Rhodia Very Poor

[Keyless Works]

I have been using Rhodia for over 10 years and Clairefontaine for even longer and I have not experienced inconsistent quality or any that were not suitable for fountain pens. I use Rhodia pads every single day and I buy No 18s and No 16s in bulk...it's not my favorite paper to write on but it's performance is reliable and quite good in my opinion.

 

I will say that I don't like the Webnotebooks but it's not because the paper is bad, it's the awful binding, cover and branding.

[tritrek]

My Leichtturm 1917 has never let me down so I do not see a reason to change my brand.

Also, I completely agree with you on the dots - I have my small pocket notebook dotted - the 5x5 makes a perfect guide for such a small notebook but it would have its limitations even from A5 up.
As for my desk rafting brainstorming remember-to-do notebook/pad I use a locally made one in A4, lined. Smooth enough to use with fountain pens, inks don't bleed or show through and cost 1/5 the price of a Rhodia... Not that fancy but hey, it's my desk allright?

[ajlmarques]

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.

 

Based on this I've bought a Silvine Executive Soft Feel Notebook and I have to say that it was disappointment from the first stroke. The paper is absorbent, feathers (not hugely but enough to annoy) and the bleedthrough is bad. Tried with a BB, a B and a M, wet nibs.

Guess I won't be buying it again.

 

Did you try any other product lines that behaved differently?

[grainweevil]

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.

 

This is a good point - less absorbent papers won't wick the ink off a not-quite-tuned nib like thirstier ones will, so any issues with the nib failing to lay down the ink properly, and that could even be how you hold the pen, will show up.

 

Also it's worth pointing out that the difference between viewing a particular paper as good or bad could come down to something as simple as a preference for fine nibs over broad, dry over juicy, and tolerance for bleedthrough and/or feathering. If you favour a Pilot EF with an IG ink, you're probably going to feel that one of those Mole-things is FP friendly.

 

Anyway, from the POV of someone who, amongst other things, uses juicy double broad Pelikans and flex nibs, with a very low tolerance for bleedthrough, my observations:

 

Rhodia pads - seem fine. However, mine are not recently acquired, apart from the Rhodia-R (but that's excellent).

Webbies - the first one I tried in 2014 was absolutely great; the three or four I've subsequently tried have all suffered bleedthrough.

Clairefontaine - no problems, just don't like it much.

Black 'n' Red Optik - some bleedthrough and some days I'm not a fan of how coated it feels. Other days, I don't mind.

Silvine - the classic little red Memo Book is excellent (even if its cover is not), the school exercise books I've tried have been acceptable for the cost, the marbled hardback line notebook was appalling for both bleeding and feathering.

Midori MD - lovely, but costly. If it was either a. Cheaper, or b. Hardbound, well...

Kokuyo Campus notebooks - love the paper, hate the binding. But love the paper enough to work round the binding.

 

All of which leads me to regularly ask the Universe where it is written that you may either have good paper, or a sturdy hardback binding, but you may not have both.

[View from the Loft]

 

Based on this I've bought a Silvine Executive Soft Feel Notebook and I have to say that it was disappointment from the first stroke. The paper is absorbent, feathers (not hugely but enough to annoy) and the bleedthrough is bad. Tried with a BB, a B and a M, wet nibs.

Guess I won't be buying it again.

 

Did you try any other product lines that behaved differently?

 

I am surprised. I have used refill pads, wirebound notebooks, perfect bound notebooks - all in both A4 and A5. I haven't ever found feathering nor bleedthrough - and given that my preferred nibs are 1.1 and larger stub/italic with wet inks in dark colours, I would have expected this sort of problem to show up.

 

Yes, the paper is more absorbent than Rhodia, but as some peole on this thread were expressing their dislike of such properties, that's why I suggested two more absorbent options.

[View from the Loft]

 

Silvine - the classic little red Memo Book is excellent (even if its cover is not), the school exercise books I've tried have been acceptable for the cost, the marbled hardback line notebook was appalling for both bleeding and feathering.

 

All of which leads me to regularly ask the Universe where it is written that you may either have good paper, or a sturdy hardback binding, but you may not have both.

 

You could do worse than try Rhino Stationery's hardback notebooks - but do make sure that you check that the paper is 80gsm or heavier.

[grainweevil]

Rhino is definitely on the "to try" list, but I'm pretty much settled on Kokuyo with added hard covers as my pseudo hardback for a while. At least that's what the stack of them in The Cupboard of Paper is firmly telling me!

[Ghost Plane]

No one has mentioned their ink brands yet, which is another 1/3 of the experience. I found some drier or more experimental inks gave me problems, but had no problems with Herbin (non-shimmer), Waterman, Montblanc, R&K, most Diamine (non-shiner), Private Reserve, BungBox or Iroshizuku. Granted I use huge, wet nibs on the whole, but Pelikan, Lamy or Monteverde stuff drove me nuts and I ended up giving it away. Noodles is an uneven performer for me and varies widely by color.

 

I hate the ivory color of the Webbie paper and miss the white paged Habanas, but don't have hand oil problems very often and the bound books are such awesome performers for conferences that I keep using the larger sizes.

 

The newer Paperblanks or Leuchttherm are decent if you're looking for an alternative, but don't be afraid to try the Road Notebooks that share the Clairefontaine paper if you prefer the white paper. It's my favorite.

[Beth Treadway Author]

I did a couple of reviews on Rhodia products that might give an idea of the varying papers available. Here's one showing the whiter paper in the No 8 pad: http://www.bethtreadway.com/why-i-love-rhodia-no-8-pads/

 

And here's one showing the ivory paper in a webnotebook and how it stands up to various inks as well as the use of a glue stick: http://www.bethtreadway.com/how-does-she-do-it/

 

It's a very rough comparison of the whiter paper in the pads vs that ivory shade in use for the Webbies.

[Witsius]

I haven't had any real trouble with Rhodia paper. I don't particularly like the Dot pad. The dots are nigh unto useless as far as I'm concerned. I'm partial to the no.18 lined pads. The web book also has nice paper too.

[dcwaites]

 

 

All of which leads me to regularly ask the Universe where it is written that you may either have good paper, or a sturdy hardback binding, but you may not have both.

 

You're in the UK. Have you looked at the NU: Elite PU covered HB notebooks. Excellent paper and a robust enough binding to live in my backpack for months without damage (apart from multitudinous scratches on the cover from being banged about by everything else in the backpack).

[grainweevil]

Fairly sure I'd tried Nu:Elite, but doesn't seem to be amongst the Stack o' Trial Pages. I'll stick it on the list, ta muchly.