Review Of Graphilo Paper

[MythicalUnicorn]

I happened upon an interesting notebook at Nagasawa Bungu in Kobe. The notebook uses a type of paper called

Graphilo. The paper was designed (possibly by the Nagasawa people) specifically to work well with fountain pen inks and show off the properties of inks. The first time I was able to see the different sheen properties of the "very much like Bung Box Sweet Potato Purple" ink that I had made for me at Sailor Ink Kobo was when writing on this Graphilo Paper.

 

Shumi no Bungu Bako 35 has a special article on different papers, going into excruciating detail on their different properties and with examples of how different inks work with them. It has highly magnified views of the fibers for about fifteen different ones, and in one of the later pages, even a table with reviews of several different papers (notebooks) all used with the same different inks. This is beyond the scope of my post, but just for reference, the "winner" of the ink and paper matching contest is Platinum Black with Tomoe River. This may not come as a surprise to some, but I have never used either of those, so it was lost on me.

 

Back to Graphilo... In the Shumi no Bungu Bako article, there is a description of something called "Kobe Ha Keikaku Graphilo," [神戸派計画グラフィロ] which I assume to be same thing as the Graphilo notebook I got at Nagasawa. The blurb with the picture says that the paper is painted with an organic filler that dramatically reduces pores in the paper, and provides a uniform surface that prevents feathering and slows drying times. And viola, you get the kind of effects you will seen in my pictures.

 

In the order I am going to post them:

 

A look at the back cover of the notebook

 

A shot of my test page taken from directly above.

 

Close up views of the more interesting ink effects for "very much like" Sweet Potato Purple," Emerald De Chivor, Sailor Jentle Tokiwamatsu (which, holy mackelor, has some sheen properties I had not idea it had!), Private Reserve Ebony Blue, Noodler's Apache Sunset (of course), and perhaps the second biggest surprise, Sailor Jentle Yamadori.

 

I tried to find the Kobehakeikaku on Amazon.co.jp but it was all sold out.

 

Anyone out there have any recommendations for papers with similar properties?

 

 

 

 

[MythicalUnicorn]

[Algester]

and here's how those pages look like

http://i.imgur.com/uEKihG1.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GTTsNmQ.jpg

Edited November 7, 2015 by Algester

[sketchstack]

I just recently purchased some of this paper. It's amazing. To me it's like a cross between Tomoe River + Rhodia. The GSM wasn't listed on mine but it feels about like the 68gsm Tomoe River.

 

It's a very smooth paper but there's almost an eggshell-like texture as your pen glides across. Very subtle texture. And yes, the ink properties are displayed nicely.

 

I'll probably keep looking for more of this paper; hopefully there are dense notebooks available.

[jmccarty3]

I love Graphilo paper! I went to the trouble and expense of ordering a notebook from Nagasawa through White Rabbit Express, but now you can get it in the US from Anderson Pens. It's every bit as good as Tomoe River. At present, they only have the A5 notebooks with 32 sheets, but I'm hoping they can get some of the larger notebooks in.

[sketchstack]

I love Graphilo paper! I went to the trouble and expense of ordering a notebook from Nagasawa through White Rabbit Express, but now you can get it in the US from Anderson Pens. It's every bit as good as Tomoe River.

 

 

Do you happen to know if they have any nice bound notebooks or anything closer to a Leuchtturm for example? The ones from Anderson Pen are great. I'm just looking for a bit more quantity.

 

I'll look into White Rabbit.

[gerigo]

I have to admit that I am super disappointed with the Graphilo paper. I was hoping it was going to be the bees knees since it had such attention from the famous stationery magazine. It really does highlight qualities of ink with no feathering and ghosting, but it really transforms both the color of the inks as well as the writing characteristics of the pen. My fine TWSBI which writes like a true fine on Rhodia and also Midori MD writes like a broad on Graphilo. Subtleties of line variation and strokes are completely lost. Argh, I was hoping for a lot more:(

[Mew]

Yes, I agree with gerigo. There may be no ghosting, feathering or bleedthrough but Graphilo still isn't a good paper, at least for colour reproduction. All inks appear a tone or two lighter than the intended colour by the maker. My brown-green inks appear just green, my burgundy appears just some undersaturated dark red, blues appear washed out etc.

I really liked the paper when I found it, but stopped using it as when I saw what it did to inks.

[bizhe]

Thanks Algester for the ul - very nice

[oregano]

What do the axes of the graph above represent?

[Algester]

Ill post once I can re read the magazine

[dcwaites]

I have to admit that I am super disappointed with the Graphilo paper. I was hoping it was going to be the bees knees since it had such attention from the famous stationery magazine. It really does highlight qualities of ink with no feathering and ghosting, but it really transforms both the color of the inks as well as the writing characteristics of the pen. My fine TWSBI which writes like a true fine on Rhodia and also Midori MD writes like a broad on Graphilo. Subtleties of line variation and strokes are completely lost. Argh, I was hoping for a lot more:(

 

 

Sadly, there are some 'good' papers which do this. Rhodia Premium permits some inks, like Noodler's Liberty's Elysium to spread, so that my Fine nibs write like a Medium.

 

I have had another 'good' paper, Kokuyo Campus Refill paper, which makes some inks fade within seconds.

[Algester]

for the graph

the y axis is for paper thickness the lower the number the thinner it is

 

x axis is paper texture

left side is somewhat rougher (crunchy feeling) and the right side is smoother (sparkly feeling)

[oregano]

Thank you, Algester. That's very useful to have. And the first time I've seen a paper graph.

Edited May 9, 2018 by oregano

[Mayavin]

I recently obtained a pack of Graphilo paper, with intention of using it as letter paper. 

 

Some wrote above here about how it reacts with the colour of the ink. 

 

While I haven't gotten the chance yet to test my ink on many types of paper, I would remark that in my experience this paper is more suitable for writing with a brush pen, and not a fountain pen. 

It is something which I cannot capture for you on a picture. The feeling which I'm getting is that the metal nib slides on the surface rather than imbuing the paper with ink. Using a brush pen on the other hand I feel natural and smooth.