About notebooks

About 18 months ago, I realised that I was recycling a lot of envelopes.  I was about to start working at Waste Watch, a charity that encourage people to think about their waste. Most of those envelopes I was recycling were blank bits of paper.

It was good, of course, that they were being recycled, but they actually could be used again.

So I decided to keep them, and convinced colleagues to keep their envelopes. When I gathered them all together, I bound them into notepads. So I got busy with a letter opener, slicing every envelope apart.

At that time, Borders bookshop was going out of business. They had ridiculously low liquidation sales, with maps of all types selling for very little money.  Thinking "I'll find a use for them!", I bought some (well, lots actually).

Those two ideas came together: the maps could be nifty covers for my envelope notebooks.

And since then, I've gone through a series of different versions (proper designers might use the terms 'iterations' or 'prototypes').

The first type was very basic, still showing the ragged, cut edges from the letter opener.

So I brought the notebooks to a printing company, who nicely trimmed the edges. Lovely.

Later, having given some to friends and colleagues, I realised that a different type of binding would be better. So I brought some new notebooks to a binder, and had them ring bound. And they're lovely.

And so now, my staple-bound map notebooks are on sale on folksy, and I have a decision to make.

I'd like to keep this idea alive, but I don't really want to spend hours and hours making these notebooks. A lot of the stationery that sells online are luxury, high-end, artisan notebooks, but, to me, these notebooks are just notebooks. They're to be used and not treasured.

So I'm looking for ideas, inspiration, a partner, a way forward. Your suggestions are welcome.

Map stencils

When I was a lad, a time when maps didn't print off the internet, we used map stencils.



I clearly remember buying an Ireland and Europe stencil for 4th class geography lessons. Since then, I had forgotten about them until I discovered one for sale on eBay.



I promptly bought it and then went to Stanfords where I bought 5 more- Ireland, Australia, France, Europe and North America.



These tracer maps are made by Jakar who seem to be the masters of map stencils.



But now that my interest is piqued, and ever one for a challenge, I'd like to collect more countries. I'm not even sure these were made in other countries. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

Are there stencils for Greece, Finland, Germany, Japan, South Africa and, well, everywhere else?

The Stationery Club

I went yesterday to Stationery Club, a sort-of book club for those who like stationery. Yesterday's theme was notebooks, and it was all very interesting. I brought along my two lovely notebooks which have a map of Barcelona and a map of Milan on the covers.

It started off a bit English, no sign to say who they were, newcomers welcomed with bashfulness, and a sort of sense of being a bit silly.

But things soon heated up to a rather furious debate about Moleskins and votes on the best type of notebook - ruled, plain or squared paper, ring bound, stapled, glued binding?

I abstained from the voting - because I like all stationery - but it was heartening to see how animated people could be about stationery.

I also brought some notebooks which I have made from spare envelope paper and lovely map covers to do some 'market research' and see people's reaction to them. Happily, those that saw them were positive and enthusiastic, so it's off to etsy and folksy I go.