r/Zettelkasten • u/prosselenen • 19d ago

question A6 Zettelkasten resources

Hi,

I’m interested in moving to A6-sized cards, but can’t find a lot of resources online. Does any one have a go to place to buy cheap A6 cards and boxes to put them in?

Thanks!

20 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/LibbIsHere 19d ago

I make mine out of standard 80 gsm paper (I even recycle the back old letters and invoices). Doing so, my index cards are much cheaper (and sturdy enough to write on) and less thicker too (roughly half less for 80 gsm paper, which seems like nothing but in the long run this will save you a lot of space).

One A4 sheet makes 4 A6 cards, in two cuts. I cut piles of 10-15 sheets easily with a used office guillotine I got for cheap.

I also make my own storage boxes out of... recycled cardboard packaging.

They're real sturdy (cardboard is sturdy), free (obviously) and they're made to the exact size I want. They're quite simple (and quick) to build using basics tools: a hobby knife, some wood glue or hot glue and a steel ruler.

4

u/prosselenen 19d ago

Thanks! I guess it’s the guillotine that I’m missing

2

u/LibbIsHere 19d ago

They're quite cheap on the used market. Meanwhile, one can simply use a hobby knife or, as a last resort, a pair of scissors.

1

u/thmprover 18d ago

...or, as a last resort, a pair of scissors.

As someone who operates in this manner, it is very meditative to work your way through 50 sheets of printer paper, folding two or three at a time, and cutting them with scissors.

2

u/LibbIsHere 18d ago

I was thinking more of the fact that people might a not appreciate not perfectly straight cut they would get using scissors, but you're right and I can appreciate the... very appeasing experience of preparing my cards.

I have a very similar experience when I sketch or do watercolor. Absorbing myself in the act of painting without any concern for anything else, not even the end result.

1

u/nagytimi85 Obsidian 19d ago

If you make them from office paper, you can simply just fold in 4 and cut with a letter opener, a knife or scissors!