Barnes & Noble stationery

December 1, 2006

Barnes & Noble brand stationery comes in a nice blue and in ivory - at least it does at B & N here. The box has a clear lid with a sticker that says only "Stationery Set - 100 sheets - 50 envelopes - 24 sticker seals." There's another sticker on the bottom of the box that shows the price [$12.95] and says "Made in China for Barnes & Noble."

The bottom edges of the sheets are die cut in a scallop pattern. The sheets are plain - no printed decoration. There is no texture to this paper - it is perfectly smooth. The same scallop design is on the flaps of the envelopes. The sticker seals are decorated with a Fleur de Lys.

I have tested this stationery with several different pens and with the following brands of ink: Private Reserve, Noodlers, and Sheaffer. There is absolutely no feathering with any of these inks. However, with a wet writing pen there is some bleed through to the other side - enough that I wouldn't want to use the back side.

For some reason, Noodlers and Sheaffer inks perform better than Private Reserve on this paper. PR almost beads up. It doesn't actually bead up, but I can tell it's just about to - if that makes any sense. However, once it's dry, it does not smear. I'm not saying that PR inks won't work on this paper - just that Noodlers and Sheaffer do much better.

All things considered, I think this stationery is a bargain. But - if your ink cabinet is stocked with nothing but Private Reserve - you might not be totally satisfied with it.

Judybug

December 2, 2006

for some reason they didn't work for me. you should try writing to me sometime with them. For some reason it resisted ink a LOT for me.....

December 3, 2006

I've done a little more experimenting and what's really peculiar is that the blue stationery takes ink better than the ivory. But I bought the blue a year or two ago and just bought the ivory recently. Apparently there have been some changes in the paper. Even so, Noodlers works really well on either color - at least it does with the pens I have.

Judy

December 3, 2006

ok. I got the blue a year back and didn't like it so gave it to my brother. It doesn't resist or anything?

February 4, 2007

I think the Borders hard bound journals are a good bargain as well at 7.99 or so. The paper for the bound journals are thick and work well with my Noodler's inks.