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!

One Book July challenge

There is this evil challenge in the land of Interwebs, created by Klair from Rhomany´s Realm. Personally, I never imagined I would ever partake in this experiment since my system of planning has been pretty much the same for years and years already. During the past years I have tried different options in terms of size and portability. have EDS with severe issues when it comes to my joints so I have needed to tweak the system to make it more feasible and safe to lug around.

Having that said, my planning has been moved from ring bound binder to bound books and then back to ring bound planners. Why? Because in ring bound planners I don´t have to carry that many pages because they can be added if needed. 

I have been most content in personal sized planners, given they have adequate space to write in, yet are not hideously large, which resonates to their weight. 

However... during this July I have been subjected to this #onebookjuly2015 to the extent that I found myself thinking... is there something for me to learn? Have I indeed paired down to absolute essentials? 

Onebookjuly basically is a challenge that encourages its participants to use one book, one pen, for one month. Many participants joining are combining their journals to the merry lot as well- which is in the spirit of this challenge. I however, will not be doing this. I have a system that works like a clockwork and I am not messing that up. I have people that need to have their salaries payed, along with other legal duties that come (I do the books myself so it all has to be documented clearly), son who partakes in several therapies due to his several medical conditions, I am running this home and my son´s school in this binder and because apparently I hate sanity, I have taken up studying once more and there is a book project looming at the background as well. 

When it comes to creativity, that will happen if there is time for it. Another binder will see to that.

Klair herself has explained the ethos of the challenge well enough on the video linked below, so I shall leave further details to the good Lady herself.

What I was intrigued however, was the knobby puzzle of pocket sized planner. I have this beautiful Finchley that was burning my hands (shelf), you see. I know I have a lot in my plate but also, it is July and my son´s school and therapies are on their leave. I could do with the pocket size for July, common sense told me so and it was right. Also, can you see how much smaller the pocket sized planner is, compared to personal size? My personal binder is a generic one from Ajasto. It is a Finnish brand that makes wide range of calendars and planners. Not great quality but let´s say this, their pen loops do not just rip off, unlike the pen loop of my Filofax did.  Might I mention that there wasn´t even a pen in the pen loop, just poor craftsmanship, that´s all. Were I to whine about Ajasto binder, I would make a note of poor design. The flap that closes the binder with a magnet is designed to stay closed.When one opens the binder, the pesky flap just folds over paper because the binder pieces were cut that way that the inner piece is very much shorter, bending the flap to a closed position, even while attempting to use it. I have slathered the persistent piece of plastic with Plade so it would not crack, while I muscle the damn thing off my way, but it only is a matter of time when the binder breaks because of this basic level of stupidity. 

For a layout I usually use the vertical layout with times. I use Ajasto refills. For July and its pocket sized planner, I used pages offered free for printing by Ray Blake in his blog, My Life All in One Place. I had prior printed these for Field Notes sized Traveler´s booklet, but cut them in A6 size, so trimming them to pocket size was no problem at all. One thing I should mention, Ajasto refills are larger that Filofax refills in pocket size, and since the rest of the refills were (aside from "information" pages) Ajasto refills, I chose to trim Ray´s pages in matching larger size as well. 

Two weeks into July and I indeed learned something new. Instead of a week on two pages and daily pages, what I really need is two sets of weeklies. In the other set of weekly pages I will do the reminders, notes ( bills that are due, phonecalls to make etc.)while the first weekly pages will remain dedicated to meetings, places to be and when etc. 

I already do the very detailed daily planning, note taking while phone calls etc. on a desk planner in A5 size. This I never lug around but the personal sized binder is a constant companion. 

So last night, I copied all the information concerning July from pocket sized planner back to my irritatingly flappy personal binder (this binder will change shortly, even if I like its red- ness greatly) and will add another set of weeklies. This is a great time to add refills since schools are about to start again in less than a month´s time.

To put it all in a nutshell- an old dog can indeed learn new tricks.

Quick, easy and inexpensive TN covers.

A brief hullo.

I have now lived in TN that is regular sized otherwise but I´ve shortened it by 3 cm´s. 

Warmer months have come upon us and portability becomes even a greater issue than before. 

I will go back to the shortened version of regular TN in due time, but in this short post I´d like to address quick, no fuss, inexpensive TN covers. Probably even a baboon could make these so no need for even basic leather working skills are required. 

All you need is cardboard and rubber band. I have some craft paper and cardstock, all varying between 120-200 gsm.  If it´s on the lighter side, I just glue two sheets together before cutting. If I´m glad with cardstock thickness, I´ll just cut merrily away. I round the edges, also will round the middle point of cardstock. I will slide a rubber band to the covers and call it a day. That´s it. The rounded groove in the middle will hold the rubber band in place. 

I usually boink a hole for closing elastic to the mid-back covers but this time I thought to myself... why not try the mid-back for a chance. I remembered why I hatehatehate the knot at the spine, it pokes the whole bunch of notebooks away from spine and you want them to be close to the spine instead. See the absolutely dreadful gap at the spine. Uuuurgh!   

Another point. Paper loves paper. Flattability won´t be an issue and when covers need changing, it won´t be hard to look for another quick fix. Print the covers for added wo-hoo element, if you so are inclined. 

There is no reason to why not to cover the cardstock in plastic, one way or another... but I do love the feeling of paper for myself and as tatted pages are a mark of a book well loved, TN makes no difference in my eyes.

Notebooks that travel

So the Malden worked perfectly until I needed to write down notes on the go. I often get phone calls and need to make appointments in a moment´s notice. No problem, only... the large size combined with floppiness caused for the notebook to just slide in a relaxed fashion, straight to the floor or ground. This happened a few times until I decided life was too short.

So I took these leather covers. I used to have my book projects in this but I transferred them to the narrower Malden leather covers.

Covers are distressed with blade and sandpaper. 

I have a plastic pocket folded around all notebooks, at the front I have super stickies from Post- it slapped on them. These stickies hold grocery lists and brief notes.

On the other side of the plastic, I have sticky tabs in three colours. Then a craft folder of sorts follows, inside which I have put a notebook.

On the craft folder I have mark-it dots,stamps, tabs, sticky notes etc. You see how the notebook got victimized by a cup of coffee. This notebook was not the only casualty of coffee drinking.  

Then the next insert is a Commonplace Book. Alongside with coffee, it has gotten a lot of use.

I actually love the rustling of the coffee stained pages.

The following insert would be "Words". It is more private notebook. It is my journal on the go, some notes that have more longevity than the quick notes from the first book, also to do lists etc. 

The the monthly diary that I printed from the blog "My Life All In One Place". Ray Blake has a lot of printables in there.

Then follows the most important insert of them all, Chronodex. 

This I printed from the blog "Scription". Patrick Ng hosts the blog and has provided plethora of attractive MTN pictures.

After which I have daily journal, again from Ray Blakes blog. I have printed these on laser ink paper, 90 gsm weight, to able the use of fountain pens.

Towards the end I have "Info" pages. In which I have my son´s allergies, his school information, contacts, the company infro from which I reserve nannies when I need them and their rates, etc.  

And lastly a financial section. 

I have chosen not to show inside of the notebooks, solely for the reasons that I have a lot of writing and information in them, and all of it is private. But these leather covers manage to hold a lot of necessary information that I need with me.

Le Fin.

The difference in leathers used in Malden binders

I´ve often told about difference in Malden leathers. It is understandable that once one sees a certain type of leather in a binder they wish to purchase, and then when it comes and proves to have quite the opposite look... questions arise. It is natural for hides to come in varying nature, in my opinion it would be responsible for a company- any company to first note that leathers can and will vary, or then perhaps they should outline the type of leather to use altogether. 

Had I have promised a customer a silk shirt in satin weft for generous drape, and delivered shirt made of Pongee silk with completely opposite effect it being of rough, nubby texture, this would not have been acceptable. Also, had I measured and agreed to make a size 38 garment, yet the outcome had peen of size 42, this would not have been acceptable and would have deemed me quite the unprofessional, which would be bad reputation and detrimental for professional pride. 

When I ordered two ochre Malden binders in a5, I got one in satin weft and size 38, while the other was size 42 and Pongee silk. In proverbial sense.

The other was incredible dry, it had small tears in leather and while I opened it, I heard the leather tearing apart. It was visibly made of thinner leather and held within itself great promises of future silkiness after- what proved to be several months- of conditioning. 

I have great respect towards leather. I eat meat, I use leather. However, it does not mean we don´t need to respect the animal and the products it provided us with. Native Americans brush blood under their eyes (I do not know if this is true in all tribes but it was true with those with whom I talked with) after killing the animal and gives it thanks for giving its life to humans. In terms of consumption, I think all possible bits of beast should be used. You make hides, pelts, eat the meat, can do preservatives, boil glue etc etc. But you respect the process, you respect the outcome, dammit! When an animal has given its life for you fancy binder, bag, belt, coat, gloves, whatnot, do be decent and take care of it. When animal still has a heartbeat, it also has fat underneath its skin. This fat makes skin elastic, skin can stretch back and forth, it protects the beast from pesticides, diseases, sun, keeps the animal warm or cool. Just as with our species, humans, it is their largest organ and vital to surviving. When an animal is killed and it is separated from its harness, the hide goes through grueling process to make it pliable enough to serve us, the species of humans. The very thought that magically, we as "crown" of food chain, make it so that leather no longer needs the natural fats and oils and can sustain because of the awesome fact that a human is using it and all of a sudden it becomes something very else than the natural organ it once was, having its own requirements now denied and suppressed, is utter garbage and makes us assholes. And that is slightest of the cases. So condition yo´ leathers, dammit! If you are a company, pretend to have some respect, even if you really do not know the meaning of the expression. Trust me, the consumer will not know the lack of your morals, the consumer just won´t see cracking of the leather. Because it´s so hard not to notice it. 

If you are a person who never conditions your leathers... why!?!? Do you know that a leather product can outlive several generations, properly conditioned and will show beautiful patina, but will decay sooner if you just are not in a mood of taking care of something that died for you. Also, it makes you an asshole. Yes, I will judge. Forever. Should you care? Absolutely not but you should condition your damn leather products!

Above is picture of the two binders. The smaller and thinner one lays flat more so than its thicker, grainier and larger friend. Also, notice how the other pocket is of different colour. It is the same colour found on the outside. Best leather for this binder is found on the inside, on the zipper pocket.

The leather on the thinner one was and is thinnest on the upper corner here. It also is creased and pouching. After two years of active use, it still is.

I then applied natural oils (a mix I made back at the time. No chance ever to remember ingredients) to them- because of the dryness. This should be done every time for either dry leather, or leather that has not been conditioned for a long time. After the naturals, I applied medium brown leather creme. The difference in colour got significantly different. After this, another coat of natural oils was applied. All of this got sucked straight in the leather.

I was trying to demonstrate their difference by holding them up, but the coarser and thicker binder wanted to spread up (the hussie) and the flimsier one was having none of that and kept falling down. Perhaps the beast it came from used to be Victorian in previous life? So I opted to show the pair how to compose oneself  and stand up straight.

For several days I applied oils and cremes and leather conditioners to them and especially, the thinner one was beyond thirsty. The binders sucked all oils straight away and I just kept adding. How does one know when the leather is saturated=conditioned enough? The natural fats linger on before whooshing into the leather. Like any organic creature, leather needs moisture and it will feed itself until all is fine and dandy. Picture from above is a week after conditioning with natural oils with no pigment. I could see their true colours coming through as more moisture was given to leather

This picture above  is of the pair as they are. They still are getting conditioned, however they no longer are creaking or breaking and are saturated. The finer one is silky, buttery and soft. Even if I have decades working with different materials, including leather, I could not predict this level of softness after the dry, sandpaper-like feel. My friend kept hugging it and said it was an equivalent to a plushy toy for adult. This interaction made me very uncomfortable and we ended up in a friendly, yet determined enough tug-of-war when it came to possession of the thing. Ever since I´ve  kept it at quasi-safe distance from her.

I needed to cut out some material because the rings were useless and gaping, also I made it into a binder that holds 12 cm x 21 cm. notebooks. It is a home for my book projects and indeed, the colour is very espresso. All very naturally so.

The other below is to be seen on pictures on prior posts. I used it as my "one planner" but logistic challenges emerged when I need to use it on the go. Such generous and gorgeous floppiness needs two hands, I dropped it a few times too close to comfort and made it a home to Commonplace Book and Dear Diary. We now have received a new harmony as my planning needs have found a new home in a TN, which agrees more on opening, making appointements and taking notes on the go. 

Ringless joys

Another perk, if one needs one, is that your binder can be folded in two. This way you make the planner sturdier giving much better surface to write on. I love the floppiness of a Malden but sometimes this maneuver makes a smaller and firmer planner.

I took my son to horse riding and all of a sudden was gifted some time while I waited him back from manège. I took a short walk, but the weather was too cold so I retrieved back to the warmth of the car and pleasure of writing.

From ring-bound planner to planner Elysian Fields

From the beginning of this year I have tried my very best, nearly every system and every size available and I have even both made and printed sizes that are not readily available. This year has brought new responsibilities and tasks along, albeit my ideal size would be a4 (or a5 if we feel the need to cinch)... however, these sizes are not the most portable. I had this a5- sized Malden with gorgeous leather but it was unusable due to low quality rings. One would suppose that when you end up paying 175€ for a binder, it would not have cheap Chinese rings that give up on their duty before two weeks are in, and in such assumption...one would be wrong. Considering I bought two of these a5 binders at the same time, having the same occurrence happen to both of them... I´m inclined to suspect this is not a coincidence. 

However the leather was wonderful. For several times I considered removing the rings. I had done this before on the other binder already. 

Then Kent from Oz happened. My life now had purpose. I knew what I was expected to do.

Sky was clear, my planner plans whispered of conclusion, the fruit of my hips recovered from his fever to be able to go to school leaving me opportunity to perform pilgrimage to stationary stores, it was as if all the Faeries of the Universe had maneuvered cosmic conspiracies and I was willing to play. 

Above is where it all started from. The bane of my peace of mind was gaping even when the rings were closed. Not for much longer, mind you.

I don´t have awesome manly powers on my hands. My joints are categorized as legally disabled but I was a woman on a mission and you do not get in a way of a woman with a mission.

As you can see, I needed the help of pliers and bending and wiggling etc. But I got the job done eventually.

Last time,on the case of another binder, I opened and then sewed the seams but this time along, my mission was to get the rings out ASAP and throwing a sharp knife on the case seemed like an appropriate thing to do. I glued and hammered the leather back to where it belonged to. Looking at the edges, you would not know that there ever was a slit. See the picture below.

  

This is what emerged from the insides.

The beauty without low- quality rings. At this point I felt unnaturally victorious. I applied my richest hand creme to my hands to mend the scratches from wiggling the pliers and applied it to the newly liberated friend as well. We were joint in the prospect of a better and brighter future. The amount of lists we would join our forces in! The hills were alive with the sound of music.

Size sans rings is considerable larger than a5 would ever be. 

Even while closed. Could it be a hybrid between an a5 and a4? Would my life, finally be complete? Is it angelic voices and brass flutes I hear? Tomorrow, shall we all join hands and sing "cumbaya" and will the wars finally end (how uncanny would it be if all the pageants would have to come up with a new go-to answer!)  

YYYYEEEESSSHH! Ok, so the world peace didn´t quite work out, unfortunately, but can you see how beautifully the leather cover sits atop an a4- sized wax cover notebook.

And this pain in the ... places found its rightful place in the bin.

My parting words for this monstrosity would be...

NSFW and for the love of all that is good-do not start the video while children are nearby!

And the last two pictures of it on use. Majority of these pictures were taken in direct daylight, to give as accurate idea of leather, as possible. The following two pictures I took in my bedroom, where the light is harshest, this noon. This really shows the rich grain of leather.

I bought a4 notebooks for this and cut them to size 22 x 18,5 cm´s. Given the size of the binder, I´m surprised of how easy it is to carry. The absence of rings gives binder much needed rigidity. I admit to having shoved another notebook that could be stored next to desk but I chose to add it as well... because I could. I also chose to carry Commonplace Book in the covers as well. 

It makes planner peace quite blissful when you can include two weeks on a spread in which one has ample space to write both appointments and reminders. After planner- notebook I have a bullet journal to delve into detail like I meant it. 

This is how I managed to thread the rubber band. I used a long- corded circular needles to pull rubber band through the back of the covers. I have five rubber bands in the spine.

I cut small slits on both ends of the notebook spine to hold the rubber bands in place, since the openings are considerably far away from notebook edges.

All in all... the only regret I have is that I did not do this earlier. I recommend this very warmly to everybody considering this.