An embarrassingly late shout out to Audra of the long-running and great Nemu*Nemu comic. Ages ago, Audra sent us an awesome limited-edition Gocco-printed Field Notes notebook featuring Nemu and Anpan in Bob and Doug McKenzie garb, created in an edition of 15 to sell at a Canadian comics convention. The Canuckophile’s dream notebook references the album-only pre-song banter with Geddy Lee on “Take Off,” and we’re going to assume the root beer is a reference to Canada’s second-most-beloved-brothers.

Audra and her Gocco have been cranking out customized FIELD NOTES for a while now, and you’re in luck, the current “Up Up and Away” version is available now in the Nemu shop.

UPDATE: Audra posted more photos of older editions on her blog, and they’re promising new editions for October and November.

Here’s some great coverage of Brimfield’s summer offering from the good people of A Continuous Lean. So awesome. I had an INCREDIBLE time there a couple months back, and am enjoying my treasures hourly. Here’s a little something I got at Brimfield, for two bucks. Two bucks.

That’s my way of carrying extra Field Notes, in the bag, or on the road.

Ladies and Gentleman, we bring you none other than Clint David Walkingstick.

If that isn’t just about the best name ever, I don’t know what is. Nevertheless, Clint’s on to something with his cunning use of our “FN-09″ General-Purpose Band of Rubber: “A good way to keep the cards tight and right.”

Clint’s a busy guy. He makes shirts, runs a lively blog and is a graphic designer with a way with words.

I’m gonna give this one a try here in Berlin. I’ve got my cards, a Field Notes Band of Rubber and an iron will.

Thanks, Clint David Walkingstick. That is one hell of a name.

Our friend Jill Kuczmarski was at a Hamilton Wood Type Museum workshop up in Wisconsin a couple weeks ago. The Workshop was led by Jim Sherraden of Hatch Show Print fame, who brought along some vintage lumber from Hatch’s Collection.”

Jill noticed her classmate, AIGA Wisconsin VP Gage Mitchell, loading up his FIELD NOTES memo books with Hatch imagery and cuts from Hamilton’s “Globe Collection,” the results of which are shown here. Thanks for the images, Gage!

Gage and Jill add that Jim Moran and the other people who run the museum are “ridiculous nice and need all the support they can get.” Supporting the Hamilton Wood Type Museum also scores you some good benefits and allows you to use their print shop for $35/day.

UPDATE: The film Typeface, a documentary about the Hamilton Wood Type Museum, is playing later this month at the Siskel Film Center in Chicago. (Thanks, STA Chicago!)

The good people of NewCity in Blacksburg, Virginia got a wild hair and did some laser cutter experimenting on a “Butcher Orange” Field Notes memo book. That’s what you are seeing above. That logo is etched in for the ages!

And check that little “NewCity” tag on the edge. Nice little touch!

Glenn “Helvetica Tramp Stamp” Sorrentino manhandled the laser, Sara Andrew took the shot and Brian Maddox put the whole thing together for public consumption. A team effort with awesome results.

Field Notes internal wholeheartedly endorses all customization of our memo books. Now is the time! Get creative, people.

We’ve seen a few exceptional FIELD NOTES hacks lately, including a desk organizer and an ax sheath, but Terry Tolleson’s FIELD NOTES WALLET is definitely among the FIELD NOTES hackery elite. We’ll let Terry describe it:

Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out how to streamline my pockets. I love FIELD NOTES memo books, but having both back pockets loaded can be a real bummer. So, the natural course of action was to get back down to utilizing just the one. Cramming both a mini sketchbook and a wallet into the same pocket doesn’t really aid in my dilemma, however.

Enter my first real hack of a FIELD NOTES memo book (or any book, for that matter): The FIELD NOTES WALLET.

This one is the plain book with the inside front cover having a pocket to hold my license. The credit card pocket is on the outside of the main money pouch. The credit cart pocket can hold about 5-6 cards, and on the opposite side is a secured 5 yen coin. And a well placed Item No. FN-09 General Purpose Band of Rubber keeps it all locked down and comfy.

This way, I always have a sketchbook on hand to take down info or just doodle inside my wallet while waiting for change from the barista.

I used black photographer’s tape to put it all together.

Awesome, Terry, thanks! Keep those hacks coming, everyone, we love to see what you’re doing with FIELD NOTES.

(*I don’t speak any German, I pretty much made up the word “Feldnotizbücher,” typed it into Google images, and saw a picture of Charles Darwin and figured I was on the right track.)

Sorry about that headline, but it couldn’t be more appropriate: FIELD NOTES user Alan Houser writes:

I thought I would send you my literal version of a Field Notes Hack.

Carrying my Field Notes in my back pocket soon wraps to the curvature of my buttocks. While it’s good to know that my backside is so well-defined, I’ve tried carrying it in my front pocket.

I’ve sometimes found it uncomfortable to carry my Field Notes in my front pocket, as it was a bit uncomfortable when sitting down.

Armed with an old-school paper-cutter, I leaned my whole body into the thing and chopped-off the lower-third of my book. I now have a smart square book that fits handsomely in a gentleman’s front trouser pocket. (I went all ‘Sears Cataloggy’ in that sentence)

And that little 1/3 of a book? I think I’ll use the leavings in my Barbie Dream Home. Metro-sexual Ken will look right-spiffy with his own Field Notes Brand Book!

If you’re truly committed to resizing your FIELD NOTES, you might want to try this baby set to 3/8″, but we admire your pluck. We also wonder what it is about Indianapolis, we send a lot of FIELD NOTES there. We’re thinking it might have something to do with Kurt Vonnegut.

Requests for a variety of FIELD NOTES shapes, sizes, and contents have been flowing in for months now. A handful of people have suggested FIELD NOTES day planners, and we just might roll that out for 2010, but Britt Leach of Veritas: Any Day Now has appointments to organize NOW, so he armed himself with a handsome old-school pica gauge (any straight edge will work) and and took matters in his own hands:

Yes, friends, with just a few simple tools you too can make a sweet little weekly planner out of a FIELD NOTES Memo Book.

You are correct in your assumption that a year has 52 weeks and your sweet little FIELD NOTES has only 48 pages. But that won’t mean a thing unless you are anal and insist on starting your FIELD NOTES Weekly Planner on the First of January. So start your next Planner in November! Today! And lighten up a bit. (I did.) One hour or so and a modest Merlot and a had made myself a neat little planner. Cheers!