Know any good paperweights?

May 3, 2005 1:33 PM

I need a paperweight to hold down my cookbooks while I cook and the books I'm reading while I multitask. I have never shopped for a paperweight, so I don't even know where to start.

Are there glass weights that won't distort the text of the book I'm using? Cool paperweights out there with cool things encased in them? Weights that can be adjusted to hold down the book just so, like a Transformer paperweight? Have the perfect, neatest paperweight? Please share and help me.

posted by scazza to shopping (12 comments total)

First to post Levenger!
posted by gnomeloaf at 1:39 PM on May 3, 2005

There's a cookbook stand thing that's a big piece of lucite (or something similar) that will hold your page and keep your book clean at the same time... the only problem is that mine always tends to get all dirty and I'm too lazy to clean it...

here's one
posted by rxrfrx at 1:39 PM on May 3, 2005

Hmm, that one I linked does appear to have some fancy schancy metal base... there are ones out there that are a single piece of plastic.
posted by rxrfrx at 1:40 PM on May 3, 2005

How about a couple of nice stones?
posted by xammerboy at 1:50 PM on May 3, 2005

You need a wire book stand. Or maybe one of these.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:52 PM on May 3, 2005

Can I suggest an alternate solution for the cookbooks that has worked for us (neither my husband nor myself have every had any luck with paperweights in the kitchen?

We went through our cookbooks and magazine clippings and scanned in our most-used recipes, placed them in plastic covers with notebook holes, and then stored them in a large 3-ring binder. When we want to cook something, we take it the plastic-covered page out of the binder and attach it to the fridge or the range hood with a magnet. The system works well for both of us, and it has the added benefit of reminding us of the things we like to cook without flipping through a lot of books.

As for other books, when I worked in rare book libraries, we had the best luck with book snakes, long fabric-covered weights made by the conservation staff. They would hold open even paperbacks, and they did minimal damage to the book itself. Brief google forays only lead me to a museum supply shop that sold them for 90 bucks. Levinger has a few bookweights, but I've made due with a beanie baby or two on occasion.

I've had bad luck with Levinger bookstands, btw.
posted by bibliowench at 2:12 PM on May 3, 2005

another cheap idea, although not a paperweight per se, use a skirt/pants clothes hanger (or whatever you call the hangers with the clippy things).

Use the clips to hold the cook book (or other book) open to the page you want and then hang it up. If you're cooking you can hang it up on a cabinet knob out of the way of spills.
posted by thinkdink at 2:35 PM on May 3, 2005

At work when I'm reading during lunch at my desk, I use a mouse pad wrist rest (which is about the same size as a beanie baby) to hold the book down, or else I just use a stapler. The nice heavy metal staplers are the best.
posted by matildaben at 3:41 PM on May 3, 2005

thinkdink beat me to it =) - this works great if you don't mind creasing your cookbooks or if the cookbooks aren't too thick/heavy.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 4:01 PM on May 3, 2005

thinkdink beat us both to it! This is a great solution that also allows you to easily hang up recipes printed out from your favorite online source.
posted by fatllama at 4:40 PM on May 3, 2005

My dad made me a simple one that I hope I can sufficiently describe here. He took a board, about 1 foot by 8 inches (picture it laying flat on a table the way a closed book does) and sawed about 8 long slots in it, each an inch apart. Then he gave me two pieces of plexiglass, 1 foot by 6 inches. I set one piece of plexi in a slot (the slot holds the plexi nearly upright, but at a slight angle). Then I open the cookbook, and lean it back on the plexi. Take the 2nd sheet of plexi and put it in the nearest slot in front of the open book. This holds the book open, protects the pages from splashes, and I can read the recipe through it.
posted by xo at 8:28 PM on May 3, 2005

Unfortunately the binder and hanger solutions won't work for me since I use at least 5 cookbooks regularly, one being Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone which is huge, and all the Nigella cookbooks I use are laminated so too heavy. I'm also looking for something small enough that it doesn't overwhelm a book I'm reading while eating or whatever else I'm doing. I guess there are no miracle/neat paperweights out there. Thanks!
posted by scazza at 8:25 PM on May 4, 2005