Archive for Featured
Webbie Lite?
We recently received this request from a fan and are wondering what you think – would you have a use for a Webbie Lite?
“I love my dot Webbie and would love it even more if a slightly different version were available. I am thinking about one with a thinner cover (like the premium pads) and slightly fewer pages (~72 vs. the current 96) but still with the elastic closure and expandable pocket and still with the gorgeous ivory 90g paper.”
From Mike in AZ
Keeping a Dream Journal
Can’t remember your dreams? I’ve often heard that the best way to remember them is to write down anything you can remember immediately upon waking. Much insight and inspiration can come from examining our subconscious.
To learn more about keeping a dream journal:
Benefits of Keeping a Dream Journal
Keep a Dream Journal – Why Bother?
Dream Journaling 101: How to Keep a Dream Journal
Official Call for Entries for the 2012 Rhodia Journal Swap: “Favorite Things”
It’s here! Time to roll our our first ever Rhodia Journal Swap: “Favorite Things.” Interested in participating? Read on, then please fill out the form below by Jan 18th. We’d love if you would share this opportunity with your friends! Questions? Please submit via comments. Continue Readering »
Gearing up to start the 2012 Rhodia Journal Swap!
It’s happening!!!
I am putting together the final details surrounding the 2012 Rhodia Journal Swap and expect to start searching for our 12 participants sometime next week. If you haven’t heard about the swap, we are going to be providing 12 large dotWebbie journals to a dozen creative people to utilize for a few weeks at a time, who will then mail the book on to the next person, and so on, until it reaches the last person who in turn, mails it back to the person who started that book.
The dozen participants will be sharing their creativity via a group Tumblr Blog for us all to see.
You do not have to be an “artist” or a “writer” to participate, You should however, be creative and willing to share. This swap will be open to US residents age 18 or older. An international swap may happen at a later date.
More details, including the *Theme* of the swap, to be announced soon!
Road Art
I met artist Don Colley at NAMTA’s 2011 Art Materials World conference and trade show. He was demoing at the Faber-Castell booth and happened to walk by ours during a break. His work with colored pencils was so life-like it could practically walk off the page. 
Don had used some of our larger datebooks for sketches because they lay flat. I promised to send him a Webnotebook to sample, and asked him to let me know if he liked it.
I got this email from Don the other day: “Hi Karen, I recently finished drawing in the sweet little orange leatherette covered Rhodia web notebook you sent me. I took it on tour with me this Fall and got some fun pages. Thanks again for the little book, it was well suited to cross country travel in planes and on buses. Happy Holidays.”
Please visit Don’s website – Buttnekkiddoodles-Drawing from Life in Chicago and Beyond.
Thanks, Don! Hope to see you at NAMTA 2012 in Orlando! 
My New Space to Create!
After making the decision to leave my “day job” 3 years ago to lead a creative life, I worked at home amongst many distractions. My snoring husband, hollering bird, the lady across the street that (screams) sings Donna Summer’s greatest hits over & over…
I helped to write a book sitting at a computer in my kitchen (we eat in the living room) and then later graduated to working in the bird’s (tiny) room on a desk that belonged to my husband when he was in grade school. Continue Readering »
Happy Thanksgiving from your Rhodia friends!
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada (Columbus Day in the US) and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.
The event that Americans commonly call the “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated Continue Readering »
Washington DC – Help a friend find a lost Rhodia?
Via Craigslist
Lost: Orange Rhodia Notebook (Yellow Line)
Date: 2011-11-14, 12:55PM EST
Reply to: comm-esxde-2701894025@craigslist.org
“On Saturday, November 12, late morning, I lost an orange Rhodia notebook somewhere between the Shaw-Howard University stop and the King St Station stop in Alexandria. This was about the 3-by-5 size, filled with graph paper, about three-fourths of which was written on. The writing was fictional narrative in the first person. If you found this notebook, please contact me. Thanks.”
If you are familiar with this area, perhaps you can re-post and/or share this?
We love your photos!
We really appreciate seeing your Rhodia pics and you can share them in several ways:
Add them to our Flickr Photo Group
Upload them to our Rhodia Drive Facebook Page
Submit them to be used on our Rhodia Drive Photo Pages.
I especially love seeing people take them on the road. Who has a picture of Rhodia at the Grand Canyon?
Faber Castell Artist, Don Colley
Last month at the NAMTA show I had the opportunity to meet Don Colley, an artist who hails out of Chicago. Don was over at the Faber Castell booth, and came by the Exaclair booth to ask me a question about our paper sizing (which I didn’t know.)
During his visit, Don showed some some of his sketches on an vintage ledger, a Quo Vadis Note 27, and mentioned he had sketched in Rhodia, too. He draws on all different types of paper, journals and notebooks with pencil, color pencils and inks. 
Don pointed out to me how flat the accounting ledger lay–almost perfectly flat–making it a great surface to work. Other than our very large planners which come close, I don’t think any of our books with sewn binding lays as flat as that ledger. I made a mental note to mention this to our product developers in France.
I thought Don’s sketches were better than any photograph–and told him so. He is one of the most talented portraitists I have ever seen.
You can see more of Don’s work on his website, on this Faber Castell video, and on our Rhodia Drive Facebook page.
Rhodia Fashion Show in Ulan Bator
It was in Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia and coldest city on earth, that the first Rhodia Fashion Show took place last December 15, 2010…
Inspired by the 75th Anniversary of Rhodia and the famous communication campaign of 12 glamorous fashion photographs and combined with a free interpretation of the iconic brand of two fir tree, a fashion show was born. Continue Readering »
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 »
Sermons
Back in July we were contacted by Wilson Hines, a divinity student, with some suggestions on how the Rhodia Weekly Notebook-Academic year could be improved. He suggested that we have a two-page spread for the fall, spring and summer semester schedules. He also pointed out–quite correctly–that our current August-July year does not exactly match university sessions. We explained we have arranged it as we do to basically cover the school year and keep the cost down; more pages = more expense. However, we will bring up the changes Wilson suggested at our next product development meeting. Wilson’s comments on the Weekly Planner can be found on his blog, A Journey thru Academia. 
Wilson and I got to meet at the DC pen show a month later, and it was great to be able to talk to him in person. I asked him where he first heard of Rhodia and he said he discovered it on J. Mark Bertrand’s blog, Bible Design Blog. Mark Bertrand uses Rhodia pads to prepare his sermons. You can read about it here.
Bible Design Blog is a site devoted to innovative design and quality Bible binding. Mark Bertrand is also a mystery author. His latest book, Back on Murder, is the first in a series about Houston homicide detective Roland March.
Stephanie reminded me that Father Matthew Thurman, a frequent contributor to Rhodia Drive, uses a Webbie to write his sermons.
Earlier this spring, Fr. Thurman commented on using Rhodia in his work and ministry: “…as a pastor, I do a lot of preaching/teaching that involves putting together ideas from several different things I read. I’ve started using side-stapled Rhodia notebooks as “project books” for making notes and composing teaching outlines–i.e., a Bible study notebook, a sermon notebook, an adult class notebook, etc.”
Fr. Thurman’s blog is 30 Days.
Do you use or know of others who use Rhodia notebooks for sermons, inner reflection, as a retreat diary, or other spiritual work?
My New Pen
I am so delighted with my new pen I wanted to share it with all of you on Rhodia Drive! 
I ordered the pen from Brian Gray of Edison Pen Company at the Washington, DC pen show last month. “The Huron” felt good in my hand. I was intrigued with a new “snake clip” Brian had created, and ordered a black pen with the silver clip. Here’s a photo. You can see more on his flickr album here.
Even though I am a leftie I’m tired of writing with fine nibs all the time so I requested a medium nib.
I name some of my most beloved possessions, and have decided to name this pen after a character in a book I read growing up. The Iroquois Trail is the story of a young orphan boy, Dickon, who goes looking for his adopted brother among the nations of the Iroquois and meets many legendary figures, including Deganawida (The Great Peacemaker), Hiawatha, and Jigonsaee. One of the characters–who I think was also based on a real person–was a medicine man that supposedly had snakes in his hair. The character returned from memory when I saw the snake clip, so I’ve decided to name it after him. But I have to retrieve the book at the house to remember his name!
Friends, what color ink should I use first? I currently have Sailor, Pelikan, J. Herbin, Diamine and Pilot inks so I’m open to all suggestions.
Thank you!
Another Look at Paul Smith Notepads
Christina Villecco is an attorney and consultant who works in fashion merchandizing and related services. She also maintains a style blog, Wearing White After Labor Day. Here’s what she had to say about Paul Smith Rhodia pads: 
“No outfit is complete without the perfect accessories. Whether you’re a fashion addict like me, or someone who occasionally browses the New York Times Style section, the Rhodia notepad is a must-have. I’ve never been a one-size-fits-all kind of girl, so when it comes to my notebooks, there’s no exception. When Rhodia celebrated their 75th anniversary last year by collaborating with English fashion legend Paul Smith, the result was both obvious and irresistible. The iconic orange and black notepads got a facelift with ironic images from the English brand. If you’re wearing a simple white T and jeans kind of dresser, the classics are still a safe bet. But if you have a little edge in your step and prefer to mix stripes and patterns, try out the Paul Smith logo collection for an accessory sure to put the finishing touch on your ensemble.”
