Papermate Mirado Classic HB/No.2 Pencil

Daycraft Slab Notebooks

As I mentioned in the last review, the recent package I received from Daycraft included more than just the Astrology Notebook. I also received a pair of Slab Notebooks, one finished in gold and one in wood effect.

Like all the Daycraft products I have reviewed, these are quirky and fun notebooks. Each measures 108mm x 157mm and holds a hefty 360 pages (180 sheets) of 80gsm paper, bound with stiff board covers. Each weighs around 270g - over half a pound if you still use US or Imperial weights and measures.

The Gold Slab looks particularly impressive, although it is rather loud for my personal taste. Clearly, it's designed to resemble a gold ingot. It may not be very clear from my poor photography, but on the front cover it reads:

FINE
GOLD

999.9
PURE THINKING

Inside, the cream-coloured pages are printed with 7mm lines. On closer inspection, they turn out to be fine chains across the page.


The pages are glued and stitched together into the block. The spine on the cover separates from the pages, which enables the pages to be laid quite flat on a desk surface. All the pages are edged in gold.



The Brown Slab is covered in a wood-veneer material which is textured. The picture below illustrates this well, I think:


There is no print on the cover at all. This material reminds me strongly of the birch veneer used on Ikea furniture, although it is a bit darker, closer to beechwood colour. It would not appear out of place on a Billy bookcase. If you have an Ikea birch veneer desk this notebook could be camouflaged easily; as it is, it hides nicely when photographed against a piece of MDF. The edges of the paper are also finished in a wood effect; the attention to detail here is such that the woodgrain on the edges is in line with that on the covers.

The pages are also lined, but this time, the Brown Slab has a surprise in store: the lines are not straight, but slightly wavy as though they had been drawn by hand.


It's little details like this which make this a delightful notebook for daily use. Given the choice I'd probably opt for the stealthier Brown Slab, but I can see why the Gold would be a popular choice. Over time, I can see the corners becoming dog-eared and the surfaces becoming marked and scratched, but these are notebooks which are so much fun to own and use they should always raise a smile. Recommended.

Thanks again to Mr Foreal Lee for the review samples.

Note: since I posted the review of the Astrology notebook I have been informed by Daycraft that they now have a UK distributor for their products, so readers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should hopefully see them on the shelves and online in the next few months.

This is the EDC

Recently I bought a Maxpedition EDC Pocket Organiser online to organise my EDC (Every Day Carry). I spent a lot of time recently, reading about EDC and watching videos on Youtube on the subject before getting the organiser, pictured above. Regular readers will notice a couple of familiar items in the picture. From left to right, they are:

• Pilot M90
• Spare Pilot ink cartridges
• Pilot Capless
• Laser pointer (since replaced as EDC by a black Lamy Safari)
• Uni Kuru Toga pencil
• Black Sharpie permanent marker
• County Comm 4-inch prybar
  
• Cheap ballpoint pen (although I despise ballpoint pens they can be useful sometimes)
• Nitecore D11 LED flashlight
• Small scissors
• Cheap disposable lighter
• Victorinox Sportsman folding knife
• Carton 10x power jeweller's loupe.
• Not pictured, but in there: a red Inova micro LED flashlight and a wad of 3x5 index cards.
  

Since the picture was taken, I have changed things around somewhat. I don't usually carry the laser pointer (which I use for astronomy) or the loupe, and instead carry a Snow Peak titanium spork and a couple more pens - a Pilot 78G filled with Private Reserve Plum ink and a Pilot V5 rollerball pen. Do you think I like Pilot pens much?

The EDC Pocket lives most of the time in my briefcase, or on my desk at work. There's only the one pencil, which I have not used so it may be rotated out. Pencils tend to live in a separate pencil case along with my eraser and sharpener. I usually move things around dependent on what I find most useful: hence the preponderance of fountain pens. If I worked somewhere other than an office, I'm sure the tools would be different.

One other thing I have done is to have an embroidered name-badge made which is stuck by Velcro to the hook-and-loop field on the front.

Anyone interested may like to check out a few videos on Youtube: here, here and here.

Lions Fair 2011

Last weekend, the local Lions held their annual charity fair in the town's Corn Exchange. There wasn't much to write home about on the stationery front, although I did notice an Adler Gabriele typewriter for sale. It sold, but not to me.

I did buy a nice Rexel stapler of 1970s-1980s vintage which works perfectly, and which still holds some staples in it, for GBP0.10 (yes, ten pence), and a self-inking rubber stamp making kit for GBP0.50. This one comes with letters in 6mm, 5mm and 4mm sizes. When I think of a suitable slogan other than that under which this blog labours, I'll post pictures. I'm not feeling particularly inspired right now, however, so it may have to wait a while. Suggestions most welcome.

No pictures this time; sorry folks.