In Paper Heaven 完全

[reprieve]

I bit the bullet and ordered loose sheets through the Tenso buying service (described by Sam above). Hooray!

[SamCapote]

I bit the bullet and ordered loose sheets through the Tenso buying service (described by Sam above). Hooray!

 

It's too bad there is such a shipping cost. If we were smart, we would entice the Goulets to order a large amount of this because most people are not going to need 4000 sheets.

 

I do know one thing reprieve. I know you will cherish it.

[SamCapote]

Also, I'm tracking down what I hope are some nice quality, DL size matching envelopes that allow you to tri-fold A4 paper in this thread.

[dcpritch]

But I rarely have material enough to fill an A4 sheet , that's why I had much of my paper cut to A5 size and made into writing pads. Do you know of an envelope that would work/match for A5 sized sheets?

 

And reprieve, nice!

[DanielCoffey]

As mentioned in http://www.papersizes.org/ the A-series and B-series are the international standard in most places apart from North America, Canada and parts of Mexico.

 

Former British colonies such as Oz and similar areas used to use the British Imperial Sizes of Post Quarto, Quarto, Foolscap and so on but they have now moved to the ISO A-series standard.

 

==

 

The C-series is the bifold envelope series that match them with the exception of DL which is the A4 trifold (DL stands for the old German 1920s DIN Lang).

 

C5 is A4-bifold

C6 is A5-bifold

 

Since the G Lalo pads are most commonly available in A5, you can use the G Lalo C6 envelopes for small quantities.

[SamCapote]

But I rarely have material enough to fill an A4 sheet , that's why I had much of my paper cut to A5 size and made into writing pads. Do you know of an envelope that would work/match for A5 sized sheets?

 

And reprieve, nice!

 

Write big! LOL!

 

You should see this 4 page letter FuschiaPrincess sent me on her Tomoe River. It looks like a message from an Angel using different inks. I told her it was the most beautiful letter I have ever received, and inspires me to practice penmanship with a new-found fervor.

[XiaoMG]

It's too bad there is such a shipping cost. If we were smart, we would entice the Goulets to order a large amount of this because most people are not going to need 4000 sheets.

 

I do know one thing reprieve. I know you will cherish it.

I think that it might in fact be possible to convince some retailers to carry this in smaller quantities. I'm not entirely sure how to go about it, though.

 

For the moment, I'm really enjoying the Shiro Mucu notebooks, though they are only 50 sheets each and are white instead of cream.

 

If you're a member of Rakuten, you can order internationally from http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/atn/item/nb-s/. I should really get a few more before I give away the source, so that it doesn't run dry before I can replenish my stash.

[lovemy51]

i still have a lot of that bagasse paper........ :embarrassed_smile:

[SamCapote]

It's too bad there is such a shipping cost. If we were smart, we would entice the Goulets to order a large amount of this because most people are not going to need 4000 sheets.

 

I do know one thing reprieve. I know you will cherish it.

I think that it might in fact be possible to convince some retailers to carry this in smaller quantities. I'm not entirely sure how to go about it, though.

 

For the moment, I'm really enjoying the Shiro Mucu notebooks, though they are only 50 sheets each and are white instead of cream.

 

If you're a member of Rakuten, you can order internationally from http://global.rakute.../atn/item/nb-s/. I should really get a few more before I give away the source, so that it doesn't run dry before I can replenish my stash.

 

It's really easy to make your own pads. Add some gray chipboard (cardboard for tablets), clamp and paint some padding glue on the side which dries quickly. You can make whatever size you want both in number of pages and dimensions. If you want a cover you can add that also.

[reprieve]

I just received four reams of cream A4 Tomoe River sheets, ordered via the Tenso buying service. It was my second time using Tenso--I used them to order several Sailor Kobe inks last year--and they make the process extremely easy. Shipping was more costly than the paper itself, but, for a lifetime supply of this magical stuff, very worth it. Even after seeing photos of the reams, I was still surprised when it arrived. This is a lot of paper. On that note, if anyone would like to try some, PM me and I will send you some sample sheets.

 

As others have already said, Tomoe River brings out the shading and vibrancy of ink like no other paper. Magical! Even my broadest, wettest nibs work well without feathering or bleed-through. Show-through is obvious due to the thinness of the paper; still, it would be possible to write on both sides if one wanted to.

 

I can honestly say that this is now my favorite paper, and one of the best available. I only wish it were more widely distributed outside of Japan so more people could try it. Thanks again to Sam, et al, for bringing it to my attention.

[penhand]

Thanks to the generosity of reprieve, I just received some sheets of Tamoe River to play with. It is clearly not all hype and is indeed the smoothest, nicest paper I've written on. I was thinking the toothieness i was seeing with one of my pens was the nib ... no, it was the paper.

 

A big shout-out to Sam (and everyone else earlier on this thread) for calling my attention to this.

 

I'm thinking about making the jump but not sure how many decades it will take me to go through 4000 sheets of A4 paper.

 

If anyone in the U.S. is interested in 1000 sheets, PM me and we'll see what we can work out.

[marcomillions]

Everybody's reports were so glowing I decided I had to order. And I've got a friend I think I can surprise with a gift of some of the paper, so I won't feel so bad about having ordered so much.

 

Thanks to everyone who trailblazed--SamCapote first in line--for their advice about how to order the paper. There's no way I could have placed the order without their help. Now, mind you, as it is I came pretty close to messing it all up. So, since I don't usually think of myself as technologically or linguistically challenged, let me provide a few clues for the parts of the process I found confusing. This is my "How-to-order-Tomoe-River-Paper-using-Tenso-and-Rakuten for Dummies (i.e. folks like me)." The key to avoiding the pits I fell into is remembering, as Sam points out but you must keep clearly in mind, that you are dealing with two different businesses which each want their own sort of information. You're buying the paper from one business (Rakuten Global), you're shipping it internationally with Tenso. Here goes:

 

First I read Sam's guide to ordering and shipping (message #72), which is wonderful, but is meant to be a general guide, which left me with questions at key moments. (So my advice is simply about buying this paper.) Since I wanted loose paper (not notebooks) I then made use of Flake's link to Rakuten (message #51) to get to the actual order page for the paper. This page has a little check box for "Use forwarding service (What's this?)" I knew, from Sam, that I wanted that, and if you click on "What's this," you're taken to a page that explains the service and has links to Tenso. You want to click on one of those links and, at Tenso, register as a member. At the end of the process you're given a member number and an impressive line of mixed Roman and (I guess) Kanji characters, which is the Tenso warehouse address to which you're going to have the paper shipped for forwarding on to you at the address you filled in for Tenso during your registration.

 

At this point, you want to return to Rakuten and place the order (but don't close the Tenso tab yet)--and here's where I ran into trouble. Not being a member at Rakuten (not yet--they give you an opportunity at the end of placing the order), you will place your order as a guest, so Rakuten wants all your particulars. They ask you first for your billing address, which you fill out as you've done many times before. (By the way, the English at both sites--Rakuten and Tenso---was perfect, and the forms worked perfectly too.) At the bottom of the form is a button you've seen before, too: "Use billing address as shipping address?" Please do not push that button, as I did out of habit. (I'm letting you know just how much of a dummy I was.) Remember, you're not having Rakuten ship the paper to you, Tenso is taking care of that. So click "Use different address." But do make sure you've entered your real billing address, because your credit card authorization needs it.

 

When Rakuten gives you a screen for your shipping address, put your name in in Roman characters, and then choose Japan as the country to which you're shipping. And then. . . . And then you run into a serious pit (the use billing address for shipping was a stupid pit, but this one's for real). The form wants to know "city," "province," "postal code," and "telephone number," and it won't let you proceed without them. Now, all of those except the phone number are in that line of part-Roman, part-Kanji characters, but which is which? And pasting that long line of characters into each field, hoping the form will parse it and accept it won't work. (Because I tried it, of course, that's how I know. What did you expect?)

 

If you return to the Tenso tab, there's rescue. Under the section of the screen where they told you your member number and gave you their address, there's a link: "How to enter our address into an order form." Click on it and you get a page with that information and also several common examples, including Rakuten Global (skip over the Rakuten Japan example.) There's your solution. But also two more small pits to avoid: don't use the graphic part of the example to fill out the form. In the graphic they want you to input all sorts of kanji character strings. Maybe you could paste in the appropriate pieces of the long address you were given, but you'd still be stuck for the phone number. BUT, just above the graphic is a table with what to enter in Roman characters (into which your member number has been magically inserted, as it forms part of your address to Tenso). You'll still need the graphic to know what line 1 or 2 corresponds to on the form, but now you'll know what to enter, including the phone number.

 

So, back to the Rakuten site to enter that information and, ooh, watch out for the last pit. (Because I fell in it, too. You happy now?) In the graphic on Tenso's site, the information is shown being entered into the Billing address form. Don't do that, please. You do that, and your bank will kick the charge right back out. All that Tenso information should only be entered into the Shipping Address form.

 

After that, no other pits that I saw and avoided or didn't and fell into. Have fun.

 

Marc

[mm1624124]

Definitely interested, as I was preparing to purchase 4 reams myself. Will send you a PM.

I've been using vintage onion skin paper but the Tamoe River looks to be a significant upgrade and for about the same price.

 

 

Thanks to the generosity of reprieve, I just received some sheets of Tamoe River to play with. It is clearly not all hype and is indeed the smoothest, nicest paper I've written on. I was thinking the toothieness i was seeing with one of my pens was the nib ... no, it was the paper.

 

A big shout-out to Sam (and everyone else earlier on this thread) for calling my attention to this.

 

I'm thinking about making the jump but not sure how many decades it will take me to go through 4000 sheets of A4 paper.

 

If anyone in the U.S. is interested in 1000 sheets, PM me and we'll see what we can work out.

[dfranks04]

I'm interested in possibly buying some of your paper as well, I just ordered my first design.y record notebook and it is great. Pricey yes but well made and the paper is the best. Please pm and let me know pricing information.

[SamCapote]

First I read Sam's guide to ordering and shipping (message #72), which is wonderful, but is meant to be a general guide, which left me with questions at key moments. (So my advice is simply about buying this paper.) Since I wanted loose paper (not notebooks) I then made use of Flake's link to Rakuten (message #51) to get to the actual order page for the paper. This page has a little check box for "Use forwarding service (What's this?)" I knew, from Sam, that I wanted that, and if you click on "What's this," you're taken to a page that explains the service and has links to Tenso. You want to click on one of those links and, at Tenso, register as a member. At the end of the process you're given a member number and an impressive line of mixed Roman and (I guess) Kanji characters, which is the Tenso warehouse address to which you're going to have the paper shipped for forwarding on to you at the address you filled in for Tenso during your registration.

 

Glad it worked out. I used to get so confused by all the Kanji characters, and trying to order directly through Rakuten, then seeing it all got forwarded through Tenso if from a store that didn't ship outside of Japan, I just start out using Tenso's buying service. I never log into or made a Rakuten account....but the main tip once you join Tenso is it seems about every 1-2 months, there is a Tenso-Rakuten 4,000 Yen ($50 USD) discount that runs for about a week.

[marcomillions]

Glad it worked out. <snip> eeing it all got forwarded through Tenso if from a store that didn't ship outside of Japan, I just start out using Tenso's buying service. I never log into or made a Rakuten account.<snip>

 

Hmm, Sam. I thought I was copying you perfectly, but I've actually followed a rather different path. You've got me worried now. We'll see how well it works out. I got a message from Rakuten today (first business day after) which, according to Google Translate, said they'd received the order and knew it was to be shipped to me at the Tenso warehouse address. As Steve McQueen said: " 'So far so good,' as the man who jumped off the roof was heard to say as he passed the second floor."

 

Marc

[Karen Traviss]

A cautionary tale when using Tenso. I decided to use their buying service because the Rakuten checkout page kept asking me to select a shipping service but none of the options applied. There was a 50% international shipping discount offer in force. (You have to receive a voucher from Tenso before you can apply it -- it doesn't appear to get applied automatically on checkout.) I didn't get one when I paid Tenso for the order on the 20th, so I assumed I'd misunderstood and that it didn't apply to the buying service, just direct purchases from Rakuten. Then four days later (today) I got the invoice for the shipping -- still no discount voucher -- so I paid immediately, as I always do.

 

But nearly two hours after I'd sent the Paypal payment, I received a discount voucher, with a message telling me that I could apply it when I paid the shipping. When I contacted Tenso and explained I'd already paid, they wouldn't apply the voucher or refund the discount. Given the very high cost of shipping paper from Japan, the discount wasn't a minor consideration. Tenso said I could use it on another purchase before the August 2 deadline, but I doubt I'll be using them again because I feel that's poor practice. If you do plan to use them, though, wait for any vouchers before you pay up.

[SamCapote]

A cautionary tale when using Tenso. I decided to use their buying service because the Rakuten checkout page kept asking me to select a shipping service but none of the options applied. There was a 50% international shipping discount offer in force. (You have to receive a voucher from Tenso before you can apply it -- it doesn't appear to get applied automatically on checkout.) I didn't get one when I paid Tenso for the order on the 20th, so I assumed I'd misunderstood and that it didn't apply to the buying service, just direct purchases from Rakuten. Then four days later (today) I got the invoice for the shipping -- still no discount voucher -- so I paid immediately, as I always do.

 

But nearly two hours after I'd sent the Paypal payment, I received a discount voucher, with a message telling me that I could apply it when I paid the shipping. When I contacted Tenso and explained I'd already paid, they wouldn't apply the voucher or refund the discount. Given the very high cost of shipping paper from Japan, the discount wasn't a minor consideration. Tenso said I could use it on another purchase before the August 2 deadline, but I doubt I'll be using them again because I feel that's poor practice. If you do plan to use them, though, wait for any vouchers before you pay up.

 

Yeah, good point, Karen. I put off my purchase of the Tomoe River the first time because I couldn't get the coupon figured out, and by the time I did the window to purchase was closed. In part their hands are tied because the discount payments and strict terms actually come from Rakuten (or so I was told).

[egretsrus]

Brian Goulet may shoot me for posting this, but I emailed him about the possibility of carrying this paper and selling it in sane amounts. He was a bit intimidated by the complicated buying process, but didn't rule it out. You gotta love Brian...best customer service possible

[CatBookMom]

It would be great if Goulet Pens were to import this and sell it a ream at a time - well, assuming it comes in a ream?