Best fancy paper for fountain pen writing?

[Bo Bo Olson]

And what ink and nib was used onthe paper.

 

The passed Ink Guru our Sandy1's inheritors did not understand what a world treasure she was, so closed her picture account and wiped out the wonders of her ink reviews.

With out the stunning pictures, it's only reading.

 

I keep saying I'm going to go make a list of the about 10 papers she used over 15 years of doing reviews. She used 4-5 normal flex and width nibs...and over that time used some 5 good to better 'common' papers. Common if you looked you could find them. Not cheap but not expensive....affordable. After all one only needs a ream of paper every three-four years if not wasted in a printer.

 

Often you would not believe believe that was the same ink, pen width and paper made that much difference.

 

I think I'll start a thread with Sandy1's papers, and let everyone chip in.

 

I'm off to do that with in the hour....over in the paper section and or ...where else???

[Bo Bo Olson]

I started it finally. This is over in the paper subsection.

.................................

 

A brilliant, fine person, who answered any and all. Giant's once walked the earth, Sandy1 was one.

 

A list of passed  Ink Guru Sandy1's papers. Over the 15 years or so of her ink reviews she used some 10 or so different papers.

All were available on line and affordable in one don't waste such paper in a printer so a 500 sheet ream would last some three or more years, a 100 sheet box a year or more.

I went down through Caran d'Ache ....it would be nice if others went into the many other inks she reviewed. And add the other papers.

 

2010 ,,,I think she was active before this.

Paper: HPJ1124 24 lb. Laser Copy...................certain HP papers were once rated good, then someone made a bit of bonus money by lessening the coating.....so some HP papers fell out of the better paper lists....I do Not know if this is one of them or not. Same with certain Fuji papers I didn't get around to getting.

Paper: Rhodia.

Paper: G Lalo, Verge de France, white.

Paper: Royal - 25% rag

Paper: Staples 20 lb. multi use.

 

A paper she did not like....Paper: Quo Vadis, Habana journal, ivory. (Swan song for this sub-normal paper.) That is a do not buy warning. "That paper is FP-hostile - worse than Pulp for goodness sake!")

[SpecTP]

I bought some Richard de Bas stationery a few years ago. It looked so beautiful, I didn't have the heart to write on it.

[Karmachanic]

2 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

With out the stunning pictures, it's only reading.

 

 

Copy and paste the links. The images are stiil there.

[Bo Bo Olson]

1 hour ago, Karmachanic said:

Copy and paste the links. The images are stiil there.

Thank you.............

That is more work for those new to her, to do to see what all the fuss was about.

But thank you....all is not lost, just buried on Treasure Island.

[51ISH]

3 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

I started it finally. This is over in the paper subsection.

.................................

 

A brilliant, fine person, who answered any and all. Giant's once walked the earth, Sandy1 was one.

 

A list of passed  Ink Guru Sandy1's papers. Over the 15 years or so of her ink reviews she used some 10 or so different papers.

All were available on line and affordable in one don't waste such paper in a printer so a 500 sheet ream would last some three or more years, a 100 sheet box a year or more.

I went down through Caran d'Ache ....it would be nice if others went into the many other inks she reviewed. And add the other papers.

 

2010 ,,,I think she was active before this.

Paper: HPJ1124 24 lb. Laser Copy...................certain HP papers were once rated good, then someone made a bit of bonus money by lessening the coating.....so some HP papers fell out of the better paper lists....I do Not know if this is one of them or not. Same with certain Fuji papers I didn't get around to getting.

Paper: Rhodia.

Paper: G Lalo, Verge de France, white.

Paper: Royal - 25% rag

Paper: Staples 20 lb. multi use.

 

A paper she did not like....Paper: Quo Vadis, Habana journal, ivory. (Swan song for this sub-normal paper.) That is a do not buy warning. "That paper is FP-hostile - worse than Pulp for goodness sake!")

 

•  

Posted 3 hours ago

I started it finally. This is over in the paper subsection.

.................................

 

A brilliant, fine person, who answered any and all. Giant's once walked the earth, Sandy1 was one.

 

A list of passed  Ink Guru Sandy1's papers. Over the 15 years or so of her ink reviews she used some 10 or so different papers.

All were available on line and affordable in one don't waste such paper in a printer so a 500 sheet ream would last some three or more years, a 100 sheet box a year or more.

I went down through Caran d'Ache ....it would be nice if others went into the many other inks she reviewed. And add the other papers.

 

2010 ,,,I think she was active before this.

 

I think Sandy1 was active quite some while before this. I joined in 2009 and I seem to remember she had lots of posts to her credit already by then.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I did do it all wrong.

 

I got over to inks late. 3-5 inks was "plenty".

 

At first I bought only pens....more or less.....buying inks came later.

 

Joined the Pen of the Week in the Mail Club....then the Pen of the Month.

 

As an old fashioned hand on buy, I didn't get as many inks as other folks....even if I did have a locale B&M....My memory is fine, I can remember not having the 12 inks that I thought would be more than enough....Noobies have the strangest ideas.

 

Finally after having a slew of inks, Aldi had those four good papars for back to school...two years in a row.  Laid, Linen effect, Buetten/hammered and Marbled.

I finally ran into those types of paper and all at one place and affordable....that was sort of a shock.

Running down town and buying paper pads or packs in everywhere that was listed in the 'yellow pages' ...gave me a lot of expensive printer papers.

 

I'm well known for being dirt cheap at the wrong time and place. I'm sure that HP paper that was listed by Sandy was still available....but I didn't have in on a piece of paper in my wallet.............excuses.....I do have a well oiled  excuse generating machine.

My computer guy had a different HP paper.....I picked up my paranoia from my wife about the internet.....and when the mailing cost is near the value of the item....I get cheap.

 

[Penguincollector]

6 hours ago, SpecTP said:

I bought some Richard de Bas stationery a few years ago. It looked so beautiful, I didn't have the heart to write on it.

This is me with so much of the paper that I have. I recently decided to stop doing this. 
 

For inky properties, I like Tomoe River, Rhodia, and Clairfontaine. For tactile properties, I like laid paper and often look for vintage pieces. I particularly love old hotel stationery.

[lionelc]

amatruda paper - super fancy

[amper]

On 3/7/2023 at 4:59 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

We no longer live in The Golden Age of Paper which died unnoticed by us Ball Point Pen Barbarians some time in the '80's.

 

Good paper persisted into the 2000s-2010s, but it's all gone now that Strathmore and Crane & Co. have been sold off.

 

Crane & Co. made the best stationery paper in the world, but they exited the retail market in 2015 to focus on their currency paper manufacturing. The stationery business was sold off to the employees, then purchased by Mohawk in 2018, only to be shut down in 2019. They are apparently functioning again, but they no longer sell retail packs of the papers that made them famous: Crane's Crest, Bond, and Thesis papers.

Strathmore Writing still exists in its 25% cotton form, no longer the 100% cotton. There's a new "Strathmore Pure Cotton" line that is 100% cotton, but I haven't tested it. The Strathmore stationery papers aren't made by the Strathmore Paper Company, any longer. Strathmore was sold to Mohawk in 2004, and then the artist lines were sold to Pacon in 2006. Mohawk is a big paper company that has been around for a long time, so the current papers are probably still good.

One other good mention is Southworth Thesis Paper, which is still available at retail in the 100% cotton version, I think. It was never quite as good as Strathmore, let alone Crane, but it's of excellent quality and fully archival.

[Bo Bo Olson]

9 hours ago, amper said:

Southworth Thesis Paper, which is still available at retail in the 100% cotton version, I think. It was never quite as good as Strathmore, let alone Crane, but it's of excellent quality and fully archival.

That one I have, I believe....is that another name for 100% cotton Resume paper??...If so, I have 32pound/120g, in ivory.

 

I do have some 100-150 sheets of Strathmore 100% cotton...have some Crown Mill 100% cotton too, but that's Belgium I think.

 

Crane closed before I could beg my wallet to get some....I live in Germany where mails still cheap, the government pays of the old government workers still.

 

...in US mail is one of the most expensive mails in the world....after UPS and Fed Ex made US Mail pay for the workers Government pensions immediately......and pay in advance.......and made sure it was Illegal for US Mail to bribe Congress like UPS and Fed Ex.....

.....to tell the truth I'd not gotten any good Euro paper at that time....but Crane was on my list...When It suddenly only sold envelope sets, I was disappointed in I'd heard how good it was.

 

Mohawk doesn't make any good writing paper????

 

What is the best US papers?

[Mercian]

If one is looking for a truly ‘fancy’ or ‘high-end’ writing experience there is, surely, only one candidate…

 

Click me!

 

😉

[Bo Bo Olson]

I bet that is even more expensive than that hand made Italian $10 a sheet fountain pen paper I once read about....and decided I couldn't put it i my printer. .. so didn't get any. ***

I wonder how well those 'sheets' shade???

 

Got to send out the dog and tell him to fetch my sudden runaway wallet. It's so sensitive to being cracked open; even the whisper of spending makes it act odd.

 

 

*** Join us over on, Bridges For Sale Com.

[amper]

11 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

is that another name for 100% cotton Resume paper

 

No. Thesis Paper comes in 20 lb. weight. The lighter weight is because it is intended for publishing academic theses and dissertations, rather than letter or resume writing, so the less bulk when binding the sheets, the better.

[51ISH]

On 3/8/2023 at 9:56 PM, Fountain PenDa said:

@Mark from Yorkshire Thanks mate. Am glad to know that it is not in some exotic hard-to-find shops but WHSmith. Will check that out next time!

 Three Candlesticks is lovely paper - even for a ballpoint! 😮

 

It's available on ebay.de  (as well as ebay.co.uk) WH Smith used to stock it, but I don't think they do any longer (or didn't last time I checked, which is why I ended up with Basildon Bond) Two very different papers IMO.

[Toolattack]

48 minutes ago, 51ISH said:

 Three Candlesticks is lovely paper - even for a ballpoint! 😮

 

It's available on ebay.de  (as well as ebay.co.uk) WH Smith used to stock it, but I don't think they do any longer (or didn't last time I checked, which is why I ended up with Basildon Bond) Two very different papers IMO.

 

Agreed @51ISH Basildon Bond can't hold a candle to 3 Candlesticks! 😂

[Toolattack]

Seriously though @51ISH I much prefer 3C and when I've purchased it, 3C always seems to be sold at a premium to BB.

However, if you're interested you may want to try Gee Brothers in London. They sell very expensive printed stationary, but will sell plain writing paper at a price which is comparable with 3C and for my money, is even better.

[51ISH]

32 minutes ago, Toolattack said:

Seriously though @51ISH I much prefer 3C and when I've purchased it, 3C always seems to be sold at a premium to BB.

However, if you're interested you may want to try Gee Brothers in London. They sell very expensive printed stationary, but will sell plain writing paper at a price which is comparable with 3C and for my money, is even better.

Thanks, I'll check out Gee Brothers. If I'm honest I don't buy a lot of quality paper 😮 I happened across 3C by accident before my FP interests. But then when I checked WH Smith near me they hadn't any in stock, so I ended up with BB as I needed it for some Christmas letters.  I was just trying to help with 'where to buy'. I also like Clairfontain, but that's about the limit of my experience with 'fancy' paper 🙂

[Mark from Yorkshire]

Three Candlesticks and Basildon Bond are made by Hamelin  Brands, the same people who make Optik paper in Oxford pads and Black n’ Red. Three Candlesticks is there premium paper. It is listed at A5 on WHSmiths website and all sizes on Amazon 

[Bo Bo Olson]

35 minutes ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

Three Candlesticks and Basildon Bond

Of the two which is the better shading paper?

 

I like and have been using Oxford Optic in spiral notebooks for years.

 

It was a small school pad that started my kink for shading. Back when Lamy turquoise only had two reviews...I found both reviews shaded  and the posters were or one of them was using Oxford Optic..

 

,,,.and I had a pad of it from the passed Piembi (once back before the day, one of  the com's experts on Pelikan and MP pens) where she wrote in many inks on it and then gave it to me. It was on that Optic pad I got hooked on shading.

At the time it could be bought in Frankfurt but not in Heidelberg.