In Paper Heaven 完全

[SamCapote]

Anyone who has bought a notebook from Mr. Yoshino-san's Design.Y, knows the exquisite Tamoe River thin quality paper which he uses. It is kanzen 完全

 

I have wanted to get quantities of this paper and in larger sizes because it is so remarkable among the hundreds of papers I have used. Here's my list of why I like it:

 

• It brings out the smoothest feel with all the pen nibs, and all the inks I have used on it.

• The quality feel (same on both sides) of the paper is smooth and elegant.

• Although it also comes in white, the subtle, cream color is enhancing rather than conflicting.
  

• Inks do not feather on this paper. I have tried at least 150 inks so far.

• Inks do not bleed. This is the most astounding feature, given how thin this paper is. Not even with extremely wet writing from my Pelikan M1000 O3B nib.
  

• Inks shade beautifully.

• Inks that are known to have a secondary sheen, demonstrate it on this paper.

This was a folded note from Mr. Yoshino-san where he used a Pelikan M1000 BBB nib and I used a wet, O3B.

 

 

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/pike444/pens/M1000as.jpg

 

I got this in A-4 size (210 by 297 millimetres or 8.3 × 11.7 in). It is thin at 52 gram/meter² (normal 20lb copy paper is 75 g/m²; HP 30lb Premium Laser Jet is 120 g/m²), yet not translucent like velum. The image of the ream below compares the height of 1,000 sheets of Tomoe River to 500 sheets of copy paper.

 

 

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/pike444/Paper/TomoeRiver2s.jpg

 

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/pike444/Paper/TomoeRiver1s.jpg

 

 

I can use my QCM 1200e to reliably & cleanly cut it to whatever sizes I want. While it will not work for all paper applications, I will never be without this paper again. There is of course one downside as you can imagine coming from Japan....cost.

Edited April 20, 2012 by SamCapote

[luiztfc]

Thanks for the review, this seems to be such a nice paper to write on.

[watch_art]

Absolutely beautiful - but after converting price - not something I'll ever afford.

 

Sadly.

[SamCapote]

 

 

Absolutely beautiful - but after converting price - not something I'll ever afford.

Sadly.

I'll have to send you some. I also just ordered some padding compound and chipboard to make some A-4 and smaller tablets.

[DanF]

OK, so how much is a ream shipped? I tried Googling, but had no luck finding a seller. Mostly just curious, but you never know...

 

Dan

[SamCapote]

OK, so how much is a ream shipped? I tried Googling, but had no luck finding a seller. Mostly just curious, but you never know...

 

Dan

 

They don't just sell a ream. Minimum was 4,000 or 4 reams. As far as the price, I have to see how the conversion comes through...but basically if you have to ask that question, it will be too much.

 

I can only say that I see why the highly regarded and respected Mr. Yoshino-san chose this paper. It is kanzen. 完全

[Angry__Panda]

If you have to ask it is too much? This is kind of a cop out IMHO. I mean I wouldn't order something without knowing how much it is, I don't care if it is a Bentley or a toothbrush. I am having the same problem, I googled it to no avail. I would love to know how much it costs and where you got it.

 

I will say after hearing this is the paper he uses in his bound journals I will probably be buying one of them now .

[watch_art]

The record notebook is $115 before shipping.

[watch_art]

From here:

http://design-y.near-mint.com/order/cart.html

 

You'd have to just email and ask for that paper like what Sam has and they'll quote you something. They seem very nice from their website.

 

[dcpritch]

The record notebook is $115 before shipping.

 

That's for the "Record 336" book. The 216 and 288 models are smaller, with less pages, and price at $46 and $60, respectively, with today's exchange rate. The "LP Record", a 600 page journal, is $109.

 

Thanks Sam for sharing your find. This paper looks amazing!

[watch_art]

It really is worth it with 600 pages. That's pretty awesome.

 

Would be a LOT of devil worms.

[professionaldilettante]

If you have to ask it is too much? This is kind of a cop out IMHO. I mean I wouldn't order something without knowing how much it is, I don't care if it is a Bentley or a toothbrush. I am having the same problem, I googled it to no avail. I would love to know how much it costs and where you got it.

 

I will say after hearing this is the paper he uses in his bound journals I will probably be buying one of them now .

It's not a cop out. Even if he told you, you most likely never buy 4 reams of paper because it's out of your league of cost, especially for paper. At over 100$ for a ream of paper? Would you do that? At most, I've paid $20 for cotton laid resume paper. That's not even including shipping, which wouldn't be cheap, since it's solid paper.

[Martini25]

Want!

 

But what I really want is the set up they have to make the journal blocks! Wow, I didn't even think of using a weight when sewing my signatures together!

[Angry__Panda]

If you have to ask it is too much? This is kind of a cop out IMHO. I mean I wouldn't order something without knowing how much it is, I don't care if it is a Bentley or a toothbrush. I am having the same problem, I googled it to no avail. I would love to know how much it costs and where you got it.

 

I will say after hearing this is the paper he uses in his bound journals I will probably be buying one of them now .

It's not a cop out. Even if he told you, you most likely never buy 4 reams of paper because it's out of your league of cost, especially for paper. At over 100$ for a ream of paper? Would you do that? At most, I've paid $20 for cotton laid resume paper. That's not even including shipping, which wouldn't be cheap, since it's solid paper.

 

I expected more. So yeah, actually I might. I know I am fairly new, but recently poked my head in this forum and started making my own journals and sketchbooks. Add in reading a recent topic about sketching with a fountain pen and that is easily worth it to me to get some quality paper to use on a regular basis.

 

On second read, I didn't mean to sound rude about that, if I did I am sorry. I just think that every time I have asked someone how much something can be had for they give me the answer, "If you have to ask you can't afford it." For me, anything that is worth the extra is worth it. Something I would be using every day and something I would want to last (I.e. if I want to look at my journal or sketch in 10 years) is definitely worth extra.

 

PS sorry if there any typos, I am responding on my phone which isn't the greatest heh.

[ExcaliburZ]

Can we can a reverse side of the paper so we can see what the bleed-through is like?

[fountainpenfen]

The paper used for these notebooks is made by a company called TOMOEGAWA (http://www.tomoegawa.co.jp). You can find more information about this line of their products on this site: http://www.tomoegawa.co.jp/product_tech/paper/light_weight.html. The precise paper mentioned in this thread is called トモエリバー(手帳用). This information should be sufficient to find a dealer in Japan by using Google.

Edited April 21, 2012 by fountainpenfen

[Stompie]

Sam, if you getting the 4 reams are you going to be making notepads out of this paper and if so will they be for sale?

Edited April 21, 2012 by Stompie

[Stompie]

It really is worth it with 600 pages. That's pretty awesome.

 

Would be a LOT of devil worms.

 

 

= £70 plus postage.

 

For 600 quality pages hand bound in leather really quite cheap!

 

 

and I too would like to see a picture of both sides of the paper with that note from Mr Y

Edited April 21, 2012 by Stompie

[Karen Traviss]

It really is worth it with 600 pages. That's pretty awesome.

 

Would be a LOT of devil worms.

 

 

= £70 plus postage.

 

For 600 quality pages hand bound in leather really quite cheap!

 

 

and I too would like to see a picture of both sides of the paper with that note from Mr Y

 

 

Model 216 actually sounds a lot cheaper than Smythson's equivalent if the page count is on the same basis. Smythson's is thin, 50g no-showthrough paper and very FP-friendly, but lined. I have a stash of their notebooks in various sizes but found I don't use them much because of the lines. And it's only available in blue. Nothing wrong with blue, but I prefer white or cream. Gorgeous covers, though.

 

With Biblio and onion skin papers now apparently unavailable in the UK (Paper2Go has stopped stocking all those) I might check out Design-Y. Thank you for a very useful link.

[Stompie]

I have a stash of their notebooks in various sizes but found I don't use them much because of the lines.

 

 

Hmm, wanna unload some of those?