Pens, Paper, Office Supplies

[Mel the Redcap]

Speaking of not available, the bane of my existence is that I was in Japan for a couple of months, found great pens ad mechanical pencils and wonderfull office supplies that you just cannot find elsewhere  .
At least in the US you can order from jetpens.com, but the shipping is a bit too much for me in Europe.
Japan seems to also be the only country where they know about 0.3mm 2B pencil leads, which is a shame, a shame I tell you!

I spent a year in Japan as part of my degree course, and it was wonderful! I love grid and dot paper notebooks, and because of the way their writing system works that's most of what you get there. It's one reason I love the Leuchtturm1917 notebooks, they have grid and dot versions of all their sizes.

I've found 0.3mm mechanical pencils and leads here in Australia, but they're rare. I stock up whenever I find a store that has them!

[ladyknight1]

I have a whole set (or two) of the Stabilo markers.

I also love the Twist-erase pencils in 0.5 mm.

[PastryGoddess]

I used to do calligraphy in high school, but I stopped in college.  I still have a hard time walking away from ink and nibs when I see them on sale.  The ironic thing is my actual handwriting is atrocious, but somehow I managed to do beautiful calligraphy

[Thipu1]

I worked with a eminent scholar who had odd ideas about stationery.

He loved to take notes on shirt cardboards. Every time someone bought a new shirt, the presentation would be made and he would be very pleased. 

He also raved about the wonderful quality of the rubber bands used by the USPS.

[PastryGoddess]

I love US Government pens.  They are hard to find, but they had a white barrel and came in blue and black.  There was another version that was click pen with a black and silver barrel. 

My mother used to raid the supply closet when I ran out of pens for school

[Chonsil]

Used to love stocking up on school supplies and picking pens and paper.

This is a lovely company:
http://www.bureaudirect.co.uk/
Can't necessarily afford the products on a whim, but it's fun to subscribe to their newsletter and get weekly updates with various interesting products available. They also do a stationery hamper that I dream of one day being able to gift to my husband (at £350, it's not exactly going to happen any day soon!)

[ladyknight1]

I love paperclips as well. My favorites are vinyl coated metal and striped!

I found the Pilot V5 Retractables in a multi-color set last night. Snapped them up quick!

[Lynn2000]

Used to love stocking up on school supplies and picking pens and paper.

This is a lovely company:
http://www.bureaudirect.co.uk/
Can't necessarily afford the products on a whim, but it's fun to subscribe to their newsletter and get weekly updates with various interesting products available. They also do a stationery hamper that I dream of one day being able to gift to my husband (at £350, it's not exactly going to happen any day soon!)

Yum! A new website to drool over...

Okay, I will confess to the silliest office supply thing I've bought lately. Roaring Spring 77517 Exam Books, wide ruled, 8 sheets/16 pages, 8.5x11in, also known as "blue books" sometimes used in school exams... a package of 50 of them. For, like, $15 from Amazon. I admit, I haven't used one yet. But, I think I will use them when I'm starting a new story, and I don't know if it will get very far. The kind of story I might have started on looseleaf paper. If it fills 16 pages of standard-size paper, it will graduate to the next level of notebook, maybe a smaller but thicker spiral or bound notebook.

I'm very excited about it. I picture these floppy blue books filling up my filing cabinet of "full notebooks" and then making their way to the burn bag after I've typed them.

[Lynn2000]

I went to the Bureau Direct website. I WANT IT ALL! I especially love the Clairefontaine 1951 notebooks. It seems like they might be the size of composition notebooks in the US. And I love the colors of the Pantone notebooks.

For true pen fans, there is the Pen Addicts blog. They are maybe a little hardcore for me, I have my favorites but I think my tastes are too lowbrow for them.

[Carotte]

I went to the Bureau Direct website. I WANT IT ALL! I especially love the Clairefontaine 1951 notebooks. It seems like they might be the size of composition notebooks in the US. And I love the colors of the Pantone notebooks.

For true pen fans, there is the Pen Addicts blog. They are maybe a little hardcore for me, I have my favorites but I think my tastes are too lowbrow for them.

Oh this is baaaddd, baddd, such a nice selection and only a friend's trip back to France away  (he's in the UK so I could get free shipping and hand delivery )

As for the 1951 notebook seems like there's an A4 and an A5 one, I don't know the size of composition notebooks.

[Lynn2000]

Here's another one (a US company I think):

http://www.europeanpaper.com

Drool...

It's so silly. It's just paper. But I want it all!!!

[LazyDaisy]

I love all of the odd (well odd in the US) sizes for notebooks. Just browsing through quickly...they don't even have an 8.5" x 11"

[Kimblee]

I have a major stationary addiction.

Fountain pens are my favorite form of writing... too bad the majority of paper available around here bleeds ink right through.   I try to find higher quality paper but it seems like ordering online is my only option.

But I collect every fountain pen i can get my hands on, although I think sometimes the cheaper ones write nicer than my expensive ones.

And notebooks... erm, no comment. *nudges box of partially used notebooks shut while whistling* I have blank book syndrome... once my pen touches the paper, the book is "tainted" and imperfect forever.

[Chelsealady]

I have an unnatural desire for this post it note holder.

 http://www.amazon.com/Pop-up-Dispenser-Includes-Alternating-Colored/dp/B003VNE25M

If you don't want to click, it is a black purse.  A purse!!

[Lynn2000]

Here is a paper size chart I thought might be interesting: http://www.dpandi.com/paper/

Wikipedia also has some interesting info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size

A4 is roughly, but not exactly, equivalent to the "standard" US paper size of 8.5 inches x 11 inches. That's the size of spiral notebooks or looseleaf paper we often use in school, for example. A4 is more like 8.3x11.7 inches, or 210x297mm.

A composition book in the US is one of those bound books often with a marbled black-and-white cover which measures about 7.5 inches by 9.5 inches; it often has about 100 sheets (200 pages). B5 is somewhat close to this--6.9x9.8 inches or 176x250mm. A5 is a bit smaller, 5.8x8.3 inches or 149x210mm.

Sometimes I get taken in by notebooks with pretty covers and a low price (online), then I look at the size and realize, "Oh, that's kind of... tiny, actually." I'm not really into the very small notebooks, like the kind reporters in old movies have that fit in the palm of their hand for taking notes. That's maybe 2 inches wide by 3 or 4 inches high--something like an A7 or A8. Though, I do have some little tiny composition books with marbled covers which are about that size, and they are very cute--it's just hard to figure out what to do with them. They aren't very good for writing stories in, for example. In the past I used to always carry one around for writing down story ideas as they came to me, but that hasn't been so necessary in the last few years, for some reason.