Stationery On Hand

[CraigR]

I am curious about how much and what sorts of stationery FPN'ers keep on hand. I have started to ramp up my letter and note card writing again after a period of inactivity due to health issues. I have been accumulating boxes of paper sheets, envelopes, wax seals, and postage recently. My wife thinks that if I wrote all day, every day, I would not consume what I now have on hand in my remaining lifetime. Hard to explain why I like to have an adequate selection to choose from when writing. Adequate is a very subjective term.

 

My go-to paper is Clairefontaine Triomphe, white, with matching envelopes in size A4 & A5 or G.Lalo, Ivory, size A4. Note cards are currently Crane Ecruwhite. I am out of personalized correspondence sheets and not sure if I will order any.

 

What is in your paper drawer(s)?

[JakobS]

G Lalo Verge De France in lavender, and pistachio (A5), and cream/white (A4)

 

Original Crown Mill laid in A5, and cotton A4

 

G Lalo Opera Mode De Paris cards and matching envelopes in blue

 

G Lalo Papier Paille A5, a few sheets remain from this discontinued line. Would love to know if anyone knows of a pad or two that is available...

 

Jabara Accordion Letter Set by Craft Design Technologies in green, write a letter as long as you want and tear off the paper when your done! Rather fun, comes with green envelopes.

 

Tomoe River looseleaf and blank, cream, in both A4, and A5

 

Life Bank Writing Paper A5 pad

 

A set of postcards I hand printed with WPA (Works Progress Administration) posters on them to send to family who might find them funny, or interesting. I have always enjoyed the art in the posters, especially for the National Park System!

 

Airmail envelopes from Life, used with various paper.

 

Non paper stationary related items:

 

~10 sticks of A. Gargoyle sealing wax in various colors

4 sticks of Abraxas sealing wax, 2 amber, 1 umber, 1 grass green (can't remember the exact name, something close to this!)

4 sticks of J. Herbin supple sealing wax in forest green

3 wax seals, one initial, one tree, and one custom made with family name and tree on it.

1 stick of Coccoina glue to stick unglued envelopes, and vintage stamps.

A set of vintage stamps from my home state to send on family letters that they would get a kick out of.

A set of vintage art stamps to send on postcards to my nieces and nephews

 

That's what i can remember for now....

 

It will take a decade or two to use it all I imagine...

Edited March 12, 2018 by JakobS

[Amory]

I have been accumulating boxes of paper sheets, envelopes, wax seals, and postage recently. My wife thinks that if I wrote all day, every day, I would not consume what I now have on hand in my remaining lifetime. Hard to explain why I like to have an adequate selection to choose from when writing. Adequate is a very subjective term.

 

What is in your paper drawer(s)?

May I suggest that you do not repeat this to your therapist

Amory

[Corona688]

Ruled coil notebooks, plus whatever's found in the recycle bin at work. Practicing my calligraphy has given me something to do with their big stacks of damaged paper and misprints.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Corona688

[CraigR]

G Lalo Verge De France in lavender, and pistachio (A5), and cream/white (A4)

 

Original Crown Mill laid in A5, and cotton A4

 

G Lalo Opera Mode De Paris cards and matching envelopes in blue

 

G Lalo Papier Paille A5, a few sheets remain from this discontinued line. Would love to know if anyone knows of a pad or two that is available...

 

Jabara Accordion Letter Set by Craft Design Technologies in green, write a letter as long as you want and tear off the paper when your done! Rather fun, comes with green envelopes.

 

Tomoe River looseleaf and blank, cream, in both A4, and A5

 

Life Bank Writing Paper A5 pad

 

A set of postcards I hand printed with WPA (Works Progress Administration) posters on them to send to family who might find them funny, or interesting. I have always enjoyed the art in the posters, especially for the National Park System!

 

Airmail envelopes from Life, used with various paper.

 

Non paper stationary related items:

 

~10 sticks of A. Gargoyle sealing wax in various colors

4 sticks of Abraxas sealing wax, 2 amber, 1 umber, 1 grass green (can't remember the exact name, something close to this!)

4 sticks of J. Herbin supple sealing wax in forest green

3 wax seals, one initial, one tree, and one custom made with family name and tree on it.

1 stick of Coccoina glue to stick unglued envelopes, and vintage stamps.

A set of vintage stamps from my home state to send on family letters that they would get a kick out of.

A set of vintage art stamps to send on postcards to my nieces and nephews

 

That's what i can remember for now....

 

It will take a decade or two to use it all I imagine...

Wow!

[77kath]

I have convinced my husband that he won’t die until I run out of paper. I have a half pad of my mother’s Crown Mill, plus G Lalo, Crane, and note cards from exotic places. And various watercolor papers (a lot). And some samples of Asian papers. And some notepads from Levenger, from the time when their notepads were really good. And one sheet of laid paper embossed with an address we no longer inhabit.

 

I just accumulate it. Somehow.

[wjeverly]

I keep a supply of Clairefontaine Triomphe pads on hand for notes and letters that I want to look more formal.

 

A couple years ago a lady holding a garage sale was selling packets of note cards with envelopes, each card in a packet picturing a different historical home in our community, drawn by her dad who had also had them printed. I bought several packets, then a few months later saw her again and bought out her entire remaining stock.

 

For note taking at meetings I use A4 Black n' Red hard cover spiral notebooks, a healthy supply of which I keep handy.

 

My wife got me a gift of personalized stationery from an internet source a couple years ago, but once those ran out I started making my own, adding my own graphics & lines to HP Laserjet printer paper (or other paper I have lying around; see below). It handles everything but my wettest pens pretty well.

 

And then there's all the paper I pick up at our local Goodwill store: I've found partially used Black n' Red and Rhodia pads, and any number of barely used boxes of Southworth and Eaton premium papers. I recently found a whole ream of paper in a blank wrap that handles fountain pen ink very nicely, but I have no idea what kind it is. Goodwill stores are also great for partially used journals that I take the paper out of, trim the edges and put on my clipboard, or punch holes in and put in my Franklin Covey planner - using a Franklin Covey 3-hole punch I also found at Goodwill

 

I have so many reams, boxes, journals, etc. on the closet shelf in my study that it's in danger of collapsing...

 

Walt

[JakobS]

Wow!

I like paper....

 

I forgot about a ream of Southworth Linen 60lb paper.

 

That is just my stationery paper, now my loose leaf lined paper....and notebooks....

 

Well, lets just say I am a holistic user of all things writing related.....

Edited March 13, 2018 by JakobS

[sharonspens]

Oh. My. Goodness. This is a hard question.

 

I have a variety of journals, some used, some waiting for a purpose, or to be purposed as gifts.

 

There are several Shinola notebooks, and a couple of others, of various sizes.

 

I have 2 or 3 boxes of Papyrus letter-size stationery. I should have at least one box of fold-over notes from Papyrus, too (second only to Crane for me, in quality).

 

There are at least six boxes of notecards: thank-yous, dog, African animals, east Indian motifs, abstract motifs, and " bad women in history" notecards.

 

From across the room, I can see 8 letterpress cards that I made in a class back in November.

 

I have 150 fold-over notes that are prints of a pen-and-ink drawing of our house (done by a local artist).

 

I have a number of one-off greeting cards and postcards.

 

Finally, there are 23 pads of Tomoe River, and Levenger pads, and a few others.

 

As for seals, I have at least six wax seals and corresponding wax sticks. I also have a carved ink stamp that spells my first name in Chinese.

 

That is the list off the top of my head.

 

Sharon in Indiana

[john74]

I have a nice variety of stationery on hand. Correspondence cards are usually from Crane. But for letter writing, I use plain stationery from Crane, G. Lalo, Clairefontaine, Smythson, Rossi, Strathmore, Amalfi, Original Crown Mill, Tomoe River, and more... I have my favorites, but I like to have options. In total, I have about 100 cards and 1,000 sheets of letter paper in stock. I go trough quite a bit of paper every year, so it is not an unreasonably large stock for me.

 

I have quite a few Travelers Notebook #013 refills in stock since I use them for my diary and I go through a refill every 30-45 days. But I also have notebooks from Midori, Life, Smythson, Seven Seas, Graphic Image, Clairefontaine, Levenger, etc... I really don't go through these general purpose, A5-size notebooks all that quickly, so I have stopped buying more for now.

[bluebellrose]

if you stick to A4 notebook paper, make the excuse of saving it for your grandkids. That's what my mom did. She's like I hoarded a lot of stationery when i was young. Her excuse was to hoard it for her kids. Or let your grandkids and children back to school shop for paper from your collection

Edited March 16, 2018 by bluebellrose

[senzen]

Currently dwindling packets of HP 32 lbs, Tomoe River, Rhodia, Fabriano Ecoqua and Traccia pads, and several Clairefontaine clothbound notebooks. I've had Triomphe and Vergé de France pads, wouldn't mind some again, I'm thinking some blotter paper might work for keeping under my hand as I write, I currently use generic copy paper.

[CraigR]

Currently dwindling packets of HP 32 lbs, Tomoe River, Rhodia, Fabriano Ecoqua and Traccia pads, and several Clairefontaine clothbound notebooks. I've had Triomphe and Vergé de France pads, wouldn't mind some again, I'm thinking some blotter paper might work for keeping under my hand as I write, I currently use generic copy paper.

I also use blotter paper as a shield as I write. I have several packs of blotting paper by J. Herbin that I ordered from one of the on-line places. Size is approx 4 3/4 by 7 1/2 inches.

[Bookman]

My stationery consists of 8½ x 11 Strathmore 25% cotton wove natural white paper, A5 Original Crown Mill laid white paper, and a collection of postcards and notecards I made myself.

[akrohn2010]

Triomphe A5 pads for letter writing, Crane stationary "thank you" cards and blank cards for short personal notes, Rhodia pads of various sizes for lists and quick notes, and a Luechtturm 1917 A5 for my journal.

 

~AK

[Runnin_Ute]

A4 Red N Black wirebound notebook

A5 Leuchtturm notebook

300 sheets Tomoe River 52 gsm cream A4 loose (plus an opened one) I am often using this as A5 sheets simply by folding and tearing in half.

Note cards I get at Office Depot - Gartner cream Box of 50 (Made in China) Paper is pretty good. 50 cards is about $20. I have some left over envelopes from the previous box I have been using for letters.

Plus I have whatever is left from a box of 500 of #10 business envelopes I bought a while back.

Somewhere I have some glue sticks laying around if I choose to make my own envelopes as I have a envelope kit with three different sizes of envelope templates.

Daler Rowney Sketchbook in A5 100 gsm paper

I am sure there are some other things I am forgetting.

 

[TheDutchGuy]

I've always had a weakness for stationary and had accumulated quite a lot of notebooks, large and small. Given that until 6 months ago I only used a Kaweco AL Sport with F nib, I didn't need to be too critical of paper quality. That pen works great on 70 gsm paper. Then a few other fountain pens found my way and I discovered that most of my notebooks were incompatible with those. So I gave all of those away and started to stock up a bit on FP friendly paper. Rhodia 80 gsm is my favorite, much more so than Oxford 90 gsm. A colleague of mine swears by Oxford, but I don't really bond with Oxford. For correspondence I have a bloc of very high quality A5 paper, brand unknown. I've heard people rave about Tomoe so I'll have to try that, but in general I am not prepared to pay a lot of money. For example, why pay 20 euros for a Leuchtturm notebook when I can get a really nice Rhodia notebook for 4 euros? Some of my pens are very, very wet but work wonderfully with Rhodia, no feathering, no bleed, hardly any showthrough. So I will be branching out a bit just because it's fun, but the Rhodia price point is sort of a benchmark for me.

[thudthwacker]

(Looks around the house.) Hoo boy, yeah.

 

I've got the usual collection of notebooks: Apica, Leuchtturm, Rhodia, Clairefontaine, various off-brands. What I use almost exclusively these days, though, it Tomoe River -- usually blank or graph, A5 sized, in my custom Meadowgate Leather traveler's notebook. A pile of unused notebooks recently went to good will -- it was clear I wasn't ever going to use them, and we needed the shelf space.

 

I've got a pack of A4 blank Tomoe River for letters, along with a box of DL-sized envelopes (which are not trivial to acquire in the US, as I found).

 

But where my wife and I really lose it are cards. We've got a number of storage boxes (about large-shoe-box-sized) with various greeting cards; many individual boxes and packs of other cards (most recently, a couple of sets of Discworld greeting cards from "The Discworld Emporium").

 

As we both love postcards, not only do we have an overstuffed storage box of cards we've collected over the years, we also just recently acquired 192 more with vintage art images: 1950's science-fiction movie posters, Christmas gnomes, seed packets, kaiju movie posters, exotic birds, moths and butterflies. And a couple of packs of Discworld postcards.

 

Of course, if you have all that, you need a drawer full of stamps, too -- I've gotten into shopping for old stamps on Ye Bay, so we've got various old releases which we can combine to add up to current rates. And, of course, a good supply of modern Forever stamps.

 

It's a teensy bit out of control. But we really love sending greeting cards and postcards; indeed, we spent a lovely couple of days this past holiday season, all sitting around the dining room table, writing out cards to friends and family. We got the previously-mentioned Christmas gnome cards mainly in preparation for next year's winter holidays.

[Retro-user]

I confess to having a stash of legal pads, Docket Gold white sheets, and Docket yellow sheets. These are the go to choice for drafts and letters. Next, I have a few Dollar General lined 6x9 writing pads for correspondence (jury still out on those). One of my favorites is the Office Depot brand 6x9 steno pads, the kind with NO Gregg ruling down the center. And along with those some Office Depot 4x8 reporter's pads. These are top-bound like a steno, but half-width. I have some 5x7 hardbound journals from Family Dollar, each with ivory pages, and an unlined (blank) Moleskine I'm itching to try. I use a five-subject, made-in-India spiral bound A4 size notebook for calligraphy practice. Of course, there is the obligatory composition book, with a hard cover, in various marbled colors.

Edited December 10, 2018 by Retro-user

[inkstainedruth]

I don't write a lot of letters, so I don't have a lot of stationery. I tend to buy 1 box of notecards at a time. The current box has William Morris designs, and the notecards and envelopes are made in China for a company called Mudlark. The cardstock is sufficiently slick that ink takes a while to dry. Somewhere in my house I have loose sheets in a couple of sizes of Tomoe River and Clairefontaine paper, and I keep cheap #10 and IIRC #6 security envelopes, along with some large manilla envelopes.

Have a number of (mostly inexpensive) composition books, as well as some better quality notebooks and notepads.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth