Schoollocker squared index cards

Schoollocker squared index card

Schoollocker is an Etsy store. Etsy is a large online marketplace of hand crafted items, almost akin to Ebay, though items are not sold by auction. An offering I noticed was a quadrille/squared/gridded/graph paper index card. I love this type of index card, and can’t find any close to home.

If the Exacompta cards I mentioned last week are the fashionable boutique high end, these are the practical though dowdy department store edition.

In a 4″ x 6″ version, one side has square ruling, and the other side is blank. The ink is loud, bright, public school blue.

Schoollocker squared index card

The problem is – and these cards are not alone in this aspect – the application of the ruling is random. So the vertical line closest to the card’s left edge might be touching that edge, or it might be several millimeters away. This rules out certain uses of the card.

The paper is also a step down from the high table Exacompta. Yet – the cards are still great fun, and very usable.

This blog rarely mentions prices, but at $US5.50 for 55 cards shipped to Canada, the cheaper and higher quality Exacomptas become an easy choice.

Exacompta Squared Record Cards

Exacompta Squared Record Cards

The name is convoluted – but that is what they are called – “Fiches Bristol”, “Record Cards”, “Fichas Bristol”, “Karteikaten”, “Steekkaarten”, or “Schede Bristol”.

Closer to home, they might be called “index cards” – but where can one find index cards like this?

Exacompta Squared Record Cards

They are made of superior paper in seven sizes (mm units):

74×105

75×125

100×150

105×148

125×200

148×210

210×297

White, and in Blue, Yellow, Pink, Green, and Orange.

Five formats: plain, ruled, squared, plain with holes, and squared with holes.

They are index card nirvana. The organizational transcendence beckons.

The cards are magnitudes higher quality than those found at ‘big box’ stores – plus in squared rule ( a.k.a. graph paper) format. They are absolutely unlike the brands many of us have had to resolve ourselves to using.

The cards are thick coated white paper (210g/m2) with purple ruling. The boxes they come in open like playing card boxes. (To me, the smaller cards seem thinner than the larger cards, but there is no documentation of this.)

Exacompta Squared Record Cards

With pencils, they are a great pair. With fountain pens, there is no feathering, no bleed through – but drying time may be more than some prefer. This is serious writing paper, in another format.

Exacompta Squared Record Cards

Overall, they are one of the best stationery items I have ever found. The creative and organizational power they offer is immense.