Moleskines have been playing a big part in my limited discretionary time this month. I've been following the Moleskine community online and keep seeing interesting ideas and observations on writing, using moleskines, drawing, getting things done and more.
As far as I know, the moleskine notebooks are the best ones out there for my needs. I love that there's a really interesting community around it. That doesn't mean I think these things are perfect or that someone couldn't do better. But I'm hoping for all sorts of improvements and options. Modo & Modo are listening and the community is constantly mulling and talking about what works, the experience, add-ons and interesting new uses or possibilities. This is a mutually beneficial relationship that could produce more good things.
Moleskine is here now and it is hot. So, here's the latest. I've got several Moleskines strategically placed around my house, in my backpack and in my car. I bring one along with me either pocket or large 100% of the time if I possibly can. If I've got some spare time, I'll gather up a bunch of them and extract, compile, read and annotate them. Then, I need to return them to their proper places. Sometimes they don't make it back and end up in a pile. Of course, each can be labeled inside. But that isn't quite easy enough. I want the outside to tell me where it goes.
I put Brother labels on them such as *Living Room* and *Bedroom*. But that's not good enough. I want the icon, the graphical speech. So, I've added decorative elements to the fronts and backs. I used some of the Moleskine stickers and tried color coding but that wasn't enough. I started looking for stickers that would be worthy of these books -- my writing, my dreams, my hopes, my goals and notes. Most stickers are really childlike, cutesy things like smiley faces. That won't do.
Recently I found a set of 90 national flags that I've used. Some of these are great. But I really wanted to decorate my Moleskines with art stickers. So I have been looking around locally for them. I finally went to the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco and even they didn't have them.
Finally, I googled for *art stickers* as I had done a few months back with no success. This time I struck pay dirt with Dover Publications online store. Navigation could be better, but they've probably got 25 or 30 sticker sets. These are $1.50 for 16 stickers including Frida Kahlo, Rembrandt, Leonardo Da Vinci, Hopper, Classic Posters, Movie Posters, Kandinsky, Renoir, Egyptian Art, Chagall, Japanese Prints, Audubon, and Tiffany Stained Glass Windows.
As you may remember, I was given a set of stickers of the art of Frida Kahlo and used those on a couple of my Moleskines. And ever since I've been wanting stickers for other artists. So, once I found Dover, I ordered 16 of their sets and am in sticker heaven. I decided to dedicate a Moleskine to a particular artist and put stickers on the front, back and inside front and back. I put at least 8 of my favorites for an artist on the larger moleskines.
So far, I've got Kandinsky, Japanese Prints, Gauguin and Hopper. This is big fun. I'm thinking the extra benefit is the artistic inspiration value of the stickers for me and just the constant exposure to great art even if on a miniature scale. Each book will provide a different feeling and inspiration based on the art. Highly recommended.
There's more that I'm up to and thinking about on this topic. But that's for next time.
Technorati Tags: artstickers, Moleskine, Writing, notebooks
I carry both. My Treo is my cell phone, so I almost always need it with me. Sometimes I wish I had a small cell phone that was just good at being a phone, though. I think if I were a heavy phone user, I might use something that excelled as a phone. No QWERTY, no small numbers. I've yet to master using other functions while I'm on the phone because I don't want to interrupt the call. That's too bad.
