Tomoe River: Paper Review

[syngent]

Tomoe River Paper
A REVIEW




First thing you will notice is how thin this stuff is, very delicate to the touch, transparent to the view its a lot like many of the high quality Japanese paper out there, and very different from the usual stuff you will see (Clairfontaine, Rhodia, G.Lalo, Staples)



Its also an odd Shape, the opposite corner out of view is aligned perfectly with a sheet of Elco which is a typical 8.5 x 11 sheet, the TR paper is a little longer and wider




even though the paper is very thin, and translucent the ghosting is a none issue, with another sheet of white under the top sheet you can see some (Second Image), but when placed on the coffee table or anything that wasn't white ghosting was almost not there at all (First Image), in either case using both sides of the paper is very doable



In all of my writing (Pics in next post) I only had one minor bit of bleed through, But i was flexing out a Pelikan steel nib that requires some pressure to do and its possible I over did it here leaving a lot of ink behind... the front side picture in next post may explain better
you will also notice there is ink at the spot of my writing on both sides of the sheet, and they do not interfere with each others looks​

 

[syngent]

The very dark and wet area of the "Nice" in "Monteverde ink is nice" is where the bleed thru happened, I actually came up short on the bottom of the last part of the "N" and went back to touch it up thus hitting the spot three times over while wet and flexing hard, under normal writing I doubt any ink or pen combo would bleed through, why am I so confidant ?



because my 6.0mm nib couldnt do it, notice the mega shading caused by the washback of the ink at the end of the strokes, they are not subtle because it was a lot of ink being laid down, and not on little bit came through to the other side at all


Conclusion

The paper is like my Midori MD paper, super thin and delicate and has mind blowing performance qualities. How such a thin sheet that allows so much light to pass through can keep from ghosting to the point of not being able to use the back side of a sheet is nothing short of amazing really. The sheet is a fibrous texture, its doesnt have that glassy top that CF or Rhodia has, yet it does not absorb ink like cheap paper either. I noticed the ink sitting on top of the page, which is a concern for certain inks, all the inks here were fine with two exceptions, The Diamine doesn't set very fast and thus flattened out broadening the line before it dried a bit, nothing so major I would find it a concern but it may be an issue for some. The Pilot ink was the other one, and this happens with heavy shading inks on pages like these, rather then a gradual shad the ink gives that harsh darkened look to it as it doesn't settle into the page quickly but does set in page, thus when it dries it gives that look. For a regular pen its not really an issue with a "f" or "m" nib, but anything "B" or above, and into the italics it may make for a dirty look, and for calligraphy with the 6mm it is not something I would pair as it can very much hurt the looks of what i'm trying to do.
The FP nibs loved the paper, very smooth to the touch with some feedback which I find I have more control with then with the glossy type sheets. But my dip pen was not nearly as friendly with the page as it is with most others, in fact the only sheet this dip tip finds less appealing in my collection is my ridge textured G.Lalo paper, that being said it is very usable, just not prefered, if I bought this paper I doubt I would bust the dips out when using it anytime soon. So is the paper worth the cost ?, Don't know, depends on what your after I guess, compared to a lot of the other thin paper like this that has equal performance It is probably close to in line with the cost, but if you are a huge fan of CF or Rhodia, and couldn't Imagine anything different then that type of paper, you would probably be better off passing this one over

Thanks to Daniel for sending me a couple of sheets of these to try out for myself, I've been on the hunt for some delicate sheets like this and its nice to see I have some more options out there


​

 

[Basil]

Great review! Beautiful writing as well.

 

[SmoovD]

Excellent review, James. Like you, I really like the paper. The performance of the paper is exceptional for such a thin paper. However, I do not find the TR paper superior to other, more cost effective papers. Sure the other papers are nearly twice the gsm but the performances are similar. When a thin paper is desired, TR is a lovely choice. When just a quality sheet is required, there are other alternatives.

BTW- the sheets are untrimmed, hence the odd size.

 

[rider4life]

Thanks for the review James. The Tomoe paper definitely looks interesting and I love the thinness of it. Your penmanship could use a little work though

Cheers,

M.

 

[purerockfury]

Great review, I have a long way to go to get writing like yours.

 

[Snargle]

Great review, I have a long way to go to get writing like yours.

The only way I'll get penmanship like James' is through reincarnation...and maybe several cycles, at that!

 

[syngent]

I still feel like that about Mark

 

[cypherz]

Tomoe River is my favorite paper. I enjoy the shading I get using it. I've found that inks that don't shade much on Rhodia will often shade nicely on Tomoe. Tomoe River paper is one the reasons I use Jay Potter's notebooks (the other being the great binding).

 

[syngent]

Really great stuff, among my favorites as well. not quite the top of the heep though

 

[velocityboy]

Really great stuff, among my favorites as well. not quite the top of the heep though

Well, I've just ordered a B5 pad of Tomoe River from Nanami Paper but I'd sure like to know which paper is tops for you syngent.

 

[Andy]

Really like the TR, is one of my favourites.

Thanks for the review

 

[Maguirer]

Excellent TR review. As for me it was totally worth the $47 for 500 sheets as my share of the 8000 sheets a group of us in Toronto purchased. I am a fan of this paper.

 

[Basil]

When did you group buy it?? Was there any other one I missed??

 

[kenhsv]

I ordered thru Rakuten Japan site and ended up with 6 HUGE packages of this stuff. I like it and now having it coming out of my ears in both white and cream... All I can figure is to learn how to make journals myself. So if you order it from Japan, be careful or you'll end up with WAY more than you thought...

 

[syngent]

I ordered thru Rakuten Japan site and ended up with 6 HUGE packages of this stuff. I like it and now having it coming out of my ears in both white and cream... All I can figure is to learn how to make journals myself. So if you order it from Japan, be careful or you'll end up with WAY more than you thought...

that doesn't sound like a big problem lol

 

[kenhsv]

It does when it looks like about 6 reams . Just gotta figure out what to do with it. It's great stuff tho so I could have done worse

 

[Lexbomb]

It does when it looks like about 6 reams . Just gotta figure out what to do with it. It's great stuff tho so I could have done worse

Maybe do a PIF?

 

[airmech]

I would be in What a horrible problem to have!!!


Tom

 

[kenhsv]

I tried a PIF on Fountain Pen Network... Paid $12 shipping to send to a young student at a university but he didn't pick it up. Got the paper back 6 weeks later with 'package not claimed' stamped on the front.