A little trick I´d like to share.
I go through commonplace books and brain dump- notebooks exceedingly fast. I almost always end up with bits of paper or receipts to copy and whatnot in random stationery on the notebooks as I go about my days. Brain dump being the first notebook in my A6-carry everywhere TN, I usually shove loose scraps of paper in the first, the most active notebook so these little pockets have proved to serve their purpose on several occasions.
Here is how I do this. It takes only a few minutes to do this, it´s not brain surgery but adds to the convenience generously.
I love the covers of these a5 notebooks.They are from Taurus Journals, they are 100% recycled. However, as much as I adore the covers, the paper quality leaves much to desire. This comes as no surprise as they are recycled but I must admit that oftentimes I choose to use other notebooks just for the fountain pen- friendliness of them.
What I do is I measure the outlines to a6 size with these cheapest, my most favorite notebooks that I buy (often in bulk) from a local grocery store. They cost 60 cents per notebook, come with environmental friendly- stamp, have smoothest paper imaginable. There´s no mention to the thickness of paper anywhere but my seasoned paper loving fingers approximate their paper being in the 60-75 gsm range
(I´m reluctantly adding the 75 and suspect it would be pending on the 60-70 range rather).
What´s best, paper is fountain pen friendly, only slightly shadows through, does not bleed at all and provides with fabulous note taking experience. The notebooks have 7 mm grid paper. In case I have not underlined this quite enough, I love these notebooks.
Back to the merry task ahead, it is.
With a craft knife I then cut the notebook to a6 size, leaving the covers untouched.
I then cut the excess cardboard from the top and bottom of notebook covers.
From then on I basically turn the sides in, use clear tape to tape the sides to their respective places
(I love Scotch Crystal tape. It sticks like glue and is very clear). Sometimes I add washi on top of the tape but this time I chose not to. These covers have enough going on and I don´t want too much fluff in my notebooks. Notebooks are my everyday tools to use and not a party tree to decorate. To each their own.
I like a neatly pressed edge but sometimes cardboard leaves a white edge after pressing it down firmly.
This is easily mended by a few dabs from ink pad. It pays to use waterproof ink.
Quite a lot neater edge there. Somehow the sudden emergence of direct sunlight from window altered the look of the covers, I really didn´t ink the rest of the cover.
Here is the old notebook that the new friend replaced. I happen to love these wax- covered notebooks as well. They have very smooth, thin grid paper, are fountain pen- friendly and are easily accessible from our local Staples. They come in variety of sizes but for a MTN-styled fauxdori, their thickness becomes an issue. They have 180 pages and can get cumbersome, especially mixed with these thinner notebooks. But they are lovely, though. The waxed covers only become lovelier by use- I pamper these with a nice polish of Pledge every Friday, which is my library, tote, wallet, office desk & -supplies cleaning day.
New brain dump book readily to take notes in its place.
(I turned the covers of TN inside out because of course)
The same trick goes with regular TN as well. When the notebooks are closed, these little side pockets can hold even larger & thicker items. Like this address book here. Also, can you now see why I turned the notebook covers so that the suede-side is now visible... yup.
Happy planning!
