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What To Write On?


Oldtimer

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As a newbie I am canvassing for information. My main concern is paper. I know that all inks behave differently with every paper. I have also seen Rhodia paper mentioned a lot. Such and such on Rhodia.

 

Well what do you do if Rhodia does not have the notebook in the size you want or you cannot always write on Rhodia? Not that I have tried them, but I am tempted.

 

The notebooks I usually buy at places like Marshall's, TJ MAx, BArnes & Noble, or any other store all have different textures and color. What about sketching notebooks from Walmart or craft stores? I have so many of them and they are empty and I am not going to buy an expensive sketchbook to doodle and do unimportant sketches.

 

I am looking for notebooks in the small-to middle size where I would be able to make a quick sketch and would hold ink well. And it had to hold fine and broad nibs as well without bleeding and see-throughs. My ideal page would be 6.75 X 4.75 (4.50). So far the one depicts don the photo, which I bought at MArshall's are the bed one for my purpose. They can be thrown in a camera bag, purse, pocket, etc with ease and were inexpensive. I don't see them anymore…

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I've been trying Rhodia and Field Notes recently but I'm not really a convert.

 

For notebooks my preference are Leuchtturm 1917, they are avaialble in a variety of sizes and I use the hardbacks for both work and university notes. I also use a Midori travellers notebook with inserts from both Midori and Banditapple, both work well for fountain pens and for sketching.

 

I used to be a Moleskine user and I used to put up with bleedthrough and feathering but I won't be buying more.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem (Remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even)http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5642/postcardde9.png

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I also use the Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks. I use a squared Master for my engineering work and a dotted Medium for my personal use. They seem to be able to withstand pretty much any combination of ink and pen that I throw at them.

 

In the past, I've also used Maruman Mnemosyne wirebound notebooks and Black n' Red hardbound journals. I liked them both, just not as much as the Leuchtturms.

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How about Clairefontaine notebooks?

 

Else, I suggest getting paper of your choice (HP 32LB Premium Choice Laser Paper has been recommended), cutting and binding them to size yourself. :)

 

 

~Epic

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1348/557449480_2f02cc3cbb_m.jpg http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/Badges/5EH4/letter.png
 
A sincere man am I
From the land where palm trees grow,
And I want before I die
My soul's verses to bestow.
 
All those moments will be lost in time.
Like tears in rain.
Time to die.

 

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Rhodia branded Clairfontaine or Clairfontaine for most things loose leaf.

Conqueror or Smythson (if people are very lucky) for letters.

Notebooks are a mixture of Leuchtturm 1917, Rhodia, Clairfontaine, Field Notes (the ones with the slightly heavier paper - Shelterwood and Traveling Salesman editions), there are still some Moleskines around too.

Midori travelers notebook for a diary, Smythson little pocket book (it was about £40 but has lasted me more than 18 months as a to-do book).

 

So a real smattering, I mostly just see what works and buy more of it. I would recommend caution with Field Notes and Moleskines, but would recommend all of the others above.

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. -Carl Sagan

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I really like Apica paper. The notebooks are great for fountain pens, and you can find the size you would like. I believe Goulet carries them, but their site is down at the present moment, due to inventory, so I can't look. JetPens carries them as well, and you get free shipping if you buy more than $25.00.

Franklin-Christoph, Italix, and Pilot pens are the best!
Iroshizuku, Diamine, and Waterman inks are my favorites!

Apica, Rhodia, and Clairefontaine make great paper!

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All great suggestions made, but I suggest you try the notebooks you have and see how they work. I collected notebooks (many of them purchased at TJMaxx, B&N, etc.) long before I started using fps and really didn't want to see them go to waste. Once I tried them, I was surprised to see how well some of them worked with fp ink. In some of them I may not get the same quality of shading, but there's no feathering or bleed-through and it's still a lovely writing experience. :-)

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I have used Paperblanks MIdi, Leuchtturm 1917, Oxford Optik, Clas Olhson, Oxford Optic and some supermarket own brand noteboos without any trouble. The cheapest is the supermarket own brand stuff which tries to copy the Moleskine look - most of their papers are up to the job. The Oxford paper is also excellent and usually can be had on mulitbuys at certain points of the year.

 

The Leuchtturm 1917s are really useful with the page numbers at the bottom -and have worked well with all of my inks and pens. They also tend to have more pages - 249 as opposed to 96 which seems to be standard for most cheaper notebooks.

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I like and have used Red n Black (in both A5 and A4 - both wirebound and casebound), a piccadilly leatherlook (A5) I picked up at B&N, Leuchtturm 1917 (what they call Large - A5 is the size), I have a shirt pocket sized Apica (have seen on Goulet-mine was a gift/PIF). Made in Brazil composition books aren't bad for as cheap as they are. (<$1 during back to school sales at OfficeMax, Staples, Office Depot)

 

Try out the books you have - no other way to find out if they act like you want. I have an old (circa 1979) Mead Sketchbook, and boy does it suck up ink.For some things it is kind of fun to play with.

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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All great suggestions made, but I suggest you try the notebooks you have and see how they work. I collected notebooks (many of them purchased at TJMaxx, B&N, etc.) long before I started using fps and really didn't want to see them go to waste. Once I tried them, I was surprised to see how well some of them worked with fp ink. In some of them I may not get the same quality of shading, but there's no feathering or bleed-through and it's still a lovely writing experience. :-)

 

:thumbup:

A little over a year ago I sold my family home of 40+ years. I was amazed at how many cloth bound and leather bound journals I had accumulated. At first I was going to box them up and donate them but decided to first see how they would behave with my fountain pens. Well, they may not be Rhodia but most of them have turned out to be quite nice to use with fountain pens.

 

I also found an old Mead Academie sketchbook with 80# paper. I was surprised how well it took fountain pen ink and even a very light ink wash without too much buckling.

 

Have fun trying what you already have. You may find you have a couple of gems.

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I missed out Black and Red as I don't see them very often in Switzerland, but it is a great brand of notebooks and I used to use them pretty much exclusively when I was in the UK.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem (Remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even)http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5642/postcardde9.png

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Rhodia has been really good in my experience, I can heartily recommend their products. If you don't mind putting up with loose sheets, then it is highly likely that they do have something that will suit your needs. For bound stuff, not so much and that is my only gripe with them.

 

Clairefontaine paper has turned out to be a bit smoother and it is also heavier and it is a joy to write on. Mind you, I have not had the chance to try their famed Triomphe line but wherever I look people can't recommend them enough.

 

Leuchttrum1917s look great (Moleskine's done right) but in my part of the world they are extremely pricey for a notebook. I might just buy one of their Master size notebooks to check them out though. The great thing about the Master size notebooks, at least for me, is that they are A4+ which is simply great. I take a lot of notes on loose A4 paper during the day and the fact that I can just cram those between a Master notebook is a great pull for me.

 

And lately I have been obsessed with making my own notebooks. Tried out Coptic stitching with cheap photocopy paper and I think I pulled it off pretty good for a first try and my next notebook will most likely be one that I make myself. My only problem so far has been finding paper to use in it. For A5 sized stuff I could simply use Rhodia DotPad A4+ size but for A4+ notebooks they just don't have what I need. I've seen that people recommend Conqueror branded paper for fountain pen use but I haven't been able to find any specific recommendations. I would really appreciate it if anyone could recommend a Conqueror line of products that are great for fountain pen use (definitely no feathering, bleeding and ideally no ghosting either) but I don't really like to write on absorbant paper so it'd also have to be pretty smooth on the surfaces. I think their CX-22 line is their smoothest but I haven't seen any reviews of that from fountain pen users and haven't been able to try it out myself.

 

Anyways, I'm sorry I couldn't recommend something new that others haven't mentioned yet, but my only advice would be to give Rhodia a try with an open mind. Their products have really pulled me out of my paper related depression when I first started using fountain pens.

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Red & Black uses Oxford Optic 90g paper. I do like Optic a lot :thumbup: , a very good inexpensive paper.

 

I don't do smaller 'note books'....if so then the antique US government cloth bound ones...from back when every paper was fountain pen friendly.

I have both Clairefontain Velot and Oxford Optic spiral @ 8 1/2 X 11 (A-4) note books. Both are =. Both are very good.

 

Optic/Velot is the paper I grab as my first paper to test a new ink on. Which ever spiral notebook is closest.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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inkjet printer paper.. mead college ruled notebook.. i heard good paper is nice, but i haven't venture into the higher end of the paper yet.

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Red & Black uses Oxford Optic 90g paper. I do like Optic a lot :thumbup: , a very good inexpensive paper.

 

Seems logical, as far as I know, blacknred is also a Hamelin brand like Oxford.

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If you have a Staples store nearby, look for notebooks containing sugarcane fiber based paper. Also known as bagasse. These papers are great with fountain pens. Usually the notebooks in the store are spiral bound however. You can order reams of this sort of paper from Staples on-line for delivery to the store if you want to make up notebooks. For that matter, many here on FPN also advocate the 32 lb HP laserprint paper (NOT the inkjet paper -- inkjet papers have a coating to handle the inkjet inks).

 

I've also used pads and notebooks from Ampad -- the Gold Fibre series. Here again, YMMV.

 

Finally, for smaller pocket notebooks or even 5 x 8 journal size, I've lately found bound notebooks at Walmart, which were made in China that handle my fp nicely.

 

Check the paper and paraphenalia forums here at FPN for a lot of discussions along these topics.

Moshe ben David

 

"Behold, He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps!"

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No. No! NO!!!! :angry: :angry: :angry: No ink jet paper for fountain pens....it is designed to absorb ink jet ink real fast....so feather/wooly lines and so on.

Combo ink jet and laser has to make compromises for the ink jet....not as good as pure 100% laser paper. Is ok...but ok is not all that good.

 

Yes it makes a big difference between ink jet and laser paper....

You want 90g-24 pound paper as a minimum...out side of Rhoda's80 g...and they make 90g...so I'd never buy 80g Rhoda when I can have the better 90g.

I have both scribbling paper and 90g copy paper. I wrote with Lamy turquoise the basis that all turquoise inks are compared, it was sort of Blaaa. Then I looked in Ink Reviews and there both reviews showed it shading. :yikes: They were using 90g paper. I had a small booklet...and it shaded on that 90g paper. From then out I only bought 90g paper and so many inks were suddenly shading inks that were not on 80g copy paper.

I strive to have a supply of pure laser paper on hand....for fun. :wub:

Good to better scribbling paper...costs only two cans of Coke or cups of Starbucks more than 90g copy paper.

Remember Coke and Coffee is bad for your health...good to better paper is not.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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All great suggestions made, but I suggest you try the notebooks you have and see how they work. I collected notebooks (many of them purchased at TJMaxx, B&N, etc.) long before I started using fps and really didn't want to see them go to waste. Once I tried them, I was surprised to see how well some of them worked with fp ink. In some of them I may not get the same quality of shading, but there's no feathering or bleed-through and it's still a lovely writing experience. :-)

I recently received an Esterbrook with a 1554 nib.... Those "TJ" 4x5 notebooks that absorb too much ink for drawing or writing behaved perfectly for drawing with the "TJ" notebooks. Now, This same pen-nib - at least in my little experience with it (one day)- is not good for writing because the line is too thin. I am using a Pelikan Turquoise 4001 + 1554 nib and the lines are too thin for my liking. But the combo works perfectly for drawing. I have yet to try some black inks... Good discussion! Thank you pals!

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