2017 EDC: Bullet Journal, Roterfaden, Hobonichi, Traveler’s Notebook…

 

Happy 2017!

This post took longer than I planned but I wanted to start the first post of the new year with how my stationery “everyday carry” items evolved since when I started this blog last year.

1. Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter A4

Last year, I had a post about custom A4 Roterfaden. The brown cover with grey suede inside material ended up going to my husband, and I decided to stick with an original size A4 (which wasn’t as big as I thought it was once I got used to it) with a black leather cover and “magnolia” felt inside. Main reason for the switch was weight. With A6 or A5, it probably wouldn’t add much, but the A4 size was significantly heavier for me when it has suede material inside compared to the one with wool felt.

2. Bullet Journal

My bullet journal is still going strong. I am thoroughly enjoying its flexibility and comprehensive coverage of all my needs. I upgraded the notebook to Stalogy 365 Notebook. It’s not exactly tomoe river paper but almost as thin. Supposedly it has 365 pages but its thickness is not even 15mm! You can see the notebook in the picture above — the black B6-size notebook just under Hobonichi Techo. I didn’t want to keep changing the journal too often, since I keep a lot of valuable notes that should be useful for a long time.

Very simple monthly view.

Daily notes and tasks. This is what I love the most about bullet journaling — flexibility. There is no confinement of the space; you write as much or as little as you need to according to each day’s needs. And I love how i can just jot down notes (even lengthy notes) without having to pull out a separate notebook.

3. Hobonichi Techo

Ok, not too proud of this but I had made an impulse purchase of Hobonichi Techo late last year. I was really looking forward to the new year and was ready to put it to a good use. And then…

Bullet journal happened!  >_<

Now that I no longer needed a daily planner, I had to come up with an alternate purpose for it in order to make peace with blowing those precious 33 bucks. So here is the re-purposed Hobonichi:

Is it a sketch book? Is it an art journal? Who cares what it’s called. Basically, I made a commitment to draw something on it each day. (I picked my best ones for the photo shoot here… Many are just simple line sketches. ^^) And because there is nothing more than humans that I enjoy drawing, they’re filled with various faces and poses. Keeping up with this during the week on work days has been challenging. I mean, I practically live at the hospital and come home only to sleep. What makes it work is the realization that I “slack” diligently throughout the work day. Of course no one can work and study non-stop. Of course my days are scattered with “informal” break sessions of browsing the net, reading news, or sometimes staring into empty space… So, if an idea hits, or I come across an interesting photo in the news article, I make a quick sketch. It can be as quick as two minutes.

On weekends or whenever I am off work (as I am this week, woo-hoo!!), I do spend more time on this and love it. For example, the couple of pages shown above are my ink wash practice/experimentation. I had recently developed an (expensive) hobby of fountain pens which then led to inks… I never cared for watercolor paintings, but for some reason, I find ink washes unbelievably beautiful. Thank goodness for ink samples. Otherwise, there would be nothing left of my paycheck. So there they are, my interesting subject of the day, trying out whatever shades of ink that strike my fancy.

4. Traveler’s Notebook

When I first started the blog, I believe I mentioned how I purchased ZLYC leather covers from Amazon rather than going for the original and expensive Midori Traveler’s Notebook. They’re still very useful — the passport size is still doing a great job as my wallet. I decided to splurge on Midori Traveler’s Notebook because I wanted one in black leather and Goulet Pens had a great package deal. I don’t regret my decision; it is truly wonderful. Compared to the cheaper ZLYC brand, the finishing touch really makes a difference. The way the cover folds is different. Finish of the leather is different. If you’re only interested in the functionality, ZLYC is absolutely fine. If you care about the fine details of product design, then be prepared to pay for the superiority. The most obvious difference can be seen on the edge of the leather:

If you can see in the picture above, the edge of the brown leather below (ZLYC) remains as a rough cut piece. The black leather (Traveler’s Notebook) on top, on the other hand, has smoothed, finished edges.

Anyways, this new Traveler’s Notebook can be found in my bag everyday as a companion to the Hobonichi Techo. I have a pouch inside which contains a pencil, a few Copic Multiliner pens, and brush pens — my mobile art supply so I can fill those daily pages in Hobonichi Techo no matter where I am. I also keep a notebook insert with tomoe river paper for more random sketches, and a Field Notes pocket notebook to jot down any quotes or personal notes/journals.

 

I hope you enjoyed the overview and the pictures. I love the format of blogs for in-depth discussions but recently realized Instagram to be a more convenient platform for sharing pictures. For more pictures inside my Hobonichi and other random stuff, look for jottermeow!

 

~meow~

 

Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter A4 Custom

Finally a post about Roterfaden A4 size! Yay!

No one is paying me to say this, but Roterfaden is a terrific company and I thoroughly enjoyed the purchase process. I wish I lived in Europe so I can visit their store. But considering my options limited to browsing their online store and email communication, they have been very pleasant and accommodating.

I wanted a Taschenbegleiter in A4 size so that I can carry larger notebooks and print-outs all in one place, but the product dimension is a lot larger than necessary for standard US letter size materials. (A4 paper is slightly longer and narrower than US letter size.) Micha from Roterfaden promptly responded to my inquiry about making one with a shorter length. With his kind help, I ordered one with dark brown leather on the outside, dark grey suede for the inside, 3 clips, with a dimension of 23.5 x 29.5 cm (that’s about 1 inch shorter in length than their standard A4 cover.)

Having used the A5 size cover for a while, this felt very big and strange in my hand initially. In reality, however, this is no bulkier than a typical 3-ring binder, and more portable in my opinion because of its flexibility of the cover unlike the rigid plastic cover of the 3-ring binders. The leather’s bendable softness is more pronounced than what you would have noticed with A5 because of the larger surface.

Covers are soft and flexible.

Here are more pictures of the cover and how I am using it:

Inside of the front cover (Left) and a close-up view of the dark grey suede inner material (Right). The small pockets are perfect for business cards.

Sheet protectors and card protectors in the middle clip. (Card protectors are only available in A5 size.)

 

I have a folder for loose papers secured by the third clip. A large pocket in the back holds a notepad.

I used to carry multiple manila folders with miscellaneous loose papers, which would inevitably get misplaced here and there. Now I just shove everything in the taschenbegleiter, wrap the elastic around, and I am good to go!

After carrying this for a while, I do have one small regret: suede is heavier than wool felt. I don’t think this would make much difference for A5 size. But since A4 is considerably bigger, I notice the difference. While I like the look of the dark grey suede inside the cover, I would go with felt if you want to make your A4 cover as light as possible.

I hope this was helpful for anyone considering Roterfaden, especially in A4 size which must be ordered online since it’s not yet available in US.

Now I’ve reached a point where I am biting my nails with anxiety and guilt that I’ve spent too much on “luxury binder.” So, no more Roterfaden for me! (for a while…)

~meow~

 

Roterfaden Wk-12

Roterfaden Wk-12 Leather Cover

In this post, I will tell you about a different Roterfaden product, Wk-12. But first, some background…

When I posted about Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter A5 along with various notebooks I was using in it, I really thought I found my perfect system. After a while though, I began to crave more space to write in my planner than Midori’s weekly insert can provide. So I jumped on the Hobonichi bandwagon and bought a “Cousin Spring,” which is the A5 version with April start (so, I didn’t feel as guilty about buying a new planner mid-year.) With it’s daily pages, I had all the space I could want! The yearly, monthly, and weekly views are great for planning. And then I use the daily pages for tasks, reminders, meeting notes, etc. It’s working as a planner and a notebook combined. It’s great!

But, here’s the problem: Carrying it around inside the Roterfaden A5 cover along with my other various crap made it too bulky. The solution? Roterfaden Wk-12 with a slimmer profile.

In wk-12, the leather material is quite different from the regular Roterfaden covers. Instead of the suede-like texture, its leather is shiny, and has wrinkled (?) texture. Probably the picture above tells it much better than I can describe… Also, instead of an elastic to keep the cover closed, wk-12 has two pen loops so that inserting a pen through them keeps it shut (see the picture at the top.)

The inside cover is made of dark gray suede with pocket configurations as you can see in this picture:

Inside pockets

The front cover pockets are perfect for keeping business cards and sticky notes. The back cover has one large pocket which I stuck the back cover of my Hobonichi as well as a thin notebook.

Wk-12 only comes with 2 clips, and so I used a rubber band around one of the clips to accommodate more inserts:

I have been using this set up for a month or so, and I quite like it. I have sheet protectors and business card protectors in the front (which are secured with rubber band around the clip), a Midori insert which I’m using as a personal journal, a Hobonichi cousin for work/school needs (without it, my life would fall apart), and an A5 notebook from Roterfaden for miscellaneous notes. (As an aside, this Roterfaden notebook is great in this setup. But I won’t be purchasing it again, as I find it too flimsy for general use.)

There’s something addictive about Roterfaden products. I love it so much that I ordered an A4 size, so that I can carry full size notebooks and print-outs. I believe it’s a combination of the ingenious clip mechanism — so simple yet so functional! — and the high quality but unpretentious design. Normally, an uncomfortable guilt overcomes me whenever I spend more than $100 on any product (doesn’t matter how well-justified, and doesn’t matter how much I earn), but spending on these Roterfaden products creates less guilt than usual. Could it be the fact that this is not some huge corporation, but a small business run by a few individuals who make products that actually go through their hands makes me feel like my purchase is more meaningful? Who knows…

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this review. More posts coming when I receive the A4 cover!

~meow~