I figured out today what I do when I’m down: I buy paper and pens. Books, stationary, sketch pens—all forms of these things please me. No, no, I just lied to you. Very SPECIFIC forms of these please me. Tonight’s paper splurge? Rhodia graph paper. This is a discovery I feel is late in coming. It's as though I’ve been missing something amazing for YEARS that everybody else has known about and never bothered to mention. Kinda like being blown away by apple juice when you’re twenty. Like, really? Just now? Just now I discover this, after thinking I loved juice all these years? That’s how this paper makes me feel. Absolutely incredible and yet absolutely betrayed by all of my fellow paper whores who NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT IT. Nooooooooooo, I had to stumble upon it in a café, when some chick left a notepad behind and I was thisclose to stealing it before my conscience got the better of me and I left it with the group of people nearby who were with her, as evidenced by the fact that they moved her coat and scarf to free the seat for me. Unless, of course, they were stealing her coat and scarf, in which case, NICE. But I’m not gonna lie--while I didn’t give a lick about taking her outerwear, I WOULD jump her in a dark alley to wrench this pad of thick, glossy graph paper from her ungrateful fists. Instead, in one last ditch effort to save my soul, I held back on this impulse and called Flax, the one art store on my way to Japantown tonight. There were two sizes in particular I wanted and CUE THE CHORUS OF ANGELS, they had them! I had them held under 'Sharon,' as that extra 'a' on the end of my name was really pushing them over the edge, and sprinted over straight after work to score my bounty. And--thanks to calling ahead--I TOTALLY nailed the last ones of the sizes I wanted. If that's not proof in a loving Baby Jesus, I don't know what is. Ten minutes later, with new pads and micron pigma pens (.35mm line width) in hand, I beamed about me, knowing that all was right in the world again. Look at these beauties and tell me you don’t want to weep with joy:
Shall I write you a letter?? Email me your address and I'll jot you a line with my fineline Stabilo point 88, 0.4 mm!
5 comments:
Lordy, those Rhodia pads are making me feel all warm and squishy. Seriously! I love a squared (vs. ruled) pad.
I love the sound new notepads, bound notebooks and books make. Sigggghhhhhhhhhhhh
addendum: the sound they make when you open them for the first time. and their smell.
I was researching fountain pens in 2006ish when I discovered Clairefontaine, then Rhodia--which the Blick Art store in Chicago obligingly carries. I can't believe you just caught up (or that I was ahead of you)!
Rona, I know so well what you're talking about, my love affair with Rhodia started in 1984 when I found them in a Paris bookshop, ahhhh the gridded paper and it was so soft and silky. I still have that pad its now 24 years old unbelievable, I never finished it coz I loved it so much. Trouble here is you can't buy them in Australia, still trying to find a reasonably priced source online to order them! Glad you have such exquisite taste, loved your post!
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