Viking Verso

A few weeks ago, I wrote about stationery and self-care and within the post, I talked about learning to draw, or setting aside time for sketching as a mindful act. Essentially, doing something to take the mind away from the stresses and worries of daily life, and allowing it to relax and focus on something else.

Following that idea, I'd like to flag up a couple of notebooks Nero sells, that are designed just for this: the Viking Saga Verso.

These are A5 books, with plain paper designed for sketching or drawing. Nero sells two slightly different formats: the Viking A5 Saga Verso and the Viking Saga Verso 158 A5.

The Viking A5 Saga Verso has 128 pages of 105 gsm acid-free plain paper and the books are beautifully bound in buckram, giving a flexible cover that still protects well. The covers come in several colours: black, yellow, caramel, and red.

If you're looking for a few more pages and thicker paper, then the 158 is the way to go. The paper is (as the name suggests) 158 gsm, and there are 160 blank pages. The cover is buckram hardback, and there are the same four colours as the slightly smaller version: black, yellow, caramel, and red.

In each version, there's a "multifoil sheet" to slip between the pages, to protect the underlying sheets.

Need some pencils to go with the book? Viking also do a dual-ended pencil, with HB at one end and 4B at the other, and a set of 12 pencils, covering 2H, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B and 8B (2 of each grade). Naturally, Nero also has a range of pencil sharpeners and erasers, should you need those too.

Happy sketching!