Finding The Best Paper For A Specific Letter...

[rhodialover]

I've been browsing Goulet and my local pen store (Artlite here in Atlanta) for some stationary to write a particular letter, and it is of the utmost importance that it looks good, and coveys a sense of finality. In fact, I wish this letter to be a final one to the particular person(s) who will be receiving a variation of it. I have been wronged a great deal by several people in a position of power (and I will be leaving my vulnerable position before the letters have been posted), and I wish to convey, with the utmost formality, finality, and dignity, my extreme displeasure in having known them. I say this to give an overview of the content of the letters, so that the paper will match.
I have been looking for something roughly A4 sized (it's going to be a long sort of letter) un-ruled, off white, and not unlike the Rhodia R line of paper, which people have come to recognize as mine, but is too thin and informal for my purposes, and perhaps a bit too yellow. Price is not an object, although I require only 10 or so sheets to accomplish what I wish to do. (However, low sheet count is not a requirement.) I've looked at G.Lalo and Original Crown Mill (cotton, not laid, and yes, I am aware of the texture of G.Lalo) and was wondering if something like Crane might be more suitable for the task, although I am shooting for something which they are not likely to see ever again, and Crane happens to be popular for letters of magnitude. I have no preference as to watermarked or not, so long as the paper is reserved and not flamboyant in tone. I especially like the color of G.Lalo Ivory, does anyone have this next to some of the Rhodia 90gsm or Clairefontaine regular white? I have tried and failed to like Triomphe, I just couldn't get myself to like it. I want something heavy-ish, but not cardstock.
I have really grown to like the 90gsm Rhodia, but as this will be for one off letters and not repeats, I want the absolute best that I can get my hands on, although best is always relative to the person.

Thanks in advance for any help one of you might be able to offer.

[Pickwick]

Every step of life shows much caution is required.

 

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

[rhodialover]

Thanks, Pickwick.

Taking the risk of assuming your inherent meaning, this will my way of moving past those events, as journaling has helped me move past the events and the roles played by those people, but I need to send these letters.

Caution is not being thrown into the wind, I can assure you, and Goethe.

 

I have a quote of my own: Life's too short to drink bad wine.

[TheRealScubaSteve]

I use Neenah for the most part, but I'm not sure that fits your requirements. It's a laid, off-white paper.

 

Top: Rhodia (for reference)

Middle: Neenah Classic Linen 24 lb - Classic White

Bottom: Southworth 32 lb laser - ivory

 

Edited March 2, 2015 by TheRealScubaSteve

[DrCodfish]

Interesting;

 

 

The two papers I was going to recommend are G Lalo Verge de France and Crown Mill. I don't have the widest range of paper, but of my limited collection these seem best suited to your need.

[rhodialover]

Oh, thank you Steve!

I saw some Neenah cardstock on sale at a local Target one day, and bought it for my printer. I love it for general use, but it's white, so was disqualified.

I like the look of that Southworth a lot, though.

[prf5]

Three suggestions: 1) Good paper is a gift that should be reserved for deserving people. 2) You might write yourself a long letter to gather your thoughts and document the situation, then compose one pithy paragraph with explanation and sentiment removed. I would say the shorter the better. 3) If, as you imply, people have abused their authority you might want to discuss the situation with someone who can advise you.

[Paddler]

  On 3/2/2015 at 6:14 AM, prf5 said:

Three suggestions: 1) Good paper is a gift that should be reserved for deserving people. 2) You might write yourself a long letter to gather your thoughts and document the situation, then compose one pithy paragraph with explanation and sentiment removed. I would say the shorter the better. 3) If, as you imply, people have abused their authority you might want to discuss the situation with someone who can advise you.

 

Going with Suggestion 1), I would consider writing the letter on the side of a brown paper bag.

[SallyLyn]

As others have said, I wouldn't waste good paper and effort on low quality people. The paper bag perhaps with crayon has merit. They won't even understand what they are receiving good paper or paper bag.

 

The best paper, pen and ink are reserved for me, even to do my grocery list needing toilet paper.

 

--I look back on people and situations that royally destroyed my life, mind. I climbed out of those holes, finally. The pain, anger, suffering got me to this really good place in life. Yes I wish it had been faster and I hadn't wasted all those nights mentally screaming, crushing my poor teeth but I'm so happy to be done with it and other than my teeth done no permanent harm to myself. Wish I'd been able to put that energy into the good of me sooner.

 

Figure out a way to put these people in your far past as quickly as possible. Get on with the good in your life.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Original Crown Mill 100% Cotton

(with an iron-gall Registrars ink or perhaps Noodler's 54^th Massachusetts @ 80 - 90% concentration.)

 

Bye,

S1

[no7fish]

I actually joined this community in search of information on inks and papers so I don't have an enormous amount of data to draw on. However, I also use Southworth 100% cotton Resume paper, for all of my letters in fact. It has a good feel to it, thick but not too thick, and seems to take ink quite well.

 

I'm more intrigued by the responses. I absolutely see the value in making an effort to deliver your thoughts in a clean, formal, professional manner. It would be easy to dismiss or simply throw away a ratty piece of scribbled word vomit. If you actually want the offending party to absorb and take the words to heart then it's worth the time to elevate your delivery. If you only cared to offend them then there are easier ways, but if you want them to know their place then by all means make it count.

[TheRealScubaSteve]

The Southworth 100% cotton resume paper is nice. It's quite toothy and disagrees with some nibs. Not sure if it comes in off-white, though.

[no7fish]

It def does, I use the Ivory. The white is a bit too white for me.

[DrCodfish]

Or, .... give yourself one year. Write down the date which best memorializes your 'event'. Then, mark that date on your planner or calendar,a year in the future. In the interim find the paper that will best serve your purpose, but also, do every thing you can to arrange your life so that it epitomizes 'the best revenge'. If in one year you find yourself living well, especially if it is measureably better than a year ago, a number of things will be occur:

First, your sense of anger, hurt, or frustration will diminsh, after all, if you are now working at a better, more rerwarding, higher paying job, if you living situation is remarkably better, if you have just returned home form the the vacation of your dreams, how can you be very focused on the life you were living before the best year in your life?

 

Second, you may be able to say that while whatever happened had a profound impact on you, YOU were able to turn it to your advantage. Not saying that you will be thainkning your transgrssors but you should be able to show them that they crossed somone who is actually the kind of person that they might wish they knew better.

 

Finally, if you care to you could indicate how serious the consequences were for you and how such an event could be even more psychologically damaging to a lesser person. In that way you become a person interested in the well being of others who come under the influence of these people. Use this event to inspire yourself to succeed.

 

Just sayin'

[domnortheast]

'Better out than in' as a friend of mine was wont to say....though usually after a few pints and a dodgy pork pie... er...anyway my favourite is Original Crown Mill Vellum. Nice and smooth and an ivory colour.

 

Dom

[Barkingpig]

I likewise have been very happy with the Southworth 24 # paper in Ivory as business paper for several years.

 

I also was involved in a termination last January. I can say it has indeed been a true "turn in my favor" if not the intention of the parties involved. I have overcome emotions that were traumatic but must say one year after the event I cannot imagine considering the persons involved to be worthy of my opinion or feelings. I choose to share things important to me with persons who ARE important to me. These persons are of NO importance to me so I would feel it a waste of my effort, paper & post.

(I also have some handmade & engraved stationary that cost almost $20. for card & envelope. It is for persons about which I care.) Although Southworth is nowhere near "costly" it would still be a waste. I think Dr. Codfish post offers excellent advice & just want to applaud it. We are all different & I offer you my best wishes in whatever you decide.

[cattar]

Sending a permanent record of pained/angry thoughts that will not change the situation is an incredibly bad idea. You may drop these people out of your life. But they are connected to others, and word will get around.
You're coming across as someone who doesn't handle upset well. Stop yourself. Don't screw your own future.

Life isn't fair. Things happen. People do things. Life goes on.

 

When journaling. Reframe the situation. What could you do differently, not what could they do differently. Move on.

[Sasha Royale]

No. Don't make a production of it. Don't give them the satisfaction of

this separation being major event in your life. Do you want to let one

of the s.o.b. 's to frame the letter admitting that he "kicked your a - -" ?

"Thank you for the years of profitable association. Good bye".

 

And, then, take the best revenge by having a good life, hence forth.

When you make your first billion, give it away to charity. The newspaper

account will let them all know that you left and made a billion, and they

are not significant.

[rhodialover]

  On 3/2/2015 at 6:43 PM, no7fish said:

I actually joined this community in search of information on inks and papers so I don't have an enormous amount of data to draw on. However, I also use Southworth 100% cotton Resume paper, for all of my letters in fact. It has a good feel to it, thick but not too thick, and seems to take ink quite well.

 

I'm more intrigued by the responses. I absolutely see the value in making an effort to deliver your thoughts in a clean, formal, professional manner. It would be easy to dismiss or simply throw away a ratty piece of scribbled word vomit. If you actually want the offending party to absorb and take the words to heart then it's worth the time to elevate your delivery. If you only cared to offend them then there are easier ways, but if you want them to know their place then by all means make it count.

I, likewise, have been more interested in the responses than in the paper itself. I am waiting until ~2 months from now before these people would receive their letter. By that juncture, it will have been six or so months since what I shall allude to as 'the events', however ridiculous that sounds. This was a long drawn-out affair, designed to destroy me and anyone associated with me, as a sort of guilt-by-proxy type of thing.

I think, at the very least, that you seem to understand my intentions. I was not fired. I was emotionally wrecked, and these people wrecked, in a total manner, my relationships with close to ten people. (Not an office environment, but these were personal relations) My image was nearly ruined beyond any recognition. A scribbled piece of word vomit (I like that, I'm going to have to use it now) which would be thrown away in the trash simply isn't acceptable, either to me, nor does it address the magnitude of my experience.

 

But before people go on believing that I'm about to send some sort of hate-filled, vulgar, profane, or otherwise nasty sort of letter, and further ruin my image, know that I will not be doing that. I will be framing my (very carefully chosen words) in the form of a thank-you note, but perhaps I should have been more explicit in my original missive. I did want to avoid, however, the notion that these would be anything other than words which contain such volumes of hatred that they are inexpressible in vulgar terms. It seemed too confusing to mention at the time.

 

My satisfaction in all of this would be derived from the notion that they would believe themselves to be absolved (one of them has admitted guilt, I know that the others share it) of what they have done. I want them to be reminded of what they did. I want it to stick in their minds, and never leave. It was not myself alone. I can name four other people who got the same shafting I did, and their only guilt was to know me. Even I didn't do what I was accused of, but I was indicted, tried, and executed (for lack of more specifics) wrongly, as were they.

I will reiterate, they will not be in the least influential in my life, as their lives are beginning to crumble and diverge from mine.

 

This will seem, at first read, as a simple, if sincere, thank you, presented in what would appear to be a professional, conserved, manner. If more than two seconds of thought (and, as much as we'd like to think of these types of people, they are, in my case, not stupid, at the very least on an academic level, two of them have PhD's, and the rest masters of some sort) are put into it, they will be haunted with my image. Further, should they attempt something later, however ineffectual they may be, I can simply point to this and say "I harbor no ill will towards them, in fact, I considered them a friend, before they said _________", and I just so happen to have a copy of the letter right here.

 

I'm leaning towards Southworth, speaking on topic again.

I like the Idea of 54th Massachusetts diluted a bit. I had planned on J. Herbin Stormy Grey, in a 1.1mm Stub Edison, as I like the shimmering effect that I get from the pen/ink combo. It certainly looks special, even on yellow-er tinged paper. That's why I like the idea of off-white. My daily-driver ink is Diamine ASA Blue, in a Medium Visconti Rembrandt, and it pairs wonderfully, and I get a lot of variation and shading. People know me by that single ink color, as it looks reserved, but nothing similar to a ballpoint or rollerball, or felt pen.

 

Thanks all for the responses and opinions, I do appreciate it.

[prf5]

  On 3/3/2015 at 1:00 AM, rhodialover said:

My satisfaction in all of this would be derived from the notion that they would believe themselves to be absolved (one of them has admitted guilt, I know that the others share it) of what they have done. I want them to be reminded of what they did. I want it to stick in their minds, and never leave.

 

 

Writing paper alone cannot accomplish your aim. Words can go a long way, provided that the sentiment is received in the manner intended. It appears that you want to buy a pack of 100% rag content paper. Do that by all means, but do do it for yourself. Use it for notes to people who are most deserving and for occasions that are most fitting.