Paper Review - Clairefontaine Triomphe Tablet

I know, I know - my paper reviews are pretty few and far between.  Especially with papers like this, that are made specifically to be fountain pen friendly, I'm not sure exactly what there is to say, but we will give it a shot...

The Triomphe tablet comes in both A4 and A5 sizes (that's roughly letter and half-letter size, if you aren't familiar with the paper sizing the rest of the world uses) with blank or lined pages.  Each pad contains 50 sheets of super silky, bright white paper.

The version that I have is the A4 blank and I have used 17 pages out of it so far.  I have been using it for ink reviews, a few pencil reviews, and writing letters.  While my writing is fairly straight on its own, luckily the blank tablets come with a ruled guide sheet so that I don't have to trust my hand being steady.  The pages are semi-opaque, striking that delicate balance between allowing you to use the guide sheet and not having the show through concerns of Tomoe River.  In the photo below, you can just barely see the guide lines if you hold your screen close enough to your face.

Like I said, I have used this paper with a wide variety of instruments and I feel like I have figured out where it excels and where it is a bit lacking.

With fountain pens, this paper is a dream come true.  It can handle very wet nibs, swabs, water tests - pretty much anything you can throw at it.  The fact that the paper is white and not cream also makes inks pop and shows off shading beautifully.  Gel pens, like the G2 and Juice, were not quite as nice, as the fine points combined with the slick ink combined with the smooth surface made me feel a bit out of control while writing.  Felt tipped pens like the Micron were pleasant, and even the Sharpie was a nice writer but it was also the only one to bleed through.  This would imply to me that other alcohol based pens (like Copics) would also bleed.

Similar to the problems with gel pens, pencils on this paper rub my nerves raw.  With a pencil I expect to feel a certain amount of toothiness and that is absent on this paper, making me feel like I'm unicycling drunk (okay, I don't know how that feels, but I am assuming it would feel very out of control).

Overall, I would recommend this paper if you have a good reason to use it.  It's certainly not super expensive, at $0.18/page, but it's also not paper that you would want to chew through like crazy.  Even if I only used it for ink reviews, I could justify having a pad of this around all the time.  Add to that letter writing and I will certainly get full use of this tablet.  (I also printed a copy of my resume on a sheet and stuck it in my bag, just in case.)  Thus, I recommend this paper most for people who like to use fountain pens and either write ink reviews or letters to friends who deserve nice paper.

This paper was given to me as a gift and I am not being compensated for this review in any way.  All opinions above are my own and you are free to disagree with them if you like.

Ink Review: Noodler's V-Mail North African Violet

I don't know why, but when I first inked up this pen, I didn't really like this ink.  I honestly could not tell you why, because now that I've used a fair amount of it I really like it!  Strange how those things work, huh?

This ink comes from a line of Noodler's inks called the V-Mail line.  If you want to know more about them and the inspiration behind them, you can find that here, as well as reviews of all the inks in the series.  I'm not certain that I'll be covering the others in the immediate future, but they are in the Swab Repository and feel free to let me know if you want to see them sooner rather than later (feel free to do that with any of the inks in the Repository, to make it easier for me to pick my next ink!).

*Note - I don't know why all of my scans for this review seem a bit fuzzy.  But it's not your eyes, it's me.  I'll clean off my scanner and hopefully that will resolved the problem for next time.*

Overall, this ink has been very well behaved and a pleasure to write with.  The color is an indigo violet, which I prefer as opposed to the purples that lean more to the red side.  On good paper I had no problems with any bleeding or feathering and did not notice excessive dry times.  While not a huge shading ink, there is some to be had and the ink is definitely light enough to make it noticeable.

It also held up well to both liquid and pencil highlighters (I have found that some pens will smear with the "dry" highlighter pencils, which is why I have started testing them).  I was also pleased to see that this ink scoffed at water drops and in the image above it's hard to tell that I even did the water test at all.  

I also thought it might be worthwhile to test the ink in the same Field Notes Pitch Black that I was using during Pencil Month, and it was surprisingly well behaved there.  The line does seem a bit fatter, but it did not feather or bleed.  There is some show-through on the back side but it is still usable.

Overall, I think this is a nice ink that is worth a try.  It's nothing mind blowing, but sometimes you just need something basic that works.  Especially because the color is more on the blue end of the spectrum, I could see this being an ink that could be used in a workplace where blue pens are allowed, and the waterproofiness means that it would probably be okay for signing official documents, as well.  Also, if you like Iroshizuku Murasaki-Shikibu but you don't like the price, this ink is a dead match as far as I can tell.

This ink was provided to me for use and review and I am not being compensated for this review in any way.  All opinions above are my own and you are free to disagree with them if you like.