I've been using G. Lalo's Verge line for awhile now and love it; however, I'd like to expand my experience and see what else is out there.

In your opinion, what's the best laid paper? I'm looking for something in ivory (or an off-white) as I'm not too keen on straight white. Also if anyone knows of a notebook with ivory/off-white laid paper, I'm looking forward to hearing about it. I'd appreciate any feedback or links - my thanks in advance

Edit: Ooops, I seem to have placed this is the review and article section - my apologies! Please move to other area when possible - thank you.

My thanks to whomever moved this to its proper home

"Strathmore Writing" Laid finish took ink well the last time I tried it which was at least 5 years ago, maybe longer. It's a fairly smooth laid finish, too.

Neenah "Classic Laid" also takes ink, but is a rougher laid finish and may feel a little bumpy with FPs.

It's been at least 5 years, maybe longer since I've played with either of these papers, so try a sample first, a lot of the paper makers have gone to electronic finishes for laser and ink jet printers .... they forget that some people really write on these papers! Waltz into your local printer and ask to see the swash books, if they are old fashioned enough, they may even let you scribble on the swashes and if it's a paper available to them locally, then you may be able to get a few sample sheets.

Sam

I have some recent Neenah Classic Laid Imaging paper, the imaging means designed for electronic printers. I like this paper. The laid texture is fairly subdued, barely noticeable when writing, but is visually evident. The one peculiarity is that one side (smoother) produces a just slightly wider line than the other side (more textured), but no feathering outside of the line on either side. Ivorystone is a nice ivory color with very subtle and scattered flecks. It's a recycled paper. Whitestone is another nice color in this line, it's a very light gray granite sort of color. It's neutral, and shows off any ink well.

You should be able to find samples of these at local print shops or paper suppliers. They come in reams of 500 sheets, should retail for between $20 and $25.

I don't know of any notebooks of laid paper. You can take your loose sheets and have them cut to any size you want and made into pads at Kinkos I hear.

Thanks so much Sam and Dan! I've been looking at both the Strathmore and Neenah website and have written them about samples. I also have never thought of going to my local print shop for paper samples (duh!) so thanks for the tip, much apprecited.

I've had a bit of good news/bad news in the laid ivory journal issue. I found a leather notebook by G.Lalo with ivory laid paper (only 24 sheets but exactly what I wanted), but it and the refills have been discontinued. I was able to find one via James as Pear Tree Pens (yay!) but finding refills of the same paper is going to be tough. If I find anything else in this catagory, I'll post about it.

my wife, who works in a printing shop, got me a ream of Neenah Classic Laid (24lb???) i while back and i pull a couple of sheets out when i was ready this post to try it out...

in my case, it worked better with fine points (Parker 51, Eversharp symphony) and not so good with a wet med nib like Sheaffer Valor. i tried both sides with the same results.

i think i'll start using this paper. thanx for posting the question. it gave me an opporyunity to re-discover it.

... by the way mine is white, but that is ok for me.
regards,

If there is an Office Depot or Office Max nearby, they are more reasonably priced for cutting and drilling. I am not affiliated with either Office XXX places, but I have found their prices to be much lower than Kinkos for almost everything.

Donnie