Art, creativity, Links, Other People's Notebooks, Sketchbook

Mariano Recalde’s Sketchbooks

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I have a soft spot for black and white sketches with pops of color, like these ones by architect Mariano Recalde, who was interviewed about his drawings by the Tribeca Citizen:

Do you bring your sketchbook everywhere you go?
I try! I carry it a lot more than I actually use it, but being ready to sketch when you find something that you like is the first step. I have a small bag with my sketchbook and some markers that I grab every morning when I leave for work.

Read more at: Tribeca Citizen | The Sketchbooks of Mariano Recalde

Journal, My Collection, Notebook Reviews, Places to Buy Notebooks, Sketchbook

What’s My New Notebook Crush?

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I recently bought a notebook in a museum shop in NYC. I almost didn’t buy it at first, for the usual reasons– it’s a little expensive, it’s not 100% perfect for me, I have too many notebooks, etc. etc. But something kept me lingering in the store thinking about it and the friends I was with kept saying “oh, just buy it already!” So finally, I caved, and ended up being very happy that I did!

I’m not ready yet to do a full review on this notebook, so in the meantime, I thought it would be fun to try something a little different. I’ll tell you some key things about the notebook, and you’ll see if you can guess what brand it is!

It has a clothbound hard cover, in a light blue color. The corners are rounded.

It is 3.5 x 5.5″ and about 5/8″ thick.

There is no ribbon marker, elastic closure, or back pocket.

It has a bit of cover overhang– more than I prefer (because I prefer the page edges to come as close as possible to the cover edges) but not the worst I’ve seen. The overhang seems bigger on the edge where the book opens because the spine is rounded and the page edges are concave following the spine curve, rather than trimmed to a straight edge. There are 12 sewn signatures, and the notebook opens quite flat.

The only branding on the notebook is a debossed logo on the inside back cover. As packaged in the store, it is shrinkwrapped, with some brand info on a vellum band, and a small brochure tucked inside.

The version I bought has 192 pages of a 90 GSM cream-colored dot-grid paper with a slight tooth to it, which does not bleed or feather with fountain pens. Up close, the paper has visible laid lines, giving it an almost ribbed texture. Fountain pen ink looks great on this paper, though the tooth gives some feedback and can make fine nibs feel a little scratchy compared to writing on something super smooth.

The notebook is said to be handmade made in Europe. (If everyone’s stumped, maybe I’ll tell you which country to narrow it down a bit.)

I have not seen the exact version I bought for sale anywhere except for a couple of online retailers (where it was misleadingly described as having a “flex” or softcover.) I have seen a slightly shorter and thicker 3.5 x 5″, 240p version for sale in at least one other physical store in NYC, with lined and plain pages. Several cover colors were available. A larger A5 size was also available, and is currently listed on Amazon. The 3.5 x 5″ version is what is shown on the manufacturer’s website, though the images seem to show it with squared corners.

I have one other notebook from this brand in my collection. I bought it on a trip.

I really love the one I bought– the size is perfect, the quality is great and the simplicity of it is very alluring. It’s not my perfect grail notebook but I can’t help playing with it a lot and doodling in it with fountain pens.

Can anyone guess what brand this notebook is?

[Updated: see this post for the answer!]

Diary, Journal, Links, new products, Places to Buy Notebooks, Treuleben

Treuleben Notebooks

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Treuleben is a very nice-looking German notebook brand that I recently came across online. At 95 euros for a pocket notebook, I am not planning to buy one anytime soon, but from what I can see on their website, they do offer some luxurious detailing for your money: full-grain leather covers in beautiful colors, gilt edges, ribbon marker and a cleverly designed back pocket that seems like it would make it easier to access items than the more typical deep accordion pocket.

Check ’em out: Treuleben

Central Crafts, Giveaway, Journal, My Collection, Notebook Reviews, Places to Buy Notebooks, Sketchbook

Review & Giveaway: Leather Journal from Central Crafts

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Central Crafts is a family-run business based in the UK, offering a variety of journals and photo albums, as well as other stationery, gifts and craft items. They have a wide line of leather covered journals made in Italy, and they provided me with a free sample of the “tiny” size Firenze Classico Wrap Journal, which is part of their Leatherkind brand– let’s take a look!

central crafts leatherkind - 1

The first impression is “wow, this really is tiny!” When closed, the journal measures about 2.5″ square and 1″ thick. It is a rather adorable little chunk– in fact the size and shape remind me of the “Chunky” chocolate bars I used to sometimes eat as a kid. I haven’t had one in years, but apparently they are still available!

central crafts leatherkind - 2

The leather has a soft, supple yet sturdy feel, and the color is a rich brown. Inside, you have plain white paper. There are no branding marks anywhere on the journal– there’s no room for them! The paper signatures are stitched and glued at the spine. On the sample I tested, some extra glue seemed to have left a residue on the page edges, as they had a slightly rubbery feel and some were stuck together, though they were easy to pull apart.

central crafts leatherkind - 3central crafts leatherkind - 6central crafts leatherkind - 4central crafts leatherkind - 5

The notebook does open flat, but at this small size, it is quite awkward to old it open to write in. The paper is very nice, though– works beautifully with fountain pens, and bleed-through and show-through were better than average.

central crafts leatherkind - 7central crafts leatherkind - 8

This journal is really cute and the materials seem to be of a very good quality. The size is not going to be practical for all uses, but it would make a nice little gift. For more useability, I’d go with one of Central Crafts’ other products that use the same paper, which is featured in all of their Leatherkind collection, except for those with marbled edges.

If you’d like to add one of these adorable journals to your own notebook collection, check out the online store at Central Crafts— they ship worldwide. You can also enter my giveaway for one brand new tiny journal just like the one reviewed!

The winner will be randomly selected from entries received in any or all of these ways:

On Twitter, tweet something containing “Central Crafts Leather Journal @CentralCrafts @NotebookStories”, and follow @CentralCrafts and @NotebookStories

On Facebook, “like”  the Notebook Stories page and the Central Crafts page and post something containing the words “Central Crafts Leather Journal” on the Notebook Stories page.

On your blog, post something containing the words “Central Crafts Leather Journal” and “Notebook Stories” and link back to this post.

The deadline for entry is Friday February 9, 2018 at 11:59PM, EST. Good luck everyone!
And please remember to check my posts on Facebook and Twitter for an announcement of the winner. Please allow a couple of weeks for me to check all the entries and determine the winners.

antique, Art, creativity, Diary, Journal, Links, Other People's Notebooks, record-keeping, Sketchbook

What’s a Zibaldone?

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Such an interesting article from Atlas Obscura.
I’d never heard the term “zibaldone” before!

ONE DAY IN VENICE, SOMETIME near the end of the 14th century, a busy merchant found himself with a few spare moments. Maybe it was a slow day at the docks, or he arrived home too early for dinner. Whatever the reason, he did what people of his era tended to do when they had some time—he took out his notebook and his set of pens, and he put together a page-sized patchwork of his afternoon.

Over 600 years later, you can still open that notebook and see that day. Written in spidery loops are daydreamy calculations regarding how large a particular tree is, and how long it might take to get to Rome. There’s a sketch of a pair of colorful ships, and another of two tradesmen in green hats, examining a meal of bread and fish. Keep flipping through, and a whole life emerges. Scribbles and sketches fill each page. Personal anecdotes and hard-won lessons nestle alongside gathered material, including prayers, copied quotations and lists of spices.

Welcome to the world of the zibaldone. A strange melange of diary, ledger, doodle pad, and scrapbook, these volumes—along with similar “hodgepodges” and “commonplace books”—served as a pattern for interior life from the 14th century onward, bringing comfort and inspiration to everyone from Thomas Jefferson to Lewis Carroll.

Source: How to Keep a Zibaldone, the 14th Century’s Answer to Tumblr – Atlas Obscura

My Collection, Personal

I Miss My Notebooks!

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I’ve been in the midst of a lot of changes lately, including moving to a new home. I’ve had to put a lot of stuff in storage since we’re in a smaller space and we’ll be doing renovations, so almost all of my notebooks are now residing in a storage unit, and they’ll be there for about a year, probably. This makes me sad!

I did keep some notebooks with me– all my filled journals and sketchbooks from the last 20 years or so, and a good quantity of blank spare notebooks, as well as my large stack of to-be-reviewed notebooks. But I can’t help feeling a little anxious that I can’t get at other notebooks that I might potentially want to use, or just look at!

I numbered and inventoried all my boxes that went into storage, so I could find all my notebooks if needed, but that might require moving a lot of other stuff that has been stacked on top of them– our amazing movers managed to pack our 75 sq foot storage unit incredibly efficiently, using much of the space all the way to the ceiling. If I tried to dig things out, I’m not sure I’d be able to fit everything back in again! So for the near future, I just have to resign myself to only having maybe a few dozen notebooks to fondle, instead of a few hundred! It’ll be tough but I think I can make it through!

Art, creativity, Journal, Links, Notebook Addict of the Week, Other People's Notebooks, Sketchbook, Writing Notebooks

Notebook Addict of the Week: Catherine White

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This week’s addict is an artist whose photos I found via Pinterest. In 2009, she posted these images of her large collection of sketchbooks on her blog, with the sad tale below:

“In May I installed a series of my sketchbooks as part of an exhibit called Sculpting Time at VisArts in Rockville, Maryland. These notebooks represent images and writing that have accumulated over the last several years. I try to write five days a week as part of my process of finding direction and clarifying ideas in my work and life. I write three pages and then paint a page with color which later gets an added collaged drawing. Some notebooks are only visual records of what I am pursing in the clay realm and some are collages of the varied streams of life. They are like the lining of my mind….
This week one of the notebooks was stolen from the gallery. I am stunned. Suddenly the memory of what those pages held gains importance. From each volume I have selected one single page or spread to exhibit, but the whole book lost represents a month or more of personal reflection.”

A notebook was stolen from me in 7th grade and I still haven’t gotten over it, even though it contained nothing of importance. I can only imagine how it would feel to lose something with so much thought and work and creativity in it…

Read more at: the lost notebook – Rough Ideas

antique, Diary, Journal, Links, Other People's Notebooks, record-keeping, Writing Notebooks

Julia Wilbur’s Notebooks

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Below is a notebook or diary of a type that seems to have been very common in the mid-late 1800s. This one belonged to Julia Wilbur, a teacher, abolitionist, and suffragette from Rochester, NY whose diaries have been archived at Haverford College.

“In 1862, she traveled on her own to Washington and Alexandria, then Union-occupied, with a heartfelt but ill-defined “job description” to assist formerly enslaved blacks (known as contrabands at the time) who were leaving the South. She spent most of the war in Alexandria, funded by the Rochester Ladies Anti Slavery Society.”

I’m sure her diaries would be fascinating to read! The one below records her experiences on the occasion of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

Read more about her here: Julia & Paula and here: From Diary to Biography

Notebooks, journals, sketchbooks, diaries: in search of the perfect page…