Once You Go Rhodia, You Never Go Back?

[Karmachanic]

I consider writing papers the same way I view car salesmen: the slicker they are, the more I avoid them. Guess where Rhodia falls?

 

But the shading!

[JonSzanto]

But the shading!

 

"Just look at those power windows, son! All this and more, and you can drive it off the lot today!"

[TheDutchGuy]

I consider writing papers the same way I view car salesmen: the slicker they are, the more I avoid them. Guess where Rhodia falls?

 

What's your preferred paper?

[JonSzanto]

What's your preferred paper?

 

Totally depends on the use. Papers that I have in constant supply, in loose and pad/journal forms, are Tomoe River, Clairfontaine Triomph, Fabriano, and Staples bagasse. I also have a selection of vintage correspondence papers and cards.

Edited May 13, 2018 by JonSzanto

[TheDutchGuy]

Tx. Will check some of those out.

[mars37]

Here, in Romania, there aren't many choices of good paper (read: famous brands), I struggled to find Rhodia and Clairfontaine, there's Moleskine everywhere, but other than that, there was a library which had some Leuchtturm in stock, which they returned in batches in less than one month because they sold not one piece.

 

I did buy a couple of Rhodia notebooks (ruled, A4) and I liked them, at first try. But then I received a Paperblanks medium notebook which I really love, much more than the Rhodia. Then I took the plunge and ordered from abroad 2 Leuchtturm notebooks and I think I found what I like.

 

My conclusion is that I enjoy much more writing on paper which is not ice-smooth and shiny like the Rhodia, but a tad, a tiny bit rugged like the Leuchtturm and even the Paperblanks. I also love paper that is not pure white, so the slight yellow tint of Leuchtturm and Paperblanks appeal much more to me than any other paper.

 

So, although I have very little experience, I did go Rhodia and then went back.

 

I may experiment more in the future, but for the moment, I would go with Paperblanks or Leuchtturm over Rhodia any day, for my likings.

 

I know I'm kinda late into the conversation, but most Divertas have Clairefontaine notebooks. Rhodia is a little harder to find, especially the webnotes.

[mars37]

I feel like I'm the minority here but I had a really bad experience with Rhodia notebooks.

The stapled, grid notepads were fine, but the webbies (web notebooks) were really not up to it.

They claim to use Clairefontaine paper but it was in no way a Clairefontaine - I'd get feathering, though admittedly not much, even with fine nibs.

And they felt smooth to the touch but when I wrote on them I could feel that there was none of the coating found on Clairefontaine/Rhodia notepads.

 

After two such experiences I just keep away from the Rhodia notebooks.

[adim]

 

I know I'm kinda late into the conversation, but most Divertas have Clairefontaine notebooks. Rhodia is a little harder to find, especially the webnotes.

 

Thanks. In fact, Diverta is the only one to sell both Clairefontaine and Rhodia, as far as I know and have seen. But not much diversity, mostly ruled A4 notebooks for Rhodia and A4 and A5 for Clairefontaine.

 

 

I feel like I'm the minority here but I had a really bad experience with Rhodia notebooks.

The stapled, grid notepads were fine, but the webbies (web notebooks) were really not up to it.

They claim to use Clairefontaine paper but it was in no way a Clairefontaine - I'd get feathering, though admittedly not much, even with fine nibs.

And they felt smooth to the touch but when I wrote on them I could feel that there was none of the coating found on Clairefontaine/Rhodia notepads.

 

After two such experiences I just keep away from the Rhodia notebooks.

 

I assumed the Clairefontaine paper is very similar to Rhodia, so I haven't purchased one yet. But I generally tend to steer away from those very shiny and almost frictionless surfaces. It's interesting you had such a bad experience with Rhodia.

[bluebellrose]

I guess it's different for everyone. I personally find it too shiny and ink-repellent, along with Clairefontaine.

 

For me it was the first exposure to Seven Seas TR notebooks when I thought : why would I want to write on anything else from now on?

 

Same process happened at work, but with a different paper : Kokuyo's Campus refills. (I absolutely need a binder type setup at work, so TR was out of the question)

 

-k

I'm hole punching Rhodia A4 notepad paper with a 3 hole punch. After taking the page out of the pad, it's just perfectly sized.

[Moshe ben David]

An interesting discussion, albeit one which seems to pop up on a more or less regular basis in my experience! I personally believe that the number of variables involved (ink, nib size, pen feed, the user's personal handwriting, etc) are enough that there neither are nor will be one right ('write' ) answer to this discussion. Ever.

 

I'm a bit surprised that so very few respondents even mentioned the bagasse type (sugar cane fiber) papers. In my mind it hasn't been all that long ago that many were all over these papers. I've been using spiral bound notebooks from Staples with bagasse papers for some time and have been quite happy with them -- medium to fine nibs; a wide variety of inks (Waterman, Diamine, Sheaffer Skrip, Parker) to name a few.

 

L'chaim!

 

Moshe ben David