Rhodia-Like Paper For Laser Printing

[InkyWinky]

I love using fountain pens for everything and most of all for all my daily business notes and writing. The more pen time-in-hand the better. Use all kinds of inks and pens but for 15 years nothing but Rhodia pads, all sizes. I just love the paper. I take all my notes on Rhodia and if electronic distribution is needed I scan the written page and send... it helps that I have neat handwriting.

 

Well, now there's a daily form I have to use for business, one I can print on a laser printer on any paper I want. So, a few questions...

 

1. Can one buy plain Rhodia in bulk? I guess I could buy plain #18 pads and tear them out one-by-one but it'll get expensive and kinda time consuming.

 

2. If not, what's the next best thing?

 

3. Does the act of putting paper through a laser printer do anything that will affect how a pen and ink works on the surface? Is there some chemical coating or heating that will change how ink is absorbed? I admit that I don't know how a laser printer works but I'd hate to go to all the trouble to create a form for paper I love just to have it changed by the process of printing the form.

 

All advice is very welcome!

[PJohnP]

Laser printers use a "hot roller" system to bind the toner to the paper (that's a simplification, but good enough for this discussion). Running paper through his heated roller system seems to compress the surface fibres and/or "heat treats" them, either/both of which impedes fountain pen ink to some degree.

 

I say, "to some degree", because, in my experience, a larger factor in using fountain pen ink on paper that's been through a laser printer is where/how much toner was deposited. Those areas will be more resistant to FP ink, and show distinct differences from "unprinted" areas. While one can discern some small difference between paper run through and not run through a laser printer, the printed areas are a far larger and more noticeable difference.

 

When I take Double-A paper through a laser printer for Arc/Circa notebook inserts - I haven't run Rhodia through, and will likely stay with Double-A as it's most cost effective - I use a dot-grid with minimal intensity, and only a smallish header block. This has worked very well for several years, and the paper is (almost) as good as paper that wasn't run through the laser printer. Tests with heavy lines and larger blocks of printed area were not nearly so successful in my experience.

 

I hope that this helps on Q3.

 

 

 

John P.

Edited February 5, 2015 by PJohnP

[InkyWinky]

Thanks for the advice!

[senzen]

Just bought some HP laser 32lb paper... So it's designed for laser, and takes fountain pens beautifully. It's heavier and more stiff than Rhodia. I was thinking of asking friends passing through Paris to buy a ream of Clairefontaine laser paper which I bet should be just as good... But asking someone to lug all that paper isn't very nice, the HP 500 page packet is quite heavy...

[Recoil Rob]

A few weeks back I was asking about a cheap bulk paper to practice on and it was recommended to me to try Staples brand, Eco friendly, recycled sugar cane paper. I got 2 reams for $13.00 (there was an instant rebate) and the stuff is incredibly FP friendly, no feathering or bleed though with a variety of Diamines and Noodlers inks.

 

I have done exactly what you want to do, used it to print my own invoices so I can use an FP to write on them. My store didn't have it in stock so I ordered online, ship to store.

 

http://www.staples.com/Sustainable-Earth-by-Staples-Sugarcane-based-Copy-Paper-8-1-2-x-11-20lb-Ream/product_398457

Edited February 12, 2015 by Recoil Rob

[Intellidepth]

If an Aussie drops in to this thread for the same reason, I've tried Mondi color copy white, Reflex Blue, Optix viza blue, Clairfontaine ink jet pale blue, and Quill powder blue. The Quill paper is as close to Rhodia as I can imagine a ream of printing paper getting, but is manufactured in China directly for the Australian 'manufacturer' (Quill Stationery) and therefore only comes in A4. I currently love Quill powder blue, smooth, good performing paper.

 

Next in line would be Clairfontaine, which has a similar performance to Quill but with a textured surface of very fine squares that I don't like so much with vintage nibs. This is followed by Mondi which is smooth, however has one side that feathers less and one side that feathers more so I have to check before I print on it which side is which. Next comes Reflex, and well down the food chain is Optix.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Intellidepth