Once You Go Rhodia, You Never Go Back?

[MHBru]

Rhodia/Clairefontaine are my favorite papers by far. I like the weight and the finish and my inks look their best... especially on white paper.

[Honeybadgers]

HP LaserJet 32lbs is a great suggestion to lower the cost per page, it's just thicker. Clairefontaine is an even better paper for me, although there are variations, my blank notebooks definitely seem different from the more common Séyès ruled. For a different feel, try Tomoe River. Being heavy items, the cost can get crazy in different countries, if at all available, it's the same for stereo components like speakers. I had to pester several friends to get me some paper on their travels, but I was really ashamed when the 500 Tomoe River pack arrived, it was heavier than I thought.

 

I find 24lb HP laserjet to be more ideal since it's a little lighter but still the same quality coating, it can handle heavy double sided writing and takes up a lot less space in a notebook. Cheaper too. I have used both since I use a laser printer, and have really started to prefer 24 to 32 in every way.

[truthpil]

Red N Black (available at Office Depot/OfficeMax, Staples - about $10 for A4 ring bound - 140 pages. Not as slick as Clairfontaine, Rhodia, or Tomoe River (TR is my favorite for letters. Especially international mail). It is FP friendly, but a tad more absorbent. The Rhodia I have is mostly A4 top bound pads. I have dot, grid and blank in A4 and a dot pad A5. Sometimes Massdrop will have offerings on Rhodia pads.

 

+1 for Red N Black

 

Rhodia and Clairfontaine are too slick sometimes and cause skipping with some drier inks. Red N Black is a nice balance of smooth and absorbent, not to mention the reasonable price. I'm using one of their casebound journals now and really love how it brings the shading out with my broad nibs and every nib just writes a nice, rich line with a wonderfully smooth writing experience. My only complaint is that the rules in mine are an odd number, so if I write on every other line I end up having to write under the last line or leave a lot of annoying blank space on the page.

[LanceSaintPaul]

Here's another paper with a nice balance between smooth & absorbent that gives a subtle, but pleasing to me, line width reinforcement:

 

< http://www.franklin-christoph.com/notepads.html >

 

Note that I like a dot grid when the dots are printed lightly as to be unobtrusive as is the case (for me) here. Paper has a subtle tint that I could do without, but not a deal breaker at all.

 

Dots OK With Me

Edited April 10, 2018 by LanceSaintPaul

[mabuckit]

I suggest the Seven Seas Writer journal for 400 pages of Tomoe River paper. Except that it's out of stock.

[IndigoBOB]

I suggest the Seven Seas Writer journal for 400 pages of Tomoe River paper. Except that it's out of stock.

 

 

+1

 

Best A5 on the market.

 

The new batches that are coming out will be cream paper.

[truthpil]

 

 

+1

 

Best A5 on the market.

 

The new batches that are coming out will be cream paper.

 

Sounds amazing. Is there anything like this available with a softcover?

[IndigoBOB]

 

Sounds amazing. Is there anything like this available with a softcover?

 

HippoNoto's are out now. They use 68 gsm, not 52, thus are thicker.... Little bit more money.... Are Pocket A5's, not True A5's. Mine is still on its way so I can't comment on it.

 

Taroko has some: Mystique and Enigma. I don't know much about these. I couldn't find any lined versions.

 

The Seven Seas Writers are just soo good for the money, and besides the HippoNoto, as far as I know, there isn't any other lined Tomoe River notebook that is good quality like these, otherwise I'd probably have it by now. IME, and JournalJoy's, they are sturdy notebooks:

 

 

I'll be honest, I only ordered the HippoNoto because the SS Writers were sold out, and that was when they were $30 preorders. Now, they're $40 for 500 pages, where you can get the Writer with 480 pages for $24 or less with the "factory defects" that many have reported to have nearly imperceptible problems they report to be negligible. People are learning to buy SS Writers in bulk if they can since they sell out fast and stay out of stock.

[truthpil]

Thanks for posting the video! I didn't realize the SS Writer is indeed a softcover. This sounds like exactly what I've been looking for, especially since they have a matching leather cover and hard mat to place behind the page.

 

I hope their 'standard' line doesn't go out of stock as quickly as the 'writer' line seems to.

Edited April 22, 2018 by TruthPil

[IndigoBOB]

Thanks for posting the video! I didn't realize the SS Writer is indeed a softcover. This sounds like exactly what I've been looking for, especially since they have a matching leather cover and hard mat to place behind the page.

 

I hope their 'standard' line doesn't go out of stock as quickly as the 'writer' line seems to.

 

 

No problem.

 

I've never seen the Standard sold out *fingers crossed*, and I check that site often. The Standard was the first one I tried. I still have yet to try the crossfield, which is a dot grid with crosses. I haven't tried dot grids yet in general.

 

Usually it's the Writer sold out first, then the Crossfield.

 

With the Writer there was a limit of 5 per purchase or person. I don't know how that works, but when you click on the "quantity/amount" option it only lets you scroll down to 5. With the Standard, there was basically little/no limit. The Standard "quantity/amount" option let me scroll down to a very high number just before the store temporarily closed most recently.

[truthpil]

 

 

No problem.

 

I've never seen the Standard sold out *fingers crossed*, and I check that site often. The Standard was the first one I tried. I still have yet to try the crossfield, which is a dot grid with crosses. I haven't tried dot grids yet in general.

 

Usually it's the Writer sold out first, then the Crossfield.

 

With the Writer there was a limit of 5 per purchase or person. I don't know how that works, but when you click on the "quantity/amount" option it only lets you scroll down to 5. With the Standard, there was basically little/no limit. The Standard "quantity/amount" option let me scroll down to a very high number just before the store temporarily closed most recently.

Are the pages in the standard thin enough that you can see a grid mat behind it while you write? I like the idea of having the lines to guide my writing but also a clean page with nothing but text on it afterward.

[Tseg]

I was about to start a post that I'm giving up on Rhodia after I'm through with my current dotpad. Then I saw this post. I do like the A4 size but the waxy coating wreaks havoc on varying pens and inks I have in varying ways. Accessing a wide variety of high quality paper A4 notebooks is a bit problematic, though. Lately I'm figuring out ways to use my A5 Tomoe River journals as a big piece of paper, either writing vertically or horizontally all the way across both pages. Using an A5 dot paper vertically ends up with the equivalent size as an A4 piece of paper, just with a big seam in the middle to navigate around... but the journal ends up being more portable. For me, the transition away from Rhodia is all but done.

[dan in montreal]

There is plenty of good, cheap stuff out there, even in composition books. But it's hit or miss, a lot of the time.

 

When I get a Rhodia or Clairefontaine book, I know what I'm getting. I find them to very consistent.

 

The Rhodia pads and cahiers are my go-to because I don't find them as slick and shiny as the Clairefontaine papers - and I find them to be cheap enough and they are pretty easy to find in my city.

 

The Fabriano stuff and recent Leuchtturm papers are also pretty nice, as are a lot of the Japanese papers that have been mentioned. I really like my lilttle cream-colored Life cahiers. Get what works for you. I'm currently using a Miquelrius book that is just great - it's much better than I expected.

[IndigoBOB]

Are the pages in the standard thin enough that you can see a grid mat behind it while you write? I like the idea of having the lines to guide my writing but also a clean page with nothing but text on it afterward.

 

 

They are thin enough.

 

If I insert anything with black markings (lines, words, ect) it's noticeable.

 

It's strange though, because, unlike other papers that have a lot of show through, its apparent but unobtrusive. I write on both sides of my papers and I don't notice show through.

 

I don't know how this paper does it. I use the darkest deepest inks and it doesn't show through unpleasantly or obtrusively. Probably because the ink doesn't absorb through, but stays more on the surface.

[akrohn2010]

I have tried Rhodia, Leuchtturm, Tomoe, and Clairfontaine alongside more available paper (copy paper, Moleskine, etc). I am glad to hear I am not the only one who feels Rhodia is overhyped (fine paper, but for me not the magic experience some describe).

 

I prefer Tomoe for writing by far, and even my Leuchtturm over Rhodia and Clairfontaine, since I mostly use fine nibs and the glossiness is not what I prefer. I do use Rhodia pads to test my new inks, nibs, and pens but stick with Leuchtturm for my journals and Tomoe for my bible transcription.

 

I think I may need to watch for a Seven Seas writer now...

[minddance]

Would it be blasphemous to say that rhodia is not paper? It has not much affinity to inks and nibs. The surface is hard and non absorbent. Shadings (in fact too much) can be had because of smooth nib + smooth paper = ink gets scraped/skidded off the paper surface and pools where the nib rests/lifted/at some inflection points.

 

Writing on Rhodia makes me rotate my nibs more than other papers because it is super slippery. I skid in and out of the sweet spot. With the same pen and ink, lines appear alot thinner and paler and washed-out, especially in fine nibs. It takes a broader and wetter pen to produce the colour and lines that I enjoy with the same inks.

 

That's not the end of the story: when you think you mastered writing on 1 side of Rhodia, you turn the page and write on the opposite side of the same piece of Rhodia, you will find that the properties are completely different. It becomes alot more absorbent. Line width become normal and ink colour is what I paid for. Finally, this feels abit more like 'paper'. Then you are finished with the page. A fresh new page of non-paper awaits. This cycle starts all over again.

 

Verdict: I will not buy Rhodia again.

 

P.s. I was once that ignorant viewer of those fountain pen youtube reviews videos in which all the reviewers use Rhodia to write on. And I thought Rhodia MUST be good but I learnt it is not for me only after buying and using it.

Edited May 3, 2018 by minddance

[gmathio]

I don't know if it is the best paper for writing with a fountain pen - and probably thre must be better - but for the price I find Rhodia unbeatable. I use them as my daily notebooks for studying and they are great and very consistent with every fountain pen and ink I have tried. Just ordered two more blocs, the 119, lined this time.

[DrDebG]

 

Thank you for your post. Good luck with your studies! I am glad that you are getting back into fountain pens. When I went back to graduate school, that is when I got back into fountain pens as well. Luckily enough, I found Kokuyo notebooks fairly inexpensively, which I loved.

 

I think many of us would agree with your assessment of Moleskine. They work wonderfully well with Micron pens and ball points, but are awful with fountain pens. I used to use Leuchterm1917 notebooks, but did not really care for them either.

 

One of the things that you will learn - and we are all learning each day - is that paper and ink are just as important as your pen. Some pens work wonderfully well on certain papers but only with certain inks. I have a wonderful Lamy Al-Star that loves all paper except Rhodia/Clairfontaine paper (they are the same). It does not matter what ink I use. Th

 

That is the reason many FP afficiandos use different kinds of papers, pens and ink for different purposes. For example, if I am going to doing work for a client, I will use an inexpensive FP friendly journal book for that specific client, and 2-3 Lamy Safaris (M, B and stub nibs) with Pilot Iro inks. This combination works very well, albeit it may not be "the best".

 

In a typical day, I write in my journal (MD Midori paper), I take notes of meetings (Rhodia meeting notebook), do mark-ups of documents (HP 24lb copy paper), sketch processes, charts, etc. and do mind mapping (Cambridge spiral notebook paper) and write notes to people (Tomoe River). And I generally have 6-12 fountain pens - and sometimes more - loaded with different color inks that works for each of these functions; most will do several things.

Edited May 3, 2018 by DrPenfection

[inkstainedruth]

I like Rhodia, but the pads are relatively expensive (so are Leuchtturm, and Clairefontaine, and most of the others people have mentioned.

For journaling, I really like the 300 page Miquelrius lined journals. But they're increasingly hard to find (I had to contact Miquelrius-USA directly, and they were able to send me the dozen I ordered -- but their main website no longer has a retail store, and they sent me the journals through a site called OM Online).

I have some Tomoe River in loose sheets, but I can't use both sides because of the show through. I tried one of the EcoQua dot-grid pads, and the paper is pretty decent (I found it in a local Dick Blick's b&m store a few months ago) -- but again, it's not cheap.

I have had good luck with cheap composition books made in Vietnam (the ones made in Brazil are hard to find), and with some inexpensive mini-composition books made in India that are sold at places like Dollar Tree. And, like someone earlier said, I have liked the Mead 5-Star spiral notebooks (I particularly like the little fat ones). I tried a mini-composition book from Staples, and the paper is decent but the book itself fell apart and is currently rubber-banded together, with some of the loose pages paper clipped to the front cover -- which itself has come off). I did really like the Staples sugar cane paper notebooks and composition books, but they're a LOT more expensive than the "standard" composition books (especially during back to school season); plus they no longer seem to carry them in stores, which is really annoying.

A while back I picked up a "banana paper" spiral bound notebook by a company called Gartner Studios. While I like that it's eco-friendly and acid free, I DON'T like the writing surface, which seems sort of "hairy". I'll use it as a poetry journal, but once I've filled it up I doubt I'd buy another one (I've used about a quarter of it so far, to do this year's NaPoWriMo).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[JakobS]

I like Rhodia, but the pads are relatively expensive (so are Leuchtturm, and Clairefontaine, and most of the others people have mentioned.

For journaling, I really like the 300 page Miquelrius lined journals. But they're increasingly hard to find (I had to contact Miquelrius-USA directly, and they were able to send me the dozen I ordered -- but their main website no longer has a retail store, and they sent me the journals through a site called OM Online).

I have some Tomoe River in loose sheets, but I can't use both sides because of the show through. I tried one of the EcoQua dot-grid pads, and the paper is pretty decent (I found it in a local Dick Blick's b&m store a few months ago) -- but again, it's not cheap.

I have had good luck with cheap composition books made in Vietnam (the ones made in Brazil are hard to find), and with some inexpensive mini-composition books made in India that are sold at places like Dollar Tree. And, like someone earlier said, I have liked the Mead 5-Star spiral notebooks (I particularly like the little fat ones). I tried a mini-composition book from Staples, and the paper is decent but the book itself fell apart and is currently rubber-banded together, with some of the loose pages paper clipped to the front cover -- which itself has come off). I did really like the Staples sugar cane paper notebooks and composition books, but they're a LOT more expensive than the "standard" composition books (especially during back to school season); plus they no longer seem to carry them in stores, which is really annoying.

A while back I picked up a "banana paper" spiral bound notebook by a company called Gartner Studios. While I like that it's eco-friendly and acid free, I DON'T like the writing surface, which seems sort of "hairy". I'll use it as a poetry journal, but once I've filled it up I doubt I'd buy another one (I've used about a quarter of it so far, to do this year's NaPoWriMo).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

If you're talking about the 6x8 Miquelrius notebooks, I have been able to find them at Barnes & Noble stores readily. I am surprised more independent stores rarely carry them, but as they are mostly lined notebooks for writing, and there are very few regular stationery stores (ones not focused towards wedding, special occasion stationery) I suppose it's not too surprising. One of my favorite notebooks for fountain pen writing as well!