Field Notes: Spring 2013

The Spring 2013 edition of Field Notes showed up in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago. This time, they chose three images typical of the “American Vista” and printed them in with what they describe as “1960s imprecision.” The images on each cover are slightly out of register and in a storage way it’s a nice change from the crisp precision of your standard laser printer.
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An America the Beautiful waterside decal is included and Field Notes thoughtfully provided an installation video to make sure you get it right.

On the downside, it seems as though there is some sort of curse on my Field Notes subscription. This is my third year as a Field Notes subscriber and it seems as though each shipment alway has a kind not from the Post Office attached to it. What’s the deal Mr. Postmaster?

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Dear Field Notes

Field Notes have received a lot of press over the past couple of weeks. First, they were declared to be “all the rage” on the Today Show. A day or two later Reuter’s featured Field Notes on their site. This promoted me to look at the Field Notes site again, and as I was going through some of the older editions from the Colors series, I noticed that most of the colors they’ve featured are derived from things in the temperate north.

Nice enough, but out here in the Southwest, we don’t see the golds of Mackinaw Autumn and it’s generally to hot to grow the marigolds that came with the Spring 2010 Packet of Sunshine edition. I decided to pitch my own color scheme for Spring of 2011 and send it on to the staff at Field Notes. I called it Spring in the Desert and the color scheme is derived from a cactus flower typical of the ones you see in the desert Southwest as we move through spring. I used Adobe Illustrator to mock up the covers and sent the image on to them, if you like this, give them a shout and let them know.

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Here’s the image that inspired the color palette.

Cactus Flower

Field Notes – County Fair Edition

I have a certain fondness for small works of art, their size draws you in and conveys a sense of intimacy. That fondness extends to my bookbinding and I often do multiple edition bindings. More than likely that’s what drew me to the County Fair Edition of Field Notes. Fifty books in a custom box, each book representing a different state, what’s not to like? Last week was a little busy and I didn’t want to rush through opening the package so it got put away until today. The county Fair Edition comes in a cardboard box with a map of the United States printed on the top with the familiar Field Notes logo printed on top of the map. The Great Seal of Field Notes Brand is printed on the lower left corner of the lid. The whole package is tied up with some sisal twine.

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Opening the box reveals 50 Field Notes books each one representing one of the United States. The stock used for the covers is blue, yellow and red which represents the win, place and show ribbons given out at the fair. Ot the back of each cover, you’ll find details about the state that book represents. For example on the Arizona book, you’ll find out that the state bird is the Cactus Wren, and that Arizona was admitted to the Union of February 12th, 1912. Ironically, the Arizona book is blue.

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Finally, the set also comes with six of their click pens, a Field Notes General Purpose Band of Rubber, a special County Fair button and a Field Notes Blue Ribbon.

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Will I ever write in these? Who knows — I bought them chiefly as a bookbinding curiosity that I can sit on my shelf as art object. That said, it’s possible I might have to use them someday if i every use up all my other pocket notebooks, possible but given the number of notebooks in the house unlikely.

Field Notes Upclose

So what are these things anyway and why have they developed such a cult following? Well, in terms of the form factor their nothing special, 3 1/2″ X 5 1/2″ same size as Moleskine Cahiers. Unlike Moleskine’s their stapled and not stitched and the covers have been offset printed with their logo, and a gentle reminder that Filed Notes are made in the U.S.A. They’re a little thinner than my homemade ones, probably because the paper I’m using is a little heavier. Field Notes uses a 50 Lb. text while I’m using a 60 Lb.

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The printing inside the front cover provides a place for you to jot down some personal information so your book can find its way home if it gets lost. The rear cover includes the back story for the books, a list of “Practical Applications,” and the books specifications, the paper, the ink and the printing processes that were used.

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The paper used in these notebooks is Boise Offset Smooth 50 Lb. I wrote on the first page with a variety of pens and inks to see how it would hold up. From top to bottom, a Faber Castell Ambition with a fine nib and Noodler’s Habenero, a Lamy Safari with Noodler’s Gruene Cactus, A Lamy Safari with Pilot Iroshizuku Yu-yake, a Lamy Safari with Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-ro. Next a few standard pens, Pilot G2s in yellow, brown and turquoise, a couple of Zebra Sarasa’s in red-black and slate blue, a couple of Uniball Signo 207s in blue and black. All in all, the paper holds up well. The fountain pens had the slightest amount of bleed through with the Ambition being the worst but — it’s a brand new pen so I’ll try it again when it’s not freshly loaded with ink.

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So far, I’m satisfied with what Field Notes has to deliver. I’ll have one more saga in this story, I ordered their limited edition State Fair series. Fifty books, each one representing one of the states in a custom box.

Field Notes Unboxing

When I got home today, the Field Notes I ordered Sunday night were waiting for me.

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I had ordered the subscription and the first shipment contained two 3-packs of their black Raven’s Wing limited edition, two 3-packs of regular Field Notes, one with graph paper and one mixed. For good measure, I had also ordered a couple of standard 3-packs, one of ruled books and one mixed. Mixed packages contain one each of graph paper, ruled and plain. A couple of goodies were packed in as well, a Field Notes pencil, a Field Notes pen, a Field Notes “General Purpose Band of Rubber” a 1″ button and a decal. Here’s a shot of the contents of the package.

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