About

What is Starling Harbor?

Why are you here? Why am I here? Well, the answer is pretty simple. I caught another bug. I ordered a high-quality handmade notebook from Graystorm Studio, and when it got here I spent ten or fifteen minutes just turning it over in my hands. Admiring the craftsmanship. The paper selection. The pocket in the back. The beautiful headbands. All of these tiny details that don’t matter a single iota to the writing. You can go buy a composition notebook at the market for less than a dollar, and write your life away. But to those of us who consider writing to be an art, it’s nice to be a little more discerning.

Of course writing is an art. But the actual act of writing – the motions and experience of using the pen on the paper – not just the content of the words… That’s half of the attraction for me. As a daily journaler, I fill up a notebook every couple of months. I have a daily notebook in which I fill a couple of pages per day. Then I have others, like my Time Traveler Journal, which I write in with specific purpose. My StarBase journal is specifically for talk about developments in space – the latest tech, advancements and talk of what’s being discovered. I have a prayer journal. I have notebooks for just about every facet of my life. When I die, my children will have volumes of information about their father. They’ll even know how many rounds I put through my Taurus 9mm handgun at the ranges (because of my range journal).

“That’s great, Spacey. But why are we here?” Well, after absorbing the quality of the Graystorm Studio notebook, I thought it would be neat to see how they’re made. Handcrafted? How does one make a notebook? I dove down that rabbit hole on Youtube and quenched my curiosity. But in satiating the interest in how to make them, I now had an interest in applying the craft. I wanted to make one for myself and see if it was something I can do. It is. It’s easy, it’s fun and if you take your time and follow certain rules you set for yourself, you can make extremely nice looking notebooks.

Enter Starling Harbor.

Once I made my first two, one for me and one for my wife, I was addicted. I wanted to make more. I’m not in this for the money. I don’t make a lot on these notebooks, after the cost of materials is applied. But my thought was that if I can make enough on each one to cover the cost of one notebook, I can have fun with it without too much of an investment. So here we are. After I learned the process and practiced it and made a few mistakes, I have now gotten pretty adept at putting them together. Curating the materials – the cover paper, the headband, the ribbon bookmark – is almost as exciting as putting it together.

I don’t know how long I’ll chase this crazy passion. My hobbies seem to flare up and then die down like the seasons, here today, gone tomorrow. Ephemeral. But I’m enjoying myself for now. I invite you to look at the current and past notebooks on the site and see if anything pops out at you. If not, feel free to shoot me an email and let’s collaborate. I would love the opportunity to make you a custom notebook from your favorite paper and colors.

Each of my notebooks is unique, in that it contains a unique feature I have not seen any other company do: an embedded NFC chip. I put a chip in the bottom-right corner inside the back cover of each notebook. This chip is a fully programmable, 136-byte chip that can contain an email address, a quick note, a contact card or a URL. I provide instructions on how to program it yourself here, or during purchase, you can request some particular programming and I can do it for you before I send it to you.

Every notebook has 112 pages of gray-lined 60lb 5¼” x 8½” paper. This is a standard A5 size notebook.