both large and pocket Rhodia Webbies. They also offer their Idaho Professional Field Folio specifically sized for the A4 top stapled pad. All their products can be seen here.
It is important to me to know the history of a company or product I plan to make my own. It will tell me about their values and character, and by extension, what’s important to other people who own and use the products. It’s that perceived kinship–past and present–that helps me to decide whether or not I want to belong to that group.
At my request, Steve Derricott, president and co-owner of Gfeller Casemakers, wrote this history of the company. I am delighted and honored to share it with you on Rhodia Drive: Continue Readering »
International Webbie Search?
Though Exaclair is the US distributor for Rhodia products, we often receive requests via e-mail and on our Facebook Fan Page from people outside the US looking to find a local retailer selling Rhodia. While we would love to help you, it would be much faster if you sent your request directly to Clairefontaine by filling out this form.
Feel free to request retailer information for Rhodia, Clairefontaine, J. Herbin, Quo Vadis, Exacompta, Brause, and all of the other Clairefontaine brands via that form.
Travel: Taking Rhodia on the Road
It’s starting to warm up and I’m getting the itch to take another road trip. Last April I took my longest solo drive ever, driving from eastern PA to central Ohio – 8 hours one way. Though I have flown a few times to California and Georgia, there definitely seems to be something much more organic to seeing each mile as it passes by. Part of me wants to drive to Portland, OR for no particular reason, but I have this crazy notion that if I actually drive to the opposite side of the country that I’m not going to want to come back. :o) That I will become a wandering nomad blogging from the road, selling my art as I make it, making music with the locals.
If you could drive anywhere in the US, where would you go?
Friday Link Share
Size isn’t everything (Rhodia Inspired?) … at The Well Appointed Desk
Art Journaling Without Rules at daisy yellow
A Tale of Fate at 365 Drawings Project
Rhodia No 38 Dot Pad (AKA The Monolith) at Writing and Scribbling
Inspirational Logs Booklet (by mizjadeadams) at Art Journaling
Collecting Points at La Vie Graphite
42 Fiction Writing Tips for Novelists at Writing Forward
Writing Less, Drawing More? at Strikethru
Journal Pages at Judy Wise
First thing I bought in Amsterdam? Paper! at Missive Maven
The Addiction Explained at Penned House
Journaling Benefits for Cancer Patients at Journaling Saves
Letters, Lists, and Letteras at Little Flower Petals
A Magic Dinosaur at Feed Your Soul Art
Daniel Smith Watercolor Sampler at Spiritual Evolution of the Bean
More Vintage Drafting Leads at Lung Sketching Scrolls
How to Erase Colored Pencils at Art is Fun!
Rhodia No 38 Dot Pad (AKA The Monolith)
What’s a Typewriter?
“A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces of cast metal type (called sorts) used in movable type letterpress printing. From their invention in 1870 through much of the 20th century, typewriters were indispensable tools for many authors and businessmen. By the end of the 1980s, however, word processors and personal computers largely displaced typewriters in the settings where they previously had been ubiquitous in the western world. Nonetheless, typewriters remain in use in various areas of the world.” - Wikipedia
The other day on Facebook, a friend mentioned her daughter had asked her, ” What’s a typewriter?” I hear things like that and I get a little melancholy for the “good old” days back in the 1970′s. Don’t remember the 70′s? Viet Nam, gas lines, Studio 54 – they were far from simple times but when you are young, things feel easy because you aren’t yet plagued with adult responsibilities. Continue Readering »
Are you interested in a Rhodia Video Contest?
About two weeks ago, I wrote a post asking for feedback pertaining to a possible Rhodia Video contest. We didn’t get a lot of responses to that post so it’s difficult for me to be able to gauge whether or not there is any real interest in such a contest. With video recording much more accessible over the last decade or so, what with high definition video recording applications built into our computers, our phones, iPads and the like, we are hoping that you would be willing to record a short video in hopes of winning a pile of Rhodia product. Continue Readering »
Monogamy or Polygamy?
Most of you may know what a “Big Love” I have for paper- though I am not married to a specific brand. To me, there really isn’t a single product which meets all of my art and writing needs. What about you? Continue Readering »
Number 38
The Rhodia Bloc Rhodia Pad Nº 38 is 16.5 in. x 12.5″ and available in classic graph paper or the new dot grid. Large enough to span the top of my desk, it could be used for many things. Planning a garden, technical drawings, event planning, brainstorming… Do you have one of these? How do you use it? How would you use it if you had one?
Highlighting with Herbin
Our friend Cheryl at The Writer’s Bloc Blog wrote a post yesterday about using s0me of the lighter shades of J. Herbin fountain pen ink for the purpose of highlighting. This makes perfect practical sense as to why such light color inks exist, but I’ve had a little bit of difficulty making this work for me. Bouton d’or bled through the thin pages of Eat, Pray, Love and made a smudgy mess when I tried to highlight over ink jet printed pages of a book I had been working on. (Maybe I didn’t let them dry long enough?)
Do you use fountain pen inks to highlight? If yes, how do you use them, and which colors are most successful for you?
Le Penseur
Bernard-Henri Levy is Le Penseur. Called “BHL” in France, he is an philosopher, writer, and provocateur. He was recently interviewed by Katie Roiphe for WSJ Magazine. 
“I don’t care much about style or appearance,” he said. “I have always dressed the same way. ..I have worn the same white shirts, the same person made my jackets for 30 years. I get older, but I have the same size hair. I am a man of habits. I care about physical things. When in New York, I live at the Carlyle Hotel, which is not the worst place in the city. I know the difference between beautiful furniture and not. But I can do without. As long as I have my books, a few shirts, and my paper to write on and my favorite pens, all is OK.”
I could immediately relate to his statement that books, pens and paper are some of the necessities of Life! But what I was most gratified to discover is that he still writes by hand.
I don’t compose entirely by hand now, but my initial sketch of thoughts is still done on paper with my favorite pen.
How about you?
Japan
With regards to the recent catastrophic tragedy in Japan, our hearts and prayers go out to those affected by the events.
Crayons for Grown-Ups
If you think you might enjoy a fun and simple tool to create art, try the Neocolor crayons made by Caran d’Ache. They come in waterproof (Neocolor I) and water soluble (Neocolor II) versions. Each are highly pigmented and super smooth. They are not at all the waxy bits you remember from your childhood. The Neocolor II’s are way cool because you can use them like watercolor paints! Draw on paper, run a wet brush over the painting and viola! Portable paint! You can also try dipping the crayon into water then drawing with them, or touching a wet brush to the tip of the crayon and then painting with the brush.
I’ve had a set of the Neocolor II’s for a few years and though I’m not using them every day, they have lasted a long time. I especially like using them on darker paper. I am looking to get a set of the I’s, to see what kind of art experiments I can come up with using a waterproof crayon. Maybe use them under acrylic paint? The II’s are easier to find and come in various sized sets. You can typically buy them at specialty art stores. I’ve only been able to find the Neocolor I’s online from a few of the specialty stores. Sooner or later I’m going to just bite the bullet and get a set. A 30 piece set of either will set you back about $48. The Blick near me also carries the II’s as open stock – so you can buy a few in your favorite colors just to try. (About $1.75 each)
Have you ever tried these? Do you think you would want to? You know that blank Webbie is calling you….
Image © Stephanie “Biffybeans” Smith All Rights Reserved.
Color Your Webbie
If you could have a Rhodia Notebook in any solid color you choose, what would it be? I vote purple! I have mostly used black journals with the occasional red one thrown in, but if I could get my hands on purple Webbies… I might make a permanent switch!
Lent Begins
Turn the page of the planner and the week appears: Fat Tuesday followed by Ash Wednesday. The season of Lent begins. 
My question the week before Lent is always the same: what am I going to give up?
Many times in the past it’s been chocolate, candy, dessert. As Lent goes on my resolve begins to crumble under the racks of chocolate bunnies and yellow peeps beckoning to me in every supermarket and drugstore. As writer Rita Mae Brown once said: “Lead me not into temptation. I can find the way myself.”
Last Lent, I decided to fast one day a week as a spiritual exercise. It was not the deprivation I thought it would be–instead I found it very freeing. Fasting was a discipline which helped to liberate me from the advertising-fueled demand to immediately gratify every desire and “need.”
This year, I am going to do something I have thought about but never did: take every Sunday of Lent as a day of leisure. This means giving up the daily list, doing email to get a jump on the week, and, most of all, give in to my need to feel useful and important by staying busy.
Leisure will not be racing around trying to log in a lot of fun and recreation, but more of an attitude of openness to however the day unfolds.
I have no idea how this will affect me, but it is going to take some discipline not to automatically turn on the computer when I get up in the morning, or sit dow with a pad and pencil to plot out the day.
Do you set aside some time each week for leisure?
