Well, I finally decided to start a blog for KWS, mainly because I've had such trouble recently finding paper for my store. Originally I trekked up to Spicers in North Toronto and spent hours trying different papers with the nine fountain pens I had brought, each sporting inks from popular makers and several different nib widths, just to see how they all performed on the paper I would take home. After three hours of careful consideration, I came home with two reams of Classic Crest 110 lb paper. I was thrilled.
A few weeks ago, I finally ran out. This trip to Spicers was quick - in and out, buying the same type of paper I did last time. When I got a new order on etsy a few days later, I eagerly ripped open the ream and printed up a test batch. That's when I discovered how horribly the paper had changed.
This had happened to me once before. Originally when I opened Kind Words Stationery, a wonderful laid paper was the default. It wasn't so toothy that nibs caught on it, and it handled all fountain pen inks and nib widths with ease. When I tried to repurchase it four months later, I was told the paper company that produced it had been sold, and the new owners had discontinued the line. That's how I ended up with the Classic Crest. Apparently nothing had officially changed with the Classic Crest paper since I first tried it out, so if it didn't work with fountain pens now, then there wasn't much I could do but find another brand of paper.
Another two hours of testing and I left with the best option - a Crane paper that was three times more expensive and only nice on one side of the paper. The "good" side is actually too resistant to inks in finer nibs, and only works optimally with B or wider ones. What would be considered the bad side is wonderful to use. It works, but it's not perfect.
Discussions with customers led me to reconsider options I hadn't for a while - G.Lalo and Triomphe. Today, the appeal seemed obvious. It would be wonderful to just buy paper, get it shipped to me, and not have to worry every six months about slogging trough a ton of options at a paper store where they are very nice but don't really know much about what types of paper will work with fountain pens.
So, before I jump in entirely, what are your thoughts on paper? Does anyone have suggestions for something other than G. Lalo or Triomphe? To be honest, I'm not looking forward to having to rip each sheet off the pads by hand, but since loose leaf paper has failed me so spectacularly, I'm not seeing a whole lot of options.
