Rhodia dotpads have been my go to “working notebook” or “Bullet Journal”. It is more the former at the moment. In the past I have used LT1917 dotgrid notebooks, but I recently moved to dotpads partly because they’re much cheaper. And also the ability to rip out pages as I’m done with them is great.

What I use it for is to write lists for stuff I’m doing right now, to write drafts for lists of tasks I’m going to add to my to do system and capturing things.

Very useful to avoid context switching, if you have a messed up brain like mine. And I also use it a lot to plan stuff I later add to my task manager.

I decided to do something I almost never do where on Stationery 🍕, posting something right after I wrote it. My process on this site is a month long process from idea to paper draft to digital draft to a post scheduled in my CMS. I typically schedule posts 1-3 months before they are published.

What made me do this is because today’s Pen Addict Podcast episode talked about I care a lot about, and that is the problem with Noodlers Ink.

I have been boycotting them for years at this point. I’m not 100% sure for how long, but most likely since somewhere between 2015 and 2016. Just listen to the episode. But the short version is that Noodlers Ink continue to put out all kinds of hateful crap on their ink labels; all of it dumb; a lot of it ignorant and hateful.

Use your money to support good companies doing great stuff instead of hateful ones.

Field Notes has this wooden box that is perfect for storing Field Notes.

I’ve had one for years. For the longest time I used it to store every single Field Notes I’ve ever used. Until I filled it up, and then I threw it all out and started to store other stuff in it. These days I use it for various unused notebooks and pencils.

If you need something to store Field Notes or notebooks of the same size, I think it is awesome. Probably over priced. But still. It is a cool box.

If I had any interest in a Field Notes collection, this is what I’d use to store them.

This was the first ink bottle I bought.

It was great. The black was decent, and it dried fast. Something I cared a lot about when I started with fountain pens. The bottle was kind of cheap, but it worked well. And it was unexpensive.

Since then I have been made aware of Noodlers politics, and have sinced refused to consider any of his inks.

If you make a product, it is important to make sure it works for as many people as possible.

When I say works this may be because it doesn’t work physically or there may be something about the design that is offensive. The typical example of the latter is all of the pink “for her” products. And a typical example of the former are products that isn’t very compatible with lefties or are too big or thick for people with smaller hands. Great examples of this is the Pilot Vanishing Point or the most of the Lamy pens.

I think all products should be accommodating for different people. Either by having different versions of it if it isn’t possible to have one version that works for all. And I think it is a really bad look for in 2022 (or 2015 or 2010 for that matter) to have a product that excludes lefties or women. This is especially important if it is a kind of unique product like the Vanishing Point.

This is without a doubt the worst ink I have ever used. If I remember correctly I got it for free with my first Lamy 2000.

A pen I lost when my winter coat was stolen in a pub. Funny thing is that I was more upset about the pen than having to walk in 20 minutes in a snow storm without a coat to get home.

This ink was just terrible. The color is black but looks more like you have mixed it with 20% water. Not really greay. It felt very dry to write with it. And the bottle was really cheap, with this weird blot paper roll under it.

I really hated this ink, and ended up throwing it out during a cleanup before a move. And it has kept me from trying any other Lamy inks.

In this Volume Blackwing are honoring Bruce Lee.

I really like this design, a lot of people do not like it. Or critizing it for being very similar to the Staedler Noris. I get their point, but I don’t think of it as a rip off of that design and more like a more premium version of it.

When it comes to execution of their theme I get what they are going for, but it doesn’t really work for me.

Overall I think this is a 2/3 release from them. It is the first time I’m aware of that they do this kinds of stripes in any of their designs. And I’d love to see them do this kind of thing more. With some more unique colors.

It may not be that unique among all pencils, but you don’t see a lot of pencils like this.

I was going to just write about having passed three years of some lines a day. But then I realised I haven’t reviewed it at all.

It is a standard Leuchtturm1917 hardcover A5 notebook. With one page per day, divided into five. One section for each year. And you just fill in the year you want.

I love it, and I fill it every day, or sometimes I go back to fill dates when I forget. I just write a few lines, usually the first thing that come to mind.

I’m certain I’ll get another one of these or something similar when I’m done with it. This will also be one of the few notebooks I won’t throw out.

I have this on going project about trying more different pencils than I have done in the past. So I ordered two of three different firmnesses of the Hi-uni: 2B, B and HB.

Let’s start with the pencil itself. It is a very good pencil and I don’t have any issues with it at all. But I don’t love how it looks. The brown color is just ugly and I don’t like the gold and there is SO MUCH TEXT on it.

Why can’t we have classy pencils without it being littered with text on it?!

For the pencil itself I’d be happy with all the firmnesses I tried. The 2B was the one I liked the most, but probably the least practical. And I could not for the life of me notice the difference between the B and HB. So I guess, if I order more of them I’m going with the HB.