Circa / Arc

[Pentulant]

Looking for a little guidance with Arc / Circa.

 

I tried Arc when it first came out - didn't love it.

 

I see that Levenger has their Circa system that works the same way with lots of paper options.

 

Are most of you have tried either Arc or Circa happy with it? What are the advantages / disadvantages that you've experienced?

 

My main reason for not loving Arc was the size of the rings -vs- how much paper I wanted in my notebook. The other issue was the paper quality. Seems like Circa + some of the papers they sell + punching some of my own papers might be the solution.

 

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and suggestions for success.

[macaddicted]

In my experience with the Circa/Rollabind sets they're a comfortable midpoint between spiral bound and three ring binder holders. You can move pages around in the book like a ring bound, and fold the book over like a spiral bound. I like them for a couple of reasons.

 

First they're easier to use than ring bound pages. RollaBind has a variety of sizes, and Levenger carries even more, so I can tailor my notebooks by the

page count.

 

Second, they work well in place of spiral bound books. When I was in grad school I had to read Church documents that were not in print outside of multi-volume texts. Which someone else had inevitably just checked out of the library. Many are available on the web so I would print them out on half-letter sized pages (Levenger Junior) and bind them with discs.

 

Third, I'm one of those people who has to write things down, preferably before the thought has a chance to run out the other ear. I've tried all sorts of phone/tablet/computer systems. The money would have been better spent on reams of HP 32#.

 

Which leads to my last reason: once I've finished a project I like to get rid of the notes. Which is why bound notebooks never work for me. I see that lovely list with all the items checked off and it leaves me longing for a brush and a bottle of gesso. Circa? Pull the page and crumple.

 

 

Which is not to say they're perfect. Like anything else they're a compromise. They're expensive per book, but the parts are reusable. You essentially need an assembly station since the small hand punch is not useful for anything larger than an index card, and the "portable" punch is hardly that. Turning multiple pages in a group can, literally, be a drag, especially in self-punched pages where the alignment of the tabs is off by a fraction.

 

I'm sure others will come up with reasons pro and con. I would point out, if you don't already know about it, the DIY Planner Web site. It has many templates in letter and half letter size, as well as an application for PC and Mac that will generate calendar pages is various formats.

 

Edit: Something I missed in my original post. Buy a punch and good paper.

Edited November 30, 2012 by macaddicted

[mm1624124]

I have both systems and consider them equal as far as function is concerned. The Arc paper is "decent" in most respects but it seems hit or miss as far as quality and fp friendliness. The Junior Arc paper has been better than the Letter sized paper. The Circa paper is not that great and is generally worse than the Arc paper. I've tried various stock and special order circa paper in varying sizes, and I can't give an endorsement on any of it; there will be varying degrees of feathering, spreading, and bleeding. However, as expected, the Rhodia Circa paper is excellent. My suggestion is buy some decent paper and DIY cut/print paper to your needs. It will be cheaper in the long run plus you'll get customized printing on BETTER paper than either Arc or Circa. That is what I intend to do in the future. I've got a bunch of Circa paper I'll probably sell to someone who isn't a fountain pen fiend. The Circa discs will work with the Arc system. And the Circa or Arc punches seem to be interchangeable. I have a Levenger Circa punch that I use for both systems. I have punched anywhere from 3x5 index cards to 11x17 paper that I double up for the Letter sized notebooks.

 

I love the system for the flexibility it provides me for taking notes, going to meetings, etc. and with the ability to organize based on the need whether by time, site, or topic. I can pull the sheets out and then reassemble in whatever way that is needed. I'm an index card user too, so I can jot down ideas, thoughts, terms, etc., to expand on later. Project notes, to do lists, meeting minutes, business cards, phone number lists, all are now neatly organized in one place and in a way that makes sense to me where before I'd have to pay attention to which notebook I jotted down what and then try to relate those sheets in one place to others in another. I can file the papers away and then organize on the fly months later. Any presentations, articles, agendas, calendar events, can be punched and put in the notebooks too.

 

I agree there are some hassles. If the discs have been filled to near capacity, the sheet tabs tend to pull loose from the discs. You can't just flip a handful of sheets without some care. And initial outlay isn't cheap. I have read about folks trying to use the system for long-term storage or archiving but, so far, its greatest strength is for relatively short-lived activities (days, months, year or so) because of how dynamic it can be. However, I do see some benefits in archiving materials where a person may want to scan or weed out irrelevant and outdated information.

 

Obviously, I'm a huge fan because I finally found something that I can tailor to fit my specific needs and has the ability to adjust on demand. I wish such things existed when I was a student.

Edited December 1, 2012 by mm1624124

[N2theBreach]

+1 to the above.

 

Since the parts are pretty much interchangeable, I bought an ARC leather notebook for $19. It comes with very small discs. I plan to buy bigger discs from Levenger, and cheap notebook covers from staples. The big discs will go into the leather notebook and that will be my main notebook. The cheap covers(with whatever size discs I need to hold the pages) will be my "archive" notebooks. The archive notebooks won't get a lot of wear and tear so I can get buy with cheap covers. I also intend to get punch for printed material.

 

I'm getting by with Staples paper. I've had worse.

 

I have heard that the holes made by Levenger's punch slide easier around the rings.

 

Good luck

[Pentulant]

Thank you, all for your thoughtful responses.

 

I love the idea of something so flexible - I go through so many notebooks for home/work things.

 

My mistake with Arc was stuffing that sucker full of paper and then having trouble easily turning the pages. Of course, I assumed it was a failure on the part of the item. Hahahaha.

 

I will probably take Arc for another spin and if I can get satisfaction from the basic system, will go for some of the better refills from Levenger.

 

Thank you again - I really appreciate that you each posted so many details about the +/- of the systems.

[JefferyS]

I love Circa. I use it with DoubleA paper or HP Laser paper.

[sexauerw]

I'm another one who uses basically Arc system with Levenger discs whenever I need disc sizes that Arc doesn't provide. I have the Levenger punch and tend to put a lot of computer printouts along with my handwritten stuff into the same notebooks, very handy. I've also found that the plastic tabbed dividers make very inexpensive covers, especially in the junior size. I don't always need the regular heavy-duty covers.

[Jamesbmorley]

The Arc paper is really high gsm - higher than the Optik paper by Oxford - I find it too high for se pens like my Sonnet.

[dork]

This is a little different, but I use Cairefontsine’s Clairing series of notebooks. It is basically the Atoma system but with CF paper

 

I really like how easy it is to use, and the fact that I can buy different disc sizes if I ever need to fit more paper in! I think the only reason I haven’t switched to Levenger’s Circa system yet is that they don’t offer blank Rhodia refills (since they only seem to offer ones with a layout I don’t want on them).

[crunchmaster]

I like it. I got an Arc punch on sale at Staples (much cheaper than Levenger's, but it seems quite sturdy!), and one of the poly-cover notebooks. I enjoy it much more than a 3-ring binder, even more than the great Mead Flex Notebinders. It's more compact, and quicker to move pages around, and even easier to turn pages. And the many disc slots are stronger than the few holes punched for 3-rings.

 

If I didn't have a punch I wouldn't use it, because I don't dig the idea of buying special paper at special prices. And the Levenger punch seems too expensive to me. But the Arc punch at 25% off made it worth it for me.

[Anne-Sophie]

There is a blog post comparing Atoma and Arc

 

Atoma vs Arc

 

In the U.S http://www.myndology. makes beautiful disc-bound Atoma style notebooks in letter and junior, index card and business card size. They have poly covers in colorful or opaque black, translucent black and translucent dark grey.

 

There is also a choice of cardstock covers in muted warm color tones.

 

You can also buy extra rings and transparent covers.

 

 

If I ever go in the disk notebook direction, Myndology, Atoma and Clairing would be my choice.

 

I have seen Clairing, Myndology and Circa and the first two disks seem to be thicker and have a wider "lip" which, I think, would retain paper better while turning pages in a hurry.

 

Myndology colorful cover notebook in Junior size with ruled paper are available at the Container Store in the U.S.

 

I am not affiliated with any of the brands I described and I also don't know the quality of Myndology paper.

 

Atoma is from Belgium and Clairing is French Clairefontaine both countries are known to have many fountain pen users.

 

 

If any of those brands made ring notepads covers, I would be all over them in a hurry.

Edited December 2, 2012 by Anne-Sophie

[DanF]

I have a few of the ARC leather covered notebooks that were picked up on sale, most half price. The main advantages I see over three ringed binders is the fact that the three ringed are much harder on paper, and the ARC can be folded back on itself when writing, so uses less space. With 11 rings, each hole in the paper is subjected to less stress compared to the three ring system, as the stress is spread out among the 11 holes, rather than concentrated on the three.

 

Also, an ARC notebook opens and especially closes more easily - the cover and the paper are all on the same track, as it were, whereas with a three ring, the paper tends to bunch up at either the front or back, and has to be coaxed to the middle, as it is following the rings, while the cover is simply folding at it's joint. The result is a lot of stress being applied to the three holes in the paper, eventually causing sheets to tear in this vulnerable area.

 

I print my own paper for the notebooks, using different templates for whatever the purpose of the notebook is. I like Cornell lined because there is lots of space for revision in a first draft or note taking activity, but it's not very space efficient for final work, or things not subject to revision.

 

Circa rings can be had that are much more attractive (and expensive) and come in a wider range of sizes than ARC. I even made my own rings (on a lathe) for a little 3 ring circa style pocket notebook, but making 11 rings would be a very time consuming project.

 

I could never use a bound notebook. not enough room for error or reorganization.

 

Dan

Edited December 2, 2012 by DanF

[sarahfar]

The Levenger Circa either Behance or Rhodia is outstanding, Lots of options including dot matrix, leather covers and ultra smith fine papers.... Someone was kind enough to send me several samples after I asked bout the paper they were using and it lead to me ordering a bunch. It is really neat and Levenger if you get close to any of the locations is really a nice place to visit.

 

Best,

[Pentulant]

Thank you again for all of the responses.

 

Had a bit of an early holiday gift exchange today and one of the items was a generous gift card to Levenger. Circa it is!

 

It is really neat and Levenger if you get close to any of the locations is really a nice place to visit. I actually had no idea there were physical locations! Going to check it out!

[Linsolv]

I picked up an Arc a week or two ago. I love it. The Arc paper is... eh. It's not awful. But the real advantage is that now I have a notebook/planner that is 100% customizable. Also, I may have had the hobby of making forms and paper styles in Illustrator long before I got into the hobby of fountain pens. Which may help my enjoyment of the notebook. I only wish that covers were easier to come by, so I could get just a cover without having to make it translucent poly.

Edited December 16, 2012 by Linsolv