a5 Malden, now ringless and working.

It has been a long time since I sat down to type a few words to this neglected corner of the blogdom. However, as it is in life everything comes in cycles and I made a decision to dust the ol´ thing from oblivion. 

Over the past few years I have been fibbing about different systems when it comes to time-tracking, planning and staying atop of the several responsibilities that life brings. I had been using an a5 Balmoral from Filofax for... closer to 15 years already and then I ordered two a5 Maldens from Filofax. turns out that the glorious quality that I associated with the brand had gone to the very opposite direction. On the other binder the rings were beyond repair and they ripped all papers. The other binder was, after several ring prepairs a bit longer living experience- we are talking months here. Eventually they too gave up and it was time for the rings to come out. 

I will disclose the altrecations done to the binders with greater detail- not only rings were poor in quality, but stiches were ripping off as well. Not acceptable in any product that customers are paying money for.

Since time and age has had its effect on the Balmoral, it has done the very same to me. I have a genetic disorder that causes my limbs be overly soft and there is all kinds of deteriation happening in both joints and in bone matter. While I take incredible joy in the paper size of an a5, my joints no longer can take the very heft of such a binder.

And this contrast is the source of all the fibbing mentioned. How to maximise the paper size while still maintaining a manageable weight of one´s binder. 

I have tried a lot of systems now, over the course of few years. And right now I have something in use that is not killing my wrists, has not bended any of my fingers backwards and still holds almost a5- sized papers. I took my altered Maldens to good use and use traveler´s notebook style inserts in there. While "regular" TN size is 11 cm´s in width, I have used 13 cm´s wide booklets. This size is also known as Moleskine Large size. 

I will go to my set up in greater detail in a later post, but for now it´s sufficed to say that this system, this size feels... able in its physical aspect. My planning system worked like a well-oiled machine all along, I am very organized. However I needed to get it all to a paper size that was manageable and as large as-physically speaking-possible. 

I had all of the three booklets running smoothly as a well-oiled machine in the covers, no problem there. I use a calendar-which is Chronodex by Patrick Ng. In it I have attached mothly (month on two pages) pages from Philofaxy printables. Middle insert is a Bullet Journal, Last of the three is Collections. In it I have only a few subject matters, the "running collections" (those that are prone to change, such as things to get to the office, books to order, things to get to home, different sorts of information that is prone to change) are written on the Bullet Journal. Everything was all fine and dandy. Only... the chronodexes were running out of their course. This was the last week in it! And it was in the regular size which left two cm´s from 13 cm. width. Manageable yet visually annoying.

Well, that was about to change since... 

This morning I was greeted by the new download by Patrick Ng. This download was a booklet full of glorious chronodexes, for the second half of the year. 

Printing the new pages under careful observation of the Feline Overlordess

I printed the pages on ivory 80 gsm. paper. The Wild One watched over the printer- or the Thing Of Doom, if you asked of her.

Printing the booklet is very straight forward thing to do. Dowload the file, print it double sided. My printer is the simplest techy thing ever, so I first printed the first half, flipped the stack on the short side and printed the other half on the other side. 

After printing I folded the pages carefully and crisply.

Then you just fold the pages in half, bind them and cut the edges. Again, the regular TN width is 11 cm´s, I use the 13 cm. width. I did entertain myself with the thought of a full a5 size, but I then discarded the thought after I needed to go and apply some more of the numbning creme to my wrists...

However, there is generous space for more inserts if needed. I am telling myself not to get crazy about it, though. But I could, if I wanted to... stuff the thing.

I have three bookletts in the setup, all 13 cm´s wide. I could fit a5´s if I wanted to.

Tied by using strong cotton thread.

I round my edges. I always round my edges. I can not see how not everybody rounds their edges. Everybody should round their edges. Rounded edges are a wonderful thing! 

I have noticed that by cutting little grooves, the rubberbands that hold the booklets at place don´t wobble about annoyingly.

I rounded the corners, as I always do.

Small nicks at the very spine help to keep rubber bands hold their appointed places.

On the left is year´s first six months worth of chronodexes. On the right the next six months.

I just want to praise the whole visual scenery that Patrick Ng seems to have a natural inclination to create around him and the things he does. Do go and dwell in the goodness that is his flickr! It is a feat to one´s eyes. 

Everything about the booklet pleases me immensely. 

Backside of the booklet is a "Boarding Pass to the future" in which one can commit with one´s goals.

So this is it. My Book, my Brains, my Diane.

This is how my pens travel with me.

Oiling the Malden binder

As promised, above the oiling as I usually do it. These days I rarely bother to really rub the oil in, because these really are not its first conditionings either. However, I recommend rubbing very meticulously your leather goods for the first dozen or so times. Better be safe than sorry.

Above the generic olive oil I happened to grasp first from the cupboards today. Beside the Malden binder in personal size, also known as the Brains at our household.

I then pour some oil (whichever oil, really) onto the palm of my hand and just spread it merrily around the binder.

You will see how it will start to seep in to the leather, simultaneously making you a respectable leather- product- owner, while giving your leathery item extended lifespan. You may proceed patting your own back or shoulders if other people are not available to congratulate you on this outstanding act of decency.  

At some point it pays to spread out the remaining oils evenly to the binder- or to add more oil to the thirstier areas.

As you will see, even after 37426348736482 applications, all of that oil will be absorbed. Once this stops from happening, another round of back-/shoulder patting is in order as your leather now is in the state of "saturated" which most mimics its natural state while it still was on a living, breathing and feeling animal. Continue thine oilings until saturated state is achieved. This might take several months even for us most enthused greasers.

For the insides, I just usually open the binder, empty its pockets and...

Get oiling. This is best to do in the evening and leave the natural fats seep into the leather over night. Having laminated page lifters on either side helps protecting the pages as well. I do the same treatment to both front- and back parts, usually during consecutive evenings. 

All of these pictures were taken close to window, but since it was a cloudy and murky day, I added an artificial light which caused the reflective bits.

Above is a picture of the oiled binder closed. This is next to window, in natural daylight. Compared to the dry, scale-like leather this binder was just months ago, it has a completely different texture now.

And the binder opened. Leather still is "rustic" in its appearance but to touch it, feels like touching  finest aniline leather. And after every application, the leather gets softer and softer.

Music of the day.

The aging process of a Malden personal binder.

The picture above was take 5th of August this year. I just had picked the parcel and opened it outside, in direct sunshine. The binder was bought second hand but it was most evident that it was, as the seller listed, never been used. Leather was gorgeous, yet very dry. Binder´s condition left nothing to moan about. The parcel was superbly packaged and I left praising thank yous in his message box. Of the six rings inside one was perfect which is one more than the usual Filofax standard these days is so Lady Luck was apparently feeling quite frisky those days.  

The picture above shows the same binder, opened but the sun was covered with clouds. It still was very bright and hot like in a hot summer´s day would be, just without direct sunlight. 

As shown, the binder came with its original diary pages, dating from 2011. Alongside there was older pages as well, so there is no way telling (apart from contacting Filofax requesting the time estimate of the code in the strap but I somehow manage to make do without that bit of knowledge) the binders age in years. It did not lay flat. Contrary to other Maldens I have, this one had something... crinkly inside. It doesn´t crinkle anymore. It also is properly greased like a well oiled machine, that I intended the beast to be. Said in its literal meaning.

Above is a picture also taken outside. The binder is now almost a month old (counted in active using time). By this time I had oiled this conservatively every now and then. A lot of scratches came and went as I rubbed them off. I did not want to oil this too heavily at first, I wanted the parchment- like dry and thirsty leather to suck up the oil and hand creme from my hands first. I knew it would and had I wanted to prevent this, I would have soaked this beauty in a closed plastic bag in olive oil, in the very beginning. When leather is saturated with natural oils, any additional oils and fats can be easily wiped off. If leather is dry however, it will act like a rescued puppy and get evvverything it can from anybody and everybody, just to hold on to dear life. The fats the leather first soaks will stay, and can stain leather unevenly, lest the fats and oils are spread and rubbed in evenly. First is the magic word here in terms of talking about dry leather. I knew this and I wanted to use it to "age" the binder visually faster than it would have done so.

Here above is another picture taken near window (South, light is harsh) and now the binder is wee over a month old- using vise. One can see how the driest bits close to upper and lower edges have started to pigment darker, also there is a distinct hand print in the works on the spine area. It is not easily seen here, since the window is lighting the spine, but it was easily seen with one´s eyes. 

Picture above is taken this morning, The binder has been in active use for two months (shy of just three days). Lighting is cold now, as is the weather and glove- season is upon us. This is how I carry my planner everywhere. Everywhere and I am not joking. The back pocket holds my phone usually (not now as I used it to take these pictures.) I am ready to take calls and jot down appointments at a moment´s notice even when I take Feisty McWigglebottom to his walks. The binder has been subjected to winds, several rains, it has been scratched, it has been slept upon (McWiggly). It has had coffee spills, it has been wiped with kitchen towels after been submerged in flour and it has also experienced the excitement when spills happen during making one´s cleaning products. To put it in short, it has not been babied. It is a hard working binder, and will get treated accordingly- in good and in bad. To make it as resistible to life as humanely possible, I have now oiled it several times. I use avocado oil, sunflower oil, olive oil. I have dropped EO´s to the carrier oils every now and then to give it a nice scent. I have rubbed it with my hand cremes as I rub them into my hands. I make most of my own cremes, so usually it is a random mix of cocoa butter, shea butter, coconut oil, carrot oil, EO´s, rose water etc. This leather has probably seen every fat there is in the house and we have a lot of fats. During the summer months it also was subjected to WD-40 as I oiled my son´s bike´s bits and that gunk was all over my hands. I just happened to have placed the binder as a weight to the rags, to keep them from flying off with the heavy winds. As mentioned, this thing gets no special treatment. Living with us gets you messy at times but hey, at least life never gets boring around here.

As a result, it has become soft, so soft and pliable, I can not even describe it in detail. I can not see myself ever parting from this beauty. I know we´ve only been in each other´s lives for two months, but it seems like so much longer period of time, do you know what I mean? 

*crickets sing*

Above another picture from this morning. Now the deeper colouration around spine area is more visible, even from low quality pictures like these, naturally seen with the naked eye it all becomes more enhanced. I placed a sweet inside the back pocket to show just how soft the binder has become. One can almost spell the brand of said sweet through leather.

Then the scratch test. A Malden leather can recover from terrible things, you know? I wanted to demonstrate a deep scratch ( I pressed hard on the leather with these talons) I made on the darker bit. I wish the picture would better show contrast between scratch and deeper coloured leather better but alas, the light is bound to reflect from that surface. Let it be said, it was very clear and very deep.

After rubbing it less than ten seconds, can you see the scratch? 

Key words- well oiled leather. 

Weekend is upon us. If only time allows, during these following two days I will post the basic oiling process I do to the binder, how it will look during oiling and after oiling. 

I know I haven´t been most active at around this corner of the world, but there are those times when a lot of life flows in fast pace and the only sane thing is to jump along. 

But oiling, this weekend, I´ll make a note of it in my planner and see that it gets done!