I'm a nerd - I love these pens

I hope you enjoy them, MaineLonghorn!

MWCDSS - I remember RPN well!

Since we are gushing over office supplies here, does anyone know where I can find single subject spiral notebooks WITHOUT lines? I’m about to got kinkos and just have them spiral bind ivory paper for me. The only thing that’s stopping me is the lack of a paperboard back.

My daughter says the lines interfere with her doodling. :wink:

^^Look for sketch pads.

http://www.amazon.com/Richeson-Spiral-Bound-Sketch-Pad/dp/B0044S5GXU

@neatoburrito‌, I also have a doodler and she loveslovesloves Copic markers. They are not cheap. I only buy them from Michael’s where I can use a coupon (40% off, I think).
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Copic

I like the Pentel mechanical pencils and the Dr. Grip pens with a medium point. I love the idea of a fountain pen. For Christmas one year, my H bought me a beautiful Montblanc pen. I usually kept it in my desk and used it there. Once I grabbed it and threw it in my purse and, of course, it opened and the bottom of my purse had ink marks all over it. After that, I always kept it at my desk.

The problem with sketchpads is that she also uses these same notebooks for class notes, fleshing out ideas for research, though drafts of essays, etc. I mean, she uses the same notebook for everything. She has an extreme aural memory and often doodles while listening and just occasionally writing something down like a word or a phrase. She goes through a single subject notebook in about a week. So the fancy moleskin ones would be far too expensive.

You can pick up inexpensive sketch pads at local art supply stores (and I’m pretty sure that Amazon would have them, too). The paper quality isn’t as good, but they are fine for doodles and note taking.

There are plenty of sketch pads well under $5. :slight_smile: I had a similar kid who would not stop doodling. She did not like the lines either - ended up photoshopping them out of the scanned versions of her sketches.

good cheap sketch pads atJerrys Artarama:

www.jerrysartarama.com/discount-art-supplies/paper/drawing-and-multimedia-paper-and-boards/reflexions-drawing-and-sketch-journals/reflexions-double-wire-field-sketch-books.htm

Excellent links! Thanks all.

For the true nerds, jetpens has comprehensive guides to Uniball Signo and Pentel EnerGel:

http://www.jetpens.com/blog/uni-ball-signo-a-comprehensive-guide/pt/639

http://www.jetpens.com/blog/pentel-energel-a-comprehensive-guide/pt/678

I like to go to art supply stores to check out the pens. Pearl, Utrech, Blick, Plaza, or whatever. They’ll have big grids full of all sorts of pen colors, diameters, nib shapes, etc. It’s fun to get them for stocking stuffers. Some are two sided.

They’ll have the colored pencils for individual sale too. The big companies have 100 or more colors to choose from. Plus, pencils that are watercolor or pastel or charcoal. The funky ones from Bohemia that are all graphite except for a thin skin, etc.

Well, as I said, this thread inspired me! I got my nice fountain out and brought it to work. I just got this ink: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001T3MDHK/ref=shptrk_scth in Tanzanite color as well.

This is so much fun - maybe we should have a “take your fountain pen to work” day

^^^ YAAAYYYY!!!

I’m a doodler, too. I find it extremely meditative to listen to music and doodle when my anxiety level is high.

My doodling implements of choice are Sharpie ultra-fine pointpens in 24 assorted colors. I also buy the brown ones in bulk for a sepia tone that is nice for doodling/drawing. I like a pen with an extremely consistent line width and density with a some friction on the page. The Sharpies fit the bill.

Neatoburrito, I don’t know if this system might possibly interest your D or ultimately meet her needs, but there is a customizable notebook system called ARC, sold at Staples Office Supply, that many swear by. I personally find it very useful, and have several such notebooks. Here’s a link:

http://www.staples.com/arc+notebooks/directory_arc+notebooks?autocompletesearchkey=arc+notebooks

What I like about this system is the ability to customize notebooks to meet virtually any need. If you buy one of the ARC paper punches, it opens up a whole world of possibilities, making it possible to have many types of paper within the same notebook, because pages are removable and repositionable. If your D prefers blank pages, she can buy a ream of 20 or 24lb copy paper, punch it, and load it onto the ARC discs between two notebook covers. The punch also allows you to punch virtually any kind of paper in virtually any size, which means that she can punch things like index cards, business cards, work agendas and reports, etc., and simply include them anywhere in the notebook.

A luxury executive office outfitters called Levenger sells an almost identical system called CIRCA (actually, they bought the patent from the original company, Rollabind, I believe, and were the first to market it). But, Levenger’s system costs more than twice that of the Staples knockoff. Nevertheless, it offers options not found at Staples, so I’ll link to that site as well:

http://www.levenger.com/CIRCA-326/CIRCA-NOTEBOOKS-339.aspx

Using the ARC or CIRCA system, your D could use a single set of notebook covers and discs, and with the ability to punch a limitless supply of her blank paper of choice, she could empty and reload a single notebook as often as she likes. I purchased the desktop punch by ROLLABIND when it was still in business, and use it regularly to punch papers for notebooks and sketchbooks. It punches 140lb. cold press watercolor paper like a dream and I use that paper in a watercolor sketchbook that I devised myself. You can buy just the covers and discs from both companies, as well as the punches, if you want. Check it out and see what you think.

^ Cool links, Poetsheart!

I am not a pen nerd. I swear I am not.

http://s4.postimg.org/ovlmow46l/IMG_0797.jpg

denialisariverinafrica

This is one of my favorite forums. http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/227631-lamy-2000-and-the-origins-of-lamy-design/ :slight_smile:

@poetsheart‌

This is the PERFECT solution. At the end of the week, she can separate her notes into individual notebooks and they will stay bound! But at the same time, she will only have to carry around one notebook. Thank you!

Poetsheart, I am smiling now, because I just recognized what those notebooks are. I used to have an entire collection of them and this was the original source:

http://www.atoma.be/en/history.php

According to my dad, the Atoma notebooks were mandatory at his school.

As a very young boy, I remember going shopping with my favorite uncle who had a passion for fountain pens and “papeteries.” Most of the pens I posted above were gifts from him. He even bought me one for my baptism … can’t never start them young enough. He loved to send “care packages” with the “good stuff they use in Belgium” and that stuff was Clairefontaine notebooks to replace our cheap Composition books, and those famous Atoma notebooks and later Filofax agendas. Just like they would be of any use in kindergarten. Needless to say that he never had kids.

Had he not passed away in his early forties, my collection would have filled my room. well, not accounting that I have lost too many during the school years. All I really use nowadays are the simpler pens and the Leuchtturn when I do not forget to order them. Or when I do not lose them!