I was in Toronto earlier this week and stopped into Sleuth and Statesman. They had this amazing new paper called Whitelines. Essentially, the paper is a light grey colour (but looks white from any distance) and has white lines on it instead of your typical blue/grey colour. I wrote with a fountain pen on it and the writing just lit up/jumped off the page. Amazing!

A link to the company is here: http://www.whitelines.se/eng/

I wondered if anyone else has tried this or know where else to buy it in North America?

It is supposed to work really well when scanning and faxing (although I don't know who uses fax anymore). I will try to put down a writing sample and scan it in for everyone to see.

Here is a scanned version of some of the whitelines paper with different nibs and inks. Sorry for the bad handwriting!

Click to view attachment

Ooooh, thass purty. I like the look of that. If anyone knows of North American distributors, please post. The overseas shipping on the direct-from-Sweden site is a bit of a buzzsaw...

And does anyone know if Rhodia has gone into full market release on their new stitched journals?? My local pen/paper store does not have them yet.

As I was looking at the scan, while it looks okay, it really does not do the paper justice. The scan makes the paper appear grey; however, when you look at the paper from any distance at all, e.g., arm's length, it appears white. I have tried writing on their pads and their journal-type booklets and I think I prefer the pads not only because of their convenience but also because the texture of the pad paper is smoother. I might be dreaming about this latter point but it seems that way.

Has anyone tried to find out more about this paper? I contacted the company and never received a response. I would really like to know more about it and if it will be available in the US.

Nota Bene store in Montreal is the only store in North America where you will find the Whitelines. Russel, the owner, brought in the complete line up and it's great paper. I have written in a little notebook for a good part of the summer with at least 15 different pen and I have only praises.

http://www.nota-bene.ca

or Toll Free Tel: 877 993-2527

p.s. It's also possible to find the whole lineup of new Rhodia notebooks, Apica in all size, any Clairefontaine, etc.

Ta muchly.

It's strangely comforting to see you americans desperately trying to find something that's available all over the place here... Usually, it's the other way around.

Went to the site, but it is listed under "coming" and no pricing or availability.
Donnie

Call Russel at the store, he is the busiest man in the paper world. He simply did not have time to update the site, he has a whole table of Whitelines in every format.
He will ship anywhere.
Samovar

Do call or email Russell. He was great helping me yesterday and I've got an order coming. Sure hope that we can get a US distributor though.

I was in the middle of something earlier so wanted to ask - has anyone called Russell's number from the US before? The toll free number that is. I tried to get through and couldn't and then dialed the operator. When I told her the number I was calling she snapped at me "That's a toll-free number, of course that won't work!" Well, I call Montreal all the time so I knew that! (intense sarcasm)

Russell was pretty peeved with the phone system and very apologetic. I worry a little that maybe there was just some glitch on my end and the operator I was talking to was too lazy to look into it.

Anyway - I want to reiterate, he was extremely helpful and patient with this little ol' Texas lady who was at first a tad shaken due to the mix up with the operator. Despite international shipping costs, if I can use the whitelines, I'll continue to do business with him. Vendors of that calibre should not be taken for granted and if the paper is as good as it sounds, it will be well worth it.

What did you order?
I have tried a notebook about the size of a Moleskine and a large thin cahier. They are both great to write into.
I'm sure you will enjoy them.

Samovar

Le'see..

I ordered

A4 Lined Pad
A4 Squared Pad
A5 Lined Stapled Book (Cahier)
A4 Lined Stapled Book (Large Cahier)

The "squared" (which I'm guessing means "gridded") pad will help me determine if I prefer lines to grids. I like Rhodia grids but this is new territory with these "whitelines."

I'm not likely to use the A4 lined book but I thought my daughter might when she heads back to college in the spring.

The prices are comparable to Rhodia - The A5 cahier is essentially the same price as a Rhodia Cahier here. I haven't compared the other sizes directly to Rhodia prices. I love the Rhodia A5 lined book.

Sorry not to be of any help to you folk in the USA but I am informed by the company that 'whiteline paper' is available in the UK from the London Graphic Centre

I also just ordered some Whitelines paper for myself.

I got the pocket sized notebook (48 pages, lined)
and the wire-bound A4 paper (80 pages, lined)

The shipping was $10 Here's hoping for a US distributor!

Say, KCat, have you received yours yet?

Has anyone written a review of this paper? It sure looks nice.... but how does it write?

it's yer luckie day

Amazing customer service! (No affiliation, I'm not even a customer) From their website http://www.nota-bene.ca/:

That's where I got mine from. Not the cheapest, the main problem I had was that they took the mick a little on the shipping.

I ordered a bunch of Whitelines from Nota Bene, got an email from Russell on September 12 that it had been shipped, but it's not here yet. Between Canada Post and the USPS, buying from Montreal is turning into a long, somewhat problematical procedure. Tomorrow morning I need to phone my local post office again and ask to speak with a delivery supervisor. The paper is doubtless on a truck somewhere or on a shelf somewhere. But this has not been a satisfactory buying experience.

Much as I enjoyed visiting Nota Bene and like Russell, I do hope someone in the USA imports Whitelines someday soon.

[Pengrump post
I ordered a bunch of Whitelines from Nota Bene,... ...September 12 that it had been shipped, but it's not here yet. Between Canada Post and the USPS, buying from Montreal is turning into a long,... ...The paper is doubtless on a truck somewhere or on a shelf somewhere. ]

Wrong bridge? Stuck in traffic on the Bluewater in Sarnia? tunnel in daytwa?
p2p ...who thought you might need cheering whilst you endure...
...in amazement that such things can be found & delivered from around the world as they are these days...

No, Canada Post was slow, and the USPS in this part of the world has taken to delivering priority mail and expedited mail in the late evening a couple of days after it arrives at the local post office. The package from Nota Bene came about ten minutes after I'd given up and let Russell know the paper hadn't gotten here yet. Never fails, as soon as I give up, what I've given up on occurs. So I told Russell to disregard my email about the paper's not arriving and can now just enjoy my Whitelines.

I plan to go to Montreal regularly so I would not mind doing a "pit stop" there and get Ottawa FPNs orders back. I will try to go to the next Ottawa FPN meeting so that I can meet the locals.

Bye
Jennie