For 700 years, the Richard de Bas paper mill has produced some of the world’s finest paper. The French constitution is printed on paper from this mill. And artists like Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall were customers. Emmanuel runs the business today. His great grandfather bought the mill in Ambert, France, during World War II, and it has stayed in the family ever since. It’s one of the last in France where paper is made by hand.
(via Kottke)
Where Theory Meets Chalk, Dust Flies – The New York Times
This is what thought looks like. Ideas, and ideas about ideas. Suppositions and suspicions about relationships among abstract notions — shape, number, geometry, space — emerging through a fog of chalk dust, preferably of the silky Hagoromo chalk, originally from Japan, now made in South Korea. In these diagrams, mysteries are being born and solved.
Well-Read Life™: Why You Should Hack Levenger Pens
But here’s a secret that up until now very few people have known: most Levenger brand rollerball pens will accept Pilot G2 refills. Why is this good to know? Because Pilot G2 pens are some of the most appreciated and most widely available pens on the planet.
I can attest to this. I’ve had a Levenger True Writer rollerball for at least 10 years and have used a Pilot G2 refill in it since the beginning.
The Liberation and Consternation of Writing a Whole Book with Paper and Pen | Literary Hub
That’s because I wrote probably 75 percent of Hungry in longhand, on planes and trains, in public libraries and cocktail bars. To finish the manuscript (no mean feat with four children in the house, two of them infants and two of them teenagers) I carried around equipment similar to the gear I have with me now on the train: a cheap Wexford wide-ruled notebook from somewhere chic like Staples or Walgreens, and a pen bestowed upon me by some nice person at the New Orleans tourism board.
(via James Schirmer)
Writing with Pen and Paper – Cheri Baker
Although I was afraid my hand would get tired, and my handwriting would be illegible, it turns out that I love writing fiction by hand. Not only is it fun, but it comes with all these weird bonuses you don’t get when working on a computer. Like Gaiman suggested, hand writing forces me to slow down and think before filling up a page, and therefore I’m less inclined to drop waste-words on the screen and waste even more time fiddling with them. Additionally, seeing the story in my mind’s eye is far easier when I’m using a pen. I don’t know why, but I’ll run with it! And I love the way writing in a journal makes my first draft feel entirely private, much more so than when I work on a screen. There are no distractions inside a paper journal, and no notifications jumping out to fuck with you.
Nice post. There’s also some great follow up comments on Micro.blog
Calendar Ruler Set – Present & Correct
A genius stencil set with which you can turn any notebook or piece of paper into a planner. There are many combinations you can make, so your diary will become tailored to you. The set has 3 stencils, in a card wallet. Each one measures 190x130mm
Speaking of paper planners, this is a neat idea for making your own.
The Trendy New Way to Organize Your Schedule: A Paper Planner – WSJ
Shelby Abrahamsen, a 26-year-old lifestyle blogger with multiple social media accounts, lives much of her life online. Yet her favorite way to organize her schedule is old-school: She uses two paper planners.
What we believe in.
(via Cultural Offering)
Triangle Notebook by Tan Mavitan
A company that sells some interesting takes on notebook designs including one that is triangle shaped so it opens into a square or, my favorite, one that is designed to fit around corners like the corner of a computer keyboard or a book. Somewhat reminds me of the utility of Studio Neat’s Panobook.
Once upon a time, not long ago, the math world fell in love … with a chalk. But not just any chalk! This was Hagoromo: a Japanese brand so smooth, so perfect that some wondered if it was made from the tears of angels. Pencils down, please, as we tell the tale of a writing implement so irreplaceable, professors stockpiled it.
So many people sent this to me. For good reason, it’s fascinating and wonderful.
Why I’m Obsessed with Reading Books About Writing in Notebooks | The Washington Post
“Ideally, in your notebook, you get to invent your own language and systems, creating a self-contained bit of hardware and software just for you. But, especially for those of us who are rule-followers at heart, that can be a big leap, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that so many people are looking to experts for a little guidance on how to get started. All those rules about which bullets to use and when to migrate tasks and how to set up a new page are reassuring in their rigidity, but also encouraging in that you can easily adapt them to your preferences and needs. These systems promise to bring order and structure to your life but also give you the room to write your own code and change the rules as you go.”