Has anybody had the experience of getting some nice stationery out of your desk and beginning a letter with one of your favorite pens and before you even get past "Dear So-and-So" you realize you don't like this color ink on this paper or this pen doesn't behave well on this paper?

Now your choices are to continue the letter that you won't be satisfied with or waste this piece of paper. I've been through this more than once. A while back I decided to take one sheet from each box of stationery and do a test page. I wrote a few lines with each of my pens - all with different ink colors and put it back in the box for future reference.

Yesterday - when I took out my Crane's airmail stationery - I found a note on the test page that said, "Waterman Phileas, medium, is the best pen to use on this paper." This made me recall that my other pens are slightly scratchy on this paper. I don't know if I would have remembered this without the note. Having a test page will definitely minimize wasted stationery.

Judybug

I have done that too- test ink colors on a sheet of paper/stationery to see if I like the way it looks before I get started on a letter. It really helps me feel more satisfied with the results.

This is a great idea. I'm inspired to start doing this, particularly since I already have a Mistake on a Crane's correspondence card sitting around ...

Good idea!
I use a notebook that's composed of Crane's 32lb ecru, kid finish (discontinued)
for a pen and ink test book. Each pen gets a page, and every time i try a new ink,
i jot down the name of the ink and a sample line or two. It doesn't help with
paper-ink color considerations, but tells me whether or not the nib is smooth enough and
how the ink looks and flows on my standard stationery.

As a sidebar, If I'm writing a casual, personal letter and don't like the color, I'll
change pens with a little note of explanation. And if I make a mistake,
I'll draw a line through it and carry on. Adds character.

I've done this with 12 different kinds of paper. Mostly for seeing how the pen acts on the paper & to be sure that the ink acts OK, too. I virtually always use a number of different colors in a snail, so color isn't a consideration if the properties of the ink work well with the paper.

Best, Ann

This is a very smart idea, I am going to try it! I actually have such a page of sorts started on HP 32# Laser, but I will do the same with my other papers. It's interesting how different a pen's line can be depending on the paper.

I found out that each of my pen/ink combination reacts differently to my everyday paper Enviro Copy 20lb white office depot paper.

With my huge handwriting and my novel like journaling that's the kind I can use without breaking the bank. Besides, I can feed it to Monster printer Canon MP530 and I thought make my own stationery but with the price of the pixma cartridges, I don't think so!