Author name: memm

The Pen Shop ink blotter & Format Werk blotting paper

4 Comments / Format Werk, Paper & Notebooks / / , , , ,

When my wife and I recently walked by The Pen Shop in Manchester’s Trafford Centre we saw an ink blotter in the window. Since it was nice looking and the price was reduced we bought it. My wife will be using it in her office, but the ink blotter brought an old topic up again: Where to get suitable blotting paper from?

I noticed in the past that many shops sell ink blotters, but they do not sell blotting paper. The good thing is that you can buy generic blotting paper and cut it to the correct size.

If you buy exercise books in the German speaking countries they tend to come with a sheet of blotting paper, because in many areas pupils have to write with fountain pens. Finding blotting paper is however more difficult, as there does not seem to be much choice.

Blotting paper is said to have been invented by accident at Lyng Mill in Norfolk, England. There are however different theories about when blotting paper was first used and about its origins (it probably was not invented at Lyng Mill). Blotting paper was very common in the past, when dip pens and fountain pens were more popular and before the invention of blotting paper people used blotting sand.

For my wife’s ink blotter I cut A5 blotting paper to size. The paper I used was made in Austria, produced by Format Werk, Austria’s largest producer of stationery for schools and offices. Their history seems to start in 1968 when their trademark was registered. The Format Werk factory was established in 1976 and in 1997 Herlitz, I mentioned them in an earlier post, bought Format Werk. In 2001 Format Werk became Austrian again, after a management buyout.

The Format Werk blotting paper is carbon neutral and has a pleasant beige colour. It is suitable for blotting, but I have to say that I have seen better blotting paper. The blotting paper (unknown brand) that came with my beechwood ink blotter does not cause feathering. The Format Werk blotting paper sometimes does cause some feathering, presumably because it does not absorb the ink fast enough and is therefore squeezing the ink onto the writing paper.  Unless you use a very wet ink and writing paper that does not absorb the ink well this should however not be a problem.

Conclusion:

A good blotting paper, but it could be better. It is not expensive and, commendable, it is carbon neutral.

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Huge pencils

Leave a Comment / Pencils / / , ,

On a recent trip to Belgium I saw these huge pencils in the local Dille & Kamille branch. These superpotloden (“super pencils”) cost € 2.75 each ($ 3.44, £ 2.27) and are really big (It does not look like it on the photo, but the “small” pencils next to them are already oversized!). I did not buy any pencils …instead I bought a little notebook I might review in the future.

Price and exchange rates: June /July 2010

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Sonnenleder pencil case Berit

17 Comments / Pencil cases, Sonnenleder / / , ,

Today you will get to know my pencil case. I only bought it recently, beginning of April this year, but it is my favourite pencil case so far. I bought it after having used another pen case from the same company for over a year (pictured in the background) and being extremely satisfied with it.

This case, called Berit, is one of many Sonnenleder pencil cases available and is made from cow leather. The leather is tanned using traditional, herbal methods and the cows came from the Allgäu region at the foot of the Alps (I used to go to the Allgäu region in winter). I bought the new pencil case in a small book shop after contacting the manufacturer, Sonnenleder, who gave me the address of this book shop. When I asked about shops that sell their products they also told me that they would ship to me free of shipping costs, because there are no shops near Preston, where I live. I was positively surprised about this because I live in the UK, but they are based in Germany. I assume they will send their products free of charge within Europe, maybe world-wide if there is no shop selling their products nearby, but I have not confirmed this.

The material used is really fantastic. Not only the leather, also the metal zip. The craftsmanship is excellent, too. Unfortunately the case is not exactly cheap. The Sonnenleder cases were actually quite cheap in the past. I bought my first one from Manufactum, but the £/€ exchange rate has changed a lot since then ..it dropped by about 30% and is only slowly recovering. If the exchange rate gets better again I am sure I will buy a third pen case 🙂

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Green Muji A5 notebook

2 Comments / Muji, Paper & Notebooks / / , , ,

Today: another product from Muji. This time a green notebook (item code 8238231). Muji’s UK website advertised it as a notebook with a 100% Cotton fabric bonded cover. With a price tag of £ 6.95 ($ 10, € 8.40) it is not cheap, especially since the main feature that distinguishes this notebook from other notebooks, the cover, is nice, but not quite as nice as “100% Cotton fabric bonded cover” sounds. The paper is white, but not too white, pleasant for the eyes. Writing on this paper using a pencil is great. Using an eraser does not create any problems either. The paper is however completely useless when it comes to writing on it with a fountain pen as it seems to suck ink in like blotting paper, even though the surface is smooth, not rough. The lines get up to four times a thick as on other paper and will bleed through (even when using Noodler’s X-Feather ink!!). This will obviously depend on how wet your fountain pen writes, but even with a dry fountain pen you will not get any joy.

Comparison Muji 8238231 / Rhodia

Conclusion:

A nice looking notebook, but not cheap. If you do not use fountain pens it might be worth having a look. Even though there are so many alternatives it is nice and has the plain Muji look.

Muji Notebook 8238231, Seed Super Gold eraser, Staedtler Mars Micro 775

This notebook is available in white, black, dark blue, light blue, red and green. There might even be more colours.

Price and exchange rates: June 2010

I would like to thank Sean from Pencils and Music for the Seed Super Gold Eraser used in the last photo.

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More East Asian stationery

4 Comments / Paper & Notebooks, Pencils / / , , , ,

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Eco Bridge Paper Pencils. I want to mention a few other things that are being sold in the same shop sell. The items are not exactly cheap, so it is unlikely that I will buy them. This means I cannot write a proper review, but it would be a shame to leave these items unmentioned, as they are unusual and, for lack of a better word, interesting.

If I had to describe the shop I would say it is a shop full of random quirky things aimed at arty, Apple using yuppies. Things are not cheap, but it will be difficult to find them somewhere else. It is a kind of hip and cool version of Manufactum.

Continuing from the Eco Bridge Paper Pencils, along the Korean stationery theme, they also sell Korean ‘notebooks’ (actually what I would call exercise books). They look nice and are labelled in French. Unfortunately importing them from Korea made them cost five to ten times the price of a similar (plain looking) notebook from Europe. If you want a really nice, thin notebook this might be it.

Another product imported from East Asia is a set of 36 squary, coloured pencils from Japan. It retails for £60 and is part of the Düller range. The Düller range also includes a pen designed by Dietrich Lubs, who is featured in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The coloured pencil set is designed by Naori Miyazaki. Unfortunately I was not able to find out more about her [1]I assume it is a female name, except that she is not featured in the Museum of Modern Art. The MoMA online shop does however sell a clock designed by her. Back to the pencil set. There is some rather strange text in German written on this pencil box about combining German taste and Japanese handiness, which looks instantly East Asian because of the character spacing. In different online stores in the UK and Australia the price of this pencil set can vary dramatically. I thought I saw it in an American online store for $96, but I was not able to find it any more to confirm this price.

Also for sale are fairly big animal shaped erasers and Penguin pencils.

You can find more information about the Penguin pencils at penciltalk.

The Lamy 2000 and other products by its designer can also be found in the Museum of Modern Art.

References

References
↑1 I assume it is a female name

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