by Steve | Nov 9, 2010 | Bookbinding |
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.
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.
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.
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.
by Steve | Nov 4, 2010 | Reviews |
When I got home today, the Field Notes I ordered Sunday night were waiting for me.
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.
by Steve | Oct 31, 2010 | General |
I was talking to a friend about the cahiers I mentioned in the last posting and he turned me on to Field Notes Brand. Apparently these little books were conceived of graphic artist Aaron Draplin. Unlike Moleskines, Field Notes are made is the USA and based on the reviews I’ve read they’re sturdy and well designed. I’ve seen some pictures on the Field Notes Brand website and a host of reviews that discuss the printing on the cover both inside and out.
After watching the preview to this video, I was sold and ordered a subscription. A subscription gets you two 3-packs of the current seasonal offering called Raven’s Wing, two regular 3-packs followed by two 3-packs of each seasonal offering each quarter. Here’s a video that features the selection of colors that were issued over the past year as part of the subscription.
The subscription is $129.00 and while that may sound like a lot of money for some memo books, I’d rather support the people who are making them then the politicians who are screwing us. More when my order arrives.
by Steve | Oct 27, 2010 | Recently Bound |
While I like Moleskine cahiers and I have plenty of them laying around, I still like to go the do it yourself route sometimes. I’ll be making about 50 of them fairly soon and I’ve been doing some prototyping to decide on colors and that sort of thing. Here’s a picture of a couple that I’ve made, the one on the left is the newest one. It’s not laying as flat as I’d like simply because I didn’t have any 2-ply thread and I stitched it up with 4-ply.
The one on the right was made in 2009 and I used a Gocco to put the art on the cover. The interior is a Neenah 60 Lb text, the lines were done with a laser printer. The cover Royal Compliments 100Lb cover. These are the same size as Moleskine cahiers, 3 1/2″ X 5 1/2″.
by Steve | Oct 2, 2010 | Bookbinding |
I’ve been trying to get my head back in the game after my involuntary hiatus over the past few months and Carla Sonheim’s Art of Silliness workshop popped up just at the right time. The workshop is a series of drawing and other creative exercises. Before beginning the workshop, I hadn’t really picked up a pen on the past six months or so. One of the exercises she had us do is the traditional contour, you know the one, look at the object and draw it without looking at the paper. This exercise is fairly easy to do an normally you draw an actual object that’s laying around the house but in this case, Carla asked us to use a picture of ourselves. All I could find was a picture of my friend Dean. Here’s how it turned out.
I’ve done better in the past and I’m going to blame this on not having picked up a pen in the past several months. That said, everybody in the house knew who this was when they saw it.
