Life Bank Paper Review

What is bank paper? According to Merriam-Webster:

“a thin strong paper similar to but lighter than bond paper and commonly used for business letterheads”

Bank paper products, such as this A5 Life Writing Paper, have begun to appear more frequently in our world, mainly because it lives up to the definition above. The paper is thin, durable, and can handle almost any ink or graphite well.

This Life Bank Paper pad has been recommended to me many times, and I took way too long to acquire it. It is downright excellent. It features a light ivory color page with the slightest bit of texture and feedback. The 100 pages are glue bound in an A5 size, which make it perfect for letter writing. This is a pad that will be empty when you are done with it, not kept like a spiral bound pad.

I mostly wanted to test fountain pen inks on it, and I’m happy to say they work well. There is no feathering or bleed to speak of, even when I laid down heavy swabs of ink on the page. All nibs feel smooth on it, even though you can feel the texture of the paper. It’s a very light texture, and I didn’t feel it was detrimental, even when using my finest nibs.

The dry time was also decent. This isn’t a glossy page like Rhodia, so I expected it to be quick, and it is. The only ink that took some time to dry was with the Montegrappa Miya Flex nib, due to the fact it was putting more ink down on the page. Even so, dry time was fine, and a pink blotting sheet is included if you so desire.

There is some ghosting, as you can tell by my picture of the pages when still attached to the pad. I personally wouldn’t use the back of the sheet to write a letter on, but it is workable.

All of my non-fountain pens performed well on this bank paper, with the lone exception being plastic tip drawing pens. The texture causes problems with this type of pen, leaving white space in the line, or sometimes skipping. It is at least usable, which is more than I can say for other textured papers and plastic tips.

All ballpoint, gel, and rollerball pens worked well - even my micro gel ink pens. Brush pens performed better than expected, and pencil graphite was an absolute standout. The texture allows the graphite a darkness and depth that smooth papers do not.

Being a bank paper, you might think there would be a watermark in the page, and you would be correct. It’s not that noticeable when writing in the pad, but it is more noticeable once you remove the page and more light surrounds it. It’s by no means a deal-breaker, or even a minor annoyance, but I thought I would point it out in case someone really dislikes watermarks.

So, how will I be using this pad? You are going to make me write letters, aren’t you? I think that’s what this pad is tailor made for. The glue binding comes off so cleanly you would think these were loose sheets. I’ve even punched them for my William Hannah notebook.

At $20 for 100 pages it isn’t cheap by any stretch, but the A5 Life Writing Paper Pad is purpose built, meaning you should have a purpose in mind when buying and using it. It’s not a desk pad, work pad, or a scratch pad. It’s more than that, and should be used as such.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Life L. Brand White Writing Paper A5: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Life Company offers numerous paper products, including notebooks, stationery, index cards (see review here), and envelopes. The L. Brand White Writing paper in A5 size, includes 30 sheets of 84.9gsm lined paper.

Each page is embellished with a border of scroll work in a tasteful grey/sage green color. The lines (in the same color) are 10mm apart and only appear on one side of the paper.

Although you can’t see this with the naked eye, each page is lined with tiny vertical and horizontal lines that form a grid. White horizontal lines appear every 20mm. I’m not sure what purpose the lines serve since you can’t see them in ordinary light. Apparently they are just a characteristic of the paper according to the description on JetPens.

The paper is smooth and silky. It’s pure pleasure to write on. I wrote my sister a long letter using this paper, and the ink dried fairly quickly and did not bleed or feather.

I also tested the paper with various nibs and inks. It handled all of them perfectly. Not even the thickest nibs bled through, though there is plenty of show through.

The paper is glue bound and is easy to remove from the pad without accidental tears.

My only complaint about this pad is how little you can fit on one page. Because of the border, the lines are only 4.13 inches/105mm across. And with the 10mm spacing there are only sixteen lines per page. The pad seems meant for short notes rather than lengthy letters.

You can purchase Life L. Brand White Writing paper in A5 size from JetPens for $6.25. I highly recommend this paper for anyone who wants a sophisticated but simple stationery that handles fountain pens well.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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LIFE Stationery Margin A5 Side Bound Notebook Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

When it comes to notebooks, you can find one for every specific purpose. Be it certain industries, odd rulings, or other constraints and requirements, there’s probably a notebook for it. I’ve always found that interesting, and it’s no surprise that I was intrigued by the Life Margin notebook.

The Life Margin notebook is a soft cover notebook with 80 pages of smooth, ivory paper that feels incredible to the touch and when writing. Like the other Life notebooks, this is some seriously good stuff. It’s a simple notebook, but it’s also simply wonderful.

On the outside, the Margin notebook is a craft paper material that bends easily, but is still resilient. Depending on the paper rule, the branding and cloth binding material is red (plain), blue (ruled), or yellow (graph). Apart from the minimal product information on the covers, there’s nothing else, which gives it a utilitarian feel. The Margin notebook is A5 in size and is held together by stitching and cloth tape. Overall, it has a clean, professional look on the outside.

On the inside, you’re greeted with a minimal front page that has a space for creating an "index" of your writings, or a place to write down your contact information. After that, we get to the good stuff. This paper is some of my favorite, and there’s 80 pages of it in this little notebook. It’s a light ivory color and has a special coating on it to make it extra smooth. Despite the coating, it handles all types of inks, graphite, etc. with ease. Dry times for inks aren’t affected, and it also does a decent job of preventing show-through on the back of the page.

Apart from the super wet Schmidt P8126 refill, the show-through is minimal and leaves the back pages perfectly usable for other writing. If you typically use wet pens, it will depend on what kind of ink you use with this notebook. In some cases, you may not be able to use the back page.

Writing on this paper is an incredibly enjoyable experience. It’s smooth when writing, has a good weight, and also has a pleasant color. The pages lay open easily, and the notebook closes flat when not in use. The binding seems strong, but also very pliable. There are no pages numbers in the notebook, but it does boast something special.

Like the name implies, this notebook features a vertical margin line about 1.5 inches or 35mm from the left side of the page. It’s an unobtrusive light gray line that’s helpful for leaving a (you guessed it) margin on the left side for notes, edits, or whatever else. Due to the somewhat light weight of the paper, you can also see the margin line showing throw from the back page, which gives you a handy right margin as well. Due to the light ink, it’s easy to disregard the margin when you don’t need it. And, the margin is present on each ruling type. I found the margin useful for making outlines and lists, but I could also see how it would be useful for note-taking and planning. Given the open structure, you can use it in whatever way makes sense to you in different situations.

Life notebooks have long been a favorite of mine due to the paper and build quality, and the Margin notebook is no exception.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!