Paper Doll
Super Paper Doll Saves the Day! Organizing Comic Book Collections
Comic books. Graphic novels. Whatever you call them, and whether they’re kept for sentimental reasons or investment purposes, they’re definitely not kid stuff.
Organizing comic books involves two separate but equally important elements, physically organizing the actual books and maintaining an informational database so that you know what you have, where it’s kept, and the features that determine the value.
PHYSICAL ORGANIZATION
1) Handling comics
I may sound like your mother (or Paper Mommy), but washing your hands removes surface oils, preventing damage to the covers or pages. Serious collectors might even want to try the white glove treatment. Handle comic books by the open edges of pages rather than the spines or stapled edges. Avoid fully opening thicker books, which creates stress marks and creases on the spine.
2) Storing comics
Archival products exist specifically for organizing comic books:
Boxes — Collectors prefer archival-quality, acid-free cardboard boxes in one of two sizes. The first, called Long Boxes, are 27.25″ long by 7.5″ wide by 10.8″ high, and hold approximately 300 comic books. Short Boxes are 15.75″ long by 7.5″ wide by 10.75″ high, and hold about 100 comic books.
Mylar Sleeves — These bags are considered the container of choice for individual comics. If you’re just trying to maintain a tidy collection, with no anticipation of keeping comics for investments, the sleeves aren’t essential. However, because they do keep dust, dirt and moisture away from the comics, mylar sleeves are superior to other alternatives. They come in two sizes: the smaller 6 7/8″ by 10.5″ fit standard-sized comic books, while larger books, like graphic novels and annuals, should be contained in 8″ by 10.5″ sleeves.
Backboards — Comic book aficionados use boards between vertically-stored books to prevent damage to the corners, edges and spines. For archival purposes, the boards should be acid-free; most are manufactured this way but degrade over time.
For shorter-term storage purposes (i.e., less than five years), collectors can buy boards with 24-point solid bleached sulfphate coating on one white side, against which the book rests. For longer-term storage, collectors prefer virgin, alkali-buffered backboards. Put the book on top of the board, and slide the book/board combo into the mylar sleeve.
Divider boards are used to divide sets of titles. The name of each title or series should be written (or affixed with tapes printed by label makers) on the index tabs of the dividers.
Storage conditions are crucial. Humidity, extreme heat and bright sunlight are like kryptonite to comic books. Create a bat cave for your comics — keep them dry (in 50-60% relative humidity), cool (preferably at 70 F or below) and away from direct sunlight (and preferably, in a dark storage space). Avoid storing collections in basements or near pipe-bearing walls to lessen the risk of water damage.
Be sure not to pack comics too tightly together. Doing so won’t merely squish the books, potentially damaging the pages, spines, and corners. Tightly packed comic books, like overstuffed filing cabinet drawers, will make you reluctant to put away newer acquisitions, leaving them open to the elements, more likely to become damaged and disorganized.
3) Supervising your collection
If you collected fine china figurines, you’d make time to dust your collection and inspect it for damage. You need to check your comics, too, to make sure they show no signs of mold, mildew, fading, bleeding or color transfer.
4) Organizing your comics
There are two general options:
Organize meticulously, such as alphabetically by sub-collection (e.g., each Marvel superhero) and then chronologically by issue date or issue number.
OR
Organize loosely, perhaps by date of acquisition or by no feature at all, but carefully index exactly what comics are in which boxes, at which positions.
Surprised by the second option? Zam! Pow! I’m a bit shocked to suggest it, but as I researched this topic, I found that comics have much in common with the current discussion among professional organizers regarding organizing email and electronic files. While many of us still believe in creating specific folders and sub-folders and keeping similar items together, other organizers follow the notion that search, rather than system, should be the focus.
Organizing by individual collection intuitively makes more sense, because all items of a particular type (like Spiderman issues from 2000-2010) are immediately accessible. However, if you have a large collection, this involves filing away each item in the appropriate box. It also involves creating a box numbering system which can get complex if you overflow box 6 with S (Silver Surfer, Spiderman, Superman, etc.) but box 7 already has T-starting comics. Such a numerical system would yield Library of Congress or Dewey Decimal complexity fairly quickly.
Conversely, though I’m loathe to suggest it, simply storing newly acquired books and logging them in an indexing system (so that their exact placement requires only a quick keyword search for retrieval), is probably the wave of the future.
CATALOGING AND INDEXING
A basic spreadsheet can be used to keep track of your collection. It may suffice to merely track the title, issue number, and box number or location. However, if you’re going to make the effort to design a database, create columns for a variety of data points or key tags, including:
Publisher
Series
Title/Subtitle
Main character
Second characters
Publication date
Issue number
Price paid
Estimated value for insurance purposes
Location (Physical location in house/office, box number and position)
Condition
Comments (regarding condition, acquisition history, etc.)
Once you’ve created your database spreadsheet, you’ll be able to use the Filter and Sort functions to search by specific parameters. It also makes sense to create a header row and use “freeze headers” so that when you scroll up and down (or to the left and right), the informational headers will remain in place, limiting confusion when you’re entering information in cell DD837.
Keep backups on flash drives, external drives and/or in cloud solutions (like Dropbox). If your collection has significant value, keep a digital or paper copy of the updated information in your safe deposit box or fireproof safe for insurance purposes. To navigate your collection quickly, keep a printed index near your collection boxes.
If you’re serious about your comic book collection, investigate the various digital database options available, whether via software installed on your computer or an online service. Visit online forum discussions and chat with your favorite comic book store proprietor to determine which cataloging system fits your organizational (and financial) needs. Some popular options include:
Stash My Comics is considered a leading free comic book cataloging website, with a database of hundreds of thousands of comics already listed. Once you create an account, import your “stash” (information regarding the elements of your collection) and search the extensive database in order to add items and view publisher-provided and other details, including estimated values of certain issues. Create folders and sub-folders to organize your comics for your needs.
Stash My Comics lets you set and revise the tags and categories under which any title is listed, create an automated “pull list” to stay aware of newly-released material, create and share wish lists, and search by a variety of features, including publisher, characters, creators and more.
Stash My Comics is supported by advertising and user donations.
ComicBase is reputed to have the world’s largest comic book database and integrates information on 450,000+ titles. Owners can use the barcode jump feature to directly access a title’s information using the EAN/UPC number printed on the cover. For power-owners who want to purchase, sell or evaluate collection data when away from home, ComicBase can track a collection’s purchase cost and generate various inventory reports.
ComicBase has four editions, and upgrading between systems is simple. The download-only Free version handles collections of up to 500 titles and includes 250 cover images. CoverBase Express is available via download or CD for $49.95 and can handle any size collection and provides 5000 cover images, as well as one year of free downloadable price and issue updates.
ComicBase Pro, for power users, is a $129 database package, available via DVD-ROM. It includes 20,000 full-color images, expanded storyline information, creator credits, price history graphs and customizable fields. The Pro edition also includes support for wireless devices. The ComicBase Archived Edition comes on 3 DVD-ROMs, includes 240,000 high definition full-color images, exclusive creator interviews, and downloadable covers. The Archived Edition is $299.
Collectorz Comic Book Database Software works for Mac and Windows. Enter titles via your keyboard or use a hand-held scanner (or even your cell phone) to read the cover barcodes, and the system will automatically download a variety of information from the database regarding a comic book’s features.
Collectorz allows you to add comics, manage and edit your database, and create customizable views of your collection by your preferred organizing patterns. For example, you can view by list, images, or cover flow (just like in iTunes). Other features allow you to export and share your comics lists, and more.
The downloadable version of Collectorz Comic Book Database Software comes in a Standard Edition for $29.95 or a Pro Edition for $49.95.
If you prefer a non-download solution granting access to your collection information from anywhere, the Collectorz Comic Collector Connect is an online-only solution.
Sign up for a free trial by providing your email address or logging in through Facebook. After the trial, Comic Collector Connect is $19.95 per year.
INSURANCE, APPRAISALS and GRADING
Comic book collections aren’t generally covered under standard homeowners’ or renters’ insurance policies. Speak to your insurance agent regarding a separate rider to cover all possible eventualities, including theft or damage due to fire, burst pipes or other unanticipated events.
For valuable collections, it’s worth having grading, completed by nationally respected experts, such as CGC Comics or Professional Grading eXperts. Such a service will include an appraisal by a panel of comics experts, and encapsulation, or official sealing in an archival acrylic “well” using alkali buffers. Additionally, if you need to “breach containment” to show a prospective buyer an item in your collection, such a service will re-seal the comics and provide certification of the ongoing value.
GOING DIGITAL
With greater use of Kindles, Nooks and iPads, digital comic books and graphic novels may eventually usurp the paper versions. While it exceeds the limits (in content and character count) of this post, I encourage you to read Whitson Gordon’s excellent Lifehacker post, A Comic Book Lover’s Guide To Going Digital.
Paper Doll Sees the Writing On the Wall: Part Two — Chalking It Up
Pop Quiz!
Do you know the recipe for paper disaster?
It’s a house or office full of sticky notes, torn pages from spiral notebooks and scribbles on the backs of napkins and envelopes, with no rhyme or reason, let alone system, for pulling it all together. Sometimes, we need folders and tickler files and clipboards. Other times, digitally scanning the information is the solution. But these options work best when you need the information at your fingertips, palm-sized, at arm’s length and eyeball height.
But what do you do when you need your ideas and information super-sized?
Last week, we talked about the inventive ways in which whiteboard paint can be used to expand the creative canvasses on which we track messages, mind-map ideas, list To Do items and generally get thoughts out of our heads and onto firmer ground (or firmer walls, actually). A stellar advantage of whiteboards and whiteboard paint is that information that is transitory in nature can be made memorable, accessible and useful…and then can be deleted without wasting paper or even having to bother with recycling.
Paper is superior in many circumstances, but for sharing vital messages or story-boarding a plan for all to see, taking over some wall space can be ideal. However, the corporate-birthed whiteboards are not the only option. We can also go back to basics — to kindergarten, even — to delight in the utility of chalkboards.
CHALKBOARD PAINT
We tend to think of those old, squeaky chalkboards as the province of academia. But chalkboards have come a long way (since we were babies), Baby. Turning your nearest garage, mudroom, or hallway wall into a message center or creative space or giant notepad is as simple as picking up some acrylic chalkboard paint from your nearest Lowe’s or Home Depot, or ordering online.
We tend to think of chalkboards in terms of the standard Grammar School Green or Senior High Slate Grey. Benjamin Moore eschews a vibrant wall, and like the original Model T’s, its Studio Finishes chalkboard paint comes in quarts of any color you want — as long as it’s black.
Quarts of Krylon brush-on paint also come only in black, take 60-minutes to dry to the touch, and 24 hours before they’re ready to use. Krylon 12-ounce cans of spray-on chalkboard paint create durable slate-like finishes that are dry to the touch 15 minutes after application, and fully dry after three hours. It’s safe for use on wood, metal, glass, plaster, ceramic, paper and paper mch. But green and black are your only options.
With standard Rust-Oleum chalkboard paint, which comes in quarts for use with rollers or brushes (and needs three days to dry), and spray paint for direct application (taking just 24 hours to dry), green and black chalkboard surfaces are just the beginning.
Rust-Oleum makes a Chalkboard Tint Base in stirring (no pun intended) colors like Raspberry, Fresco Red, Garnet, Periwinkle, Grape Fizz, Deep Teal, Banner Blue and six others.
Just add the tint to the basic chalkboard paint to jazz up your workspace or make an area of your home a little more colorful. With or without tint, the paint can be applied to metal, wood, masonry, drywall, plaster, glass, concrete, unglazed ceramics, hardboard and just about any fixed surface on which you might like to write or draw.
Modern chalkboard paint provides a panorama of other colorful options. For smaller spaces, like a drawing board just the right size for your pre-schooler, or to create a chalkboard just big enough for desk-side notes-to-self, Plaid Enterprise’s Folk Art line has ten color options in eight-ounce jars – somber shades like Camouflage, Green and Slate Gray, along with peppier Purple, Red and Hot Pink.
Hudson Paint has thirty remarkably bright and vivid chalkboard paint colors,
from Paper Doll‘s favorite (Genius Pink Genius) to a classy (High Society) taupe. These paints come in eight-ounce, quart and gallon containers.
Once you’ve picked your paint, pencil-sketch your measurements and then apply painter’s tape to delineate the borders. Start by painting a small portion of your wall to get a sense of how it works for you. Once it’s dry, keep a bright supply of art chalk in a plastic bucket so that the whole family can leave reminders and alerts: “Tomorrow is trash day!” or “Watch out for broken glass in the kitchen!”. You can even “play restaurant” and put up tonight’s dinner menu. In the office, create mind maps to plan your next big project or track progress on particular goals.
DECALS
Of course, some of you are no more likely to pick up a paintbrush than Paper Doll is. If you’re not a Do-It-Yourselfer, instead of painting a chalkboard, consider peel-and-stick chalkboard decals for designing areas sized to fit your life and work spaces.
Wallies makes 9″ x 12″ vinyl-backed, peel-and-stick, removable and re-positionable chalkboard sheets that are perfect for individual drawings and memos, or for grouping to create erasable calendars. They come in standard Slate Gray,
Blueprint Blue 
and Grape 
, at $16.99 for four sheets or $9.99 for two.
If you prefer a larger canvas for your shining ideas, Wallies carries a 25″ x 28″ Big Chalkboard for $24.99.
And for a little cozier atmosphere, Wallies also carries decorator styles of decals, like this $9.99 Frilly Chalkboard.
Simple Shapes is an other vinyl-backed chalkboard decal option, which, instead of chalk, uses innovative dust-free, smear-proof, wet-wipe, 1mm or 6mm Chalk Ink™ chalkboard ink pens.
For elegant chalkboard calendars, Simple Shapes has a 43″ x 27″ classic gridded set-up
for $64, also available without the vertical memo section, for $35. The calendar portion, which appears to be 30+ separate decals, is actually applied as one piece. For those who prefer to round out their days (pun entirely intended) with a big, visible calendar, Simple Shapes has a similar 32′” x 32″ option for $68.
For a fun wall-sized alternative to a ripped-from-the-notepad piece of paper, there’s a 20″ x 23″ chalkboard wall memo decal.
A WEDDING SEATING CHART MADE IN HEAVEN
One hopes that a marriage will last longer than most chalkboard doodles. Still, Paper Doll wishes to honor the Best In Show strategy for using chalkboarding to organize information. Wedding Coordinator La’Di Events covered a simple piece of birch plywood with chalkboard paint and, using colorful Chalk Ink™ pens, created a fun seating chart for a client’s wedding.
@2010 La’Di Events
PERMANENCE
I’m sure some of you might be worried about what would happen if you organized your thoughts on chalkboards, as discussed today, or the whiteboards we looked at last week. You know how easy it is to pile up papers around you to assuage your fear of losing proof of your epic genius. (It’s why you probably never delete anything from your computer, either.) But just because chalkboards and whiteboards are erasable doesn’t mean all of the information is need be permanently erased.
Recall Paper Doll‘s advice about saving sentimental clutter. I shared the utility of that childhood taunt — Take a picture, it’ll last longer! There’s no reason why you can’t snap a digital shot of your important storyboards, work plans or calendars on a daily or weekly basis. If you’re afraid an over-ambitious cleaning crew (or “helpful” child) will wipe your brilliance off the wall — and off the map — just snap!
Keep the greatness eternally — just skip the paper clutter. End of lesson.
Paper Doll Sees the Writing On the Wall: Part One — Dazzling With Dry-Erase
It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than a year since I wrote Morning, Noon and Night: Alternatives To Paper. I’m delighted to find that it’s been one of the most popular posts for people to revisit. So, for the next few posts, we’re going to dig deeper into the paper alternatives that can help us lead more organized lives.
There are times when only paper will do, and there are certainly times when digital alternatives reduce clutter, streamline efforts and provide excellent solutions. And then there are the times (like the drizzly days we discussed last week) when neither is quite right. In particular, when you need to see the whole story writ large, the writing on the wall, as it were, you really need a big idea to see the big picture.
“PEEL. STICK. DONE.”
At-A-Glance WallMates™ (from MeadWestvaco) brings the advantages of dry-erase boards to the world of planning. And, as we know, planning is an essential ingredient in productivity for organizing your time and tasks.
WallMates™ are self-adhesive, re-positionable dry-erase writing surfaces. They’re made of thick .5 mil (0.127 mm) vinyl and backed with removable, medium-tack, pressure-sensitive adhesive. WallMates™ are like the 3M Command-brand hooks we professional organizers love so much. They’re easy to install, require no special tools, and hold firmly, but they can be easily removed and placed elsewhere, with no damage to the clean, hard, dry surfaces to which they are affixed, and no residue is left behind. Because the adhesive portion is thick, it’s less likely to curl or wrinkle.
WallMates™ come in four styles — three planners and one blank writing page:
- Weekly — 24″ x 18″ vertical layout with a weekly (Monday-Sunday) undated format
- Monthly — the undated monthly (Sunday-Saturday) block calendar comes in three horizontally-arrayed sizes: 12″ x 18″, 18″ x 24″ and 24″ x 36″
- Yearly — 18″ x 24″ vertical layout with a 12-month, dated yearly calendar for long-range planning
- Blank Writing Surface — available in three sizes: 12″ x 18″, 18″ x 24″ and 24″ x 36″, positionable horizontally or vertically, as desired.
The company estimates that each WallMate™ can be used approximately 10 times. Each WallMate™ comes with a 3-year self-adhesive reference calendar and a dry-erase marker.
WallMates™ are modular, and can be used paired or in groups to keep track of progress, important notes and dates, and the blank writing pages can be arrayed vertically or horizontally to create useful planning spaces. For example, each monthly calendar page could be flanked by vertically-arrayed medium-sized blank writing pages, or the smaller monthly and blank surfaces, positioned horizontally, next to a vertical weekly page, could provide a tight grouping of big-picture planning options:
WallMates™ can be used on painted drywall, stainless steel, wood, glass and painted metal. Understandably, it’s less suitable for interior brick walls or stucco, as the bumps and voids in the surface area mean uneven surfaces, or fabric-covered walls because lint becomes fused to the adhesive material.
WallMates™ would be great for offices and conference rooms, makeshift classrooms, dorm rooms and even kitchens or hallways, and can be used with any brand or type of dry-erase marker. They can be cut to fit unique spaces, in case your office is that weird cubby under the stairs with an angled ceiling.
WallMates™ can be purchased from Amazon or wherever you buy office supplies, and elements retail from $9-$25.
PAINT THE TOWN
Idea Paint says,
Whether it’s a whiteboard that just doesn’t offer enough room, a classroom budget exceeded by the cost of available resources, or a child’s drawing that needs to expand beyond the boundaries of an 8″ x 11″ piece of construction paper, sometimes, you need to create a bigger canvas.
IdeaPaint can turn any surface into a seamless dry-erase surface, whether for brainstorming in an office:
or trying to set a creative mood:
In work spaces, you begin with a primer coat of BASE, or other recommended primer, and then select one of three IdeaPaint products, each available in kits which contain enough paint to cover 50 square feet of surface. Each kit also includes a roller, stir stick, can opener and Wet Paint sign, and retails for $175.
CREATE is their newest line of easy-to-apply, odorless dry-erase paint which can be applied with a roller or spray applicator. There seems to be a little confusion regarding CREATE’s available colors. The web site says CREATE comes in white, Glance Gray, Show Sand, Natural White, Big Gray — no relation to Big Grey (Meredith) and Little Grey (Lexie) on Grey’s Anatomy, Arena Blue, Fresh Green and Mod Beige. (But let’s be honest: not only has there never been a truly mod beige, mod hasn’t even been mod in a very long time.) However, a recent blog post lists a few other limited-availability colors.
PRO is a super-durable, solvent-based dry-erase coating. It comes with a lifetime warranty and is available in these five, muted, office-appropriate colors.
CRE-8 (yes, one imagines it’s very confusing to explain whether you want CREATE or CRE-8 when ordering by phone) is a high performance water-based dry-erase paint that comes with a 10-year warranty. (CRE-8 came first; CREATE is apparently IdeaPaint 2.0.) It comes in the five calming colors above, as well as Gray, Orange, Light Green and IdeaPaint-Brand Blue.
At home, the new water-based product of choice is the aptly-named HOME paint, available in kits designed for 6, 20 or 40 sq. ft. of coverage. HOME is designed to help create smaller writing/drawing spaces — perfect for kids’ tabletops, playhouse interiors, playroom walls, fridges or doors. HOME is currently available only in white and kits retail for $30, $75 and $140, respectively.
Draw or write on IdeaPaint with standard dry-erase markers, or pick up some cheerily bright, low-odor, ergonomic WRITE markers.
IdeaPaint has environmental advantages, too. Instead of sending reams of paper to the landfills, you can create ideas and designs on one renewable surface. IdeaPaint can even be applied on old, not-so-gently-used white boards to refresh their surfaces.
IdeaPaint also has a smaller carbon footprint than traditional dry-erase boards, whose energy-hogging manufacturing includes baking and curing, whereas IdeaPaint is simply stirred. As it’s lighter than an actual whiteboard, less fuel is needed to ship IdeaPaint to your destination.
IdeaPaint is formaldehyde-free, conforms to all U.S. EPA regulations (including California) and is certified low-emission paint that is both LEED compliant and GREENGUARD Children & School certified. For classroom and home use, it can replace allergy- and asthma-inducting chalk dust particulates.
GIVE ‘EM A WINK
For some people, aesthetics are as important as function — if it’s not pretty, they won’t see it, remember it or do it. Unfortunately, we don’t all have the artistic ingenuity to make a bold statement on our own. Paper Doll is known for Pictionary skills so poor that my freehand cows, cars and maps of the United States are largely indistinguishable. For people like me, there’s a better way.
Unlike IdeaPaint, which paints a color onto a surface to turn it into a dry-erase board, Wink (Walls Love Ink) creates a clear coating over whatever painted or paintable surface you already have. So if you’ve got your own perfectly-blended proprietary shade of pink (and seriously, who doesn’t?) and want to mind-map your big ideas, you can make it all write-on/wipe-off with the application of one clear coat of Wink.
Wink is a low-VOC (volatile organic compound), water-based, environmentally-friendly, odorless product. One $175 kit covers up to 90 square feet and appears pretty easy to apply. However, Wink’s web site says that it should be mixed and “installed” (I think you and I would say applied) only by professional installers. Make of that what you will.
Wink is currently available only in the United States.
MAKE IT POP
WallPops makes dry-erase calendars and removable wall decals for organizing your time and space with color and flair. Their mix-and-match peel-and-stick design elements of dots, stripes and squiggles can be used purely for aesthetic purposes, for offices, nurseries, playrooms and elsewhere:
However, the options for organized messaging and planning really caught Paper Doll‘s design eye. For simple reminders, 13″ re-positionable/removable, write-on/dry-erase dots ($14.99 for a set of three)
and 13″ x 17 3/4″ dry-erase bordered-boards ($14.99/board)
with whimsical names and zippy colors will snazz things up. The dry-erase calendars ($11.99-14.99), also 13″ x 17 3/4″, can be used on their own,
in multiple-month sets ($20.99),
and/or in tandem with the similarly-themed dots and borders, to create colorful, unified themes. And for those who prefer free-style to traditional calendaring, WallPops makes write-on/wipe-off Apps Weekly Dots
and day-of-the-week Holiday Dots (both 14.99 for sets of eight 4″ dots on two 13″ x 13″ adhesive sheets).
All WallPop dry-erase items come with a dry-erase marker.
Will all of these glorious options, how could anyone ever dare to say that organizing is about as much fun as watching paint dry?
Paper Doll Writes Between the Raindrops: Waterproof Notebooks
Paper Doll knows you’re keeping track of a lot of information. Chances are good that you use a digital device for jotting down notes on the run. Digital is dandy…except in a downpour. If it’s raining or snowing, a non-digital alternative is often preferable.
That said, paper isn’t always the best way to deal with the problem, either. Rain. Fog. Snow. Humidity. All of these make it pretty difficult to organize your thoughts without ink bleeding through a mess of soggy papers. And if you’re the sort to send an assignment notebook through the washing machine, or have ever found yourself with a squishy pile of drenched notes after righting an overturned kayak, you know that water and paper are not the best of buddies.
Happily, there’s a nifty third option — one that avoids shorted out digital devices as well as soggy papers. Waterproof notebooks!
WATERPROOF SOLUTIONS FOR WATERLOGGED WRITERS
Do you scoff? Do you wonder who really needs such a thing? Waterproof notebooks are stellar options for:
- Private detectives — especially of the film noir variety, as it’s always drizzling in those stakeout scenes
- Military personnel, police officers, and firefighters
- Poolside novelists — when you get the burst of inspiration in the middle of doing the butterfly, can you really wait until you’ve completely dried off?
- Sailors, boaters, fishermen, and lobstermen (and women, of course) — because you really don’t want to risk someone yelling, “iPad overboard!”
- Shower sages — so you don’t forget those notions that come to you mid-shampoo
- Coaches, scorekeepers, golfers and other athletes — because keeping track of stats during outdoor sporting events often means keeping dry notes, even if you can’t keep a dry eye when your team is losing
- Outdoorsy adventurers, campers, and divers — in other words, people who are the exact opposite of Paper Doll, Paper Mommy and our ilk
- Bird-watchers — who don’t seem so bothered by morning mists or summer showers, but whose disposition sours at the thought of losing data on a Wilson’s Warbler
- Agricultural workers
- Geological surveyors
- Veterinarians and vet students specializing in farm, zoo and other large animals
- Engineers and contractors working on outdoor projects
- Seattle residents and the cast and crew of Portlandia
- All the rest of us who might need to keep track of survival information during hurricanes, floods, and other inclement weather
Luckily, there’s no dearth of alternatives in the waterproof notebook market.
THE OPTIONS
Rite in the Rain makes a big splash as a major player in the field of waterproof writing. The All-Weather Notebooks evoke the sense of a bright yellow rain slicker and puddle-jumping boots.
The pages are particularly heavy-duty, tear-resistant and durable — a little humidity, coffee or sleet won’t do them in. They come in two styles: weatherproof and truly waterproof, and it is advised to use waterproof pens with Rite in the Rain notebooks.
Rite in the Rain weatherproof notebooks all include durable polyethylene covers and come in a wide array of styles, including:
Shirt Pocket Notepad — 3″ x 5″, 50 sheets, top-spiral, with a 1/4″ grid pattern. Also available with a buff or green cover — but isn’t the yellow spiffier?
Hip Pocket Notepad — 4″ x 6″, 50 pages, top spiral, with a 1/4″ grid, and also available with the buff or green covers
Reporter’s Notebook — 4″ x 8″, 50 sheets, 1/4″ ruled
Mini Side Spiral Notebook — 3 1/4″ x 5″, 50 sheets, 1/4″ ruled
Small Side Spiral Notebook — 4 5/8″ x 4″, 32 sheets, ruled or grid pattern
Large Side Spiral Notebook — 8 /12″ x 11″, 42 sheets, ruled or grid pattern, rigid back cover for support
All-Weather Sketch Book — 8 /12″ x 11″, 42 sheets, blank, with a top spiral
Other intriguing specialty notebooks include a Beef Calving Record Book, a Fire Investigation Field Book and a Job Hazard Analysis notebook.
Rite in the Rain Field Books have weatherproof paper and a “fabrikoid” hardbound cover. Each 80 sheet notebook is 7 1/2″ x 4 5/8″ and comes in a wide variety of styles, including universal, field and birder journals, as well as environmental and geology field books, each with its own unique style of ruled lines and grids.
For those who are in over the heads — literally — Rite in the Rain makes DuraRite notebooks for use in extreme weather conditions and even under water. They aren’t as fashion-forward as their bright yellow cohorts, but the DuraRite Shirt Pocket, Hip Pocket and Side Spiral notebooks use an entirely waterproof synthetic paper to ensure the safety of creative and scientific endeavors.
Rite in the Rain’s products retail for $4 to $20. For slightly more, customized versions are available — just choose your page patterns and preferred colors for covers, cover inks, paper and interior text.
Of course, Paper Doll would be a wet blanket if she didn’t provide a few spiffy wet-weather alternatives.
Emergency Zone, whose focus is survival and emergency kits and tools, has an All Weather Memo Pad that comes in a flashy red top-spiral assignment notebook.
Unlike the Rite in the Rain products, for which weatherproof/waterproof pens are suggested, pencils also work fine with the Emergency Zone All-Weather Memo Pad. Retailing from $3 to $7, it is waterproof and suitable for putting in a Grab & Go bag. No information regarding the number of pages or dimensions was available from the company.
Ritchie Navigation’s Wet Notes are completely waterproof 4 1/2″ by 7 1/4″ pocket notebooks with hard yellow plastic covers over the wide white interior side-spiral binding.
The 45-page notebook lies flat when open and comes with a soft lead pencil. The compass company’s products can be found at marine retailers nationwide. Ritchie also makes a 40-page 3″ x 5″ Wet Notes top-spiral notebook with a similar yellow plastic cover.
The Nalgene Waterproof PolyPaper Notebook is a bit of a conundrum. Scientists likely appreciate Nalgene’s 100-sheet Polyolefin waterproof notebooks for their exceptional durability, water- and chemical-resistance and smudge-proof performance under harsh field conditions.
The 4 x 4 gridded paper cannot be used with pencils, but accepts a wide variety of inks, including gels, technical markers and ballpoints. Pages are numbered 1-96, with title and Table of Contents pages at the front. The paper can actually be washed and dried flat, like favorite sweaters!
However, the mystifyingly high price tag of $70.80 per notebook makes one wonder if one has swallowed too much swamp water. Certain that Lab Safety Supply had made a typo, I checked Forestry Suppliers, Inc., only to find their prices merely $2 lower, and Ben Meadow’s forestry suppliers had the same pricing as Lab Safety. Casebound hard-cover Nalgene PolyPaper notebooks are similarly priced at Amazon.
Either I’m missing something vital, or the accounting departments of various university labs are going to erect a monument to Paper Doll once this post goes viral. (Readers, you do intend to make this post go viral, don’t you?)
Wiley’s Waterproof Notebook will do the job, but the water-themed bubbly blue cover may be a little too cute and on-the-nose for some (like our Sam Spade wannabes). It retails for about $7.95 for 64 spiral-bound pages, and a pencil, rather than a waterproof pen, is recommended.
Unfortunately, the exact measurements were not available from the company or their retail outlets. However, if you teach sailing, camping, outdoor biology labs, or other classes where adverse weather is an issue, you can request an evaluation copy to see if it would be suitable for your students’ needs.
INTERNATIONAL WATERS
International readers, you haven’t been forgotten.
The indelicately-named Suck UK is both a product design company and purveyor of odd but enchanting gifts and accessories for the home. I’m particularly a fan of their organizer-friendly products like Peel & Stick postcards and magnetic tea towels.
Suck UK’s Waterproof Notebook has a simple black cover, standard book binding, 100% waterproof paper and is designed to be used with the enclosed graphite pencil.
This notebook goes for 8.95 through the UK site, but Suck UK’s delightful products can also be purchased stateside at various sites, including Kris & Company and Ritz Sisters.
Australian readers can pick up Markrite All-Weather hard-cover 80-sheet notebooks, which are sewn with “rot-proof” thread and bound in durable casemade (i.e., turned edge) PVC covers. The soft-cover books are spiral-bound at the top or side, with polypropylene covers and 50 sheets of waterproof, tear-resistant, high rag content paper.
In addition to standard waterproof notebooks, Markrite also makes diving log books, bird-watching books (printed with detailed precision for tracking observation method, strata, and macro and micro habitat detail) and pocket-sized books.
Stationer and printer Flavell Creative Images of Scotland not only purveys Waterproof Tough Notes in multiple sizes (including A4, A5, and A6), but can also print whatever your business, club, group or family needs for any of a ridiculously extensive set of A-Z damp-or-drowning writing purposes.
With all of these options, here’s hoping your attempts to keep your wet-weather documentation organized will meet with smooth sailing.
Paper Doll Organizing Carnival: Winter 2012 Edition
Welcome to the Winter 2012 edition of the Paper Doll Organizing Carnival! As I mentioned back in September, this periodic series will give us a chance to discuss some of the more quixotic and delightful items related to paper and organizing.
PAPER DOLL’S PAPER DOLLS
In The Sentimental Stuff: A Photo or Portrait Can Sometimes Replace a Thing, the magnificent Jeri Dansky illustrates how one kind of paper — a photographic representation of an item — can preserve an emotional connection while setting the clutter free. In other words, take a picture — it’ll last longer!
Savvy Margaret Lukens knows Why GTD Isn’t Working for You. If your results from the Getting Things Done time management system are flagging, check in with Margaret’s insights and suggestions.
Rebecca Joines Schinsky isn’t a professional organizer, but her How to Say “I Do” to Shared Bookshelves Without Ruining Your Relationship in Book Riot is as masterful as it is funny.
THE BOOK NOOK
Although I love the fact that my Kindle lets me carry the world of Jane Austen around with me, it’s still rare to see me without a few dead trees in tow. As I write this blog post, I’m hankering to get back to the fascinating Selden Edwards’ The Little Book: A Novel.
Spanning from 1897 Vienna coffeehouses to the infamous Altamont concert of 1969, with stops in World War II Germany and at Boston baseball diamonds, this time travel saga has romance, intrigue and political discourse, transfixing me in a way that I’m not sure a digital reading could have achieved. Some stories require the turning of actual pages.
One advantage that digital books have over paper is that you can create your own annotations without harming an actual book. Anyone who has sighed with dismay over an excellent volume ruined with the cramped scribblings of a prior reader knows that writing in a book is just plain villainy.
Reading Notes is an intriguing alternative to defacing your books. They’re perfect for those of us who lend books and want to share our comments and thoughts, and for anyone who likes to keep track of quotations for future reference or ideas for blog posts or wedding toasts.
Reading Notes has a particularly non-21st century feel, and I mean that in the best way. When you acquire a book, just affix an envelope pocket to an interior page or cover of the book. Then, as necessary, dash off pertinent comments (the dates you started and finished the book, page numbers of favorite lines, drafts of a love letter or first chapter of a Great American Novel inspired by the book, etc.). When you’re done, tuck the little notebook into the envelope to review in the future, or share with readers to whom you lend the book, allowing them to share comments as well.
This appears to be a little labor of love for Matthew Latkiewicz, who also writes about wine, creativity, and productivity, and whose side venture is creating comedic “fake audio walking tours of real places.” Matt prices the Reading Notes at $15.95 for a package of three notebooks.
Speaking of booklending, Paper Doll is a sucker for just about any kind of bookplates that ensure safe return of a title to one’s library. As such, I wanted to share these retro personalized library card/sticker sets from Etsy shop Littlebeane Boutique. Each set, at $7.95, includes twelve 2″ x 3.5″ vertical rectanglular stickers on high quality matte paper stock.
STUCK ON YOU
By now, readers have a sense of my initially-strong antipathy for floozies, but I think I’ve shown that I’m not afraid to flip-flop when my perspective has been expanded. In that vein, I do love the Jumbo StickIt Pad from the wacky folks at Vat19.com.
When it’s hard to motivate yourself towards productivity in the dark drear of winter, Dr. Paper Doll prescribes color, and lots of it. Happily, 3M obliges with eight fresh new palettes in the Post-It Color Collection:
In addition to traditional cubes and pads, the products available differ by each collection; for example, Sunwashed Pier includes a variety of Post-It recycled Greener notes, while Electric Glow sports a wide variety of SuperSticky notes and Tropical Breeze has recycled SuperSticky notes. Visit the site to take a quiz to determine your color personality and be sure to click to get a $2 off coupon.
A MEMORABLE BURST OF COLOR
The lovely blog All Things Paper just shared a profile of Julie VonDerVellen‘s amazing garment “replicas” made entirely of paper. VonDerVellen’s artist statement explains that these are not merely paper renderings of outfits, but a mixing of memoir and storytelling — “recollection tailored narratives” — generated from paper craft creations made from recycled cotton clothing. And they are stunning. I still can’t get over the dress associated with the tale of Christine B.’s The Great Prom Saga.
2012 Julie VanDerVellen
THE MAGIC OF WORDS ON PAPER
From Siri to podcasts, it’s true that we can get more information than ever before without reading it. But reading, as opposed to listening or watching, is the only way we can actively consume information and entertainment at our own pace, doubling-back or skipping ahead at our convenience and our leisure. Only when reading do we supply all of the essentials for complete surrender to a story, and ironically, that surrender empowers us. While few would doubt that Colin Firth is the perfect Darcy, I think the powers of our imagination in drawing characters and situations (from the classics to sparkly vampires and girls with dragon tattoos) usually surpass anything that can be fed to us by the media.
Did you know that January has been Braille Literacy Month? When it comes to paper, we tend to think of what we have to do to maintain it — open the mail, pay the bills, file the documents, recycle the refuse, and so on. Especially with the ever-growing digital presence in our lives, we take the benefits of paper for granted. However, I have been fascinated by reading 15 Facts to Share During Braille Literacy Month, and have a newfound appreciation for the independence and creative opportunities paper grants us.
THE FUTURE OF PAPER: REPORTS FROM THE FIELD
In many respects, the digital world is encroaching on what had previously been the province of paper. It’s hard to believe it’s been more than three years since Paper Doll asked, May I Have Your Card? and discussed the issue of organizing business cards. I wasn’t entirely a Luddite. It’s not that the post ignored the issue of digitizing, but it certainly presupposed that we were, at least initially, dealing with a business card — a piece of heavy card stock with carefully considered font selections and design choices.
Now, however, the discussion has to include the likelihood of a future with no business cards at all. American Express’ Open Forum raises points on the issue with Is It Time To Finally Ditch Your Paper Business Card?
As a professional organizer, I appreciate the notion of streamlining data, but just as I mourn the loss of album cover art displayed to its full advantage, I know that someday I’ll miss spotting my signature color-scheme card in a fishbowl or feeling the frisson of anticipation when I trade crisp cards with someone and sense that it could be “…the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
As a professional organizer, I’ve guided you towards getting rid of junk mail and digitizing more of your finance-related paper, but what about paper that you might actually want? While business turns away from paper, literature is embracing it in new ways. The literary blog The Rumpus had started an enchanting Letters In The Mail project.
For a $5 monthly subscription price, or $60/year, subscribers will get a weekly mailing (with a stamp and everything!) of innovatively conceived and creatively written letters from novelists, memoirists, comedians, and other literary types, including Dave Eggers, Marc Maron, Emily Gould, Tao Lin and Rumpus editor Stephen Elliott, who started the project to “rekindle the pleasures of paper correspondence,” according to the blog Book Riot.
Organizing literature on loose pieces of paper, instead of digitally or even in bound books, may fly in the face of traditional organizing practices. But I believe that organizing isn’t about stuff. It’s about how we interact with our stuff. As such, I believe that The Rumpus’ Letters in the Mail endeavor can foster some small measure of slowing down, organizing one’s time in such a way as to approach opening the mail as one might approach a fine meal, as opposed to fast food — with intention and an expectation of grace.
In a charmingly old-fashioned manner (which I imagine could turn problematic quickly), some authors will include their return addresses, making it possible for fans to reply. Imagine corresponding with the next Austen or Dickens or Hemingway! Wouldn’t the anticipation and eventual receipt of an actual paper letter be more thrilling than any delivery of an email? More tantalizing than a text or Kindle download?
Speaking of writing, Paper Doll loves hearing from readers. Please share your thoughts on any of the above carnival attractions in the comments section, below. And don’t forget — there’s still time to enter the Paper Doll/ListPlanIt contest!
Follow Me