I love paper. Today after an intense day of work I found two nice old drafting pads, an old routing envelope filled with 8x14 typing paper (some onion skin) and an amazingly beautiful Art Deco (copyright 1930) bridge scoring pad at my local thrift store -- all for 91¢ including tax. I'm really easily entertained.

In san francisco (in the belly of the nasty warehouse district) we have this amazing store/warehouse/nonprofit called SCRAP, and it's a warehouse full of leftover junk. I have been trying to get over there every so often to see what kinds of paper they have, and I conservatively pick only a handful of sheets of each kind and then am shocked when it gets rung up for under a dollar. It all depends on who rings you up, though.... But those kinds of "finds" are the most fun. I wish we had more thrift stores, but for some reason we only have the goodwill type places and not the schlock trift stores that I grew up with.

What is "SCRAP" a place for business recycle? It sounds fun.

SCRAP is a big warehouse in the nasty warehouse district in San Francisco. many businesses, but also people cleaning out their houses, donate to them (they're a non-profit) and they sell all sorts of things like fabrics, tiles, random things like shoelaces or corks or promotional items with logos on them. and paper, of course. you never know what you'll find (Which is why it's so fun). i also love the upholstery scraps and the carpet scraps because they tend to be free (they're all small samples, but sometimes really high quality and perfect amounts for bookbinding.. or quilting, but I don't do that)... They also do arts and crafts parties for school groups, I believe. (and delinquents volunteer there to use up their volunteer hours)... it's really an amazing place. We have a smaller, less-donated-to version of it in the East Bay (Oakland/Berkeley), and I just went to it a few days ago (that one's called East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse) and it's more or less the same concept, except the paper is really a mess. But digging around I found a sizeable amount of some really nice Strathmore paper that was used as letterhead. So if I cut the letterhead off, it will work wonders for bookbinding (and it coo's when I place fountain pen ink on it!!! )

I always say that every major city should have a place like that. My mother begs to go to them every time she comes to visit (and then my dad waits patiently in the car while she and I have fun sorting through knicknacks). Does anyone else have places like this?? I said that there ought to be one in the NYC area (for my mother to visit).

That's sounds like so much fun. /:) It's funny you should mention Strathmore paper because I was just considering buying some. Do you know which one it is that you like? Does it have a watermark on it? Is it 25% or 100% cotton? or their archival paper?

I find a lot at yard sales too -- paper and even pens. Old letterhead can be great. I've taken some to the print shop where they cut the names off so it's not hand-cut looking.

My old housemates have a bookbinding studio with some really amazing papercutters, so that's how I do it. How much does a commercial shop charge you to cut a stack of paper?

I have used some Strathmore writing paper that I found in a free pile, and it was so lovely, except that certain areas of the page misbehaved really badly. I couldn't figure out what the reason was; perhaps it was old paper. The letterhead I just picked up has a watermark, and says it's "Strathmore writing, 25% cotton". None of the inks I have in pens currently have feathered, but some of them do show through on the back, as a shadow (not as bleed)... My inks that shade look really good, actually. I'm so happy I grabbed every sheet I found of this stuff!

Wow! -- a bookbinding studio -- that is something I know little about but am fascinated by.

A print shop usually only charges a dollar or so per cut for the entire stack. Cheap enough.