scrively-blog

[scrively-blog]

Site has moved | Seite ist umgezogen

Please go to | Jetzt verfügbar unter:

www.scrively.org

This Tumblr here will still stay online for a while, though. 

Dieses Tumblr wird trotzdem noch eine Weile online bleiben.

[scrively-blog]

Ink Journal | Tintenjournal (2)

[scrively-blog]

Flea market-serendipity: Silver-Reed "Silverette II" typewriter (1982)

Yeha, been to the flea market today - it’s been a while. And I found this goldie here at a no-brainer bargain of 3€! It is a barely used Japanese (but sold in Sweden) “Silverette II” from 1982. 

I have, of course, tried it straight out of the box - typo included. This is the analogue times, baby! The black was empty though, since it’s of course the most used part of the ribbon. I will need to get a new one. Anyway, I could try it with the lower red part of it, which still works fine. I have no idea how long this typewriter has been suspended, but as said, I cleaned it up a little and it worked from the start. 

There is a nice lid it has, which is the covering of it and also makes it usable as a portable typewriter - the mobile media and laptops of the (not all that) ancient days! I guess you really were one hipster when sitting with that one in a street cafe those days, sipping on a latte (was there latte in the Eighties?)!

It still had the warranty certificate taped into the inside of that lid - it was a 5-year warranty it had those days! The certificate also informs that the Silverette was bought in the University-bookstore/-trade in Gothenburg (Southern Sweden) and that it has been bought on the 13th of August, 1982. So it’s just two years younger than I am. Imagine. I really like that thing. Don’t know what I’m gonna use it for, though. Probably hammering down some word art. Who knows.

(Note to self: get a typewiter from 1980) 

[scrively-blog]

Vintage Leather Pencil Case (Gusti Leather): A Review

This post is what is the second part of a trilingual series (in German, Swedish, and English) on pencil cases from German leather distributor Gusti Leather. Since the company operates in different markets, Gusti Leather and I thought that I might be a good thing to have different products reviewed in different languages in order to sort of get the knowledge out for any of those native tongues there. Since my site is rather trilingual anyway - a German living in Sweden with English as domestic language - this idea came in really handy. 

While the first part of this little series was in German and on pen rolls, that one here is, obviously, in English. There will be one coming in Swedish as well. So stay tuned.

Having that said, the product that I’d like to take a closer look at here is a Vintage Leather Pencil Case - I got the brown one, but it’s also available in black. Costing 16€, it is - just as most of the Gusti Leather products - really decently priced, being that it is a leather product. 

Let’s go ahead and dive straight into things.    

The Vintage Leather Pencil Case is part of the Gusti Leder studio-series which, according to the company, “stands for practicality and transparency”. Since the products are often handmade in lower income-countries, this includes

making sure that employees are living comfortably and are working in good and suitable conditions

visiting producers severally per annum to maintain a close relationship

putting measures in place that ban child labour.

This brown Vintage Leather Pencil case I got here, for instance, is made by a slightly larger producer (meaning 50-200 employees) in India. It’s made from buffalo hide and chemically tanned.                                    

The brown leather has a very light structure and the stitchings used are super-beautiful. The workmanship is excellent, I would say. That case is so neat, would you tell me it is machine made, I would probably believe it. I do also love the way it feels in the hands - really smooth, soft and handy and the same time. It has the “Gusti Leder studio”-logo embossed on the frontside. 

What I personally love most about that case is its minimalist and elegant look that is somehow vintage at the same time. For me, this is achieved through the simple lines and rounded edges, while this character is sort of amplified by the brown color of the leather. There is also a bigger version of this case -  I do also have that here, but in black. I will review that one in the upcoming Swedish-language post and you will see a clear difference in the character of the case, just by a change of the color. While the brown leans much more to the vintage-elegant side, the black clearly tends towards the classy-elegant side. But that is just my two cents and you’ll soon be able to estimate for yourself.  

The pen case is pretty compact in size, measuring 19,5 x 5,5 x 3,5 cm (WxHxD).  The basic mechanism of the case is that of a slider, i.e. it consists of a tube and a slide-on that sort of serves as a shell.                                                                                                 

This is what the frontside looks like once the case is taken apart. Both parts are still really sturdy - you can press on them pretty hard and they won’t indent dramatically. The whole thing just just feels really stable and you’ll definitely trust it to protect your pens well.

Upon turning the parts around, you’ll be able to see more of the stitching and the way the leather hide as been put on the shells. The shell on the right hand side, which is the one that’s going to carry the pens, has sort of a felt-coating inside that is very soft but pretty grippy, thus preventing pens from sliding out all too easily upon opening the case.

So let’s now put the case to test a bit and fill it up with some pens. I do normally also carry page markers, paper and file clips as well as other small stuff such as erasers and sharpeners with me, but I do honestly think that while you could potentially also fit them into that case right here, this is not really what it is most suitable for. I think this really is rather a pen and pencil case. 

So as you can see on that filling here, the pencil case is definitely not made for carrying highlighters or other bulky pens with you. While you could fit in such pens, they would leave little space for other pens to take with you. As you can see in the picture above, it fills up rather quickly when using such thicker pens. For demonstration, I have put in a Jinhao 159 and a JustMobile Alu Pen Digital (those both really are big pens), which then basically left space only for another ballpoint (Ballograf), a mechanical pencil (Pentel Graph 600) and a fineliner (Stabilo Point 88). Having that said, if you do need a larger filling volume for carrying larger pens, you might wanna opt for the bigger size-version of that pen case - which is also available in brown. That costs only 2€ more, but gives you considerably more space, measuring 1cm more in diameter and about 2,5 cm more in width. 

Anyway, if you do appreciate the more compact size case that is under review right here, you’ll be well served by swapping out the rather bulky pens for some standard-sized ones such as the Faber-Castell ones, another Stabilo or a Pelikan Inky. So, if you do tend to carry a number of rather standard pens with you and you want to use the case for that, it will definitely serve it’s purpose and you’ll have a decently priced, extremely sturdy and stylish case with this one here. 

So I do appreciate it for what it is, which is just all of the above. I would, however, definitely opt for another case for carrying my more expensive pens, ink, and all that. This is since the pens, of course, do constantly grind on each other in this pencil case here. For the more standard pens that I do also frequently use, this is no problem though.

[scrively-blog]

Review: “Paperstyle” notebooks (Swedish design by Concess)

One of the notebooks that I recently got into my hands - and that I really do not want to let go of anymore - is an A5-size notebook of Concess’ Paperstyle-series. If you now say “Which notebooks?”, you are probably as unaware as I was until most recently; a circumstance that I deeply regret after having now used these notebooks. I do not want to miss them anymore. 

Anyway, it is probably also a bit difficult to be aware of the Paperstyle-notebooks, especially if one is located outside of Sweden (which I am not, so shame on me!). One can also hardly find them on the internet - at least not too easy. Here in Stockholm, however, one sees them in many stationery-stores. One can also purchase them on Concess’ own website or on bokus.com, for instance. 

Enough prelude, let’s talk Paperstyle-notebooks! 

Paperstyle is a brand of a Swedish company called Concess, which is based in Örebro (they do also distribute Leuchtturm-notebooks here in Sweden, for instance). Concess’ Paperstyle-series actually does not only encompass a broad spectrum of notebooks (e.g. A6 with 96 pages, A5 with 128 or 256 pages, A4 with 192 pages, 15x15cm with 192 pages, and a bunch of other formats in wire-binding...), but also calendars, guestbooks, and more. 

Having that said, the notebook that I have here is in A5 with 256 pages. The binding is in a massively beautiful black cloth (there are also a number of other tempting colors available), which has an amazing feel to it. Really, once I pick that thing up, I do not wanna let go of it anymore :-). It’s just really nice and the cloth-structure looks great, I think. 

The notebook is a pressed metal-binding - like a real high quality hardcover-bookbinding. This gives the notebook a robust feel and nice weight. It just feels like a really well bound book.  

As most notebooks of reasonable quality, the branding is to be found on the lower backside of the notebook - embossed. 

The paper-journals are thread-bound and the notebook comes with two page-markers, of which one always is grayish, and the other one varies depending on the color of the binding-cloth. The one in the black notebook, in this instance here, is black.  

The paper itself is amazing. It is a silky-smooth ivory colored/off-white paper and has edgy corners, which I find really beautiful as an alternative to the rounded corners of the usual suspects’ notebooks. My notebook has slightly grayish lined ruling (lines about 7mm apart), but the notebooks are also available with plain paper. 

The paper is 90g/sqm and Swedish quality-manufacturing, non-ageing and FSC-certified.

Another great thing is that the notebook opens totally flat on a table or any other plain surface. So it is really pleasant to write in it that way. 

Below is a brief summarizing overview of the notebook’s advantages which, at the same time, shall serve as a test of the paper-quality. I have always indicated the pen used, just below each bullet point.  

As you can see, the paper takes all the pens without any problem. The writing always looks brilliant, sharp lines, no feathering whatsoever. But the moment of truth mostly comes upon turning the page. So let’s do just that.  

The result is excellent. Even by holding the page up so that light shines through, there is only a little shine-through of all the pens. This is a pretty good result, if you ask me. Can’t be much better. 

When not holding the page against light, the result is even better. 

Well, does this notebook also has disadvantages, one might wonder? Yes, it does. First of all, it does not have a back-pocket, in case this is important to you. Second, it also has no elastic rubber-band to close it with, which makes it probably not perfect to carry around loose-leaf notes. I do that and it works for me. But those single-sheet notes might well easily fall out. 

I think this slogan of Paperstyle  - “for the pleasure and comfort of handwriting” - sort of pretty much sums it up for me. It is indeed a great notebook with amazing binding and excellent paper-quality. And the best of it all: depending on where you buy it, you can get it for around 10€! This certainly makes such a sophisticated item a no-brainer and it just gained itself a safe place in my everyday-stationary. 

[scrively-blog]

Ink Journal | Tintenjournal (1)

[scrively-blog]

The latest tech trend in the office is not using technology at all! Technology creates constant distractions during business meetings. Therefore, forward thinking companies are banning cell phones, laptops and tablets from the conference room.

Most of those insights are, by the way, exactly the science that is behind Sketchnotes as well! 

[scrively-blog]

Kaweco “Student” fountain pen (vintage blue)

As I had already pointed out in my recent review of the Faber-Castell E-Motion rollerball pen, and as one might also guess from the recent quick writing sample of the Jinhao 159 (review to follow somewhen), I am currently out and about to get into fountain pens - again. 

Again, because of course I have used them in school back in the days - then stopped using them for many years. This was not because I did not like them, but because of me being left-handed. Hence, I was often annoyed of writing with fountain pens, because I would just sort of smudge the ink all over the place. 

Anyway, I recently gave fountains another shot - which was more by coincidence - and I was pleasantly surprised: I really liked the writing-experience a lot. And I did not smear the ink any longer. I do not exactly know why, though. Maybe the inks got better the past 20 years or so, which is round about the time that I had not written with fountain pens anymore. Or, and that is also possible, the way I hold my hand when writing has changed. I am not entirely sure. Anyway, I do not smear the ink anymore, and that counts. That is, for now, if I use around an F-nib - because a broader nib will obviously lay down a thicker line of ink, which will be rather wet and not dry in so fast, causing some smearing, again. 

Having that said, I wanted to try the Kaweco pens, since I have read a lot of good stuff on the net as them being very solid entry level pens (and even more) that are not entirely on the cheapest side. So I opted for them, because I just did not want to get disappointed right from scratch by using the cheapest option available. 

As many of you might already know, Kaweco is a German pen manufacturer, located in Nuremberg, with a pretty long company history (since 1883). Seemed trustworthy enough to me. So, for a review and for playing around with my new fountain pen sympathies, I got their fountain pen model “Student” (F-nib, vintage blue) to get the thing rolling. So let’s see about that pen.   

The Kaweco Student is made of polished acrylic material. The metal parts that you can see are made of brass and are chrome-plated. The vintage-blue color that you can see on the pictures is pretty much the same in reality. I think it looks lovely. The pens are also available in yellow, black, transparent blue, white, and red. It has some ornaments plus the Kaweco label-sign on the clip as well as on the ring around the cap. All this - and the rest of the pen you are going to see now - gives the pen sort of a really nice vintage or old school look.   

Here is another view on the cap. It has sort of an emblem on top of the cap, which is the Kaweco company logo. The cap itself has a length of about 5,5 cm. 

That Kaweco logo on top of the cap is in form of three syllables that are arranged in sort of a triangular star-shape: KA-WE-CO. That also looks very nice and old school, I think. Especially in combination with the vintage blue color. I do also have a black rollerball of the “Student” (see below), which then looks a bit more classy.

The fountain pen is fairly short, I would say. In total, it measures about 13cm, which makes it a pretty compact companion. It is a very solid pen, I must say. It has a nice heavy weight to it for a pen of that small size and it is pleasant to hold.   

Since the pen is not too cheap (it goes for around 40€), I wanted to have a proper and fitting home for it in order to safely take it out. I opted for a Kaweco Flap Case for 2 pens. It is black leather, looks classy and has a separating element in the middle (I think it is felt, or at least felt-coated), that prevents the two pens from constantly bumping onto each other. The case carries the same logo as the top of the pen’s cap.    

This is the case again, this time with the flap opened. The pens just fit perfectly in there, of course, since the case is made just for that type of pen size. Here you can also see the black “Student”, which I have as an additional rollerball - since rollerballs are still my “first love” so to speak. But let’s see if this stays that way. I might be lead astray. Anyway, I will write a separate post about that rollerball another time. 

Let’s have a look at the nib. Yeah, I know I am new to those “nib-shots” as well, so please excuse my greenhornishness on that one. Anyway, I think one can still see that the pen as a lovely nib with some nice looking ornaments on it. Plus the by now familiar Kaweco logo, of course.

This is another angle on the nib. It is a steel nib with an iridium point and it’s available in EF, F, M, B and BB. You do see a F-nib on the pen on the picture, which is the nib that I use to write with it. As I said, I am left-handed, and anything that is much broader that an F will just cause me to smudge the ink all over the place, again. I do have an additional B-nib for that pen however, and I have also tried my luck with it. No chance. Well, the line that the B-nib lays down is really beautiful, because obviously you see much more of the ink. I might use that one occasionally when I do some few lines of calligraphy. But for me personally, the B is definitely no everyday-writer. Also, I do write way too much and too fast, so that an F-nib is a lot more space-saving. On top of it, as said, the line it lays is not that thick, which is another plus, because you do not really have to care too much about using fountain pen-friendly paper. I use the F-nib with Kaweco-ink (at the moment the royal blue) and I can use pretty much any piece of paper that I can get a hold on and just use the pen without any bleeding-through of the ink. Having that said, I might want to add that the pen takes standard international ink cartridges or converters, too.

Now, to the writing part. As you can see, and as I have already mentioned, the pen is a bit shorter (about 12cm without the cap on). I do have slightly larger hands, but I can still hold the pen very comfortably. The only thing that happens with lengthier writing sessions is that the section gets a little slippery for me, so I do have to readjust my grip at times. Otherwise, I do love the line that the F-nib lays. There’s no skipping, no hard start problems, or anything like that. To me personally, it just writes pleasantly smooth. 

Here are some writing samples and some coloring. It is possible to get a little line variation. Otherwise, the nib is pretty sturdy, I think. To me, this is perfectly fine. Line variation is nothing I aim for in a nib, because I really do mostly use the pens for taking notes and academic or creative writing, not so much for the calligraphy part of it. 

All in all, the Kaweco Student is a really good pen, I think. It looks beautiful, has good quality, and most importantly it does write really nice. If the 40€ are okay for you to spend, I would definitely recommend that pen. Here are the summarizing pros and cons from my perspective: 

[scrively-blog]

Book ‘n Ink

[scrively-blog]

Kaweco “paradise blue” ink on a Jinhao 159

[scrively-blog]

Leuchtturm 1917: new notebook-colors available & Master Slim (A4+)-review

German notebook manufacturer Leuchtturm 1917 has just released some brand new colors for their notebook-lineup: “army” (green) and “new pink”. While the pinkish one isn’t exactly my cup of tea, I was definitely amazed by the new green notebook. 

I got my hands on a Master Slim (A4+) hardcover version (121 numbered pages) of the army-colored notebook, which has, by the way, also won a 2015 Red Dot Design-Award (which essentially means that I also wasn’t too wrong by recently crowning it’s bigger sister, the Master Classic, the Queen of Notebooks). 

The Master Slim is about a third more lightweight than the traditional Master Classic, but also A4+ in size, which means it is larger than A4 and can hold loose A4 sheets in between the pages. Here come the specs (taken from the company website): 

121 numbered pages

8 perforated and detachable sheets

Gusseted pocket for A4 sheets

Blank table of contents and numbered pages

Page marker

Elastic enclosure band

Thread-bound book opens flat

Ink-proof paper (100 g/sqm)

Sticker for labelling and archiving

Dimensions: 225 x 315 mm

I do absolutely love the elegant understatement of the army green. It’s just right there! Here’s a color comparison-shot to a traditional black notebook (not a Leuchtturm, though). 

I got the Master Slim-notebook in a lined ruling, which will be a pleasure to write on when those vast blank double-pages unfold. The ruling is 6mm apart. So it is a pretty compact ruling. You can either fit the letters within one line (which is how I prefer using the notebook), or alternatively go overboard and use two lines for capital letters, for instance. The Master Slim has two page markers, one in green and one in green/gray.  

The 100 g/sqm-paper comes with the common rounded edges and Leuchtturm’s off-white/ivory color, which - this is a bit hard to see on the pictures - fits really nicely with the army green of the notebook. The ruled version of the notebook offers a dedicated space for pinning down the current date of an entry. On top of that, it comes with a side column on the outer sides of each page. This comes in really handy for additional thoughts, remarks, corrections, and so forth.  

The big plus of the Leuchtturm-notebooks are the numbered pages that all of their notebooks have. To me personally, they do make even more sense in the ruled version of the Master Slim, which almost asks for being used for definite text-writing, which is what I will be using it for. Like I do not intend to take everyday-notes in this beauty. It is way too precious for that. I plan to use it for word art, poem-writing, short story-development, and the like. This is also when, again, the columns and date-option will be super practical.

Especially in combination with the numbered pages that I mentioned above, the blank table of contents in the beginning will be extremely practical to sort of keep track or an overview of the creative output. Like topics I dealt with and so on. The Master Slim has three blank contents-pages with 43 lines each (yes, I counted them). This is plenty of space to keep track of even the shorter writings. Do the maths, and you’ll arrive at 129 possible entries in the table of contents with the notebook having 121 pages. Perfect, I would say. If this is still not enough, you may well divide the page in the middle and double this. 

As with any Leuchtturm notebook, the Master Slim also has a back-pocket for keeping like snippets or loose notes. And look at this one - it really is spacy. I can’t wait to fill it with snippets of inspiration for creative writing that I might come across.

And because I was just really amazed by how big that back-pocket really is, I could not resist to try fitting that other black notebook you saw above into it. Worked! The pocket of the Master Slim is definitely “bold enough to even swallow a competitor” (pun intended). 

Oh yeah - and last but not least: This time I did not forget to post the saying that’s always in the brochure that comes alongside the Leuchtturm-notebooks. Each time I read it in a new notebook, I want to take a picture of it and post it. But I always forgot. This time it became a reality. I think that little statement is just so true. It at least totally nails the reason to why I love using notebooks. 

[scrively-blog]

Faber-Castell E-motion rollerball: the King of Pens

I’ve been wanting to write a review about this (presumably fabulous) pen for quite a while now. Whenever I have come across an exemplar of it anywhere, I admittedly had a quite hard time passing it by. This short personal note shall suffice as a quick introduction. Having disclosed my pre-existing sympathies, I have still done my best to keep the review kind of ‘objective’.

Before we dive right into things, I would like to use this space here to also thank the kind people of my partner The Pen Company for making this review possible by generously providing me with the sample of the Faber-Castell E-motion Rollerball Pen (dark brown, pear wood) that I am going to review here. 

Let’s get started. 

The Faber-Castell rollerball pen comes in a distinctively minimalist and, hence, extremely elegant white cardboard box with the Faber-Castell logo printed on (or embossed - I can’t really figure it out) in silver. A small brown leather strap that is attached to the sides of the box serves for pulling out the slider that will then, presumably, contain the pen itself.  

And: Bingo! Upon opening the box, the content in form of the pearwood dark brown rollerball pen is revealed. Personally, I do love rollerball pens - they are my favorite writing instruments (however, presently there is a chance for me to at least partly convert to fountain pens - but more on that on another instance). For those that can not really get warm towards rollerball pens, the E-motion is also available as a fountain pen, ballpoint pen (I know, right) and as a twist pencil. 

It also comes in a variety of finishes: while I have the extremely beautiful dark pearwood here, it is also available in light brown and black pearwood as well as in a white satin resin with an engraved rhombus design and laser engraved, polished resin, in two designs - crocodile or parquet in three colors. I bet you’ll find one you like! 

I noticed three things straight after taking the pen out of the box: First, the extremely beautiful shape and wood-structure of the barrel. Second, the massive cap, which is about half the pens size. And third, the nicely balanced weight of the pen. The E-motion is a fairly short pen, I’d say though. My hands are rather large and I can fit the pen (it has a dent on the cap and trim) comfortably in between my thumb and middle-finger. With the cap on, the pen has a length of about 13,8 cm.

The cap itself has the Faber-Castell-logo engraved and, as said, a smooth dent on top. It is slightly bent on the bottom and has some grooves around. The clip has sort of a tilt mechanism (supposedly with a spring inside) and is easy to operate while feeling firm. The clip exercises enough pressure to not let go of where it bit without you ordering it to do so. 

Without the cap the rollerball pen has a length of about 11,6 cm. The grip (and thread) is chrome and has two sections. First, I thought the chrome might make the pen slightly slippery to hold in lengthy writing session, but this somehow seems to not be the case. I suppose it is also due to the pens length - the pens end perfectly snuggles into the space between my thumb and forefinger, where it seemingly feels comfortable enough to just stay where it is.

Then this cap. Well, the cap is probably one of the reasons why the pen once was part of the Red Dot Design Award-winning range. It has a length of about 6,2 cm (as I said about half the size of the pen!) and is chrome plated with and articulated clip. Look at those perfect, elegant lines! 

So sorry that I had to take another photo of that clip, but I guess I could be happy by just staring at it for like an hour or so :-).

As pointed out above, the distinctively chunky barrel of the E-motion just makes that pen very comfortable to hold - and I think it really is part of its appealing design. The barrel measures about 1,4 cm in diameter at the thickest part just below the thread.

This is a kinda weird shot of the pen laying on one of my Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks, but I somehow like it. I love the way in which the dark brown color of the pearwood melts in with the off-white paper of the notebook. Isn’t that a dream!  

When posted, the pen has a length of about 14,6 cm. The cap posts pretty firm on the pen. I do prefer to use the pen without the cap posted, however. Just took the shot for you to see how it looks when having the cap posted. 

Here’s a photo of me holding the unposted pen to put it on paper. I hold it a bit weird, though, due to the camera in my other hand probably. I would normally grab it a bit deeper, just below the thread, when writing with it. As I said above, the pen is not too big and my hands fairly large, and even by holding the pen a bit off-grip, it still perfectly lays in my hand.   

When posted, it would look something like this. Same weird way of me grabbing the pen, however. Anyway, as mentioned, I do prefer to write the pen when not posted, because I do think that it tends to get pretty top-heavy with that massive cap posted. Plus I like putting the cap beside the notebook, so that I can look at it when taking a pause from writing :-).

The E-motion accepts standard rollerball refills. The one it comes with is black (0.7) and has a perfectly smooth stroke. 

All in all, for me personally, there really is nothing to complain at all with this pen - and the part of Germany that I originally come from, people say that “no reproach is praise enough” (sounds like a place one has to have seen, I can imagine) :-). Joke aside, that pen is a design-masterpiece and a dream to write with, and after having recently crowned the Queen of Notebooks, I guess I have now found it a King of Pens. Happy togetherness!  

[scrively-blog]

Review: Writersblok (New York) Notebooks

Writersblok notebooks are something that I had not yet come across, so I really wanted to get my hands on them and see what they can do. Are they an alternative worthwhile, compared to the usual suspects, or do they just look similar to the notebooks of the big brands? Well, let’s see.

First of all, the notebooks are available in the following formats: Large and pocket, hard- and softcover, plain and ruled. That’s the combinations you can go for. The pricing is pretty good: the pocket hardcover-version (plain) that I am reviewing here costs 10€. The large one (about A5) would go for 13€. Free shipping in Europe is definetly another plus!

The specs as stated on the distribution website are:

Recycled Leather Covers

192 Pages / Acid-Free Paper

Thread-Bound / Opens Flat

16 Perforated Detachable Plain Half Pages

Expandable Back Pocket

Page Marker

So let’s have a look at that. Size first up. As you can see in a comparsion against Moleskines 9x14cm pocket-size notebook, the Writersblok pocket-notebooks have a somewhat unusual size. If you take a look at the picture above, again, you will notice a remark “iPhone 6 fits inside”. I do not really get that one, since I don’t know how I should fit my iPhone into that notebook, but anyway. Let’s compare the size at least.

Well, the size comparison actually holds true. My iPhone 6 in a Blumax leather case (my favorite iPhone-cases by the way!) is pretty much about the same size as the Writersblok pocket-noteboook.

Same impression when put on top of each other.

Upon being turned around, the Writersblok-beauty will reveal it’s origin on the lower backside, just as any notebook that prides itself on being a quality one. The embossing looks great, just as the leather covers do as one can see on this close-up. Very beautiful structure and feels really soft in the hands. Good grip I would say. 

When opening the notebook, one sees the thread-binding of the blank pages. The paper is not really white, but more of the Moleskine’ish ivory-sort-of-color. Rounded edges, of course.

Here is a look at the detachable plain half pages. The perforation is pretty rough, which makes it easy to tear them out.

The expandable back pocket really is one of a kind - spacewise, I guess you could park another notebook in there. It really is huge and seems pretty solid.

Next up: Writing test. I worked on the paper with some of the pens that I normally use on a daily basis. Well, the paper might not be the smoothest on the planet, but it is certainly more than alright to write on. 

Upon turning the page around I was pleasantly surprised. An in my view very tolerable shine-through, but that’s it. Really awesome and definetly usable!

The only thing that I can not really agree on is the “opens flat”-statement, which I would say is the only downside of the notebook. As one can see on the picture, due to the way the cover is made, the notebook might open flat on the writing-surface, but it won’t really lay flat on a table.

It is not as disturbing when writing on it as it might look on the picture, though. Still, if you really want your notebook to open completely flat and be flat on the table, this one here won’t exactly do that. 

Otherwise, I think that the notebook is really good and pretty affordable. The competition from Moleskine and Leuchtturm, for instance, is slightly more expensive (but will compensate you with better paper quality, I would say). While the Moleskine ones will come with a comparable 192 plain pages, Leuchtturm will give you a full 249 pages to fill.

So at the end, it is a matter of taste, I guess. One other thing, however, is a definite plus with the Writersblok-notebooks, and I do not want to leave this unmentioned as a final point: Part of the proceeds from Writersblok goes to literacy programs that are for example dedicated to supporting students with their creative and writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. This is definitly a reason for buying such a notebook, in my opinion. And it is a line that I do hope more suppliers of stationary-materials will follow in the future. Thanks for that, Writersblok!

[scrively-blog]

Exacompta Index-Cards: Hell, yeah!

After having used my MindPapers for quite a while now, it was just about time to refill them with a couple of new index cards. Unfortunately, one mostly gets only the simple white ones (and not so great paper quality) here in Sweden - plus they are really, really, really expensive for some unknown reason.

This is one of the weird things of living in Sweden: very little choice and relatively high prices in the stationery market (note to self: knit yourself a business there). For instance, on staples.se you get a 100-pack of index cards - called “skrivkort” in Swedish - (but only the Esselte-ones and only in white?!), A6, 170 g/m2 and you get to pay about 6,50€ for that! On staples.de, however, you will find a massive selection of colors and rulings in index cards (”Karteikarten” in German) and the A6 ones (100-pack, white and ruled, too) will cost you about 1,90€. Do the maths and this is about 3-4 times the price!? And that being that the latter ones are even 205 g/m2 and made by Exacompta, which means Clairefontaine paper. Remember, these are the guys that also do the paper for the Rhodia notepads!

If anyone has an explanation for that, I’ll be more than happy (or maybe confused) to hear about it! Maybe it is because the Germans are notorious for being bureaucrats and overly organized, which is why they need so many and such a wide variety of them. I for one love it, in that instance. Not the bureaucracy, but the choice in index cards.

Anyway, fortunately I was in Germany lately - the home of a million cute little stationary shops with endless choice! And I took the chance and got me a good couple of packets straight away :-).  

[scrively-blog]

Review: Vintage-Style Stifteaufbewahrung von Gusti Leder

Da ich bisher noch keine Stifeetuis oder -mäppchen im Blog hatte, dies aber natürlich unbedingt zum Thema Schreiben und Notieren gehört, bin ich auf der Suche nach etwas Besonderem durchs Netz gestreift. Dabei bin ich auf die Produkte von Gusti Leder in Rostock gestoßen. Mir fielen die Sachen sofort auf, weil ich diese zum einen sehr schön finde und sie zum anderen für Lederprodukte auch recht erschwinglich sind. Was die Produkte zudem besonders macht, ist dass Gusti Leder die meisten der Sachen in Entwicklungsländern - zu fairen Bedingungen - machen lässt. 

Heute wollte ich gerne zwei Lösungen zur Stiftaufbewahrung aus der Serie “Gusti Leder nature” besprechen. 

Die Produktserie “Gusti Leder nature”

Im Gegensatz zu der etwas anderen Serie “Gusti Leder studio” (zu Produkten aus dieser Serie mache ich in Zukunft einmal noch einen gesonderten Beitrag) steht “Leder nature” designtechnisch vor allem für junges Vintage-Design sowie eben natürliche Produktion (Gerbung und Färbung mit ausschließlich natürlichen Stoffen, Nachhaltige Produktion durch Verwertung des gesamten Tierkörpers, Häute von Tieren in Freilandhaltung, die zur Fleischgewinnung genutzt werden) in fairen, kontrollierte Arbeitsbedingungen (Familienunternehmen ohne Kinderarbeit, Sicherung des Lebensunterhalts der Produzenten und ihrer Familien). Nur auch schon gleich zu dem beiden Stiftmäppchen.

Produkt 1: Die Stifterolle  

Die Stifterolle kostet 19 € im Gusti-Online Shop und ist aus aus naturgegerbtem, braunem, weichem Ziegenleder im Vintage-Style gefertigt. Um die gefüllte Rolle zusammenzuhalten ist ein breites Lederband angebracht - wie man dieses schließt (bzw. wie man die Stifterolle füllt), dazu gleich in der Folge. Hergestellt wird die Rolle in Indien in kleinen Familienunternehmen.    

Wenn man die Rolle aus der Plastikverpackung nimmt, in der diese kommt, riecht diese erst einmal stark nach Ziege :-). Ich mag diesen Ledergeruch ja sehr gerne - nach einigen Tagen wird dieser allerdings (leider :-) ) zunehmend schwächer. Faltet man die Rolle auf, so sind die 5 Fächer zu erkennen, die nun darauf warten, mit allerlei Bürobedarf gefüllt zu werden. Die Abmessungen der Tasche sind (BxHxT): 34,5 x 16 x 0,5 cm.

Sowohl auf der Innen- als auch auf der Außenseite der Rolle ist überall klar der Charakter “Handarbeit” zu erkennen. Das macht das Produkt in meinen Augen sehr viel schöner als industrielle Massenware. 

Ich habe die Rolle dann auch gleich einmal mit Standardstiften gefüllt, die ich täglich so verwende. Meine ‘edleren Begleiter’ (also Stifte ab sagen wir 20€ aufwärts) wären mir persönlich hier wahrscheinlich nicht geschützt genug, da bevorzuge ich dann doch 2er- oder 3er-Etuis mit Trennstegen. Für die Alltagsstifte aber finde ich dieses Etui super, denn wie man sieht, hat man nach dem Aufrollen alles schön sortiert vor sich und kein Stiftgewirr, in dem man sich erst einmal zurechtfinden muss.  

Hier also eine Befüllung mir ein paar Faber-Castell und Stabilo Textmarkern, dem Stabilo Point 88 und Pen 68, Faber-Castell Fine- und Broadpen, Pentel EnerGel, Pelikan Inky sowie ein Pentel Druckbleistift und ein Staedtler Mars Plastic Radiergummi. Mit so einer Ausrüstung komme ich gut durch den Tag :-). Wie man sieht, haben auch alle Stifte gut Platz, nur das Pärchen Point 88/Pen 68 ragt ein wenig über den Rand hinaus. Die Stiftfächer haben eine schöne Grundspannung, so dass die Stifte wirklich gut fest sitzen. Das weitet sich sicher über die Zeit noch mehr, aber insgesamt wackelt in der gezeigten Befüllung nichts herum. 

Zum Transport rollt man die Mappe dann eben einfach auf, wickelt das Lederband drum herum und zieht es einmal unter der Aufwickelung durch - kurz festzurren und fertig!

Die beiden Stabilos stehen ein klein wenig über, aber ich finde das nicht sonderlich störend.  

Wie gesagt: alles sitzt fest an seinem Platz, nichts fällt heraus.

Zusammengerollt lässt sich die Rolle sehr kompakt in die Hand nehmen und in Rucksack oder Tasche verstauen. 

Alles in allem mag ich die perfekte Übersichtlichkeit bei absolut schneller und unkomplizierter Verstaubarkeit. Das Vintage-Design ist absolut genial und der Handarbeitscharakter fällt sofort ins Auge. Für mich ein sehr praktisches - und noch schöneres - Produkt! 

Produkt 2: Federtasche “Felix” 

Die Federtasche Felix kostet 10€ im Gusti-Online Shop - ein absolutes Schnäppchen, wie ich finde. Das bezahlt man im Schreibwarenladen oft schon für deutlich weniger ausgefallene Stifttaschen. Auch diese Tasche wird in Indien gefertigt und ist aus Ziegenleder, welches sich sehr gut und stabil greift. Auch bei dieser Vintage-Style-Tasche ist der Handarbeitscharakter kaum zu übersehen. Die Abmessungen hier sind (BxHxT): 18 x 6,5 x 3 cm.

Ähnlich wie bei der Mappe oben schließt auch dieses Produkt mit einem Lederriemen, der herumgewickelt wird. Bei geöffneter Tasche sieht man erst den größten Unterschied: Die Tasche hat ein einziges Hauptfach. 

In der Deckellasche des Mäppchens ist die Lederschnur zum Schließen durch ein Loch eingezogen und mit einem Knoten als Widerstand fest verhakt. Im Tascheninneren ist das Leder mit einem samtig-weichen Stoff in Mäppchenfarbe ausgekleidet (bei der Tasche oben ist es ein sehr fester, dunkler Stoff).

Der Vergleichbarkeit wegen habe ich die Tasche einfach mit den exakt selben Schreibutensilien gefüllt, die ich in der Rolle oben hatte. Als ich die ersten paar Sachen eingefüllt hatte, dachte ich mir, ob das wohl alles passen wird?  

Voll gefüllt sah das Ganze dann auf den ersten Blick ein wenig gedrängt aus. 

Aber: Voilá! Exakt jene Stifte, die in der größeren Rolle Platz hatten, lassen sich auch in diesem Mäppchen hier unterbringen. Am Anfang ist auch das Leder noch etwas fest - wenn dieses über die Zeit weicher wird, geht das wohl noch einfacher. 

Auf hier wieder: Mäppchen mit dem Lederriemen umwickeln, Schnur einmal unter der Wickelung durchziehen - und fertig! 

Auch dieses kleine Designwunderstück ist super transportabel und liegt kompakt in der Hand. Alles ist sicher verstaut, nicht fällt heraus. 

Gesamteindruck

Ich persönlich finde beide Produkte von Design hier wunderschön. Der Fair-Trade-Ansatz spricht mich unbedingt an, was die - ohnehin wirklich sehr günstigen - Preise mehr als in Ordnung gehen lässt. Man sieht wirklich, dass es Handverarbeitung von Naturprodukten ist. Das heisst es steht eben hier und da auch mal ein Faden über, das Leder hat Unregelmäßigkeiten, usw. Mir gefällt das. Wer es lieber glatter und technischer mag, für den ist es vielleicht nichts. 

Beide Mäppchen haben ein ähnliches System was das Verschließen angeht. Das zweite Mäppchen ist vielleicht etwas ‘bequemer’, denn man kann wirklich alles hineinwerfen und einfach verschließen. Ich persönlich mag den übersichtlich sortierten Charakter der Stifterolle lieber - der perfekte Begleiter zum Studieren in der Bibliothek oder für eine Konferenz: Mäppchen aufrollen und alles liegt akkurat an seinem Platz. Wie sich’s gehört :-). 

[scrively-blog]

Reading is more important than writing.

Roberto Bolaño

[scrively-blog]

Doodling around with Artline Calligraphy Pens

I am not a dedicated lettering artist, but sometimes I do enjoy to get away from the rollerballs, pencils and fineliners of everyday office use when trying to pen something on a different level of creativity. For that, I like brush-and calligraphy-pens, just because they produce a really nice typeface.

I got my hands on some Artline Calligrahy pens over the weekend because I wrote a poem and had no nice pens at hand to write down the final version. I got a package with three black pens in 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 mm wedge nib-width, which I thought should be a sufficient variation to play around with.

The pens are loaded with water based pigment ink which is water resistant and fade proof. Here is a shot of the black ink 3.0 mm wedge nib.

I tried all three nibs in order to see which one would do the job for my writing at the moment. Since they are all 1 mm apart, they provide sufficient difference in typeface to easily pick from. The pigment ink produces a really nice and deep black. The pens glide super smooth. 

For my final wrote up, I decided to use the 2.0 mm artliner on Rhodia paper, which made the writing-experience with them even smoother.

Conclusion

The artliners are great pens to play around with the look of your writing a bit. They are fairly affordable, and I would definetly recommend them (not being a professional lettering artist, again, though).