Posts filed under Yamamoto

Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection A5 Pad Giveaway

If you are a fountain pen and ink user you have certainly seen the various collections that Yamamoto Paper put together for users to test out a wide variety of paper before committing to a full notebook of the good stuff (here is an earlier review from Susan if you aren’t familiar.)

These pads always came in the large A4 format, and now Yamamoto Paper is mixing in a more conveniently-sized A5 paper pack to try. Taizo, the owner of Yamamoto Paper, handed me this pad at Stationery Fest, and while they haven’t hit the market yet, they should be coming soon. (Keep an eye on Vanness Pens Yamamoto Paper page!)

This pad contains 10 sheets of 5 different fountain pen friendly papers:

— Thin Paper by Kokuyo

— Sanzen Tomoe River S

— Champion Copy

— Typewriter Paper

— Smooth Onion Skin

This is a great playground for pen and ink users, and I have one of these pads to give away this week. Read the rules below and enter away!

Posted on September 10, 2024 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Yamamoto, Giveaways.

Yamamoto Paper’s Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection, Vol 7, Part 2

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

I decided to finish reviewing the second half of the Yamamoto Paper’s Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection, Vol. 7 (say that five times fast) as soon as I finished the first half last week, so that I could use the same batch of inked pens. As a reminder, the pack contains 5 sheets each of 16 different papers, all of which are reported to be fountain pen-friendly.

*Yamamoto Paper’s Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection, Vol. 7 (The cover and the individual cover sheets are a mottled grey color; it’s not my crappy photography skills this time.)*

There are 16 papers and they are listed on the front cover as follows:

THIN PAPER by Kokyuo 52gsm
SanzenTomoe River S 52 gsm
Cosmo Air Light 75 gsm
Kin Kaku Den Super White
YAMAMOTO Bank Paper Takasago Premium 87.9 gsm
Bank Paper 48.2 gsm
Champion Copy 35 gsm
Typewriter paper 27.9 gsm
Air Mail Bond White 61.7 gsm
B7-bulky 70 gsm
Light Force 68 gsm
Smooth Onion Skin supports Alcohol Inks 40.0 gsm
Half Tone Color White 64 gsm
Sleight White 81.4 gsm
Soliste 65 gsm
Sun Sun Kent 81.4 gsm

Today’s article will cover papers 9-16. Like last week, I will use my currently inked pens to write the name of the pen/nib/ink combination. I plan to use a mix of shimmer, sheening, shading, chromashading and “regular” inks, as well as gold and steel nibs, wet/average/dry writers, and different nib sizes. Basically, a variety of whatever is inked up without me having to ink more pens up, lol.

Then, I will rate each of them according to texture, fountain pen ink friendliness, color accuracy, weight (using a subjective feel vs the actual gsm). For ghosting, I flipped the paper over and put it on a blank sheet of paper to determine the level of ghosting.

Lastly, there will be pictures of (1) the paper description sheet, (2) the inked page, (3) closeup of some inks, and (4) sheerness (by leaving the guidesheet underneath), and occasionally (5) the back if there’s something worth noting. Let’s get started!

Air Mail Bond White, 61.7 gsm

Texture - The paper is textured, much like the laid papers from G. Lalo and others. It did not catch on my flex or finer nibs, nor did it feel like it was bumpy to write on, unless you were using a stub, in which case it might feel like the nib isn’t 100% on the paper.

FP Friendliness - Medium-High - It handled most of the different pens and inks, though it did feather with several of the broader and wetter nibs/inks. And, the KWZ Meet Me in St Louis 2020 also had spots of bleedthrough on the back. Otherwise, there is minimal ghosting, so the back side is usable.

Color Accuracy - Medium-High - The actual ink colors were fine but the paper seemed to “eat” sheen and most of the subtle chromashading properties. Even regular shading inks didn’t shade as much as on other papers.

*The feathering was particularly noticeable from this Broad F-C nib and GvFC Burned Orange.*

Weight - Medium-weight paper that didn’t feel too flimsy nor too substantial.

*You can easily see the texture of the Air Mail paper.*

*Even with the paper’s texture, you can easily see the guidesheet below.*

*The bit of bleedthrough from KWZ StL, but that’s about it. The other inks that feathered on the front did not bleed through to the back.*

b7 - Bulky, 70 gsm

Texture - Similar to Cosmo Air Light in that it is a heavier paper, very slight texture and borderline “squishy” feeling. Though not as squishy as CAL for me, the b7 was fine to write on.

FP Friendliness - High - b7 was able to handle all the inks and nibs with no feathering or bleedthrough. Minimal ghosting so the backside is still usable.

Color Accuracy - High - Colors were accurate, though the more interesting inks like chromashaders or sheeners were a bit subdued/flattened.

Weight - This paper weighs in around the middle of the bunch, and is still lighter and thinner than a sheet of typical copy paper.

*Guidelines are still visible, but not as much as others.*

Light Force, 68gsm

Texture - Fairly smooth paper, but not glassy. Similar to CAL and b7 but also is not squishy.

FP Friendliness -High - zero bleedthrough, minimal ghosting. Backside is definitely usable.

Color Accuracy - Medium High to High - Like CAL and b7, the colors were pretty accurate, though the Launceston Fog looked slightly more grey.

Weight - Despite being 2 gsm lighter than b7, it felt almost thicker. I determine thickness by how it feels when I hold the sheet at the top and wave the paper back and forth.

*Still able to see the lines (about as much as b7.)*

Smooth Onion Skin, 40 gsm

Texture - Fairly smooth and crinkly when “waved around”.

FP Friendliness - Medium - The paper withstood all the different inks and nibs I used on it, but everything felt and looked finer than on the other papers. I had to keep checking the pens to make sure they weren’t running out of ink (spoiler: they weren’t). It seemed to have more problems with the smoother nibs than with the less smooth nibs (like Pilot gold nib or Jowo Broad vs Sailor gold nibs or Cursive Italics). I did not test with any alcohol markers or oil-based pens.

Color Accuracy - Medium - While the color tones were accurate, there seemed to be less ink deposited on the page, so inks didn’t shade or sheen as much.

*It struggled to put down a consistent line with the Pilot 912 and Troublemaker Milky Ocean.*

Weight - Not surprising that this lightweight paper would be crinkly when I waved it around. Also, to no one’s surprise, it is very sheer, so don’t write on the back.

Half Tone Color White, 64 gsm

Texture - Fairly smooth, not quite glassy.

FP Friendliness - High, with no major issues, other than a touch of feathering and bleedthrough with the wet KWZ St Louis ink. No other bleedthrough, minimal ghosting.

Color Accuracy - High, though none of the inks really popped. The colors just looked a little flat - not necessarily dull, just not as interesting as they can be.

*Just a touch of feathering with the KWZ.*

*And a touch of bleedthrough from the same ink.*

Weight - A nice, medium–weight paper. Not crinkly and not super thick or heavy feeling. Fine to write on the back.

Slight, 81.4 gsm

*The front cover calls it “Sleight” but this sheet says “Slight.”*

Texture - Minimal texture, like a heavier Midori paper, but not like laid paper and it doesn’t feel glassy smooth either.

FP Friendliness - Medium high, it had similar problems to the heavier Bank Paper from last week where it felt like ink wasn’t being put down as much as on other papers, so the lines seemed a touch finer as well. This is the most noticeable with stubs, where the wide line is “missing” some ink. No bleedthrough and minimal ghosting, so it’s fine to write.on the back.

Color Accuracy - High - As mentioned above, not as much ink was being laid down so some inks weren’t as “interesting” because they were slightly (no pun intended) drier.

*You can see that some of the 1.1 lines are much thinner than they should be. The Monoc and the Broad below it didn’t have lines as thick as on other paper.*

*In a few of the letters of the word “Demonstrator”, you can see that there are parts of the strokes where ink wasn’t laid down evenly.*

Weight - One of the heaviest papers, so it wasn’t crinkly.

*Can still make out the guidelines but it needed more light when I was writing.*

Soliste, 65 gsm

Texture - Smooth, with just a hint of texture, so that it’s not glassy.

FP Friendliness - High, handled all the nibs and inks without issue

Color Accuracy - High, though the paper seems to flatten out the colors and some shaders were less shady. It’s hard for me to tell if it’s the cream color of the paper or the paper itself that is making the inks not pop as much.

*Most of these inks are shaders but there’s only a bit of shade on a few of them.*

Weight - Medium-weight and not crinkly.

*You can really see that this is a cream and not white paper.*

Sun Sun Kent, 91.4 gsm

Texture - Smooth, almost glassy - reminded me of Clairefontaine.

FP Friendliness - Medium - a couple of the broader nibs produced some feathering, there wasn’t really any bleedthrough with most of the inks. Many of the nibs, especially the Medium and up, made much wider lines than usual.

*Just a bit of bleedthrough from, yep, you guessed it, the KWZ.*

Color Accuracy - High, though some of the broader lines wiped out shading.

*The Franklin-Christoph Broad nib wrote like a marker, both in width and in feeling. You can see the feathering with that nib, but the others wrote just fine.*

Weight - One of the heavier papers, so it wasn’t crinkly.

After all was said and done, this was a very fun exercise and a great way to use a bunch of pens. It was interesting to see how each pen/ink would behave on the different papers.

I have used Kokuyo Campus paper but not the Thin Paper and was surprised at how much I liked it. It was the first paper in the pack and set a high standard for the rest of the first half. This was my first time trying the Sanzen Tomoe River S paper and it was fine. I don’t want to compare it to old Tomoe River because it seems unfair to do so since it’s no longer made, so I only compared it to others in this bundle.

I have used CAL 75 before and liked it but it felt so thick compared to the others, that it was less of a favorite than I thought it would be. The Kin Kaku Den was the only one which I really disliked using because the texture would catch my nibs and make inks not want to flow.

And the last two thin/light papers were sleeper hits for me. I could totally imagine writing letters with these papers, albeit only on one side. I loved the sound of the crinkling and their smoothness was pleasant to write on.

*Inky rainbows make me happy, even if one is on cream paper, lol!*

This second half of the pack didn’t have any clear “winners” for me. It is difficult for me to pick the cream Soliste paper because inks don’t pop on the paper the same way as they do on white paper - I wish they had either picked the white paper or included other cream papers.

As with the first half, all of the papers were fountain pen-friendly though some handled the wetter inks better than others. Some of them resulted in either finer than usual lines and a few were broader. It seemed like more of them had “flatter” colors than the first batch. Now that I’ve written on all 16 types of paper, here are some things I noticed/rediscovered:

The Trifecta of Pen/Paper/Ink - ALL THREE MATTER! Given that I used the same pens and inks on all of the papers, it was easier to tell if it was the paper or the nib or the ink. For example, Sailor Manyo Haha is a blue chromashading that has hints of purple. On all papers, it shows up as a light, dusty blue, but on some papers, those hints of purple are visible. This means that it’s the paper that’s the difference. The line width of that Pelikan M200 is fairly uniform across the different papers, except on a few where it wasn’t – and then it wasn’t just that pen/ink, but many of the pens didn’t have the expected line width either. For many of the combinations though, there wasn’t a lot of difference from one paper to another, which is why it’s always good to use a lot of different pens/nibs/inks before “judging” a paper too harshly.
Thicker isn’t always better - I love shading, chromashading ink, as well as sheening inks, but some of the thicker papers seem to absorb the ink properties. Thankfully, most of that doesn’t result in feathering, but it does dull some of the inks’ unique traits.
Thin paper is great unless… - If you don’t like the sound of crinkly paper or you want to be able to write on both sides, thinner paper is not for you. But if that doesn’t bother you, a lot of the thinner papers in this collection are really good.
Weight alone isn’t enough - There were several papers which had similar weights but felt thicker/thinner or lighter/heavier than others. Some felt more or less crinkly as well. Just goes to show that you can’t base FP-friendliness solely on the gsm of a paper.
Don’t assume you will like my favorites - As I said last week, your preferences for paper smoothness, thickness, texture and crinkliness may give you different favorites. Ditto if you never use chromashading inks or only use EF/Fine nibs, etc. I would definitely give the paper pad a try, so you can discover what your favorites are!

I think my overall favorites are still Kokuyo THIN Paper, Sanzen TR, and Typewriter Paper and also Smooth Onion Skin and Half Tone Color White from the second half of the pack.

This paper pack is available directly through Yamamoto Paper, or through site sponsors JetPens and Vanness Pens.

(Disclaimer: The paper pack was purchased at the 2022 San Francisco Pen Show from the Yamamoto Paper table.)

Posted on October 20, 2023 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Yamamoto, Paper Reviews.

Yamamoto Paper’s Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection, Volume 7 Review

It’s time to put my money where my mouth is and start using the things I own. Like this paper testing kit from Yamamoto Paper which I bought at the San Francisco Pen Show last year (and which Brad also gave me for review). Former Pen Addict writer, Susan Pigott, did a two-part review of the first Paper Collection part 1 and part 2, which I highly recommend if you haven’t read it before. I will be following my own random “testing method” for the current Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection, Vol. 7, which I will refer to as PC. I don’t remember seeing Volumes 2-6, and they weren’t listed on Yamamoto Paper’s website, so I am assuming that they just jumped ahead to 7. The pack contains 5 sheets each of 16 different papers, all of which are reported to be fountain pen-friendly.

There are 16 papers and they are listed on the front cover as follows:

THIN PAPER by Kokyuo 52gsm
SanzenTomoe River S 52 gsm
Cosmo Air Light 75 gsm
Kin Kaku Den Super White
YAMAMOTO Bank Paper Takasago Premium 87.9 gsm
Bank Paper 48.2 gsm
Champion Copy 35 gsm
Typewriter paper 27.9 gsm
Air Mail Bond White 61.7 gsm
B7-bulky 70 gsm
Light Force 68 gsm
Smooth Onion Skin supports Alcohol Inks 40.0 gsm
Half Tone Color White 64 gsm
Sleight White 81.4 gsm
Soliste 65 gsm
Sun Sun Kent 81.4 gsm

I will review the first 8 in this article and save the second 8 for a future article (either next week or the one after).

I will use my currently inked pens to write the name of the pen/nib/ink combination. I plan to use a mix of shimmer, sheening, shading, chromashading and “regular” inks, as well as gold and steel nibs, wet/average/dry writers, and different nib sizes. Basically, a variety of whatever is inked up without me having to ink more pens up, lol. Then, I will rate each of them according to texture, fountain pen ink friendliness, color accuracy, weight (using a subjective feel vs the actual gsm). For ghosting, I flipped the paper over and put it on a blank sheet of paper to determine the level of ghosting. I did not rank them from 1-8 but I’m sure I will have my favorites as well as ones I didn’t like as much.

Kokuyo Thin Paper, 52 gsm

Texture - The paper is quite smooth and nice to write on. Flex, stub, fine, stacked, medium, grinds - every pen felt great writing on the paper.

FP Friendliness - High - It handled all of the different pens and inks with ease, with one exception, the KWZ Meet Me in St Louis 2020, which had spots of bleed through on the back. Otherwise, there is minimal ghosting, so the back side is usable.

Color Accuracy - High - My “metric” for color accuracy is Van Dieman’s Launceston Fog, which is a complicated green/brown chromashading ink. While difficult to capture in photos, it picked up the colors. It showed sheen from Taccia Hiroshige-Ruri, and was also great for shimmer and shading inks too.

*Shade with the Leonardo, shimmer from the Pelikan, Sheen from the Lamy - it all looks good.*

Weight - Lightweight paper that didn’t feel too flimsy nor too substantial.

*The bit of bleedthrough from KWZ StL, but that was it.*

Sanzen Tomoe River S, 52 gsm

Texture - Similar to the Kokuyo, the Sanzen Tomoe River S paper (TRS) is fairly smooth and pleasant to write on.

FP Friendliness - High - Like the Kokuyo, TRS was able to handle the various nibs and pens I put on it, though it had just a few more spots of bleedthrough than the Kokuyo. Minimal ghosting so the backside is still usable.

Color Accuracy - High - Colors were on par with the Kokuyo writing samples.

*Nice shading on the Sanzen TRS, but Haha should have a touch of purple which I don’t see.*

Weight - Despite being the same gsm as the Kokuyo, this TRS paper felt slightly “thicker”.

*Definitely not as sheer as the Kokuyo.*

Cosmo Air Light, 75gsm

Texture - Slight texture to the paper, lending an almost “squishy” feel to it, depending on nib and writing surface (you’ll notice the squishiness if you’re writing on a few sheets). I wouldn’t call it rough but it’s not glassy smooth like Kokuyo or TR.

FP Friendliness -High - zero bleedthrough, minimal ghosting. Backside is definitely usable.

Color Accuracy - Medium High to High - Colors were pretty accurate, though the Launceston Fog looked more grey than green/brown. Sailor Manyo Haha’s tinge of purple was more visible on CAL than the others.

*Yay! A tinge of purple from Sailor Manyo Haha!*

*Launceston Fog loses some of its green/brown shading on CAL 75.*

Weight - Not surprising, a 75gsm sheet of paper is going to feel thicker and heavier than the others. Probably wouldn’t be my choice if you’re a multi-page letter writer like I am.

*This was one of the hardest papers to see the guidesheet.*

Other - This paper is being discontinued so your ability to find it may be limited. Also, CAL came in other weights, with 75 gsm being the one that many notebook makers use. CAL is also more susceptible to hand oils, so you may get spots where ink doesn’t want to soak into the paper. Blotter paper or anything in between your hand and the paper can help prevent that. I did not experience that during this experiment.

Kin Kaku Den Super White

Texture - Very textured - reminded me of a combination of parchment paper on the front (like you’d use for baking) and a bit of mulberry or similarly textured paper. There are two sides to the paper and they don’t feel the same. The side that is “face up” is the one I wrote on and the back side is the more texturedside.

FP Friendliness - Medium - While the paper withstood all the different inks and nibs I used on it, it was not a pleasant experience. Flex nibs and ground nibs would catch and scratch - the architect felt the worst on this paper. Other times, ink just didn’t want to soak into the paper. I had a heck of a time getting stubs to write on it because it felt like only the middle of the nib was the only part touching the paper, so it felt lopsided and the lines weren’t as wide as with the other papers. So while there wasn’t any bleedthrough or feathering, all the lines were thinner and took several attempts to write because it was like writing on wax. Medium ghosting.

Color Accuracy - Low/Medium - While the color tones were accurate, they weren’t very interesting. Inks didn’t shade as much, sheen was minimal (except for the Leonardo Deep Purple, which is a really nice sheener).

*I had a hard time getting the softer nibs like the Pilot Falcon and the 912 with a Matthew flex to write on this paper.*

Weight - I was unable to find a weight for this paper, but I would guess that it’s ~65 gsm.

Other - This was the one paper that I absolutely disliked using because it would catch on nibs, inks just didn’t want to flow onto the paper and inks’ different properties just didn’t shine.

Yamamoto Bank Paper, Takasago Premium, 87.9 gsm

Texture - Glassy smooth, pens glided on the page, but in an almost out of control way.

FP Friendliness - Medium high, though some of my nibs had a hard time getting started on the ultra smooth paper. The shading inks were the ones that were the most problematic. They weren’t unusable, just extra light on top compared to other papers. No bleedthrough, minimal ghosting.

Color Accuracy - High, the colors were accurate but as noted above, inks shaded more on this paper and some pens would hard start due to the smoothness.

*Troublemaker Milky Ocean was particularly “shady” but it also hard-started the most on this paper.*

Weight - Despite being heavier than CAL 75gsm, this felt a little lighter and thinner.

*Surprisingly sheer for a heavier gsm paper.*

Bank Paper, 48.2 gsm

Texture - Smooth, but I wouldn’t describe it as glassy like the heavier version.

FP Friendliness - Medium high, it had similar problems of the heavier Bank Paper and the lines were finer as well. No bleedthrough but a fair amount of ghosting which was expected. Writing not recommended on the back side.

Color Accuracy - High - same as the heavier paper above, where some of the shading inks were very light on the top half of the strokes.

See the top half of the Pocket 6 writing? It’s lighter on top. But look at the sheen on the Momento Zero (that’s a dark purple ink with gold sheen!)

Weight - Not surprising, this is a lightweight paper. Just on the border of what I would consider “crinkly”.

Champion Copy, 35 gsm

Texture - Smooth, a bit more than the Bank Papers FP Friendliness - Medium High, handled most nibs and inks without issue, but it feathered with KWZ Meet Me in St. Louis (not surprising), Graf von Faber-Castell Burned Orange (a little surprising but it was in a wet broad nib) and Van Dieman’s Launceston Fog (another wet flex nib). Some bleedthrough (with KWZ) and high ghosting - do not write on both sides..

Color Accuracy - High, some shaders were less shady, while others were a little more. Overall, good color representation as well as sheen and shimmer.

*The Leonardo with the Stylosuite nib and Launceston Fog ink was a bit feathery.*

*Another bit of feathering from KWZ Meet Me in St. Louis.*

Weight - Very lightweight and crinkly.

Other - Pleasant to write with even though it was thin and crinkly, which surprised me.

Typewriter Paper, 27.9 gsm

Texture - Smooth, similar to Champion Copy FP Friendliness - High, similar to Champion Copy but with less feathering and bleedthrough. The architect felt a little scritchy across the paper even though it’s fairly smooth. Lines were thinner than on other papers. Some bleedthrough with KWZ StL ink, high ghosting - do not write on both sides.

Color Accuracy - High, though some inks seemed a touch lighter than on other papers like Papier Plume Bad Bad Leroy Brown.

*Lighter shade of Papier Plume ink but look at how pretty Launceston Fog is! This photo is of the paper against a brown background, so you can see a bit of the “texture” and thinness of the paper.*

Weight - The lightest and crinkliest paper, but still felt soft (not rough).

After all was said and done, this was a very fun exercise and a great way to use a bunch of pens. It was interesting to see how each pen/ink would behave on the different papers. I have used Kokuyo Campus paper but not the Thin Paper and was surprised at how much I liked it. It was the first paper in the pack and set a high standard for the rest of the first half.

This was my first time trying the Sanzen Tomoe River S paper and it was fine. I don’t want to compare it to old Tomoe River because it seems unfair to do so since it’s no longer made, so I only compared it to others in this bundle. I have used CAL 75 before and liked it but it felt so thick compared to the others, that it was less of a favorite than I thought it would be. The Kin Kaku Den was the only one which I really disliked using because the texture would catch my nibs and make inks not want to flow.

The Yamamoto 87.9 gsm Bank Paper was a bit of a surprise - it felt so smooth and slick that I thought it would be the best paper, but it felt slippery and gave me some trouble with hard starts (it’s not the pen or ink because they behaved well on other papers). I was worried when I got to the 48.2 gsm Bank Paper but I liked it more than the heavier version. And the last two thin/light papers were sleeper hits for me. I could totally imagine writing letters with these papers, albeit only on one side. I loved the sound of the crinkling and their smoothness was pleasant to write on.

For the most part, all of the papers were fountain pen-friendly though some handled the wetter inks better than others. Most of them also represented the inks pretty accurately, though some didn’t show off the nuances of shading as much as others, or muted some of the colors (like CAL 75 muting Launceston Fog into a grey). Your preferences for paper smoothness, thickness, texture and crinkliness may give you different favorites. I think my top 3 would be Kokuyo THIN Paper, Sanzen TR, and Typewriter Paper. Looking forward to the second half of the pack and finding out if any of them will unseat these three!

This paper pack is available directly through Yamamoto Paper, or through site sponsors JetPens and Vanness Pens