New-To-Me Kuru Toga Pencils

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
“Kuru Toga” Cedar Park, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Koa was moving his pens and pencils to a new pencil bag and decided that he didn’t want his Kuru Toga pencils anymore. He prefers writing with wooden pencils over mechanical (plus the mechanical pencils poke holes in the pencil bag) so he gave me the Kuru Togas. Score!

I already have (and love) a blue 0.5 mm Kuru Toga, but new-to-me is the Uni Alpha-Gel Kuru Toga Mechanical Pencil, minus the nose cover which has gone missing. The gel grip is super-comfy, though! I love it.

The Kuru Toga pencils are so cool because the lead automatically rotates a tiny bit every time you lift the pencil from the page. That way, the lead maintains a a consistent edge. It’s kind of amazing how it works, and also how they actually thought it was a worthwhile feature to develop. Innovation!

I hope you also had a good day. 😊

またね~

Sketch, Watch, and Things

"Sketch and Things" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO1250
“Sketch and Things” Cedar Park, 2019

こんばんは。

Today’s photo is of the daily sketch I made, with my Timex Weekender watch and a few other items for fun. I wore this watch today because I saw an online friend’s Instagram post and it looked so nice that I was inspired! You know how you watch a movie where the characters are drinking, and it makes you want a drink, or they’re smoking and you think a cigarette might be nice? I guess that same sort of thing came over me. 😆

Here’s the Instagram pic, btw:

Somewhat related, here’s an article in Wired about all the booze in the movie Casablanca. (found link via Boing Boing)

I hope you had a good day!

またね~

My Loose-leaf Binder Solution

"Binder Ingredients" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO640
“Binder Ingredients” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

So this weekend I have gotten closer to figuring out the type of binder solution that will work for me. Last year I really got into my Traveler’s Company Passport-size Notebook, but I’ve found that it’s just too small for me. I think the regular size Traveler’s Notebook is also a bit too narrow. The notebook inserts don’t lie flat enough for me to write or draw in comfortably.

Those shortcomings led me to the A5 Binder. First of all, the A5 size is perfect for my sketching and note-taking. I have a bunch of A5-sized notebooks, so I know that these aren’t too small, but I also know that A4 or letter-sized is just too big for me. It would take a lot of writing/drawing to fill one page so that would keep me from starting on a new page. Also, the A5 size binder fits nicely into my messenger bag.

Secondly, the 20-ring binder is good because I can use loose-leaf paper. The advantage of this is that the paper lays flat for easy writing/drawing, or I can even take the paper out of the binder and work on it by itself, then add it back into the binder. And the fact that I can add/remove/reorder pages gives me a lot of freedom!

I actually have a bunch of A5 bound notebooks but I don’t really use them. The reason is that I feel like once I start a new notebook, I have to finish it before moving on to the next one, and also I don’t want to mess up a page and thus “ruin” the whole notebook. I know it’s kind of dumb, but still, it’s holding me back. I have about 10 notebooks sitting on the shelf! But with the loose-leaf paper, that burden is lifted. If I mess up a page, I just throw it away, and no one (me) will ever know it existed.

Another advantage of the binder is that I can mix and match different kinds of paper. For instance, I have graph paper, blank paper, and lined paper all in the single binder. The only things that I wish I had were dot-grid pages and watercolor pages. But the good news is that I should have these two fixed soon, though, because I am planning on printing dot grids on some of my plain paper, and in order to add watercolor pages, I’ve ordered a 20-hole punch. That should give me the freedom to add not only watercolor paper but pretty much any kind of paper (after trimming to A5 size).

One thing I’ve been doing is putting my sketches into the binder. Since I am using drawing paper from my sketchbook, I’ve just been cutting those out and taping them onto blank pages using washi tape. To make a little cleaner, I purchased a Tombow Adhesive Tape tool. But I think since I will have the 20-hole punch soon, it might be easier just to trim the sketchbook page and then hole-punch it.

Lastly, I purchased a clear pen case that also goes into the binder. I’ll probably keep some cash, Instax photos, or other fun stuff in there.

If you already use a loose-leaf type planner or binder, all this might be old hat to you. But for me, I am loving my new “discovery”. It’s great!

Here are the items that I mentioned in this post:

So that’s the current state of my everyday notebook/binder. I’m not sure what to do with the Traveler’s Notebook yet, but I guess I’ll figure out an alternate use for it.

I hope you had a nice Sunday!

またね~

Triptych Sketch

"Triptych" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO640
“Triptych” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

I bought some new paper for my notebook today. It’s a 100-sheet pack of Maruman A5 Plain Paper which I planned to use as a base for taping sketches on top of. But to my pleasant surprise, the smooth, white paper is really nice to sketch on. It erases well (VERY important for me) and it takes ink nicely too! I’m very happy with it. 😄

Today’s sketch was inked with Rohrer & Klingner Verdigris using a Sailor Fude De Mannen pen.

I hope you had a nice day!

またね~

Little Notebook

"No..." Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/70 sec, ISO3200
“No…” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going today?

So I’ve been using my Passport-size Traveler’s Notebook for almost a year now, and I still enjoy it, but I realize that it’s a little limiting. Basically, it’s great for taking notes, but it’s a bit small for sketching. I think it’s difficult because the pages don’t lie as flat as I’d like.

However, I don’t like big, thick sketchbooks either. My preferred size is A5, with spiral binding, and no more than a centimeter thick. The Muji notebooks I bought a few years ago are perfect. I use the dot-grid version for general note-taking both for personal stuff and for work stuff (I have one notebook for each). The paper is smooth and fountain pen ink looks great on it. It’s also nice for sketching!

I’m pretty excited because we’re going to the Muji store in NYC this summer so I can stock up!

I’ve been looking at that Roterfaden A5 notebook and it seems like a perfect solution, but I can’t justify spending that much money on it. I’m sure there’s a cheaper A5 alternative out there that I can use. I just need to do some research! In the meantime, I’ll use my Muji notebooks.

******************

Today’s photo is a sketch I did in my Traveler’s Notebook. I just drew on an old page that I had written on before. Can you guess what those words mean?

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

I hope you had a great day!

またね~