Russian Paper (and More Pencils)
I got my latest batch of Russian pencils and a stack of notebooks from Ozon.ru, with some good and some bad.
First the pencils: I saw a brand I had not seen before, called Soyuz, which is essentially the low-end Bic of Russia, and all their products are made in Russia. I got all 3 varieties of their pencils (no eraser, eraser and triangle ergonomic, all HB) before reading more about the company. When they arrived I realized they were all extruded plastic lumps alas, and when further researching the company I saw it is in fact a plastics company, so it makes sense.
A much better find was three different artist sets of Vista Artista/ Voskresenskaya Academia. Two packs of 12, one in a nice tin and one in a box co-branded with the State Tretyakov Gallery (showing "Jug on the Table" by LS Popova). These two contain the first 10B I’ve ever had. The smaller set was a tin with just the medium range graphites. The pencils are excellent, some of the best I’ve used, with very comfortable varnish and a smooth end-dip.
This order was mostly paper. Lots of new notebooks I wanted to try out. First I got two packs of student exercise books (tetrads), one pack with simple wide ruled pages and one with intersecting diagonals for kids to practice their cursive (a lost art in North America). These are smaller than the Hilroy Cahiers we’re used to here, similar to A5 but slightly wider, so will be good for small note taking jobs and brainstorms and such.
Next was a lovely green faux-leather number from Hatber, with the Russian coat of arms debossed on the cover. The book lays flat when open, which I love.
The paper is a little thinner and whiter than I like, but generally a good surface and a true A5. I may order more of these.
Next there was this very attractive slim perfect-bound A5 notebook from Falafel books. One reason I tend to stay away from perfect binding is that it does not lay flat when open unless you destroy the binding.
This one’s Hansel and Gretel cover art and beautiful paper make up for it. I may order a lined one as well to see how well it works as a notebook as opposed to sketch book (which is what this one will be).
This stitch-bound sketch/watercolour (which one?) book from Malevich was made in Russia (unlike their pencils), with excellent paper, but at A5+ (like the tetrads) it’s a slight mismatch for just about all of my needs.
This beautiful faux-leather notebook from Brauberg is made in Russia (not Germany and unlike their pencils) has a binding-side pen pocket and even comes with a pen.
Unfortunately the grid inside is way too dark, and even the included pen or one of those 10B pencils I got would struggle to be seen on this. Another one I’m not sure what to do with.
Finally, a trio of staple-bound pocket/A6 notepads from Brook Books. They’re cute with cool illustrations and artwork, quality paper and much cheaper than Field Notes. These ones I’ll likely use more someday when I can do things like go for walks and meetings and such…
So, overall I’m really happy with the Voskrenskaya art pencils and would love to get more from this brand, I love the Falafel book but not the perfect binding, The lay-flat Hatber book makes up for its larger size, and the workbooks should be fun to share with students. Not a bad haul.
