Hand*book journal Co
March 30, 2007
How’s this for coincidence? Some one just handed me a box from Dickblick, as I was looking at the post on notebookism about the very same product! I’m so excited to try this pocket portrait. The size is 5.5″ x 3.5″ same as the pocket Moleskine. It is thicker the the Mole. I really like the proportions of this book. It has an bright orange ribbon bookmark. The Ultramarine blue cloth cover is very sturdy. What is unique is the textured pattern binding band. Clearly, this is very similar to the Moleskine. But I think that Hand*book has improved upon the basic idea. The binding band doesn’t look like it came from some undergarment. And Hand*book has made a variety of size in both portrait and landscape. Clearly Hand*book has created a line of watercolor books that are very useful for the artist who wants to pack up and go out for a watercolor or any other medium sketch. Oh I forgot to mention one important factor. Because the Moleskine’s paper has a manila tone, the eraser marks can show up. In the white pages of Hand*book, you won’t have that problem. The spine is much stronger then the Moleskine.
hand*book is manufactured & distributed by GLOBAL ART MATERIALS, INC. Kansas City, MO.
Some related posts:
an-interview-with-ryan-loghry/
http://www.notebookism.com/2008/01/hand-book-artis.html
http://danvera.typepad.com/bloggo/2008/01/writing-tools.html
http://roossinck.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/review-quattro-notepad/
tags: dickblick, Hand*book co., paper, notebook, Watercolor
Address File Box 3
March 30, 2007
Originally uploaded by UglyKitty.
I’ve been searching for a good container to store the index cards. This is a good example.
Kitty has some other exampls on etsy.com. I like the recycle indexbncards that she has laboriously rounded the corners. Inside the box is an amazing variety of cards. I think I spotted some library due date cards?!?
Real Simple
March 28, 2007
Originally uploaded by lexly87.
Thursday Tip of the Week.
If you watch ‘Ugly Betty’, which will be on tonight, sometimes you can catch a glimpse of the orange products of Real Simple because it matches the Mode office color scheme.
The Orange 3×5 index cards is from Real Simple. There’s also a 4×6 size. They have a collection at Target. I like the round corners. The cards come with or without the orange cover. Frankly, I find the cover hard to use because it has one hole punched and the bolts hold the cards together. If you want to access the card you have to swivel the cover and thus loosening the bolt/screw pin. I had to use my thumb nail as a screw driver many times to tighten the darn thing. I would not recommend it. The cards themselves are color coded into three colors: blue, pink, and orange. The color code strip is at one end, bound by the band. At the bolted end, the edges are rounded, and perforated for tearing. The perforated space made the card longer then the standard 3×5.
Very hip. These 3×5 will be made into a Circa Rolla hpda.
ducly.wordpress.com/2007/07/25/simple-mynd-hack
Somewhat related: aks-research.blogspot.com/2007/02/modding-moleskin.html
Circa Hipsters
March 28, 2007
Originally uploaded by naynay25.
This is Naynay’s second appearance on this blog. I thought that this template with the telephone icon is a very nice design. You can find it on DIY Planner. NayNay said “Template has been posted on diyplanner. Titled ‘Today’“.
By the way, when I was at Staples, I saw some notebooks with the very same cover and thought it looked familiar, so I searched my short term memory and thought I saw it in the Circa Rolla Flcka. Sure enough. Check out the stubby writing utensils. Thanks for your hard work Naynay! (I like the name).
My Circa page grid
March 27, 2007
Originally uploaded by lexly87.
A sketch. This is the back of a letter size Circa Grid paper.
After reading about Tom Kelley‘s use of the grid paper, I decided to try it. Because there’s a grid, it encourages me to draw. The letter hand writing is readable and can be written in the portrait or landscape mode.
The grid is 1/4 inch square.
In an earlier post I made some erroneous assumptions about the “smurf’. This drawing is an attempt to correct that. I believe the profile that I’ve drawn, silhouette shape is similar to the Rollabind Portable Punch. The Circa Notebook has a slightly different shape silhouette. Both system is interchangeable or “interoperable” to use Ryan Rassmussen’s term.
An aside, I have not seen the Atoma disc. I plan to look into that and compare the ‘smurfs’ between the three systems: Circa, Rolla, and Atoma.
Thank You R.R
Othere Circa Pages:
Douglas Johnston’s Circa review
Technocrati tags: Levenger, Circa, Rollabind, paper, notebooks
Amanda Marshall
March 26, 2007
Originally uploaded by lexly87.
Some one commented on this picture and thus brought to my attention the excellentness of live music in Bookstores. Borders used to host these jam session amongst the bookshelves and java beans.
Flirty Library Cards
March 26, 2007
I had posted ealier my yearnings for the due date card.
Remember these guys, reminders for due dates? Go back to those simple times again with this flirty card provided by Papertrail.
tags: library, card, flirt, papertrail, paper, index,
Mary from Papertrail sent me this email:
PS. I wanted to tell you that I’ve had more time to check out your blog and I LOVE it! I have had a HPDA for about 2 years and I am always interested in GTD and notebook info.
xo,
mary
Unicef notebooks
March 26, 2007
Originally uploaded by n2design.
I want to give a shout out to Unicef, without them we would have starved on Pulau Bidong. This picture is from n2design, who has an excellent website about Rhodia, Rhodia Drive.
Circa 1-2-3
March 23, 2007
Levenger has revised their website to include “Circa 1-2-3″. I think this is such a good idea. The front page of the website also features the Circa PDA leather Notebook. Notice that the recent paper catalogue has feature new Circa products. The Circa line is brought out to the fore front, no longer buried deep within the glossy pages of the catalogue.
I’ve been telling my colleague at work about my Circa Rolla experiement after I over heard him gushing about David Allen and the Getting Things Done methodology. He went to a seminar in California about David Allen’s GTD. He has passed onto me the manifesto entitle ‘GTD and Outlook’. His Outlook data are then transmitted to his fancy Mobile, the Motorolla Q. So I brought him over to my office and chatted with him on the finer points of the Circa system, gave him a copy of my Levenger catalogue and sent him on his merry way, next door. It seems he’s been using a three ring binder system and will check out the Circa to replace it.
In another email episode to my Brother-in-Law:
I just checked out the Rollabind and Circa URLs. Wow! I spent a while looking around for a Hemingway-style “Moleskin” notebook, and I started thinking that what I really wanted was one of those notebooks, but spiral-bound (so it could lie flat) and refillable (so I could carry the same notebook). The compact version of this product sounds basically like that, but it even goes one better w/ the removable pages. I don’t know about Pam, but I’m excited! Thanks for the URLs!
Wes
tags: Thomas Keller, Innovation, Circa, Circa Junior, Levenger, Steve Leveen, paper, notebook, writing
Somewhat related: the-ten-faces
Thank You R.R 
Rebecca Bluebird’s Hand Lettering
March 23, 2007
Rebecca allowed me to post some of her handy works. In an email, she asked me if I need additional information. So I wrote her:
Hi Rebecca,
First of all I would like to thank you for the use of the images. I really like your ‘font’.
Well first thing I can think of is how did you come up with the idea that people needed hand lettering and who are these eccentrics?
-Duc
A very Personal Touch
Hi Duc:
Well, its something I’ve always done for myself. it’s been a passion- ever since I was a little kid I’ve been interested in hand-drawn type, hand-written missives and have been in love with mail and personal letters. I also love vintage and antique ephemera, all the better if someone’s handwriting is present! So just doing what I do somehow led to people requesting I do it for them for special events. I primarily work with brides lettering invitations and addressing their envelopes, but I’ve also hand-lettered marriage proposals, party invitations, memorials, posters, products and whatever else comes my way! So as far as it being unusual, in the wedding world my style itself is unusual – certainly not any kind of traditional calligraphy font but the fact that people want to use my lettering in wedding collateral isn’t strange or underground. although, that said, I don’t get the traditional brides contacting me – often they’re young, women who collect contemporary art, who think outside the box, who are educated and want something NOT traditional. So I guess what you say may be on the mark – perhaps I do attract the eccentric bride?! I like that – “the eccentric bride.” I think people who contact me for more personal missives and missions, so to speak, are really creative people who understand the beauty of handwriting and somehow want to capture that personal element in whatever project they commission me to work on. I’m rambling…does this answer your question? Of course, send any others you might have.
Best, Rebecca
A cabinet of curio
Hi Rebecca,
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I was thinking of questions to ask you.
This sort of mini interview is fun don’t you think? And yes you’ve answered my questions. I think that the reader would like to know the materials you use; pen, paper etc. My own wedding invitation was almost non existant. You provide a very unique service. Even if I wanted to get hand letter invitations I wouldn’t know where to go or who would do it. I like the ‘eccentric bride’. I can imagine that it would be fun to receive a hand lettering letter from you. I belong to couple of letter exchange groups made up of some artist on flickr.com. I think that would be cool to get a letter from you. Anyway. Do you write like that all the time?!? Do you have a bad handwriting ever? hehe. I try to keep a common book and practice handwriting and lettering, I think it’s a good idea. I wonder if you ever got commission to do a whole book of other people’s poems or common place book etc.
-Duc
This one reminds me of the biscuits I use to eat.
yes, very fun. thanks for asking questions. it gives people more of an idea of what I do, how I do it, etc. oh, materials – well, I LOVE love love my super cheap wood dipping pens and my cheap nibs. I love to buy premade inks, although finding one that is the right consistency for a dipping pen can be a challenge. many inks are pretty in the bottle, but then won’t work for me. so I have a lovely collection of bottles though! mainly I have the best luck with guoache inks and I mix them and use them for writing. I also love black Pilot rolling ball, extra fine tip pens. they’re my favorite. so nothing fancy in terms of writing materials and instruments. now paper is another thing…I love all kinds of papers from paper source papers (www.paper-source.com) to amalfi papers. I love fine papers and am happy to work with them, if possible!
Letter exchange groups? I didn’t know there was such a thing. how wonderful!! I’d love to research that more thoroughly, although I have to say, I sort of missed the boat on Flickr and totally don’t get how to navigate that site at all. It confounds and finally frustrates me, so I’ve all but given up on it. Not sure if its me (probably is) or what – I’m usually pretty computer literate. hmmmm. Any advice or groups to search? Do you have to have a profile to access everyone in Flickr? Perhaps thats my problem as I don’t. Please advise.
No, I’ve never been commissioned for such a project. How wonderful, though! I would be delighted.
Also, for all of my love for handwritten items, mail art, papers, etc. I’d never heard the term “commonplace book” and just love that. So thank you for opening my eyes to such a thing! I intend on researching it further.
Thank you again and hope to hear soon re: flickr advise.
best, rebecca
(I came across this website via Goodonpaperdesign, via Outblush. Yes I must confess that I sometimes puruse that site. When I’m caught in the act, my usual excuse is that I’m shopping for my wife.)
bluebirdstudios.com/lettering_gallery01.html
design sponge from-the-desk-of bluebird-studios-rebecca-turbow
An-introduction-to-rebecca-of-bluebirdstudios
Feel free to use the comment section to ask Rebecca additional questions.
dakegra on livejournal saw Rebecca’s hand lettering and decides to link this post. Very cool.
http://serph.com/handwriting_font/page-5
tags: hand lettering, bluebirdstudio, paper, dip pen, Epica, journal, mail, brides, place cards, wedding invitations
