Paper recommendation if I don't like Midori MD?

[stalepie]

I'm still new to fountain pens and was wondering what other notebook I should try. I prefer blank. The Midori MD I have seems hard or "scratchy" to write on, like it's coated with something. I'm used to absorbent paper, I guess. I can't help but notice that a blank Mead tablet feels a lot better to write on with a fine Lamy CP1. It feathers, but it feels smooth and the Perle Noire ink is dark. With the Midori paper it's more like I'm scratching at it with a nail and the lines are thin and less dark. But there's a lot of showthrough and bleedthrough with the Mead paper, of course.

 

https://imgur.com/a/LwxM6mb

 

(Midori top, Mead bottom)

 

Should I try Rhodia or Clairefontaine instead?

 

Thanks.

[LizEF]

I'm all in favor of buying excess paper and playing with it.  However, a few things to consider in addition to paper:

• Writing pressure - it can make a pen feel scratchy
• Writing angle (rotation) - if off, can also make a pen feel scratchy
• Ink - if not sufficiently lubricated, can make a pen feel scratchy
• Nib - if the tines are misaligned, it will feel scratchy

Not knowing your experience level, I'll just leave those up there and you can ask about them in case any seem like areas you'd like to explore.

 

As to paper, Midori MD does have more "tooth" than some paper, but then poor paper usually has even more.  FP-friendly paper leaves the ink sitting on top, whereas unfriendly paper sucks it in like a sponge - leading to darker and wider lines.  Perhaps you want a wider nib if you're going to use FP-friendly paper...  I'm sort of at a loss as to what paper to recommend since it seems that what you want can't exist - wider and darker line, but smooth feel without feathering.  Perhaps @arcfide will drop buy and wow us with paper-knowledge.

 

One thing that I've never regretted is getting mini notebooks in all the popular brands on FP retail websites like Goulet or JetPens or Anderson Pens, etc.  I get the smallest notebook they have for the paper type and try it out to see what I do and don't like.  Also http://fountainpenlove.com sell paper samples.

[dragondazd]

I don't like the feel of Midori either. A low cost option is black n red. Also consider, on the smoother side of things, clairfontaine and maruman.

 

Some of the popular fp papers have a more plasticy coating which may or may not be for you. Try a sample of Tomoe River like in a Goulet notebook, currently on sale. Heck, buy their notebook sampler and compare.

[dragondazd]

Also Midori is off-white so the color in some inks does not stand out as much as on a white paper.

 

And maybe try feather resistant ink like noodler's x feather. 

[Geslina]

Personally, I love the Midori MD paper…especially the 5”x8” pads that are gummed along the top and down one side…

but I like to have options, and I don’t use it all the time.  Also, different pens and different inks perform differently on certain papers.  In my experience, dry and broader nibs aren’t that pleasant on Midori MD.  So when I do use it, I choose a pen with a finer or wet nib, or use an ink that is more lubricated. Life Bank and ClaireFontaine Triumph paper feels similar in texture to Midori MD, in my opinion.

 

I just bought a few new Nebula Notes pads, which have the Tomoe River 52gsm paper - however, it must be the newer TR.  It’s toothier and thicker.  Not bad, but not the same as the old TR, and not the same as the TR I’ve recently bought in loose sheets.  I’m very confused about the new Tomoe River, because even the new version seems to vary depending on whether you buy notebooks, pads or loose.  It’s smoother than Midori MD, so you might like it.  And then there is Rhodia, which so many fountain pen people love…I don’t love it, it’s too smooth for my taste, but it’s very, very popular.  I like Cosmo Air Light, which is smooth and velvety and nice with any nib or ink.  It used to only be available in notebooks, but now I’m seeing it loose at some stores.

 

I think the advice from the above post is good - buy small notebooks.  I believe at Jetpens, you can even buy small packs of some papers for just a few dollars.  

[stalepie]

Hmm, okay thank you. I may try some cheaper paper, or one of those sample packs sometime. I may not like the way fountain pen paper is, or fountain pens in general.

[Geslina]

55 minutes ago, stalepie said:

Hmm, okay thank you. I may try some cheaper paper, or one of those sample packs sometime. I may not like the way fountain pen paper is, or fountain pens in general.

Well, good paper isn’t exclusively for fountain pens.  I was buying higher quality paper even when just using gel ink. I’ve just always liked nice paper, no matter what writing instrument I was using!  Good luck in your search.

[dragondazd]

Kokuyo perpanep comes in three surfaces.

 

If you get a Perpanep notebook it comes with a lil notebook with samples of the other perpanep varieties. That.might help you figure out what you like.

[stalepie]

What kind of paper did people in America (my country) use for fountain pens before the Internet? I mean, were they always importing from Japan and France? It seems odd.

[stalepie]

Never mind. Sorry for all these questions. This isn't a subject I can appreciate very well.

[arcfide]

@LizEF I'll bite. 🙂

 

@stalepie Welcome to the world of paper! First, a recommended resource: Fountain Pen Love | For people who love using, collecting and learning about fountain pens. Scour that blog if you like. 🙂

 

Now, on to the specifics. What's you're experiencing is a combination of a few feature of MD. When judging a paper, you'll want to consider: coating, glide, toothiness, hardness, absorbency, spread, and color. MD is a fast gliding, toothier, harder, low spread, less absorbent paper. It's not super-heavily coated, and it doesn't particularly affect the color of the inks outside of absorbency, but what you're experience comes from the toothy, hard, non-absorbent qualities of MD. This results in MD often being described as "crispy" paper. This means it makes well defined, crisp lines, and writing tends to be very distinct on it. This seems to be exactly what you *don't* like in paper. 

 

Paper that is hard will tend to keep more of the nib off of the page, meaning that you may notice changes based on your nib orientation and tuning than if you used a softer paper. Softer paper tends to engage with more of the tipping of the pen, which can hide subtle things about the tuning of the nib or your pen rotation. 

 

Paper that is toothy will tend to give more feedback to you when writing, rather than feeling smooth. Smooth is different than glide. You can have a smooth paper that doesn't have a fast glide to it (this paper will often feel a little "sticky" when writing, like you're pen is going through something a little viscous or sticky), or you can have high glide and high smoothness, or the opposite. 

 

Non-absorbent paper will resist the ink penetrating in to the paper. This will usually tend to make the lines crisper and cleaner, but if the paper is *also* a low spreading paper, then the ink will tend not to spread out as much, leading to very crisp, finer lines. Midori is one of the lowest spreading papers I can think of, as well as being one of the most ink resistant. That means you'll be getting very fine lines on this paper relative to what you'd get in other papers. 

 

It sounds like you want forgiving, smooth paper that has a little higher resistance to bleedthrough and feathering. It also sounds like you like a little wider line and less ghosting (showthrough). All of this means that, essentially, MD might be just about the worst possible paper you could have tried! 🙂

 

There are a number of relatively smooth papers that have a higher spread than MD has and less feedback. Where you'll want to play around is figuring out how much glide you like with your paper as well as how much you're willing to play with showthrough and bleedthrough in order to get darker lines. More absorbent paper absorbs more ink and thus tends to make the line look a little darker with some inks, and I find this to be especially true with some black inks. But go too far and you can have spot bleeding. Here are some papers to consider:

 

• Check out the French Clairefontaine 90gsm and Rhodia 80gsm. These are very standard papers, with relatively lower glide, great showthrough resistance, medium ink resistance, and high smoothness. They are also bright white with a subtle blue tinge, which might help to brighten some of the black inks you are using (Perle Noir in particular), giving them a deeper appearance. However, some people don't like the way that these papers glide, and they aren't particularly high spread papers, so your line might still be thinner than you want. Rhodia Premium 90gsm is more absorbent, softer, and also has a bit more spread than the 80gsm variant, at the cost of being cream and somewhat more likely to bleedthrough on very heavy ink applications. Since you are using a CP1 Fine nib, I think you'll be fine. The smoothness and glide are a little higher with the premium 90gsm.
• Black and Red notebooks with Optik paper are the UK equivalent of the Clairefontaine papers, and very good. Other papers in this category would be the Maruman Mnemosyne (Japanese) and some of the Fabriano (Italian) papers. These might all fit if the Clairefontaine are close but just not quite your jam. 
• If it is really the softness of the paper that you are after, and you want higher spread, but you are willing to put up with a little more feedback to the nib while retaining faster glide, then check out some of the cotton papers. Strathmore Writing Paper, Midori MD Cotton, and the like (excepting G. Lalo Laid Cotton) will all be the softest papers you can find, and will accept ink much more readily, while not feathering much. They will have relatively high spread, while I've found them to have good glide. They do have a little more tooth than ultra-smooth papers though. The benefit of something like the Strathmore writing paper is that you'll get one of the cleanest, darkest, most uniformly black lines out of any of the higher quality papers. The danger is that with much wetter and broader nibs, you can sometimes begin to see a little spot bleeding if you aren't careful. 
• If the softness of cotton paper appeals but you can't take the toothiness or the high absorbency, then you can turn your head towards Japanese thin papers. In particular, Cosmo Air Light, Tomoe River, and Kokuyo MIO papers are all soft while having decent spread and being very smooth. They are soft enough that you could almost start describing them in terms of their "hand" and "drape" (from clothing design). The MIO paper especially is designed to be an absorbent, smooth, soft paper. However, under poor conditions it is the most likely to bleed, though it was designed to have less show through than Tomoe River. The cost of these papers is that there can be a little more drag with them, with Tomoe River being the least drag (highest glide). The Tomoe River has a relatively high spread, so I would expect good lines from the MIO and TR for your purposes. 
• If something like TR, Cosmo, or MIO are just *too* soft, and have too much showthrough or the like, you can check out Kokuyo THIN, Kokuyo CYO-BO, and Graphilo papers. These are all relatively high spread, but all of them are anti-showthrough. The THIN paper has a *very* high spread with very low absorbency and a harder paper that is quite smooth. The result is a *very* fast gliding paper that will write a relatively broader, wet line on very thin paper. It was designed to be a harder, less fragile version of Tomoe River. The CYO-BO paper is a 100gsm paper, so it's thick and heavy. It has a little drag, is very smooth, and relatively neutral in many other respects. The Graphilo paper is another very high spreading paper with low absorbency. It has a bit more tooth than THIN paper IIRC, but it is a little thicker, so it has a little less show through. 
• Definitely try the Perpanep papers from Kokuyo, there are three different textures and you will get a chance to see just which texture suits you. The roughest texture has a very high spread on it while also being very soft, so you might like it even in spite of its toothiness. 
• Lamy and Leuchtterm1917 both make cream colored notebooks that contain medium to heavyweight papers with a hint of tooth but a relatively higher absorbency. This can give you that dark line that you want. They both have good glide to them, but the toothiness might not be too your liking. 
• Finally, give a try to the A.Silky 865 papers found in Apica's Premium CD notebook line. This is paper designed to feel velvety on the nib, and there is more spread with this paper than some of the harder papers. It's a very smooth, soft paper that can do really neat things for a nib. It's also a clean white that will show the black ink distinctly. This paper also has some of the lowest show through of any papers. The cost of all this goodness is that it is occasionally more apt to spot bleed with very wet inks. Again, this is less of a concern with a Fine nib and Perle Noir. 
• Perle Noir is a pretty well behaving ink, and you are using a Fine Lamy nib, so I suspect that you could also get away with a lot of other paper options that might frustrate some other fountain pen users. There's a lot of sugar cane papers, such as those from Franklin-Christoph, and you can find papers made in places like Brazil and Vietnam at your local store that can often be quite good for these uses, with low feathering. Some of the more boutique notebook makers like Paperblanks and the like also use decent paper that might fit right into the middle ground for you and work very well. Check out someone like Baron Fig for paper that can be hit or miss with more demanding applications, but which might be a good fit for the demands you have. 

As for what the American's were using for paper...

 

America has a strong history of paper making, and there are still some quite famous paper brands in the US. Crane is a high end stationery company. Strathmore makes artists papers (and a Writing Papers line, as mentioned above). I believe there are a few more, and you can find decent paper from them all. Traditional American writing paper was linen, and you can still find such papers from Strathmore and Southworth. There were lots of papers that were made back in the day that have fallen out of favor and are only produced in small quantities or are no longer produced at all. As the markets have changed, the paper makers have tended to try to keep pace with that. If you want to stick to US paper companies, you can certainly get some decent stuff. You may have great luck if you look for artists books, but make sure you look for the papers that were designed to take ink. 

 

A lot of higher end writing papers in the US are designed with a little bit of tooth to them, partly due to their cotton content, but also partly because that extra texture is seen as contributing to a sense of luxury about the paper. It gives the paper a "good hand."  

 

I believe that Fountain Pen Love also has an article reviewing the Bullet Journal that was available at Walmart, and that was apparently quite a good book, and might also be the sort of thing you're after, but that paper is not made in the US, I think. 

[stalepie]

Thank you, arcfide, for the excellent response. I will read over it more closely in a little bit. And thank you everyone else who responded too. I did read them and will read them again when I make another purchase. I was having a bad night last night, so was getting ready to throw in the towel, since I'm tired of trying to find a new hobby, but I will look into these papers. I'm sure I'll like Clairefontaine or Rhodia. Will look at Black and Red too, though the name did not sound so serious. That is true that the bluer paper will make a warm black like Perle Noire look a little stronger. I was going to try Tomoe River. Heard so much about it. I just couldn't decide on which to get (for instance, the blank Seven Seas journal was out of stock, and he's waiting on the new-and-improved TR paper to come out). It's tempting to get 100 sheets from JetPens as letter writing paper, though. Thin and light for mailing, sounds good. Will look into these options more later. There are so many.

 

Yes that is interesting about American papers and linen. This is beginning to make sense. I've seen no shortage of art supplies. Lots of paint companies and decent canvas companies. I was ordering supplies last summer, like Fredrix, and Strathmore I'd heard of in doing that. So it was odd to me there weren't more U.S. options for paper and it was mainly import choices, with some people bad-mouthing U.S. paper when using fountain pens. I mean, a journal sold in a U.S. store may say Made in Vietnam or China, etc., but art canvases are often still made here, or at least Fredrix appeared to be. So that was the kind of thing I was wondering about.

 

I think I've heard of Crane. That might have been stationary I tried that my mom had, which felt a bit stiff like the Midori paper.

 

I hope these responses help others who are searching for information, if I don't get too interested in fountain pens. I don't want to waste people's time. Thanks again for the help!

Edited May 3, 2022 by stalepie

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, arcfide said:

@LizEF I'll bite. 🙂

Thank you, and Whoa!  Talk about paper-knowledge!

[dragondazd]

3 hours ago, stalepie said:

Thank you, arcfide, for the excellent response. I will read over it more closely in a little bit. And thank you everyone else who responded too. I did read them and will read them again when I make another purchase. I was having a bad night last night, so was getting ready to throw in the towel, since I'm tired of trying to find a new hobby, but I will look into these papers. I'm sure I'll like Clairefontaine or Rhodia. Will look at Black and Red too, though the name did not sound so serious. That is true that the bluer paper will make a warm black like Perle Noire look a little stronger. I was going to try Tomoe River. Heard so much about it. I just couldn't decide on which to get (for instance, the blank Seven Seas journal was out of stock, and he's waiting on the new-and-improved TR paper to come out). It's tempting to get 100 sheets from JetPens as letter writing paper, though. Thin and light for mailing, sounds good. Will look into these options more later. There are so many.

 

Yes that is interesting about American papers and linen. This is beginning to make sense. I've seen no shortage of art supplies. Lots of paint companies and decent canvas companies. I was ordering supplies last summer, like Fredrix, and Strathmore I'd heard of in doing that. So it was odd to me there weren't more U.S. options for paper and it was mainly import choices, with some people bad-mouthing U.S. paper when using fountain pens. I mean, a journal sold in a U.S. store may say Made in Vietnam or China, etc., but art canvases are often still made here, or at least Fredrix appeared to be. So that was the kind of thing I was wondering about.

 

I think I've heard of Crane. That might have been stationary I tried that my mom had, which felt a bit stiff like the Midori paper.

 

I hope these responses help others who are searching for information, if I don't get too interested in fountain pens. I don't want to waste people's time. Thanks again for the help!

My mid size city's independent office supply shop has rhodia, clairfontaine, and crane. Shouldn't be too hard to those to feel.

 

Be careful not to buy too much TR until you know you like it. I bought a jetpens notebook and 1/3 of the way in I wanted to change to a different notebook next. Well since they have Sp Many thin sheets it's taking 3x as long to finish. 

[stalepie]

19 hours ago, Geslina said:

Personally, I love the Midori MD paper…especially the 5”x8” pads that are gummed along the top and down one side…

but I like to have options, and I don’t use it all the time.  Also, different pens and different inks perform differently on certain papers.  In my experience, dry and broader nibs aren’t that pleasant on Midori MD.  So when I do use it, I choose a pen with a finer or wet nib, or use an ink that is more lubricated. Life Bank and ClaireFontaine Triumph paper feels similar in texture to Midori MD, in my opinion.

 

I was just looking at Life Noble Note plain and saw someone else in the reviews say the paper felt indisguishable from Midori. It may be that Midori is very good, I'm just not used to quality paper. I think of paper as "taking" the ink and it's supposed to absorb. Well, I was used to Pilot Precise pens on normal copy paper. That usually wrote smoothly and didn't have much showthrough.

 

Think I might try Clairefontaine Classic Clothbound A5 notebook or get some other inks to try.

 

19 hours ago, Geslina said:

 

I just bought a few new Nebula Notes pads, which have the Tomoe River 52gsm paper - however, it must be the newer TR.  It’s toothier and thicker.  Not bad, but not the same as the old TR, and not the same as the TR I’ve recently bought in loose sheets.  I’m very confused about the new Tomoe River, because even the new version seems to vary depending on whether you buy notebooks, pads or loose.  It’s smoother than Midori MD, so you might like it.  And then there is Rhodia, which so many fountain pen people love…I don’t love it, it’s too smooth for my taste, but it’s very, very popular.  I like Cosmo Air Light, which is smooth and velvety and nice with any nib or ink.  It used to only be available in notebooks, but now I’m seeing it loose at some stores.

 

I think the advice from the above post is good - buy small notebooks.  I believe at Jetpens, you can even buy small packs of some papers for just a few dollars.  

 

Cosmo Air Light is new to me. I will take a look at those.

 

It might be that I like medium nibs more than I realized, but because I was used to cheap paper I didn't realize nicer paper "tightened" up the flow (as it seems to do on Midori MD - my fine nib Lamy pen writes more like the Pilot Metropolitan fine did, whereas on cheaper paper it feathers more and draws a thicker line, and the Metro stays better behaved).

[stalepie]

7 hours ago, arcfide said:

Check out the French Clairefontaine 90gsm and Rhodia 80gsm. These are very standard papers, with relatively lower glide, great showthrough resistance, medium ink resistance, and high smoothness. They are also bright white with a subtle blue tinge, which might help to brighten some of the black inks you are using (Perle Noir in particular), giving them a deeper appearance. However, some people don't like the way that these papers glide, and they aren't particularly high spread papers, so your line might still be thinner than you want. Rhodia Premium 90gsm is more absorbent, softer, and also has a bit more spread than the 80gsm variant, at the cost of being cream and somewhat more likely to bleedthrough on very heavy ink applications. Since you are using a CP1 Fine nib, I think you'll be fine. The smoothness and glide are a little higher with the premium 90gsm.

 

These will likely do fine. I meant to pick up Rhodia pads recently in a store's sale, but held off. I think it bugged me that I learned the paper in their webbies was different (slightly? 90 gsm vs 80 gsm) of the paper in their more famous notepads.

 

7 hours ago, arcfide said:

• Black and Red notebooks with Optik paper are the UK equivalent of the Clairefontaine papers, and very good. Other papers in this category would be the Maruman Mnemosyne (Japanese) and some of the Fabriano (Italian) papers. These might all fit if the Clairefontaine are close but just not quite your jam. 

 

Will keep these in mind. I've seen them. I like that the Japanese notebooks often are built to lay flat, which seems like a good quality, and did not like the ring binders of the Black n Reds.

 

They're probably all good choices, though.

 

7 hours ago, arcfide said:

• If it is really the softness of the paper that you are after, and you want higher spread, but you are willing to put up with a little more feedback to the nib while retaining faster glide, then check out some of the cotton papers. Strathmore Writing Paper, Midori MD Cotton, and the like (excepting G. Lalo Laid Cotton) will all be the softest papers you can find, and will accept ink much more readily, while not feathering much. They will have relatively high spread, while I've found them to have good glide. They do have a little more tooth than ultra-smooth papers though. The benefit of something like the Strathmore writing paper is that you'll get one of the cleanest, darkest, most uniformly black lines out of any of the higher quality papers. The danger is that with much wetter and broader nibs, you can sometimes begin to see a little spot bleeding if you aren't careful. 

 

Midori MD Cotton put me off because of the higher price, and some people saying they prefered regular MD, but I'll definitely take a look at th Strathmore Writing Paper, as I see it comes in 500 ream packages for fairly little money (though more expensive than HP Premium's 32 line). Do they make notebooks? I'll look around.

 

I don't know why I've become so picky...

 

So many choices. Thank you so much. I'll try to keep these in mind and refer back to this thread when making buying decisions in the future.

 

[Azulado]

7 hours ago, arcfide said:

you can find papers made in places like Brazil and Vietnam at your local store that can often be quite good for these uses, with low feathering

I live in Brazil and I don't know of any specific paper for pens. In general, Brazilians complain about lack of fountain pen friendly paper. Now a Tilibra brand one has appeared (I reviewed it recently https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/366092-tilibra-académie-a4-90-gm²-brazilian-notebook/#comment-4530259) that is not bad, it may mitigate the scratching problem. I use it and all the nibs are smoother than on other papers.

On the label there is a reference to importers in Chile and Mexico, but I get the impression that these notebooks are not readily available outside of Brazil.

[stalepie]

3 hours ago, dragondazd said:

My mid size city's independent office supply shop has rhodia, clairfontaine, and crane. Shouldn't be too hard to those to feel.

 

Be careful not to buy too much TR until you know you like it. I bought a jetpens notebook and 1/3 of the way in I wanted to change to a different notebook next. Well since they have Sp Many thin sheets it's taking 3x as long to finish. 

 

Yeah, it might be smarter to get one of those sample packs if I'm going to be so picky. I think the Midori MD book I have writes OK with Pilot Metropolitan fine (Pilot Black ink). It might be that Lamy nib that doesn't like the paper so much, or the way I'm holding the pen. Still new at this. My hands are used to writing more vertically from rollerballs and ballpoints.

[stalepie]

15 minutes ago, Azulado said:

I live in Brazil and I don't know of any specific paper for pens. In general, Brazilians complain about lack of fountain pen friendly paper. Now a Tilibra brand one has appeared (I reviewed it recently https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/366092-tilibra-académie-a4-90-gm²-brazilian-notebook/#comment-4530259) that is not bad, it may mitigate the scratching problem. I use it and all the nibs are smoother than on other papers.

On the label there is a reference to importers in Chile and Mexico, but I get the impression that these notebooks are not readily available outside of Brazil.

 

Interesting. I think I see a few of theirs on Amazon.com (U.S.) but not Academie or Happy specifically. Their site seems to be only in Portugeuse, so they may primarily serve a Brazilian market.

https://www.tilibra.com.br/

Though I do see Kensington (U.S. computer brand) at the bottom, so they have an association with them.

 

Looks like one of their notebooks is sold here at a Pharmacy site, but I've never heard of it:

https://pharmamaxonline.com/product/tilibra-neon-blue-10-div-comp/

 

 

I wonder if Exceed and Paperage notebooks are good choices, for those looking for cheaper alternatives to the ones sold at stationery sites. (I mean, I'm sure they're cheaper for a reason, but I do see people say they take to fountain pens well).

Edited May 3, 2022 by stalepie

[Azulado]

46 minutes ago, stalepie said:

Interesting. I think I see a few of theirs on Amazon.com (U.S.) but not Academie or Happy specifically. Their site seems to be only in Portugeuse, so they may primarily serve a Brazilian market.

https://www.tilibra.com.br/

Though I do see Kensington (U.S. computer brand) at the bottom, so they have an association with them.

 

Looks like one of their notebooks is sold here at a Pharmacy site, but I've never heard of it:

https://pharmamaxonline.com/product/tilibra-neon-blue-10-div-comp/

 

 

I wonder if Exceed and Paperage notebooks are good choices, for those looking for cheaper alternatives to the ones sold at stationery sites. (I mean, I'm sure they're cheaper for a reason, but I do see people say they take to fountain pens well).

Edited 17 minutes ago by stalepie

I don't know the Neon notebook shown in the link, but the brand (Tilibra) is very well known, it can be found anywhere in Brazil.
Tilibra preferably uses 56 gsm papers, but also works with other weights. There are 56 gsm papers that are very good with ink, but their characteristics are very different from those of the most popular papers for FP enthusiasts. They are usually absorbent and do not highlight colors. I would define it as a cheap paper ideal for use with an F nib and a royal blue ink. In Tilibra's review, you can see a photo of one of these notebooks.
Tilibra has infinite references. You can find numerous paper qualities. Every time you buy a notebook it is a lottery.
The closest to Rhodia or Oxford are the Académie and Happy 90 g/m² A4. In other sizes the grammage changes. The Happy is the best.
I wrote to the company to give my opinion and suggest new products. I was told that Happy and Académie may have different suppliers, hence the subtle differences in quality. But they are brands that belong to the same group, even Tilibra is written on the sheets. The company, a Brazilian giant, belongs to the multinational, I think American, ACCO. I don't know who defines the product specifications. There are other Brazilian manufacturers that also belong to ACCO.
Canson launched an A4 notebook of the Happy type. The paper was of good quality, but has a tendency to bleed through. I was going to do a review, but the notebook I had just bought was of worse quality than the first one I bought. The tendency to bleed was intolerable for that type of premium paper. I wrote to the Company, but they gave me no explanation, they are just going to replace the notebook.
For the Neon shown in the link I would never pay 10 dollars. The Happy costs 5 dollars.

There are also 90 g/m² Tilibra journals, but the paper is very different from the Happy. It is glassy, but absorbent and with some very wet nibs it can bleed.