Since Winter 2008, we’ve issued quarterly FIELD NOTES COLORS, limited-edition variations on our classic memo books. The COLORS series explores new papers, printing processes, and colors, sometimes adding special packaging and other fringe benefits. This nifty stop-motion film about the 2008-2009 COLORS editions explains it nicely.
FIELD NOTES COLORS 3-Packs are sold in limited quantities and they have a tendency to sell out almost immediately after they’re announced on our email list (sign up at the top of the left column!). With that in mind, we’ve introduced a subscription model, giving those who want first crack at each of our limited-edition releases (and who didn’t want to camp out in front of a browser, hitting refresh) a simple method to guarantee delivery of a year’s worth of new COLORS as they’re released. Subscriptions cost $129 and include two 3-Packs each of four seasonal editions, two 3-Packs of our standard FIELD NOTES (One graph and one mixed pack) plus all the shipping for the year and lots of goodies thrown in, just because.
Here’s a full list of what we’ve offered so far…
Summer 2010: County Fair
Printed 6/10, Edition size: So complicated
Even more ambitious than the Packet of Sunshine, our Summer 2010 edition consisted of different covers for all 50 states, with 100# Neenah Sundance Linen covers printed in blue-, red-, and yellow-ribbon ink with “Forty-Niner Boomtown” gold text. Insides were “Babe the Blue Ox Underbelly” graph. The County Fair edition was also available as a boxed set of 50 state notebooks. More info here
Note that we have just a few subscriptions left for “Packet of Sunshine” (below). Start your subscription with “Packet of Sunshine” now and get “County Fair” too!
Spring 2010: Packet of Sunshine
Printed 2/10, 12,000 books/4000 packs
French Pop-Tone “Lemon Drop” 100# cover, “Ray of Light” graph. Covers printed in three colors: simple, semi-transparent red, green, and orange (the red is actually Rhodamine). Packaged in a custom top-loading kraft-paper packet with a string and button closure and included a small bag of marigold seeds and a die-cut card with growing instructions. Normally our printer assembles and shrink wraps our 3-packs, but this time the books were delivered loose with the components coming from three different printers (and a seed shop!) and everything was assembled in-house, keeping us busy for about two weeks. More info here.
Winter 2009/10: Just Below Zero
Printed 9/09, 9000 books/3000 packs
French Dur-O-Tone “Steel Grey,” Pop-Tone “Sno Cone,” and Construction “Steel Blue” 100# covers, “Frostbite” graph. Featured double hit metallic silver type on the cover. Secret revealed: the “Steel Blue” book has grey printing on the inside. The silver ink was just too hard to read at small text sizes. More info here.
Fall 2009: Mackinaw Autumn
Printed 9/09, 7500 books/2500 packs
French Pop-Tone “Tangy Orange” and “Orange Fizz” and Construction “Safety Orange” 100# covers, “Double Knee Duck Canvas” graph. Our first multi-colored 3-Pack. While all three colors were called “orange,” they were more regularly described as “red, orange, and brown.” More info here.
Summer 2009: Grass Stain Green
Printed 6/09, 5000 books/1650 packs
French Pop-Tone “Gumdrop Green” 80# cover, “Green Mind” graph. The covers were letterpress-printed by hand at Flywheel Letterpress and feature a heavy impression with a tinted varnish for a ‘debossed’ look. More info here.
Spring 2009: Butcher Extra Blue
Printed 1/09, 1500 books/500 packs
French Dur-O-Tone “Butcher Extra Blue” 80# cover, “Double Knee Duck Canvas” graph. Note that the first two COLORS were printed together in the same quantity. When these went on press, we had no plans for quarterly COLORS, or subscriptions so when we released Butcher Extra Blue, we sold out almost immediately. Blue is actually harder to find than Orange. More info here.
Winter 2008/9: Butcher Orange
Printed 1/09, 1500 books/500 packs
French Dur-O-Tone “Butcher Orange” 80# cover, “”Double Knee Duck Canvas” graph. The first COLORS edition was released on a whim and mostly because we thought Butcher Orange Field Notes would look cool. We were right. More info here.
