New Stalogy Notebooks

We received in the new Stalogy 2022 covers, which are lovely, muted earthy pastels. They’re all grid, with the full year and the half-year sizes. The grid ruling is my preferred ruling in life, so this works out for me, but it’s also a light ruling so it’s not too abrasive if you’re particular.

I am a big Stalogy fan personally, as you all know, with their thin paper and abundant pages making for hefty notebooks. They feel great in the hand, but they also feel better and better as you use them, the pages sometimes getting a bit crinkly, the notebooks fattening themselves up. Another bonus about these, which is true for most Japanese stationery, is that they are true to standard sizes (A5, B6, even that hard to find B5, etc.), which means if you have a standard size cover, these will fit. This is an advantage I often forget about because my covers are all standard size, and I can interchange without having to search too hard.

I often need to, or try to, keep things in pristine condition, often unused, in order to have them for photos for the newsletter or social media, but I love how notebooks look and feel when they’re well-used. I mentioned in the newsletter how Caleb has one he’s been using for his homework. The first chunk of it was during some period of virtual school, and he’s used almost the rest of it for homework, and there’s something so satisfying about all the pages crinkled and written on, the covers holding on for dear life to all its pages.

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In any case, notebooks are so personal and also at the same time secondary to whatever gets your creative juices bubbling, whether it’s sitting at a cafe, the right time of day, or all of your tools disappearing while you put words on the page. I suppose it’s the sign you’ve found the right one for you when it stops mattering so much.

Currently reading: Beijing Coma by Ma Jian

Current favourite fountain pen: Sailor Knight to E4 Pro Gear inked up with the new R&K Deep Pine

Current project I’m in too deep on: decluttering the house as we renovate

Currently drinking: bubble tea

Current exercise regime: bouncing the baby with one foot in the bouncer while drinking a bubble tea