Fp-Friendly Paper For Airmail Letters? Advice Please.

[TomJKT]

Reading all these paper reviews here make me feel dizzy...

Maybe some of you more experienced members can point me to the short way to solve my problem:

I'm residing in Indonesia and just cannot buy FP-friendly paper here. The only high quality paper is a DinA4 loose leaf by Kokuyo and comes in 100g/sqm with 30 holes. Not really a suitable paper for letters. Indonesia is actually a paper producing country, but it seems it's all for export - like the good tobacco for fine cigars.

So to justify the high shipping cost and probably applied custom fees, I am going to order quite a lot of paper online to get what I want. As this is a costly endeavor I would like to make sure, I will not make a mistake in ordering:

A rather lightweight FP-friendly DinA 4 paper to snail mail letters to my friends abroad. I like to have lines on it which accomodate my large writing with big wet nibs but which do not offend the eyes of the readers as the ones on elementary school paper. And I wish to enjoy writing on it like on a silky, glassy, ...(put in your word, you know what I mean)... surface. Maybe you can even point me to a trustworthy online source - I don't mind your commission . I would ask the seller to put into the package to me as many such notepads as possible in a certain freight class, so the shipping cost would be distributed most economically onto the amount of paper - so I wonder, if there is an online seller who would care to show some cooperation here, since I cannot calculate the weight of the wrapping material used.

Thank you for any suggestions!

Tom

 

(apologies for my English, which is not my mother's tongue)

 

[Sasha Royale]

Lined paper is certainly an option. My choice is to use a back sheet, with dark-ruled

lines that show through the blank writing sheet. Determine the spacing of lines for

your style of writing, then create the sheet on your computer, making the lines as

dark as you desire.

 

Six sheets of ordinary 20# copy paper weighs one ounce. That is one

homemade envelope and five full pages of writing.

 

I ordered a large quantity of Clairefontaine Triomphe from an Ebay seller,

who was very cooperative. i am glad to give them a mention.

"It's All Write".

Edited May 16, 2013 by Sasha Royale

[aenjin]

Before you spend a lot of money on international shipping, I wonder if you could look for local printers or print shops and see what kind of papers they have?

 

They might be willing to sell you samples or perhaps order things for you, could be worth a try.

[TomJKT]

Lined paper is certainly an option. My choice is to use a back sheet, with dark-ruled

lines that show through the blank writing sheet. Determine the spacing of lines for

your style of writing, then create the sheet on your computer, making the lines as

dark as you desire.

 

It never appeared to me to make this ruled paper myself , thanks a lot for your inspiration, Sasha R.!

[TomJKT]

Before you spend a lot of money on international shipping, I wonder if you could look for local printers or print shops and see what kind of papers they have?

 

They might be willing to sell you samples or perhaps order things for you, could be worth a try.

 

Yes, I will try to find better ones than those I've seen, which are mass-producing copy-shops. Though my hopes are not high to find a printer with such type of paper. Thanks for your kind advice, aenjin!

[mhguda]

Fellow FPN member Penhand has notepads in the Classifieds section. That paper, 52 gsm, is in my experience the best lightweight fountainpen friendly paper I have ever put a nib on... tomoe river paper, from Japan.

He sells pads and loose sheets. I've just bought some, but I had bought (elsewhere) before, and it is my favorite paper.

The pads are blank, so if you want lined, you could follow SashaRoyale's suggestion with a lined sheet in the back. Since the paper is so light, you see right through it.

Good luck!

[DrCodfish]

"A rather lightweight FP-friendly DinA 4 paper to snail mail letters to my friends abroad. I like to have lines on it which accomodate my large writing with big wet nibs but which do not offend the eyes of the readers as the ones on elementary school paper. And I wish to enjoy writing on it like on a silky, glassy, ...(put in your word, you know what I mean)... surface"

 

That's close to a definition of Tomoe River paper. I agree with Vintage, and I too have purchased paper from PenHand but I shudder to think that your supply of Japanese paper wold have to arrive to you in Indonesia via Pensylvania, USA. If you search this forum for the name Tomoe River you should find discussions by Austaralians who have been able to get TR paper, as best I recall. Or perhaps you can contact Nanami Paper.com to see if they have a source closer to you.

 

Be warned, this paper is not cheap and once you have used it you may find it hard to use anything else for just about anything else. I thought this would be 'special' paper which I wuold you for special occasions. it's my every day paper.

[Vendome]

Check out Basildon Bond, one of the best British brands. They do white, champagne and blue (Airmail) writing pads with matching envelopes.

[TomJKT]

Fellow FPN member Penhand has notepads in the Classifieds section. That paper, 52 gsm, is in my experience the best lightweight fountainpen friendly paper I have ever put a nib on... tomoe river paper, from Japan.

He sells pads and loose sheets. I've just bought some, but I had bought (elsewhere) before, and it is my favorite paper.

The pads are blank, so if you want lined, you could follow SashaRoyale's suggestion with a lined sheet in the back. Since the paper is so light, you see right through it.

Good luck!

Yeah! Thanks so much, I just ordered from him. Hope to get it soon. It is $28 for the shipment of 5 large or 10 small notepads to Indonesia. Which is about the same amount from anywhere nearer (Japan) as well. Thx again for pointing me to this source.

 

"A rather lightweight FP-friendly DinA 4 paper to snail mail letters to my friends abroad. I like to have lines on it which accomodate my large writing with big wet nibs but which do not offend the eyes of the readers as the ones on elementary school paper. And I wish to enjoy writing on it like on a silky, glassy, ...(put in your word, you know what I mean)... surface"

 

That's close to a definition of Tomoe River paper. I agree with Vintage, and I too have purchased paper from PenHand but I shudder to think that your supply of Japanese paper wold have to arrive to you in Indonesia via Pensylvania, USA. If you search this forum for the name Tomoe River you should find discussions by Austaralians who have been able to get TR paper, as best I recall. Or perhaps you can contact Nanami Paper.com to see if they have a source closer to you.

 

Be warned, this paper is not cheap and once you have used it you may find it hard to use anything else for just about anything else. I thought this would be 'special' paper which I wuold you for special occasions. it's my every day paper.

 

Unfortunately nanamipaper.com does not ship to Indonesia. But what you wrote here made me curious and I ordered a large 480 pages EP notebook with Tomoe river paper from Design.Y for about $140 . It seems to be indeed quite expensive, though a Rhodia notebook comes with 96 pages and is about $25. If you calculate then I think the DesignY notebook is value for money esp. considering that it comes with a leather cover and is lighter than 5 Rhodias (shipment cost). If as you say the paper lives up to its reputation it will certainly become my favorite notebook. It looks also gorgeous compared to the common designs of Rhodia et al. IMHO. And since I have to wait for it to arrive, may I ask, do you use wet B-nibs on it as well?

 

Check out Basildon Bond, one of the best British brands. They do white, champagne and blue (Airmail) writing pads with matching envelopes.

Thanks, will check it out!

 

Thank you all for your time and effort to help me, very much appreciated!

[mhguda]

I'm happy it worked out for you. It's sometimes daunting if the shipping costs get so high, but if good paper is worth it to you, go for it! I think you won't be sorry. I know I'm not, and I am very careful with that paper, using every scrap and jealously guarding it. Maybe one day, I, too, will bite the bullet for the design.y notebook. They do look wonderful.

[TomJKT]

Well, mhguda, on the other hand expensive paper like this works to reduce my shipping costs. With just 52g/m² I can mail almost double the amount of pages in my letters for the same price. I'm too lazy to calculate the exact amount of money I can spare, but a letter was about $5 for 6-7 pages. So reducing this by half or even just $1 would justify my expensive paper. It's a pity I do not get money back the more letters I write

[TomJKT]

error

Edited May 17, 2013 by TomJKT

[TomJKT]

 

 

Lined paper is certainly an option. My choice is to use a back sheet, with dark-ruled
lines that show through the blank writing sheet. Determine the spacing of lines for
your style of writing, then create the sheet on your computer, making the lines as
dark as you desire.

Six sheets of ordinary 20# copy paper weighs one ounce. That is one
homemade envelope and five full pages of writing.

I ordered a large quantity of Clairefontaine Triomphe from an Ebay seller,
who was very cooperative. i am glad to give them a mention.
"It's All Write".

Actually nanami paper, mentioned by DrCodfish in this thread, offers a pdf file with lines and grids (6, 7, 8mm) to print out. So I can even use this, thx again! Edited May 17, 2013 by TomJKT

[mAnuscript69]

Check out Basildon Bond, one of the best British brands. They do white, champagne and blue (Airmail) writing pads with matching envelopes.

Just want to clarify that Basildon Bond has 4 varieties: Champagne, White and Blue with 90g/m² paper in their respective colours, and Airmail with 70g/m² white paper.

 

Do note that BB might be hard to source outside of the UK.

[DrCodfish]

" If as you say the paper lives up to its reputation it will certainly become my favorite notebook. It looks also gorgeous compared to the common designs of Rhodia et al. IMHO. And since I have to wait for it to arrive, may I ask, do you use wet B-nibs on it as well?"

 

Well now, you have gone straight to the gold standard in my opinion. I purchased a Design Y EP Record journal this spring, as soon as Yoshino san announced that he was making this larger format available. It is in my opinion the finest journal I have ever used. I have a hard time believing that I will ever go back to the Rhodias, Moleskines etc that I was used to befor I was introduced to TR and Design Y.

 

As for wet-B nibs I am guilty as as charged. I never experience bleed through or even feathering on the page, but I like bold saturated colors and with these, especially darker colors there is show through because the paper is so thin. Still, I have no trouble using both sides of a page. If you use less saturated or lighter colors, or finer points there should be no problem at all. As I said, for me writing both sides of a sheet is not a problem, even with wet, broad nibs and dark colors.

 

I wish you well with your new paper ventures and look forward to hearing your impressions once you get this paper and the journal. I hope you are as satisfied as I have been.

 

[TomJKT]

Will keep you posted when I get my paper/notebook. Got a confirmation email from Design.Y and think they work now all day and night on my notebook

Can't wait to get it - just takes always years for stuff to arrive in JKT

Meanwhile, I found your (DrCodfish) other posts regarding the notebook and feel confident that I made a good decision.

[PacificCoastPen]

I found this paper pad at the Nepenthe Gift Store in Big Sur last year. It is not super light weight but fun to use. When I was growing up (in my 50's now), I remember the ones my mom had...very lightweight paper. Pen friendly, no feathering, no bleed through.

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/182-6788279-6700632?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=kikkerland+blue+airmail+paper&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Akikkerland+blue+airmail+paper

Edited May 26, 2013 by PacificCoastPen

[TomJKT]

Finally the Tomoe River paper arrived at my home, securely wrapped and quickly shipped to me from penhand. I am inclined not to tell you that I am completely smitten by the paper's quality, since I might motivate others to buy and dry up the source.

I had an afternoon off, so I run all my pens in rotation over it, broad and medium nibs, Japanese, MB, and carbon inks and all turned out to show true color, shading, no bleeding through and even quick drying. What could I wish more for? It certainly does the job brilliantly and so much better than the paper I used before.

That's me ->

Thank you all to take the time to give me advice, this forum rocks!

Tom

P.S.: Still waiting for my notebook with this paper to arrive, but I know already I will like it. Will keep you posted and report my experience with it.

[TomJKT]

I found this paper pad at the Nepenthe Gift Store in Big Sur last year. It is not super light weight but fun to use. When I was growing up (in my 50's now), I remember the ones my mom had...very lightweight paper. Pen friendly, no feathering, no bleed through.

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/182-6788279-6700632?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=kikkerland+blue+airmail+paper&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Akikkerland+blue+airmail+paper

 

Yes, that's a funny way to send an airmail letter! Thx for the hint!

[Pennata Penna]

Tom, TR paper is a bit over the top for informal letters IMO. Yes, I do love the stuff (I have two 288s and an LP Record), but Kokuyo Campus Report Pad was alright for informal letters, or the Maruman equivalent. You can buy those at Kinokuniya, Gramedia, or Paperclip.

 

Tony