Rhodia Very Poor

[Pub]

I bought 5 A5 wire bound Rhodia notebooks and all of them on every page are so bad that all pens skip like crazy.

I tried 4 fountain pens, and even a ballpoint won't work properly.

 

Anyone else had problems with Rhodia?

I thought this paper was supposed to be right up there but it's not convinced me at all.

[the_gasman]

I am not a fan of Rhodia but, as It is heralded, I feel sacrilegious in expressing such thoughts.

 

I value my Clairefontaine correspondence pad but the Rhodia dotpads leave me cold. They are inconsistent in their behaviour: they mostly provide a good writing experience but some sections of some pages in several of my pads behave as if someone had gently rubbed a candle over the surface -- the ink will suddenly not want to lay on the paper. It seems to happen in similar regions of successive pages, which makes me wonder if there might be some uneven application of coating in the manufacturing process (not that I know anything about how writing paper is made).

 

Some pen/nib/ink combos seem to perform better on the Rhodia paper but I don't want to have to remember which implements I can and can't use with the stuff, I just want to be able to pluck my chosen weapon without consideration of the paper.

 

After reading consistently good reviews of Rhodia paper I bought a pile of different notebooks and dotpads; I can't wait until I exhaust my supply so that I can start using something else. In fact, if anyone in the UK wants an A4+ dotpad, a PM with their address will land them a freeby (only a small number of lucky winners). The dotpads are particularly irritating for the additional reason that I find the 5mm spacing to be too narrow to write on consecutive lines, yet using alternate lines leaves too much white-space between lines. The 7-8mm spacing of the lined pads is ideal for my writing so I shall persist with my supply of lined A5 notebooks without resorting to a give-away.

 

Cheers,

David.

[Dronak]

I've tried a Rhodia pad/notebook or few, and the one(s) I've tried seemed to work well enough for me. I've definitely tried worse paper for fountain pens than Rhodia. I don't know why the ones you received work so poorly; maybe they were from a batch that had production problems of some kind. *shrug* Fortunately, there seem to be plenty of paper brands out there, so if you don't like one, you can try another and see if that works better for you.

[Pub]

Gasman I couldn't of put it better....it's very much like you said, candle wax on areas and pages on end.

 

Totally annoyed and while I'm sure that many love it, I am not a fan at all and don't care how much people rave about it.

 

This wasn't the first time I noticed it either but hesitated to say anything because of suggestions that I may be using inferior ink, a rubbish nib, or about a dozen other things that was MY fault and not the paper.

So I too have wasted a fair bit of money as nothing writes on it.

 

I am willing though to concede that it's possible for some sort of problem to have occurred at source which means thousands of these notebooks will be the same.

But I won't take a chance again on it.

[LuckyKate]

While Rhodia's (and Clairfontaine's too)hard waxy paper surface annoys me to exasperation, I love the sturdiness of the pads and the thickness of the paper. They really hold up to abuse unlike Tomoe River (good bound in journals but for me too flimsy not to mention expensive for rough drafts and notes) and Fabriano. I've had this same problem of a hard surface with Life Noble--another pad with a sturdy cover and paper that though it can take a beating is also waxy and hard.

 

If anyone knows of a good paper that comes in sturdy large pads like Life Noble or Rhodia but without the waxy surface, I'd love to hear about it. For the moment I'm resigned to Rhodia as it's so widely available and relatively inexpensive.

[Cryptos]

Rhodia is my main brand of choice - given that it is the only decent paper available where I am! As yet I haven't had any issues, at least since I started using a pad under my writing hand to prevent hand-oils getting on the paper.

 

I also like Midori paper, which I have in a Traveller's notebook. I would imagine that the quality is the same in their other journal offerings, so that might be worth looking into. They are quite cheap too I believe.

[View from the Loft]

For those in the UK, I have found Silvine products to be consistent and useable - at least for my combinations of humungous big nibs with wet flow and good flowing inks.

 

Also worth a look is Rhino stationery (but their notebooks at 70gsm have showthrough, so look for 80gsm or heavier).

 

Both of these are modestly priced but may not be so easy to track down (Amazon usually has both).

 

Black n Red Optik products are also readily available, can often be found on special offer in one of the big supermarket chains and cope with my pen/ink combinations. However, I find their Optik paper slightly harder/slicker than the Rhino or Silvine products.

[the_gasman]

View from the Loft, I too love Silvine paper: it's slightly absorbent but not too an extent that should my enjoyment of it.

 

Empty_of_Clouds, I also use a sheet under my writing hand so grease does not account for the poor performance.

[migo984]

I agree about Rhodia paper. I'm not a fan. I've even had occasions when the surface sizing is so resistant that most writing mediums (rollerball, ballpoint, water-based marker, pencil) either form a bubbling effect on the paper, or skip & won't lay down a consistent line. Almost like writing on a traditional wax coated food wrap paper. And it varies across an individual page as well as within a notebook.

 

Fountain pen ink has no chance.

 

Sometimes their heavier weight vellum works better.

[inkypete]

I'm a Clairefontaine devotee but do use Rhoda in the smaller pads. Never had an issue including a recent delivery. Paper is a little toothy compared to Clairefontaine but consistently good. This is a worrying thread. Would hate to think standards were being compromised.

[Newjelan]

I'm a major fan of Rhodia Dot Pads and I use them in A4 size for much of my work. I've never had a problem with them and love the bright white paper. I write on every second row and as my writing is slightly larger than average, the white space makes my notes easy to read when I come back to them. I'd prefer 4mm or 7-8mm spacing but it's not a deal breaker.

 

Now as for the Webbie, that's a different matter. I bought several on sale a couple of years ago and have just started using them. They are awful - the ink bleeds badly and the yellowy colour of the paper doesn't play nicely with most inks. Although I'm left handed, I use wet pens and saturated inks and I haven't experienced bleedthrough with the dot pads.

[Cryptos]

Same here. I use the A5 pads a lot, and also the A4 pads and 4-colour A4 spiral bound. None have shown the slightest problems really.

[sakayume]

I second how disappointingly bad the web notebooks are. I bought a couple a while ago, because I've been quite happy using the dot grid pads, but the paper in the web notebooks (at least the lined ones I have) is not as fountain pen friendly. It's actually quite absorbent, and will feather and bleed through with wetter pens. Quite unlike the dot grid pads.

 

I was rather curious about the Rhodia soft cover web notebooks, but needless to say, I'm not going to be buying any. And now that I've discovered CDT x Life grid pads and that Life Noble is available here as writing pads, I doubt I'll be buying more Rhodia dot grid pads either. I still want to try Rhodia R though!

[dcwaites]

I had similar problems, but only with pens that had baby bottom between the tines. Once I had fixed that, there was no problem.

 

Hard, shiny papers like Rhodia, and some of the quality Japanese papers, are sensitive to nibs with too much curve between the tines. Softer papers reach up into the gap and 'grab' the ink.

 

Every company I know of has, on occasions, batch problems. I would take them back to the vendor and see what they say.

[dogpoet]

For those in the UK, I have found Silvine products to be consistent and useable - at least for my combinations of humungous big nibs with wet flow and good flowing inks.

 

Also worth a look is Rhino stationery (but their notebooks at 70gsm have showthrough, so look for 80gsm or heavier).

 

Both of these are modestly priced but may not be so easy to track down (Amazon usually has both).

 

Black n Red Optik products are also readily available, can often be found on special offer in one of the big supermarket chains and cope with my pen/ink combinations. However, I find their Optik paper slightly harder/slicker than the Rhino or Silvine products.

 

I'd definitely add a +1 for the Silvine and B&R Optik stuff. Excellent paper, and cheaper than the Rhodia stuff as well.

[Pub]

Before I even knew about the existence of Rhodia and other quality paper I was quite happy with using less expensive paper. Not the real cheap stuff that bleeds and feathers but decent less expensive paper which I have now gone back to.

 

Interesting point: The wife actually saw me writing in the Rhodia notebook, saw the skipping and the places it wouldn't write on at all, and told me to get rid of that cheap notebook and get a decent one at the pound shop........lol.

[dogpoet]

I've actually got some pretty good notebooks from pound shops (or possibly the 99p Store), so she could have a point there.

[Runnin_Ute]

You might be experiencing hand oils on the paper. It would cause the skipping you are seeing. Try with some other sheet a line or two below where you are writing. Should help your issues.

[migo984]

You might be experiencing hand oils on the paper. It would cause the skipping you are seeing. Try with some other sheet a line or two below where you are writing. Should help your issues.

I get bad skipping. I use a shitajiki writing mat and/or a sheet of clean blotting paper to protect the paper from oil. It's definitely an intrinsic paper issue.

[Cryptos]

Looking at the relatively small amount of data (all of it anecdotal) I don't think it is fair to say that Rhodia is not good paper for fountain pen users. There are some of us who experience zero problems.

 

Is all Rhodia paper made at the same factory and using the same materials? I would guess that this may be an important piece of information to know.