Does Rhodia Shade Better Than Clairefontaine?

[av8r172]

I have a pad of Clairefontaine which is wonderfully smooth, but I'd rather sacrifice a glassy surface for something that

 

shades better. Does Rhodia shade better than Clairefontaine in your experience?

[swanjun]

I think it does. And that it shows sheen better, as well. For me, my top paper is Tomoe River, and Rhodia is second. I'm trying to work through the Clairefontaine stock I have and not buy more.

[cellmatrix]

they are both good, but in my opinion, clairefontaine is better

[_Stormin_]

Are we talking about the difference between Clairefontaine Triomphe and just "plain" Rhodia notepads?

 

Rhodia uses paper from Clairefonatine, but I know that the standard Rhodia pads are 80 GSM paper with a very different finish from the 90 GSM paper in the Triomphe pads. The 90 GSM paper in the Clairefontaine "Basic" series notebooks offers quite a different finish, and has pretty good shading characteristics vs the Triomphe. I have all of the aforementioned papers in regular use and would say that the CF Basic notebooks probably exhibit the best shading of the three.

[KBeezie]

I think it's going to depend on the inks too.

 

For example on my 80g Rhodia pads, if I use a Pilot Falcon with a soft fine but with two different inks:

 

Noodler's Texas Blue Steel : will feather down at the bottom of a heavier stroke, basically feathering outward at the bottom

Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo : however will not feather (as often) down at the bottom but will instead flow around the outside edges of the stroke darkening it more than the center without feathering outward as much as the blue steel.

 

both do shade, just differently, and they're about the same on other papers as they are on rhodia far as shading goes.

 

And the inks themselves have different shading properties.

 

 

 

If I of course had some Noodler's Apache Sunset (something that's said to shade very well), I'd try that too.

 

But there's more to shading than just the paper, have to factor in the ink, wetness, and nib too. (an extra-fine isn't going to offer as much shading opportunities as a large stub).

 

 

Without knowing the Nib and Ink you're using, it's hard to say if there will be any difference.

[av8r172]

I'm aware that there is more to shading than paper, however it is pretty easy to tell whether one paper shades better than another. In an extreme example, 20 lbs copy paper is likely to shade less than Tomoe River. I'm just asking, in your experience, have you noticed that inks that don't shade spectacularly on Clairefontaine shade better on Rhodia? Let's say a Dot Pad vs. one of Clairefontaine's Pupitre A5 tablets for instance.

[KBeezie]

I'm aware that there is more to shading than paper, however it is pretty easy to tell whether one paper shades better than another. In an extreme example, 20 lbs copy paper is likely to shade less than Tomoe River. I'm just asking, in your experience, have you noticed that inks that don't shade spectacularly on Clairefontaine shade better on Rhodia? Let's say a Dot Pad vs. one of Clairefontaine's Pupitre A5 tablets for instance.

 

It's still going to vary by the ink. Like with Rhodia the surface doesn't rapidly absorb ink, so depending on the kind of ink and how it lays down, it might flow back up the stroke thus removing shading. Compared to ink that stays where it's at, preserving the shading if there is any. I don't have Clairefontaine but I'd imagine they would be very similar in terms of shading (since they're close to the same thing), where as the difference between either of those and something a bit more absorbent is going to be more apparent.

 

Is there a particular ink you're wondering about? Might be able to compare once that's known.

Edited May 14, 2014 by KBeezie

[discopig]

I never noticed paper affecting how inks shade that much. What affects it mainly is the ink itself and the nib.

Edited May 14, 2014 by discopig

[canibanoglu]

I never noticed paper affecting how inks shade that much. What affects it mainly is the ink itself and the nib.

The paper actually plays a very important part as well. Shading is technically the ink's tendency to pool in your strokes. When you're writing normally, some ink will move back up your strokes and create a deeper color this way. If you have extremely absorbing paper, the effect will be much less pronounced. But that is not to say that you can't have good shading on absorbing papers.

 

What really surprised me that "normal" Rhodia paper shades better than Clairefontaine Triomphe. I didn't have a chance to get my hands on Triomphe paper but I would have expected that it shades better.

[av8r172]

What really surprised me that "normal" Rhodia paper shades better than Clairefontaine Triomphe. I didn't have a chance to get my hands on Triomphe paper but I would have expected that it shades better.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you canibanoglu, I'll give the Rhodia a try.

[theverdictis]

I think it's going to depend on the inks too.

 

For example on my 80g Rhodia pads, if I use a Pilot Falcon with a soft fine but with two different inks:

 

Noodler's Texas Blue Steel : will feather down at the bottom of a heavier stroke, basically feathering outward at the bottom

Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo : however will not feather (as often) down at the bottom but will instead flow around the outside edges of the stroke darkening it more than the center without feathering outward as much as the blue steel.

 

both do shade, just differently, and they're about the same on other papers as they are on rhodia far as shading goes.

 

And the inks themselves have different shading properties.

 

 

 

If I of course had some Noodler's Apache Sunset (something that's said to shade very well), I'd try that too.

 

But there's more to shading than just the paper, have to factor in the ink, wetness, and nib too. (an extra-fine isn't going to offer as much shading opportunities as a large stub).

 

 

Without knowing the Nib and Ink you're using, it's hard to say if there will be any difference.

Really like the Pilot you tried out. Also really like the light blue ink.

[dior523]

Yes I think it does better...