#AND ISN'T TRULY A4 SIZED

[autistickaitovocaloid]

Firealpaca has been lying to me.

[bettsfic]

Do you have any preferred notebooks? Anything better than Moleskine which I don't think would be hard (!!??)... The ink bleeding through to the page behind is so distracting. Random question but I figured you'd be perfect to ask!! Thank you

i've been waiting my entire tumblrlife for this, anon. stationery is one of my most persevering special interests.

just to caveat, i still use a moleskine for my personal journal, but i only write in it once or twice a month so they tend to last years. i bought my current journal in 2017 before enshittification and so i haven't had a problem with the paper. i use a felt-tip pen on it mostly, but even the few times i've tried fountain pens, i haven't had any bleed-through. it's really unfortunate they've gone downhill.

and i mean, for context, i beat the shit out of my moleskines. and look how they've held up!

the one on the left i used from 2011 to 2017. it went all around the world with me and i carried it everywhere for 6 years. i taped every stupid scrap of paper i came across into it and that's why it's so beefy. the elastic band has stretched too far is all; i need to find something sturdier to keep it shut.

the one on the right i started in 2017 and i'm about 2/3rds through it. i tape some stuff in but not as much as i used to. at one point it was in my backpack in the overhead compartment of a plane and some guy's water bottle spilled all over it. i was devastated. but it slurped that shit up and kept trucking. you can't even tell it's waterlogged anymore.

my mom bought me a special edition van gogh moleskine for my birthday last year that i was planning to use for my next journal. i just tested the paper against the 2017 journal using a kaweco sport bold tip, and the van gogh paper does indeed bleed significantly more than the 2017 paper. a real shame. i'm probably still going to use it though, because i've kept the proud tradition of "use notebooks people buy me for my birthday as my next journal" since i was 14. also, i'll probably end up starting it when i'm 37, the age van gogh died.

last august marked my 20th anniversary of my journaling habit, btw. i was going to write a newsletter about it but it started spiraling into a whole-ass book and i had to set it down.

a close and higher quality alternative to moleskine, much beloved by bullet journalers, is leuchtturm. their A5 hardcover is very similar to the classic moleskine pictured above. i don't use one because i have no use for lie-flat notebooks for anything other than a personal journal (which is covered for the next decade or so), but i love buying them as gifts.

my commonplace notebook is the A4 rhodia top spiral, which i've mentioned in my newsletter before. there is something truly magical about this notebook. when i bought it, i carried it around with me everywhere even though i had no idea what to write in it. i started commonplacing before i even knew what that was, simply because the tactile and aesthetic sensation of filling each page was so satisfying. i go through 1-2 per year.

this isn't a notebook proper, but my research binders are B5 maruman clartes with their corresponding loose leaf paper. again, like the rhodia A4 top spiral, the sensation of writing on the paper and organizing the binder is very satisfying and so it encourages me to take a lot of notes.

maruman also makes the famously amazing mnemosyne series of notebooks. i haven't used one before but i really like them, and as soon as i need a high quality top spiral notebook that the A4 rhodia can't fulfill, that's what i'll be moving to.

my purse notebook is a field notes reporter's notebook. these are new so they haven't stood the test of time the way the others have, but i love the size and the binding, and afaik field notes is one of the few american stationery brands that hasn't fallen prey to a quality drop in paper. i also love field notes classic pocket notebook but have never been able to make a pocket notebook habit stick. it took me a long time to realize tiny notebooks don't encourage me to write in them, because a lot of my notebooking is about the thrill and aesthetic pleasure of seeing an overwhelming amount of text on a page.

my planner is a hobonichi techo weeks, which is the same size as the reporter's notebook and also goes in my purse. this is my first year using a hobonichi planner and i really love it. like the others, its quality encourages me to use it. i've found hobonichi overall is a really good notebook brand.

my sketchbook (which i don't use very much) is a strathmore 500 series mixed media softcover. i bought it before i realized how deterring i find lie-flat books and i think i would be more motivated to draw by investing in one of their wirebound ones, even though all the artists i follow on youtube tell you not to do that. i keep meaning to change it into a collage notebook instead, i just haven't had the time or desk space to do it.

and an honorable mention: before the pandemic, back when i did things and went places, i used a grand voyageur traveler's notebook from paper republic. i'm actually very sad i don't have much of a use for it anymore, but maybe one day i'll do stuff again and return to it. it's weird that i don't see paper republic mentioned often (ever) in bujo spheres, when i think their products are better than traveler's company (although i haven't tested one for a significant period of time; people swear by them though).

hopefully one or two of these stand out to you!

[oyeicher]

"The real me is completely different from Wei Zhiyuan. Our personalities, the way we think, they're all very different," says Kurt Huang, who's been described as a "typical leo" by those around him.

Although he seems like the silent and dark type, Kurt Huang actually has a bright and straightforward personality. Since he was young, he has always been very "open" in that he expresses his feelings directly, is very straightforward with his words, and is incapable of pretending. This realness helped him gain popularity through variety shows. But for his acting work, which is what he loves the most, this realness made portraying characters all the more challenging.

Kurt Huang has long known that he's unable to "play" a character. Therefore, whenever he gets a role, he transforms into that character from head to toe. Instead of relying on his imagination or trying to figure out the character so that he can play the role, he lets himself become that person, to give the rawest reactions from a first-person perspective. He explains, "Wei Zhiyuan is someone who does not easily show his feelings, but I couldn't simply be expressionless or wear the exact same expression all the time! So I had to truly "become him" to know how he'd feel and act in each situation." 

In addition to his complete understanding of his character's personality, he also has high work standards and pays a lot of attention to detail, so that he can portray the role as accurately as possible. For instance, he carefully considered how he as a 26-year-old could express the pure emotions of a teen boy as well as the unique brotherhood that's portrayed in the show. He explained, "Many might think that Wei Zhiyuan's feelings for his brother are like that of a family member or a significant other. But that isn't the case. He was abandoned at a young age with no one to rely on, so his brother became his whole world. It's an important difference."

You can read a script thoroughly to thoroughly understand the character, but letting yourself truly become that character in the flesh, is a much greater challenge. In the past, Kurt Huang would find the similarities between his character and himself and use that as a starting point. However, this time round, he wasn't able to find any similarities between Wei Zhiyuan and himself as he doesn't have siblings and is an open book, so what was he to do? Two months before shooting started, he began implementing what he termed as an "extremely twisted" method: to lock his human interaction- and outdoor-loving self at home, and force himself to be still.  

During this time, he was in his room every day taking character notes, which filled eight pieces of A4-sized paper. He also shared that in order to better understand his character's emotional journey, he wrote about all of Wei Zhiyuan's "firsts," such as the first time he touched Qian and the first time he called Qian by his name. In his view, these are the moments that really made Yuan's heart flutter, and doing all this helped him better get into the role.

He can talk about this lightly now, but Kurt recalls that going through that period of repression was very difficult, and at one point he even felt as if he couldn't take it any longer. As he continued to live in Yuan's inner world, even his mother got worried. To make his portrayal as realistic as possible, he continued to live like this once filming started, even when the cameras weren't rolling. "Once we finished filming, I started filming another project and was finally able to pull myself out of this mindset. But when we started promotions (for Unknown), initially, I didn't really want to think back to that time as it was very very hard. But my manager encouraged me and said that thinking about that time and talking about it could be therapeutic in a way, and that helped me find the courage to talk about it."

Note: I only translated the parts related to Unknown.

[hms-tardimpala]

Goldsickness collection

So I bound a collection of goldsickness-centered fics and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. This post is about the binding, and I'll do the fic recs in another post so they can be found separately later, but I'll still say a huge THANK YOU to the authors here for writing these and replying when I reached out!

A list of the fics:

As Befits a King by @ladysisyphus

Chains of Gold by Plooby

What was promised by @stillparanoidnolongerafridge

Lay your troubles down by @avelera

Covet by @pomgore

Red Lines in Dark Stone by @elenothar

Of Monsters and Men by MsThunderFrost

Burning with a magnificent madness by EmilianaDarling

My intention with this binding was to make a book that could look like a jewel in Thrór's treasure hoard. I wanted it to evoke opulence, so it's voluntarily very busy for the eye. The fabric is holographic golden pleather (which is so hard to take a picture of, the book actually looks darker and truly gold, but the camera shows reflections from every angle), it looks like it's shifting in the light (and it gives me a headache if I stare at it too long, but I want to stare at it, which echoes the gold getting to Thorin's head nicely). The endpapers are sparkly like silver and diamond dust, and I gilded the edges for the first time. Notice the black headbands and blue ribbon as a callback to Thorin's hair and eyes.

This fantastic fanart and its colors were part of my inspiration.

Mistakes What I learned this time

The book has flaws, of course. The main problem is that I did a straight spine instead of a round one as I usally do: I misjudged the size difference between the text block and the cover, it should have been bigger because of the added thickness of the spine. I used a fabric that's very thick and unwieldy and not made for bookbinding, so I have big prominent corners. And since this is the first time I use a guillotine, I need to loose some habits I had when typesetting to get my margins to look good without cutting. This time, I actually could cut, and it was too tight. The acrylic paint gilding isn't great either.

But!

It's fine. It's a small book, but all the text I wanted to preserve is there, it's beautiful to me, and I'm very proud!

Materials:

Holographic pleather, 30x20 cm, amazon

Clairefontaine A4 paper, ivory color, 80g/m², bought in store

Acrylic paint Créalia, "matt silver pearl", cultura

Gray cardboard, 2mm thick, apg reliure

Ribbon, 6mm, amazon

Headband, amazon

[devoveregear]

Just an update for anyone ordering anything from the UK right now - our international shipments are fucked. Truly. Royal Mail has been cybercrimed and now all international shipping is basically offline. Last update we got was... around a week ago. There is no indication of when things will resume, it could be days or it could be weeks. RM has actually turned off the ability to even buy international labels, something they never do - so it's not looking good. And items that are already shipped? Depending on how far they got, they may be stuck on this side of the border too. And even if they aren't, all the tracking services are down. Please be a little forgiving of any UK sellers right now. We have no idea whats going on, and places like Etsy aren't doing anything to help the situation. Star Seller is still running unaffected, international orders are still being accepted with no notification for the customer, shipping extensions are still limited to one per order, still relying on tracking info that no longer works, and they are offering no alternative places to buy postage. The UK isn't like some other countries - whilst the RM is now privatised, it is still our only option. If your sending big boxes and/or big quantities then you can maybe use a private courier - some may even be a bit cheaper! But for the majority of us little sellers sending little items (and 'little items' hear includes clothes and notepads and jewellery and anything below the size of a stack of A4) there is literally not alternative. Not hyperbole. There is no other way to send lettermail. The only thing we could do is send it as a parcel - paying around 3x as much to do so.

I'll keep you all updated as much as I can.

[duckprintspress]

"And Seek (Not) to Alter Me" Story Teasers: M. K. Mads and Nickel J. Keep

Presenting And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing"

Duck Prints Press has launched our second Kickstarter, running now through April 14th, 2022 - And Seek (Not) to Alter Me, a gorgeous collection featuring the work of 16 authors and 16 artists in a full-color, A4 size soft cover size-style book!

Today, we're highlighting 2 more of our authors...

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Author Spotlight: M. K. Mads

Biography: M. K. Mads has been writing stories since she was seven years old. While she is most prolific in fanfiction and has works scattered among more than a dozen fandoms, she has been making strides into original fiction. Her favorite genre to read is romance. When she isn’t reading, writing, or falling headfirst into a new fandom, she can be found baking, walking, doting on her niblings, or playing Pokemon Go.

Story Title: Dear Don Pedro

Tags: getting together, modern setting, polyamory

Teaser:

"Are you going to join us for dinner anytime soon, or are you going to sit there on your computer all night?"

Pedro glanced over to where Beatrice was hanging over the back of the couch. "I'm working, Bea."

She pouted, but she didn't try to touch his computer; Pedro was grateful for small miracles.

"Come on. I know for a fact your deadline isn't until tomorrow afternoon." She jerked her head toward the kitchen, where Benedick was mixing up a truly gigantic bowl of spaghetti and marinara. "You can stop working for an hour and have a conversation with your friends."

"You know she's not going to let it go until you decide to be sociable," Benedick said. "She's never learned to take 'no' for an answer."

Beatrice rolled her eyes and shoved off the couch to saunter over to her husband. "And just why might I do that, hm? Might it have anything to do with certain other people in this room who are too stubborn for their own good?"

Benedick caught her hand and kissed it. "No idea what you're talking about, Bea, my love."

She yanked her hand back, but her cheeks flushed and she was suppressing a smile. "You're incorrigible, and I don't know why I love you."

*

Author Spotlight: Nickel J. Keep

Biography: Nickel (they/them) was born in a galaxy far, far away. No. Wait. That’s not their origin story. They currently live in Pennsylvania with two of their three partners, their two children, and a fat, lazy, chonk of a cat named Sphinx. When not writing, Nickel can be found drawing, playing video games, or running Magic: The Gathering tournaments as an L1 judge. They can frequently be found lurking in the Haven, Leverage, and Witcher fandoms.

Links: Archive of Our Own | Twitter

Story Title: Some Cupids

Tags: friends to lovers, meddling friends, mutual pining, wlw

Teaser:

“It’s not that easy, Claudia.” Hero frowned. “There are people who would harm them just because they love one another.” He nodded towards Bea’s balcony. “She would rather suffer and love Beni from afar than do anything to put her at risk. And, I venture to say, Beni’s the same way about Bea.”

Claudia shook her head. “What a pair of cockeyed broads.” She stood up, nearly throwing Hero off-balance as she got off of his lap. “We’re going to fix this. Beni is my dear friend, and yours. I’ve grown rather fond of Bea, too, and you two are in her corner. The best repayment for helping us love freely and fiercely is to make sure that they can as well!”

“You picked a firecracker, didn’t you, Hero?” Matthew leaned back and shook his head, smiling. “I’m in if you’re in. They got me off the hook as much as did you.”

“Well, then.” Hero looked between his friend and his fiance. “I guess we’re in cahoots. What brainchild are you cooking up, Claudia?”

“I am so glad you asked…”

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See our art, read more teasers, peek at our merch, and learn much more about this project by checking out our Kickstarter Campaign!