Hard Or Soft Paper - Please Educate Me...

[loopyloop]

Good morning everyone... I am new here, but certainlynot new to fountain pens.

I'm trying to investigate papers and this is my trouble: the well-regarded Rhodia and Clairefontaine for me have 2 problems:

1. that brilliant/stark white is very aggressive

2. they feel very hard under the nib, with no softness whatsoever - meaning the ink line appears to just sit there rather than become one with the paper (waterman, diamine, whatever).

 

Am I describing this right? I'd like a paper which feels softer under the pen, draws- the- nib- in kindda thing (and dodn't mean ink feathering dangers).

Any thoughts?

many thanks.

Edited March 11, 2014 by loopyloop

[Scribblesoften]

I agree the white, for me, is a bit eye popping. I believe the paper has a coating that makes ink sit on it. It makes the paper slicker. I used to like it a lot despite the long dry times. Then I tried Apica paper. I used the medium grade for some time for journaling. The books have a smaller line ruling than Clairefontaine, the paper is an off white, and the paper, while still very smooth, seems moe absorbent than CF/Rhodia. Because I do not really like ruled paper, I am now using Apica premium paper. This seems smoother than the medium grade, perhaps a bit thinner, and less absorbent. As far as the "hardness" goes, it is between the medium grade Apica and the Cf. On the Goulet site they have videos about the different papers. I still use Cf when i am using a very wet or flexible nib. The slight absorbancy that I like in the Apica can lead to bleeding with wet nibs. Good luck finding the paper that is right for you.

[migo984]

Do you want notepads (tear-off sheets) or notebooks (bound paper), as you can get different paper depending on which format you're looking for?

 

Try the pale creamy yellow Rhodia vellum paper in their Rhodia R pads. It's not as slick as the white Clairefontaine. Clairefontaine Sketch-It sketch pads have a bit of tooth and are slightly off-white. There's also Leuchtturm, Quo Vadis and Nu Elite.

 

Try http://www.thejournalshop.com/

http://www.bureaudirect.co.uk/

http://www.thepaperie.co.uk/

Edited March 11, 2014 by migo984

[Jackson]

Soft + slightly absorbent + no-bleed through...Tomoe River paper--available in pads, notebooks and loose leaf.

[Lou Erickson]

If you can find it, you might try the Whitelines notebooks. They have reasonably thick paper without as much coating, and aren't bright white. They're a very pale grey, with white left for the ruled lines. I have a couple now, but haven't tried them much. So far, they're nice. I don't have a very wet pen, but don't see any bleed through and not much show through. You could use both sides of the page with my pens - might not be true with a wetter pen.

 

I also liked that I could get A5 side wirebound, which the Clairfontaine and Rhodia don't seem to do, and it's what I prefer to carry.

 

The "Whitelines Link" is kind of neat, too, making getting quick phone-snaps of pages really easy.

[loopyloop]

Ooh, thank you very much everyone. Look at that, all those papers I have not heard of. I shall see which I can find. Yes, discovered thread about stables printer paper also.

[oregano]

You might like Paperblanks as well; I've found them more absorbent.

[loopyloop]

Yeah.... Bleed through though? Never seemed thick enough to me...

[Joe in Seattle]

The softness, and the way that the paper takes the ink, is one of the reasons why I like 1917 notebooks.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Perhaps Conqueror Stonemark, MK Papier Exquisit, Crown Mill 100% cotton or G Lalo Velin de France ...

 

 

ETA : If you find White papers too bright, you might choose to avoid those with [florescent] optical brightening agents. Unfortunately, those are not the economical high performance 90g copy/print papers.

 

Bye,

S1

 

__ __

My wee Review of G Lalo Velin de France : https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/195559-paper-review-g-lalo-velin-de-france/page__pid__1977734&do=findComment&comment=1977734

Edited March 12, 2014 by Sandy1