Description
If you want paper that’s one color on one side and another color on the reverse, the simplest thing to do is to start with white paper and print a different ink on each side. We’ve done that, it’s simple, it works well. But they're Field Notes; if there’s a more difficult, expensive, and awesome way to achieve the same result, they will find it. In this case, it’s called duplexing. Using brute force and adhesives, you take two different colored papers and fuse them together so that they become one. Field Notes used duplex paper before (in our “American Tradesman†and “Raven’s Wing†editions) but this time they had specific paper and colors in mind, and an off-the-shelf solution wouldn’t work. So for the very first time, they made their own.
The Fall limited-edition seasonal release, “The Shenandoah Edition†features three green French cover stocks that match the leaf color of three trees found at Shenandoah National Park: the Sweet Birch, the Chestnut Oak, and the Red Maple. The new friends at Platinum Converting in Itasca, Ill. fused each of the green papers to a contrasting French text-weight paper that matches the tree’s fall foliage. These extra-sturdy duplexed covers have a classic, beefy feel to them, reminiscent of early COLORS releases like “Mackinaw Autumn†and “Just Below Zero.†Beefier, actually, since they've upgraded our body paper to 60#T Finch Opaque “Bright White,†with a 3/16″ graph. Each features an illustration of a leaf on the back with some facts about the tree. The belly band is real birch veneer, just because it looked so darn good with all that green.
Oh, Shenandoah!
The Shenandoah Valley, in the Blue Ridge Mountains along the border of Virginia and West Virginia, is an amazing place. Shenandoah National Park was founded in 1935 and is arguably the most American of our National Parks. It feels familiar and ancient all at once. The hiking paths and mountainsides are filled with the ghosts of our national history. Like many great public works, it was never easy: Families and communities were displaced, and the park itself became an early battlefield for desegregation.
Fall with Us
Surely, time has proven the park’s value. If you’ve never driven the Skyline Drive you ought to add it to the top of your bucket list. It’s the dictionary definition of “scenic route:†Winchester to Staunton, Virginia takes an hour and a half on I-81, or 3 hours on Skyline Drive, if you don’t stop to look around. Or stay the night. We stayed two nights to make our film, and saw five bears, several waterfalls, and dozens of scenic vistas, each more impressive than the last. We were disappointed to leave, but hopefully our film and our notebooks will bring a piece of the park to you, and inspire you to visit Shenandoah and our other great national treasures, or at least to take a moment to find a beautiful forest near you and sit, patiently, watching the leaves turn.