Ninth Wave Designs

Moleskines in China

A NWD blog reader named Annie submitted this comment over the weekend:

"Hi Lisa, this comment is not related to your post, but is about moleskines.

I was just on moleskinerie's web page & read some posts about differences in the quality of the notebooks since manufacturing has been outsourced or moved to China. I haven't bought any new notebooks in the last few months and wondered if you noticed any differences.

Any idea how to tell the difference between the older & newer (china made) books?"

I haven't noticed any negative effects due to the outsourcing of part of the production of Moleskines to China.  The items I have received made under the new production all appear to be up to the usual high standard set by Modo & Modo, and since quality is their number one selling point it would frankly be stupid for them to mess with that success.  I have not received any feedback from any of my Moleskine customers that address a decline in quality in the products I am selling.  At this point it has not been my experience that the quality of Moleskine notebooks and planners has deteriorated in any noticeable way due to recent production changes.

To further answer Annie's question, the way to tell if your Moleskine is made in China is by the presence of this statement on the back of the notebook belly band:

"Printed and bound in China - Designed and assembled in Italy."

I am in the process of trying to get to the bottom of this issue, and will be updating the NWD blog with any new information as it develops.  In the mean time, if you are still concerned with the possibility of lessening quality due to the production of Moleskines in China, the following is a list of Moleskines that I currently have on hand in the Ninth Wave Designs Online Store that were produced entirely in Italy:

• Moleskine Pocket Reporter Notebooks with ruled and plain pages.
• Moleskine Large Reporter Notebooks with ruled and plain pages.
• Moleskine Pocket Info Notebook.
• Moleskine Pocket Storyboard Notebook.
• Moleskine Pocket Japanese Notebook.
• Moleskine Pocket Music Notebook.
• Moleskine Pocket Address Book.
• Moleskine Large Address Book.
• Moleskine Small Memo-Pockets
• Moleskine Large Memo-Pockets.
• Moleskine Large Plain Notebook.
• Moleskine Large Ruled Notebook.
• Moleskine Extra Large Cahier - all styles on hand.
• Moleskine Large Cahier - all styles on hand.
• Moleskine Pocket Cahier - Squared Black & Kraft, Plain Kraft, and Ruled Kraft.

Quantities are limited, so email before placing any large orders.

Stay tuned for more information.

Pink Sky Blue: Moleskine Watercolor Notebook Pages

The image above is a page from my pocket size Moleskine Reporter Watercolor notebook - a painting I named "Pink Sky Blue" that I made for a friend's birthday.  I made the painting using a great new set of watercolor pencils that I got for my birthday, made by Derwent, called Graphitint.  The cores of these watercolor colored pencils are a combination of graphite and pigment.  The result of this combination is a nice moody color range that I love working with - you can use these pencils dry for a graphite effect with just a hint of color to it, or add water with a brush to bring out more of the color as I did in this painting.  The pencils have a nice rich pigmentation when used with water, and a thick creamy consistency.  They are a real pleasure to work with, and combine well with my usual Prismacolor watercolor pencils, offsetting that brighter color range.  I removed the page from the watercolor notebook when I was finished, and trimmed the corners on the perforated edge to match the others.

The title of the painting is taken from the title of my friend's music CD that was released in 2004.  Hope and I have been friends for over 20 years, and this CD is a culmination of many years she has spent working at songwriting and music.  I don't think you truly know someone until you have heard them sing, and I was really pleased that Pink Sky Blue gave me an opportunity to get to know another side of my friend through her music. Happy Birthday Hope!

You can hear some clips from Hope Alane's Pink Sky Blue CD HERE, and read more about it HERE. 

Pink Sky Blue is available on iTunes HERE (you may need to pre-launch iTunes to access link).

Speaking of birthdays - The NWD blog is a year old and counting.  I missed the actual day - July 25th - completely.  So it is a happy belated birthday to the blog - I trust it won't feel too overlooked!

Ideas Won't Keep: Cahier Idea Notebook

The title for the post comes from the following quote by Alfred North Whitehead:

"The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them."

This is a combination post of "Quotes for Your Notebook" and "Moleskine Creations" themes, brought about by my need for a notebook to have handy to toss various ideas into.  I generally use my Moleskine Pocket Daily Diary to record stray thoughts and brief ideas - of the more random and passing nature of made up movie titles or simple plot outlines for stories I will never get around to writing.  I also needed a notebook that would provide the space for larger ideas, where I could write several pages compared to the several sentence lengths in my daily diary.  I chose a Moleskine large kraft Cahier with squared pages, but since I have several of these floating around for different uses I wanted the idea book to stand out from the others. 

I started by making the painting of the light bulb in my pocket size Moleskine Watercolor Reporter notebook.  I used watercolor colored pencils and Pitt brush markers to paint the image, and then removed the page from the notebook.  I cut a hole in the cover of the large Cahier in the shape of the light bulb, and then used a combination of glue stick and tape to secure the watercolor page inside the front cover.  I am happy with the results, and it is easy for me to find this notebook among the clutter on my desk.

If Alfred North Whitehead's words are to be followed, then something indeed needs to be done to keep our ideas - and the pages of a humble Cahier might be just the place for those vital intellectual adventures to work themselves out.