Below: photos and video of Tom making the latest version of the Camera Insert – expect to see the finished bag in early 2011.
Doodlers Anonymous: Draw Your Destination, Win a Field Journal Notebook
Via Doodlers Anonymous:
“So many of us sit idle everyday dreaming of our next travel to somewhere fantastical and new. I know I do, and this week’s showcase will have you yearning for that next adventure even more. Imagine being given a passport to travel anywhere you like, real or just in your imagination. Now simply draw it for us all to see. The destination is open for you to define as you wish. It could be as nearby as your local street market or as distant as planet Venus.
Share your drawn destination with us and you could win the perfect accessory for your next escapade, the one-of-a-kind Field Journal Notebook by Tom Bihn (a $75 value). A useful tool for any artist on the go, it’s essentially a compact, portable, weather-proof, zippered notebook for doodling, journaling or sketching. It is made with love right here in the U.S. of A and is the culmination of countless hours of design.
We just got one of our very own and must admit, this really is perfect for any urban sketcher.”
Read the guidelines and submit your drawing at Doodlers Anonymous.
One Mile At A Time: Review of the Checkpoint Flyer
Excerpt:
“The build quality of the bag is excellent. The zippers are splash proof; the bag is made of high quality nylon; the hooks on the shoulder straps are very heavy-duty; and the whole bag is just built well. The laptop case is made of very thick foam that protects my laptop, which is also separate from the main storage compartments, which means my laptop is protected from anything that may be inside my bag and also any sort of physical damage from carrying the bag. I accidentally dropped my bag down from the top of escalators at the B-concourse at Dulles, and my laptop survived unharmed.”
Read the entire review – with more photos – at One Mile At A Time. See also: the Checkpoint Flyer.
In stock: Large Cafe Bag, all colors
The Large Cafe Bag is now in-stock in all colors, including Conifer/Steel and Navy/Wasabi.
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Above: the Large Cafe Bag at an Earth Day Celebration in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Photo/Video: Tom Sewing New Prototype Accessory
We hope to make the new accessory available for pre-order in December or January.
In stock: Aeronaut, Tri-Star, Western Flyer Packing Cubes
The Aeronaut is now shipping in all colors: Black/Steel, Black/Iberian, Steel/Steel, Steel/Solar, Crimson/Steel, and Indigo/Solar.
The Tri-Star is now shipping in all colors, including new color Black/Iberian.
The Western Flyer Packing Cubes are in-stock in all sizes.
Above: a bag with Iberian lining.
Photos, Review by wennefer: Co-Pilot as an Artist’s Bag
“I recently bought a Co-Pilot as a present for my partner, who is an artist and writer. After seeing the Co-Pilot at the Washington DC meet-up, I thought it would make a great bag for her to use when drawing or making watercolors in “the field”. The water bottle compartment would be ideal for holding water for making watercolors, it was the right size for sketchbooks and watercolor blocks, and the structure of the bag would allow it to make equipment easy to access while sketching or painting.”
Read the entire review – and see more photos – in the TOM BIHN Forums. See also: the Co-Pilot.
Travelite®: TOM BIHN Tri-Star is “The Most Ergonomic”
“The most ergonomic [carry-on bag] in my opinion is the Tom Bihn Tri-Star. Although the price, at $250, might be out of the reach for some folks on a very tight budget, the price is comparable to a lot of luggage items on the market, and this is truly a case of “you get what you pay for.” If you aren’t after the newest model bag every year and you want something that will last forever, this is the best designed bag I can recommend. It’s one of the few bags still made in the USA by a company based in Seattle.”
Read the full review at The Travelite® FAQ.
Above: a photo by arestocracyof the Tri-Star under the seat of a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767 and Field Journal Notebook in the seat pocket.
Seattle Factory Photos: Our Wolf Pacer Straight-Knife Cutting Tool
This is our Wolf Pacer straight-knife cutting tool. It’s our long blade tool used for cutting stacks of foam/fabric lamination. The orange things? They’re the ends of the long pins that keep the laminate stable while its being cut. They also make great plant stakes.
Video, photos by maverick: Print Your Boarding Pass on FJN Paper
Via maverick in the TOM BIHN Forums:
“when you travel and need to print your boarding pass, e-ticket and other travel documents, one very convenient option that results in great organization is to print them on your paper for your field journal notebook.
you can then put the boarding pass and everything into the binder mechanism and easily get at them as you go through security and board.
your passport will also fit very nicely in the outside zippered pocket of your field journal notebook.
we made a quick video of the paper going through the printer that we wanted to share with you.
there are also a couple of images below that might be of some help setting up your printer for printing on the tom bihn field journal notebook paper on a mac (would someone running windows be kind enough to demonstrate the process there? – thanks! 
.
the first image shows the paper dimensions definition – it’s 5.5″ x 8.5″ with a 0.5″ left margin.
the second image shows the paper handling if you would like to print on both sides but don’t have a printer that supports duplex paper handling. what you do is first print the odd pages, and then the even pages.
the third image shows the printed paper in the field journal notebook.”
