Paper For Fountain Pens. What Happened?

[glorfindel]

Couple of years ago I was trying new notebooks and bought a "Large Journal" from "Paper for Fountain pens" which is an A4 sized hard-cover Tomo-e River notebook.

I'd like to order more, but the site has everything as "sold out", plus it seems that it hasn't been updated in awhile.

 

Anyone knows what happened to this brand?

 

Alternatively, can someone suggest a good replacement? (Criteria: B4 or larger, tomo-e river paper, preferable lined, but any kind will do).

 

Thank you.

[dvalliere]

Have you tried contacting the fellow who runs the site? There is a means of contacting him available there...

[glorfindel]

Well, someone else already did, according to this article:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/347453-sixth-annual-commonwealth-pen-show-sunday-september-15th/?view=findpost&p=4248694

 

The owner does not seem to reply to e-mails.

[inkstainedruth]

That's disheartening to hear. I bought one of the larger pads (A4 size?) with unlined pages a few years ago at the Commonwealth Pen Show and liked it a lot when I was doing a lot of research for a project and so doing a LOT of writing.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[glorfindel]

Can anyone recommend a replacement?

 

I'll re-list the criteria from the original post: B4 or larger, tomo-e river paper, preferably hard cover.

[Intensity]

Ive met Jay once at a pen show two years ago, and he was a pleasure to talk to. Bought two of his seconds B5 journals. Have repeatedly tried contacting him since on his website to buy more, unsuccessfully. When I saw Paper For Fountain Pens listed for the recent Commonwealth Pen Show, I was excited. Unfortunately Jay was not there. I asked one of the organizers about it and was told they could not get hold of him either

 

Edit: ah I see youve already linked to my earlier post!

 

P.P.S.: iOS eating punctuation as always

Edited January 23, 2020 by Intensity

[Mannyonpil]

Here is an excellent alternative source for Tomoe River notebooks of all sorts:

 

http://www.nanamipaper.com/

 

They are closed until February 1, 2020. I have been buying from them for several years now and have had a consistently excellent experience.

[inkstainedruth]

I have one of their smaller Café notebooks, but haven't tried it yet. I'd really like to have one with unlined pages, though. A lot of their offerings were out of stock, last time I checked. And they're not exactly super cheap, either....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

Sorry -- dreaded double post when the site seemed to be hanging just now....

Edited January 24, 2020 by inkstainedruth

[Intensity]

The main issue is that Jay makes B5 size journals, but Nanami are A5 or smaller. A5 is great, but B5 fills a niche too. My travel journal is a B5 size from Jay—I like having larger size pages for travel impressions, page per day sort of thing, single-sided (in part because of translucency).

 

Here is an excellent alternative source for Tomoe River notebooks of all sorts:

 

http://www.nanamipaper.com/

 

They are closed until February 1, 2020. I have been buying from them for several years now and have had a consistently excellent experience.

[WalterC]

An A4 notebook with Tomoe River paper would be nice. I have A4 Clairefontain notebooks, but they are to heavy to carry sometimes.

[Trekker]

The main issue is that Jay makes B5 size journals, but Nanami are A5 or smaller. A5 is great, but B5 fills a niche too.

My last purchase from Jay was in June of last year; three B5 journals in cream. My prior journal was a Nanami Writer. The B5 size is unique in the Tomoe River category and the hardcover design is more durable than the Nanami.

 

I believe that Jay handles Paper For Fountain Pens as a nice side gig where he can profitable provide something unique in the market on his schedule. He probably places a few large orders per year and his regular customers snatch them up when they are in stock.

 

I checked the site regularly until the B5 journals showed as in stock and then ordered three. Im satisfied overall.

 

Ideally, Id like to have the faint lines of the Namami Writer in the PFFP B5 model but a guide sheet works well enough.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Trekker

[Intensity]

Yup Ive made some guide sheets for mine as well, out of thick card stock. I like the end result unlined, in combination with brown inks for vintage writing look. I also prefer the old style hardcover binding of these journals to Nanamis. Was really looking forward to stocking up on Seconds at the pen show, since those were discounted at 50% and an incredibly good deal. But now that I know theres no guarantee to find Jay at a pen show, Ill keep an eye on his website restocking.

 

PS: sorry for the omitted punctuation with iOS.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Intensity

[FLZapped]

I went over to Jet Pens and entered "Tomo River" into their search window and it returned 118 hits....96 just for A4 size

[glorfindel]

I already use Nanami. Unfortunately, they don't have anything larger than A5.

Or at least I couldn't find anything, so if you could give me a link to something larger than that, I'd appreciate it.

Here is an excellent alternative source for Tomoe River notebooks of all sorts:

 

http://www.nanamipaper.com/

 

They are closed until February 1, 2020. I have been buying from them for several years now and have had a consistently excellent experience.

[glorfindel]

 

Ideally, Id like to have the faint lines of the Namami Writer in the PFFP B5 model but a guide sheet works well enough.

 

Yes! The PFFP B5 (or is it A4?) would be perfect if it was lined... I too use the lined paper, but it always moves under the page, so I constantly find myself correcting it, which is annoying.

[Intensity]

I made a guide sheet using relatively thick - but not too thick - sketching art paper which I cut exactly to B5 page size of those journals. It can be aligned and doesnt slide around, held a bit by the bent pages at the crease. Perhaps you can try something like that too if you have any similar paper on hand. Ive made the lines in photoshop, but otherwise could have drawn them by hand, using thick black lines.

 

P.S.: punctuation:(

Edited January 30, 2020 by Intensity

[A Smug Dill]

I'll re-list the criteria from the original post: B4 or larger, tomo-e river paper, preferably hard cover.

 

 

I don't recall ever seeing any retail Tomoe River paper product that is B4 (250mm x 353mm) or larger in surface area. A B4 page has 41.5% more surface area than an A4 page. Are you sure you didn't mean "B5 or larger"?

 

Yes! The PFFP B5 (or is it A4?) would be perfect if it was lined...

[N1003U]

It is also unlined paper, but I have a block of Tomoe River cream in A3, so they do definitely offer the paper in at least one size larger than A4. These sheets are great for larger sketching and drawing, or if desired I suppose one could fold them in half and make an A4 notebook with them.

 

https://vanness1938.com/collections/tomoe-river-paper/products/tomoe-river-cream-a3-loose-leaf-50-sheets

Edited February 4, 2020 by N1003U

[RGH]

Birmingham Pens also sells Tomoe River paper.

 

https://www.birminghampens.com/collections/paper

 

He's got A4, A3!! and A5 plus a variety of smaller books. No B5 as far as I can see. I like that size too and I use the Mnemosyne pads. Not Tomoe River, but I like it better than any of the over fixed European papers.