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Adios Moleskine

"So the elastic band on my Moleskine was always breaking, and I also found that the pages on the regular notebooks were too thin, and the paper on the sketchbooks too thick.

I recently converted to the Cult of Getting Things Done and needed a pocket notebook with different sections, which if you're also a member of the cult, you'll understand. So I found these Noto notebooks made by Ciak, an Italian company, which are the same approximate size as Moleskines, but with 8 sections comprised of different colored pages. It also has a soft flexible cover, which makes it better for pockets than Moleskines, whose covers are hard cardboard. The only thing I miss is the little pocket in the back."

Caterina

The Blackwing 602

"The Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 has been a favorite among artists, designers and writers for many years. I have received many, many emails from users looking for them and wanting to know if they are still available. The Blackwing has been discussed in forums, and has been the subject of newspaper articles, most notably a Boston Globe article in December 2002. Buyers and sellers have been using eBay and The Pencil Pages classifieds to transact Blackwing deals, with prices exceeding $20.00 per pencil.

What is so special about this pencil that its devotees will accept no substitute and make them willing to spend $250.00 for a box of them? It has a sleek and unique design, and if you've ever used one, you know it is a very smooth-writing and easy to use pencil. Its famous slogan "Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed" is no exaggeration. It is also the last of a line of pencils featuring a distinctive rectangular ferrule with a unique, replaceable eraser. I am no artist, but I know that professionals rely on quality and consistency in the tools they use, and the Blackwing was one that could be relied upon."

Doug Martin
The Blackwing 602 - the Final Chapter

eBay Item# 6530627421
Vintage Eberhard Faber Blackwing Pencils #602. 10 pencil mint with box

[Thanks John G.]

Details Matter

"Oh, the possibilities in a blank page.

Stone Yamashita notebooks are seducing me away from the Moleskine. They’re the size of a Foreign Affairs, and have thick, creamy, tear-off pages that are lined on one side and squared on the next. The brown covers come with four provoking titles, the choice of which reveals something to you and about you. My first notebook said CH-CH-CH… on the front, and CHANGES on the back. The latest bookends DESIRE with FEAR, and I hope the sheets in between represent the middle way...

...Inside, there’s a tiny, printed inscription:

This is my notebook. A collection of my thoughts, ideas, some other people’s thoughts, some good stuff, some useless stuff. All written down, mostly scribbled, some stuff that I can no longer read, in an attempt to preserve a brilliant moment in time. (Or, at the time, I thought it was a brilliant moment.) I got this notebook from Stone Yamashita Partners. They always feed me. They’re the kind of office that allows dogs. They believe in the power of good thinking to invoke change. And so do I."

Dervala

Book Factory

"BookFactory is making use of some exciting new technology and processes to bring you archival quality books, custom made to your specifications, in quantities you really need, at lower costs than you are used to paying.

Founded and run by engineers and inventors, the folks at BookFactory understand the importance of quality notebooks for protecting your Intellectual Property. The construction of your notebook needs to be solid with sewn section binding to prevent tampering and acid-free archival safe paper to protect your work. The pages should be numbered with signature blocks for witnesses to sign Disclosed to and Understood By statements on your inventions. We are intimate with the documentation requirements of the U.S. Patent Office and the FDA and we understand why companies often need sequential book numbering on their notebook covers as well as book numbers printed on the pages of their books.

Book Factory

[via LS]