Just Jots

CEBU, Philippines - In an age when online journals called blogs, which create traffic in the information highway, are the in thing, some have already lost or have less interest in things that are tangible and personalized.

Yes, a blogger finds fulfillment in sophisticated layouts, sticky snippets, neon eye-popping texts and being able to upload photos in a snap but how is it compared to a journal that you really put in effort for? A journal that defines a piece of yourself, your mood, the whirlwind of emotions in each flip? Where your creativity can soar? Where just a mere sight of it is already a story in itself?

This is the kind of journal you keep when you were little, where you wrote tales of unrequited love then wax poetic while tears smudged the ink on the paper. Glued photos of nameless faces form a collage that well define friendship. Or perhaps, that journal that doubled as doodle book that unleashed the artist in you. Sounds old school, but you seem to miss it.

In the long run, when your hair turns grey, your journal/doodle book/scrapbook will serve as a memento to your loved ones – this is when they turn meaningful.

This is what young mom Charo “Tschai” Roncesvalles advocates through her pocket venture Papers and Tschai under the Project Box Company. She utilizes specialty papers, recycled papers, wood, leather, fabric and selected accessories/trimmings to create a myriad of handmade journals and other customized novelty items.

It all started as a hobby since childhood. But a particular output in 2003, a baby book for her first son where she used scrapbook papers that were imported from the US (at $1 per piece), served as her ticket to own a new baby, Papers and Tschai. The personalized cover of that Moleskine Journal, according to majority of the people under her network, was nothing short of impressive, intricately crafted. Aside from making use of online marketing, Tschai also sent her products to her mom in the US to have them distributed to a few client-friends.

But business wasn’t in a steady pace in 2007 and to cure her business disappointments, she sent an email to the bestselling author whom she deeply admires, Paulo Coelho, asking him if it’s okay to mail him one of her journals. Given the go signal, Journal #26 landed at Mr. Coelho’s doorstep. A few months later, in return, Mr. Coelho mailed her a Paolo Coelho 2008 organizer with a special dedication from the writer himself. That definitely fueled inspiration and determination. And as they say, the rest is history.

Tschai currently explores her craft with the use of embroidery, engraving, the use of quirky materials and developed more product lines including hardbound journals, stationeries, note cards, labor-intensive premium handmade photobooks, Bible leather covers, guest books, special event invitations and has even partnered with Cebuano graphic artists Lucille Umali, Johanna Velasco, Tambolbee and Govinda Trazo for her Artists Series pocket journals, using their artworks as covers.

Oldie but goody, indeed! So better keep that journal and jot away! (Check out www.papersandtschai.com)