Sol Copy Paper Short Review

[tealeaf_egg]

I found this paper at my school and decided that I just had to share it here. It's SOL copy paper, made in Australia, suspiciously unavailable online, but there's tons at my school so I'm happy about that. Since I assume it's not readily commercially available, this'll just be a short blurb about the paper in case other people chance upon it.

 

Specs:

Brand: Australian Made (?)

Name: SOL copy paper

Recycled: 30%

Size: 8.5x11 letter size but also available in A4 size

Brightness: 96 ISO

Weight: 20lb (74 gsm)

Format: Loose leaf copy paper, 500 sheets/ream

 

URL: http://www.australianmade.com.au/licensees/australian-paper/sol-copy-paper

 

Summary of the review: Good shading, some sheen in a Japanese F nib, very little feathering, allows for a fine line that's a little rough around the edges. Fairly white and fairly light.This paper makes me happy.

 

So the outside is very unassuming, to put it nicely. Here's a picture from the internet:

 

http://www.eurobiuras.lt/media/dynamic/img/preke_319842/18135_large_po-dau-35573.jpg

The paper's light like one would expect, and it's something I like in a paper.

 

The pen and ink here is a Pilot Metropolitan F with Diamine Blue Velvet.

 

"But Tea," you exclaim "Japanese fines don't hardly feather on ANYTHING!"

 

Okay, kind of true, but they still do better on some papers than others, and I only have one pen with me, and some review is better than nothing.

 

Enough talk, time for show and tell.

 

The paper isn't slippery smooth but it's smoother than most copy papers. From my experience it feathers* a tiny bit, maintains a good line width, and shows shading and what little sheen I can expect from a Japanese F nib on something other than Tomoe River. No bleedthrough and barely any showthrough.

 

http://i.imgur.com/mDKbwpTh.jpg

 

yay shading yay thin lines! The two most important things to me tbh. The lines look fuzzy but trust me it's not spreading. I'm pretty sure it's cause the paper's not smooth enough so when the ink pools it settles in the weird cracks and dips on the paper's surface. When the ink comes down thicker it smooths out some.

 

Close-up.

 

http://i.imgur.com/BCnXzcUh.jpg

 

Comparison with a Red Uniball Signo DX 0.38.

 

http://i.imgur.com/mDKbwpTl.jpg

 

If you look closely you can see sheen. Picture has been edited because the colors wouldn't come out right; the first pics are more accurate but this one shows the pinkish red sheen like it appears irl. It's not very obvious and looks kinda like jpg compression artifacts but it's there.

 

http://i.imgur.com/mF7eCKWh.jpg

 

Comparison to the same pen and ink in a Campus mid-grade notebook. yes, the line here is thicker than on the SOL paper.

 

http://i.imgur.com/o3VM7pSh.jpg

 

 

That's it! Anyone else have this paper and have opinions on it? Have you seen it in stores before? I sure haven't but I'd like to.

[MathurinKerbouchard]

That seems like a very nice paper for fountain pens! Thanks for the review.