Comparing Paper: Atoma, Viking, Q-Connect Bank
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- When you pick up a fountain pen and begin to write, you soon realise that different papers that may work fine with biros or pencils suffer appallingly when attacked with a fountain pen. And worst is a gushing pen loaded with Noodler's Baystate Blue! So I thought it would be useful to compare how various types of paper and notebook react. This is first in a new series.
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Cheers for now!
Mike
Just the review I was looking for. Thanks.
Very glad it was helpful
Great stuff. I was so disappointed at my last shipment of Atoma paper. Until watching your video I didn't realise they made two qualities. And, the outlets in the UK don't specify which quality they are selling. The ink spreading is horrible. I can get by with it using a fine nib, if it is not too wet.
I think it is time for Q Connect Bank paper and a hole punch.
Thank you for putting me straight.
Cheers.
Glad I could help - although I'm sorry I led you astray on the paper originally! Yes, I have a whole load of the (wrong) type of Atoma. It serves well as blotting paper, to its credit - but that isn't much use when you're writing on it with a fountain pen, is it!
@@writerlywitterings Noo, you never led me astray. I was perplexed about the poor quality of the last delivery and you gave me the answer. You have also given me what looks like a very nice paper to try.
So a very big thanks to you.
Oh, and the Conway Stewart Wordsworth you reamended is an astonishingly good pen. A delight to use. Thank you.
I've never tried the Atoma and Q Connect Bank paper, and in fact have not heard of them before now. The Q Connect Bank paper is one that I will try out 🙂
It is not as smooth as Tomoe River, but it is brilliant if you want slightly toothy, very light, and extremely cheap paper - i.e. £7 per ream or less.
So the journey continues! Thank you.
Cheers! I replied to this, I thought, but UA-cam seems to have mislaid a load of my responses!
Extremely good camerawork - brilliant focussing, the only problem was reaching that blue bottle towards the camera & pulling it back again, the lens really didn't like that. Feathering detail showed nicely too. Had to smile over the first quick brown fox jumping over a lazy one. Another project that's in line with my own - have a wadge of substrates all cut & labelled waiting for various types of pencils & blending solvent...........
Thanks - I'll have to watch that. The camera focuses on my face, I think, and it's reluctant to change to something less attractive (!)
I'm in mourning that Baystate Blue both feathers and bleeds through on the new Tomoe River from the new machines.
It may be time to look at alternative inks!
Wow - that Q-Connect paper looks very interesting.
It's a little rougher than Tomoe (which many would think was a good thing), but the price is extraordinary compared with it. If you can find it, I'd recommend trying it out. If you can't find it under that brand name, look for "Bank" paper, or search for paper for carbon copies for typewriters - you may get lucky. It's basically old-fashioned, cheap paper for office use, and tended to be about 50 gsm so that typewriters, dot matrix and daisy wheel printers could mark three or more copies. Good luck!
A heads up for prospective BSB users: diluting it massively reduces the poor performance with minimal colour change and no effect on the waterproofness after drying (4 parts ink to 1 part water for me but your mileage may vary). Even then flex pens destroy Leuchtturm and Rhodia, so it's still problematic but nowhere near as bad as when neat! As stated, Tomoe River handles it fine but I've got the thinner stuff (52 g/m^2) and the ghosting makes it impossible to write on both sides anyway...
Thanks for that, Robert. I have to admit, I'm leaning towards not using BSB but demonstrating the inks I have in my pens at the time. It seems to make a bit more sense. I'm surprised at your comments on Leuchtturm, though. I find it incomparably better than the Moleskine or Rhodia, although not as robust as the Japanese papers.
Very interesting
Thanks so much, Wendy. It's good to have confirmation that people are interested in the tests!
You could always get the Diamine Inkvent Calendar 2019 so you could continue the journey.
Much though I'd love to, it's rather outside my price bracket just now!
Great video! Could you do a video for those who don't get a choice of what paper they get (normally very cheap) and which nib sizes do well with the not so nice paper?
Probably Extra fine to medium nibs.
Well done on the solo filming, sans director daughter.
Hmm. I don't tend to like EF nibs - most of mine are Fine, M, B and double B. I'd be happy to help, but my issue is, the time it takes to load and rinse pens while using Baystate Blue. Perhaps I could do a similar run with other inks when this exercise is complete?
@@writerlywitteringsThank you for speedy reply. Yes, whenever you have time to tackle this issue, as I think it might be an interesting video for a lot of fountain pen users.
Love Tomoe River, but it can take ages to dry!
Very true, Anthony! Mind you, I find that with just about all paper when I'm using my Viscontis!
writerlywitterings is it the width of your nib (i.e. brand independent) or do you think the feeds on your Viscontis facilitate a wetter writing experience? I’ve not this problem with Montblanc, Pelikan or OMAS (except on Tomoe River), but then I tend to use quicker drying inks.
@@GodfreyMann Viscontis do lay down more ink than other manufacturers, which I have to admit I love. It means a very consistent experience with most papers!
I personally love Oxford "Optik Paper". Don't know if that's available outside of Germany, because contrary to the name it's made here, but it's perfect for harsh inks and gushing pens. Tell me if you can't find it in the UK and I'll send you a sample. Also, I'm happy the Baystate Blue comes to good use :)
Also, you're doing a great job with video production!
Hi, Chris - and you're very kind to say the production is working (especially today when the camera seemed to go on strike and wouldn't focus!). I haven't heard of Optik here. That sounds interesting. Is it 80gsm or lighter? Yes, the Baystate is coming into its own now I have a need for really powerful inks to show how violent they can be on certain types of paper!
@@writerlywitterings It is 90gsm, and actually quite cheap compared to other high-quality paper. It compares very well to Rhodia paper, although the pen doesn't feel as glassy on Oxford Optik than it does on Rhodia. It also shows sheen and shading better, in my opinion, and they advertise its ability to not have any ghosting effects on the other side of the paper, which is mostly true. Again, if you can't find it, I'd be happy to send some over. They also make very nice notebooks.
Thanks for the offer, Chris (apologies - overworked as always!). I think that Optik is produced by a UK firm, so I'll have a hunt around for it, but I have to admit the only adverts I can find are in French or German so far!
@@writerlywitterings No worries, and also sorry for the late response. Next time I'm shopping for stationery I'll get a few different samples for you and send them over. I should still have that Email with your address somewhere. I'll drop a few more Rohrer & Klingner inks in as well! Have a good one, Chris
Isn't it loads of fun testing ink and paper?!? I love doing it. Tomoe (I think it's actually pronounced "ta-mo-ee") River remains the best paper for fountain pen inks in my experience (68 gsm never ghosts or bleeds through, 52 gsm won't bleed but can ghost a bit, but is very thin so lots of pages in a relatively thin book), though obviously I haven't tested every paper on the planet. I've tested about 20 different brands.
Downside to Tomoe River paper is the ink dry time. Well, and the price. It's usually quite pricey, though sometimes you get get a decent price when it's been used by another company in a custom binding (hard to find but they pop up if you shop around). If you want nearly the same qualities as Tomoe but at a lot lower price, try out the various Mnemosyne notebooks. I've not been able to locate Q Connect Bank Paper in the US but Amazon does have their A4 spiral exec notebook but the shipping is more money than the price. Darn.
Yes, Baystate Blue is infamous ink, it bleeds and feathers more than any other ink I've tested. In fact, most of the Noodler's inks have such "interesting" properties in my experience.
That's really interesting, Mark. I am wondering whether I picked the wrong ink to test with Noodler's. Perhaps I should have gone for something else that would be less fierce on the paper, and used a medium nib. Other people are asking for a more real world test. I may have to rethink this comparison. Thanks for the thoughts - and Mnemosyne are going to be one of the test papers!
Just thought: the Q-Connect paper is from a UK company, but I would check in the US for "Bank" paper, and if nothing there, have a look at companies offering "carbon copy" paper for typewriters. I'm sure that the 52 gsm thickness should be available for those who want to use typewriters. Someone may sell it by the ream.
@@writerlywitterings good thought, I'll try that.
@@writerlywitterings I think it's a valid test to give the paper the stress test (Baystate Blue) and also a more popular and less obtrusive ink. I know the black ink most people swear by is also Noodler's, either Heart of Darkness or the one labelled simply "Black" (they also make a ton of other blacks but I'd avoid those as they are mostly special purpose - fast drying, etc.). Maybe you could take a survey for people to list their "daily go-to" inks and you could pick that as your second test ink?
Great video, thanks. I'm very interested in Atoma at the moment and quite like the performance. It says longer fibers for strength which I assume they've used to prevent from ripping as much as possible. The longer fibers is probably what the ink it traveling along for the feathering. I'd like to see how pigment ink performs on this paper. How does it take India ink?
I haven't tried Indian ink in my Atoma - I only use it for sketching and drawing (the ink, not the pad), and when I do that I use a dip pen, which tends to be a bit more unreliable with a lot of papers. I'll try some in the Atoma, and put that into the next video.
@@writerlywitterings Great stuff! Thanks!
Syrah in French is pronounced see-RAH I think.
Many thanks!
Have you ever tried a William Hannah notebook? I’m considering one and wonder how it would compare to the Atoma.
I own one and the paper is very good. I believe it's Atoma ring compatible so it's a win/win. I can't tell the difference between it and Atoma paper.
It would be a good idea to check that they fit the Atoma rings, but anything like that is a brilliantly useful device. I have loose paper for watercolours, for example, and when I'm going out, I'll fix them together with Atoma rings to make a sketchbook. Just such a useful invention!
I have a few moleskin books. Different sizes and such.
And i feel i should add here that: i found at least 4 distinctly different papers in their products. They arent all the same at all. They behave verrrry differently... :) All nice but in their own way and very different.
PS: none of them hold up to a wet fountain pen very well. But the pages are thin so maby you can afford to use just one side. I dont like ghosting so i sometimes do this. specially on the one with the thinnest paper....
Thanks for sharing!
I have to agree. my most recent experience with Moleskine was a "Professional" version in A4, and that had lovely paper that was perfectly happy to stare down even my wettest nibs, so they do have different types. I've had the same experience with Rhodia notebooks - in the end I used one side only with fountain pen, and mostly used the notebooks as sketch books for pencil only!
@@writerlywitterings well i think that makes it at least 5 types of moleskine paper then , lol. I havent tried that professional one yet.
(At least im pretty sure i havent, because none of mine held up to fountain pens except for the smallest notepad with tear off pages that flip over the top.)
Im a bit suprized they dont streamline it some more. There is no way to know what your getting. I guess they kept expanding....
@@joshuanorris5860 If you want to see what the better Moleskine paper looks like, check this video, where I test various papers against each other: ua-cam.com/video/36I0k4lixVQ/v-deo.html
@@writerlywitterings cool, will do.
I can't get noodles ink and paper shown is not available in India how can you help me
Hi, Hemant - I wouldn't recommend. Noodler's Baystate Blue. It will discolour metal, plastic and everything else. It's astonishing ink, but I'd stick to Diamine or just about anything else, rather than make a mess of your pen. I only used it here because it is known to go through cheaper paper like acid. Sorry the paper isn't available. I suggest you find a good stationer's and try their papers. Best of luck.