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Has anybody tried either the Clairefontaine or Rhodia 3 hole punch notebooks? I want to get some good loose leaf paper - not the stuff that you can practically see through whatever you are looking at. I have some from last year and it bleeds through like it's nobody's business. Or would I be better off getting a notepad and using a three hole punch?

Just re-found this site - www.artistcraftsman.com/ and noticed that their Rhodia selection was offered at a 20% discount. In addition, shipping is flat rated at $7.00. Looked good to me as compared to some of the other prices (especially with a shipping charge added. No affiliation. Another attractive opportunity from your friendly pen, paper and ink bargain hunter

I loaded up one of my pens (Homo Sapien F) with Noodler's Sequoia Green recently and noticed on Rhodia paper, it takes about 30 minutes to dry (yes, minutes). Dabbing it with blotting paper helps a bit, but still takes an crazy amount of time to dry. On photo-copy paper it dries within seconds. Is this normal??? My other pens I have inked today have include a TWSBI 580 with Lamy Blue and a GVFC Classic with De Atramentis Puccini. Both these inks dry relatively quickly. I'm wondering if I have a bad batch or do some inks simply take forever to dry.

A couple of things those on the east of the Atlantic might be interested in. Rymans (at least the one in Tunbridge Wells) is selling Rhodia No.16 ruled pads at £1.99 which is far cheaper than I have seen elsewhere. When I don't venture into the big town I go to my local independent stationer who stocks "Initiative" products. They sell Initiative shorthand notebooks at 66p and the paper is really excellent. Perhaps the second side is not quite as good but you get a fountain pen friendly bargain whilst supporting your local independent - everyone's a winner! Martin

Which is the "lesser of two evils"? I have one Webbie (140mm x 210mm - 5.5in x 8.25in; blank) with which I've not been all that enthused for all the usual reasons reported by others here and there: bleed/show/feather etc. Basically, I was disappointed that it wasn't of the same quality as the white Rhodia pad paper - you can, in my experience, apparently throw anything at that kind - broader nibs, wetter inks yadda yadda yadda. From what I've gleaned of the Leuchtturm notebooks, they're not any better. However, what I'd like to know is, to what degree are they worse? Provided that you are someone that has used a Webbie, and have experienced bleed/show/feathering (due to whatever factors: nib size/nib wetness/ink type/weather) and have used a Leuchtturm with much the same results, how bad are the aforementioned effects on the Leuchtturm compared with the Webbie? I ask because very soon I shall have need of some notebooks (3-4 of them, going on to 6-8 if/when I fill the first batch) that are of the typical Moleskine-esque black/elasticated/back pocket variety (hard or soft cover) and am wondering if it is worth it to get the Rhodia's which cost quite a bit more than the Leuchtturms. I could perhaps fiddle with my ink and nib combinations to find something that is "just right" with the Rhodia I have, but provided that I don't, would the Leuchtturms perform significantly worse? I can tolerate my current experience with the webbies, but I don't think I could if it were any worse. Thank you for your advice.

Taken with a Nikon D90 50mm 1.4 at f2.8 YN465 flash at 30% to assist with ceiling light