Mondi 120g color copy paper

[Bo Bo Olson]

 

I I was originally impressed by Mondi 100g Color copy paper, then with in weeks,..then it became a printer paper as soon as I got something better.

Mondi 120g paper is better.....smoother...

Not perfect....I ran 25 inked pens across it. Again as i studied the inks, some too wet for shading or too saturated....by the time I got to the end....all it had done was replace Mondi 100g....it's plus point is it is smooth. It was not the Grand Paper I was hoping for.

 

Some fatter nibs, with wetter inks, Some 7 had a slight woolly line when looked at under a fat thick magnifying glass. All 7 were slight woolly lines, only one was a slight woolly line with out magnification.

A Parker 50 OM using DA violet ink. That is that one piece nib and barrel, with fat round tipping and it is a wet writer.

 

Shading is what I chase...but two sheen inks...didn't sheen...even tilted.

The couple glitter inks, glittered when tilted.

A couple inks shaded when wet and dried to not.

Some shaded well, MB Cool Gray and Diamine Silver Fox...both Octopus  shading inks, Karamell & Bronze did well on this paper.

 

The two Japanese inks I bought today, Ajisai and Asago didn't shade particularly well on Mondi 120g..

On Oxford Optic they did better.

CT wasn't better.

MK 95 g shaded better but is not so smooth.

Mondi 100g the same as the 120g.

They shaded well on Gmund 170g ($$$).

Best shading of course on Avery Zweckform 170g, a very slick smooth paper. The problem with this paper is it's too slick and smooth. It feels like plastic, not paper.

I did pull it back out of the printer. I only use it with ink or in this case paper comparisons, not for fun writing...the feel is off.

 

The Mondi 120g paper cost some €15.95 for half a ream.

 

 

[ElPlacerDeLaEscritura]

Thank you so mucho for this review. I am -like a crazy man- looking for european blank A5 good enough for Fountain Pens. It's so difficult! I don't like the 52gr tomoe river or the Orofur 75gr. Even the Midori A5 sheets are so hard to find. 

[Doubleyoukay]

@ElPlacerDeLaEscritura -- I recommend "Clairefontaine Clairalfa 1910C, DIN A5, 80g" (available at Amazon, ASIN: B000KT8RQ0). It is a well-behaved and reasonably priced fountain-pen-friendly printer/copy paper in A5. I use it quite often for custom-made-forms (project plans, etc.) - printed on a Kyocera color laser printer. Then I put them in my old TimeSystem ring- or my Staples ARC disc-binder and when needed, fill in data with a fountain pen.
It is not really suitable for ink presentation (shading, sheen, etc.), though, but it does the office job without feathering or bleeding through. But maybe the heating by the laser printer plays a part in that behaviour, too.
 

[Bo Bo Olson]

I hate ClairAlfa..."""""It is not really suitable for ink presentation (shading, sheen, etc.),"""""....all that money and it didn't shade.

 

I don't know where you are, so it's hard to say....try amazon.de, but I go after A-4, and never smaller.

In spiral A-4 notebooks, Oxford Optic, Clairefontaine Velout` are my go to 90g papers. New is the 70g German made Kyome 70g. Well recommended by many people, that I got a spiral notebook from Amazon.de. and It is well coated, in it seems to match Velot` and Optic.

I like MK paper, a big brand in the '50-60's. Brunnen bought up the name, and didn't ruin it. Don't waste your money for anything else from them.  When I first got into paper I went down to Heidelberg and bought every paper I could lay my hands on, and that was mostly packs of Brunnen....and all but MK, ended up in the printer..

The Office is actually a one sided typing paper 95g. I keep a supply. the other two lower  gramage ones haven't been showing up  lately. I liked them too.

...............There is an A-5 MK Letter pad for €5.66.

They have the 80g MK smooth watermarked paper but at A-6.

What ever you do; DON'T BUY Clairefontaine ClareAlfa and DCP....not fountain pen friendly.

[Doubleyoukay]

12 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

What ever you do; DON'T BUY Clairefontaine ClareAlfa and DCP....not fountain pen friendly

I contradict that! Maybe you're right for DCP, but the Clairalfa A5 80g is doing fine for me with many of my fountain pens, including wide and wet B-nibs. Of course it can't be compared to Oxford Optik Paper or Tomoe River 52g - that is a whole different level. But @ElPlacerDeLaEscritura asked for A5 paper "good enough" for fountain pens and I can honestly say that it is from my own experience.

[Bo Bo Olson]

28 minutes ago, Doubleyoukay said:

Oxford Optik Paper  - that is a whole different level

I got spoiled on Oxford Optic, in it was the paper I discovered shading on, some 14 of my 15 years in this addiction.

I find the price for a spiral notebook, be it, Optic, Velote or Kyome, to be very affordable....for a good paper.

The problem I've not gone looking for is finding them by the ream, or 100 sheet box. I was satisfied with the spiral notebooks, that I always have an extra book or two of them. Sometimes I couldn't find them.....and there are times when I could and stock up, but don't buy on the net....$ of postage costs subtracts from my beer money.

 

There are times springing over my shadow takes some effort. I tend to cheap out at the wrong time or place.

It took me forever to get around to buying $ Clairefontaine Triomphe and $ Rhoda. Now I'd not hesitate, bu the border had been broken.

 

There are physiological borders for cost of pens, inks, and papers. When retired those borders can be irritating.

 

I was about to make a poor comment on an $$ Artoz Swiss paper, until I noticed it (laid paper) shades, and I wonder what it was that so disappointed me. Today, I did run into the little forgotten pack of bütten/hammered paper.......by them.

I do know some of that Artoz brands $$ papers ended up in the printer.

Tomorrow, I'll do a quick test to see what I have inked, works on them or not.

 

It's like I got spoiled early with semi-flex nibs, so it was with Optic.

The eternal search for (nearly) affordable perfect paper goes on.

 

I do have some perfect paper but at €40 for 100 sheets....it only took me 4-5 years of dithering to narrow down 12  sample sheets to the one......and it was by a hair, second best, but I like heavy paper, so in the last second chose that.

 

 

[Doubleyoukay]

On 8/17/2024 at 1:39 AM, Bo Bo Olson said:

I got spoiled on Oxford Optic

No hard feelings here - I can relate to getting spoiled on Oxford Optic Paper, I am a big fan myself and always have some spiral notebooks in A5 and A4 (I like the "Duo"!) stocked. I even have a blank A4 letterpad for private correspondence in shorthand. There is nothing comparable to the pleasure of writing on really good paper with a fountain pen. To me it even has a kind of "zen quality" - it really soothes me when I am upset or nervous.
Nevertheless I can't (or don't want to) spend that much money on everyday office paper, which is partially used for printing. Therefore I went looking for alternatives. I found the Mondi 120 very good, too and I still have a pack for all uses where that kind of heavy/thick paper ist needed. It works pretty well in my ARC disc-notebooks (the "poor-mans-Atoma"), where thinner paper tends to slip the disc's hold.
On the other hand there are quite a lot of occasions where I prefer a lighter paper, willing to accept a slightly less fountain-pen-friendliness (FPF), especially when considering the brazen postage costs in Germany. I have even started to use the "Clairmail 60g A4 copy paper" for printing and it works surprisingly well with my laser- and my inkjet-printer. It is not really a pleasure to write on it with a fountain pen, but it gets the job done, if I don't use a firehose pen and/or ill-behaved ink. And since I have quite a lot of mail exchange with public service bureaucrats, using better paper for them would seem to me as casting pearls before swine.
When I want to get pleasure out of writing with my fountain pens, I choose Oxford Optic Paper or Notebooks made of Tomoe River paper. When I want to write budget-friendly letters, the "Kaufland" chain of wholesale suppliers in Germany has 60g A4 letterpads by "Talentus", which seems to be a store brand. They are "good enough" for fountain pens, too.

In the end, it's all a matter of "Whatever floats your boat!"
 

[Bo Bo Olson]

1 hour ago, Doubleyoukay said:

When I want to write budget-friendly letters, the "Kaufland" chain of wholesale suppliers in Germany has 60g A4 letterpads by "Talentus", which seems to be a store brand. They are "good enough" for fountain pens, too.

 Good to know, I go to Kaufland twice a month....on sale, good prices on good booze. I must have four good rums from them.

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

You express your self very well.

 

[AmandaW]

You need 4 good rums every 2 weeks?

 

I didn't know Clairefontaine was available in reams. Probably not available down here.

 

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

No. But they have at least one good one on sale; often. There is also a good assortment. Here Four Roses in Germany is a bourbon, in the States mixing different bourbon's is illegal to call it a bourbon. Or was....

I've not had that, but will.

Half those decanters are good scotches.

And in 1972, Consumer Reports had a blind scotch testing....Johnny Walker Red won.

Of the Vodka's tested, straight grain alcohol mixed with water won. A good reason to drink gin.

 

If one drinks a lot one don't have more than two or three decanters....actually if one drinks a lot, one don't have decanters at all, just an empty bottle.

[Doubleyoukay]

On 8/18/2024 at 5:36 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

You express your self very well.

Thank you for the compliment!