Editing The Pen Addict 109/transcript (section)

== Fountain Pen Paper ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Now for fountain pen friendly paper, like when I say that, and you know, people talk about fountain pen friendly paper, they're normally talking about a smoother, smoother paper, sometimes a little bit more dense paper, a little bit thicker page. You know, we're talking about something like Rhodia, Claire Fontaine, or even like a super specialty paper, like a Tomo river paper. And these are the papers I use for everything. So I call them fountain pen, fountain pen friendly paper. And you know, you call them that, but I use all my pens on this paper because it's generally the smoothest, nicest experience for a pen. Um, yes, fountain pens are the majority of what I use them for, but all of your pens are generally going to work well on these papers, but you just got to be aware of things like dry time and things like that. So what do you, what do you find yourself using on some of the, the more fountain pen pen, fountain pen friendly specifics? Do you have any like favorites, like as far as super fine nibs or stuff?

'''Anna Reinert:''' Well, and I mean the nice, the nice thing with the fountain pen friendly paper is because there's a little bit of sizing in the paper that helps to keep the ink above the paper and it doesn't absorb in and bleed and feather and do those things. You can use those wider nibs. So that's when you can get out your, you know, 1.1 or in my case, I have a 0.6 ish size. That's my favorite. Like my, my vintage, um, uh, Esther Brooks, um, on that found pen friendly paper, which is, you know, the particularly like the Rodia. I started doing, um, actually all my pen and ink reviews on a Rodia pad. I just fell in line with you and Ed. I'm just doing it. Well, it was works better. It's looks better. They, you know, I never have the bleeding problem that I was having with some of the other papers I had used in the past.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And they photograph well, which is a consideration.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Absolutely.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I mean, it was no coincidence that I ended up falling into that. It's because it works better. I mean, it's not a, you know, it's not trying to make a point. It's okay. I've used all these things now. What's working the best for what I need. And it ends up being something like Rodia. Yeah.

'''Anna Reinert:''' And for things like, I mean, if you like to play with lots, with fountain pens and lots of different ink colors, those Rodia pads come in a bright white, which means you're not losing any of the vibrancy of your ink colors, which is a huge thing. You know, I mean, like Moleskines are, you know, kind of, but they have that ivory gray, you know, ivory colored paper, which is going to dull your ink colors, which is fine. I mean.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It's great for writing.

'''Anna Reinert:''' For writing, if that's what you want to do. But, you know, when I'm writing a review and saying, oh, this turquoise color is so vivid. And then I put it on cream paper. Everybody's like, really?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It doesn't really work that way. Yep.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. It took a little bit to figure that out. So now the last, the last little bit here is the specialty paper, which is, it's kind of the hardest for me. Just it's a frustration point for me because I'm, I don't get to be as free, but that's kind of the point. So it's kind of unfair to, to knock these papers just because of their special qualities. But, you know, something like, um, we talk about the Field Notes Expedition Edition, which has the, the Yupo plastic paper or the Write in the Rain, which is the waterproof paper. Um, so tell me, tell me about what you use for those.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Well, I just recently got to do a review of Write in the Rain and it's one of those things where it's like, you know, I knew going into it, there's only certain kinds of, you know, tools that you can use on this paper because of the way that it's created. But if what you really need is something that's going to withstand the elements, then I think that's a concession that you're willing to make. For sure. Like if what you really want is to use beautiful fountain pens with beautiful colored inks, then your priority isn't necessarily that you're, what you're working on be waterproof. So with Write in the Rain, but the, the flip side is Write in the Rain, you can write on it with a Sharpie marker and that it stays put, it doesn't bleed, it doesn't do anything. If you love Sharpies and you use them all the time, it doesn't bleed through the back of the page or anything. I was like, I love my Sharpie again.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's crazy. I did not realize that at all.

'''Anna Reinert:''' And like all of those, the oil-based pens that you said you hadn't quite figured out what you could use them on, try them in your Expedition Edition or in the Write in the Rain and see what kind of results you get. Because I think that's where you find those combinations where it's like, I have this pen, it's interesting, I like it, what can I, you know, what kind of paper can I pair it with? Most of us have enough different kinds of paper now that you can be like, these pens go with this paper, let's go with this paper. Right. And, you know, I mean, if you want to have a pen and, you know, a notebook in your car or something for emergencies or, you know, when you've got a quick write something down because it's in your head, that might be a good pairing to put an Expedition Edition and an oil-based marker pen in your car.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Or, you know, dare I say it, pencils. Yeah, no, I'm on the pencil train and that has left the station. So, yeah, I am finding a love for pencils here recently. Even though I haven't been, you know, reviewing many on the blog yet, I find myself just in my personal writing and use, reaching for woodcase pencils more, which is just, I guess it's back when I used to never use fountain pens and never understood fountain pens, and now I'm like a full-bore fountain pen addict. I'm on that pencil bandwagon for sure.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Yay! So, yeah, so, I mean, those water-resistant papers, I think you just have to look for a different combination. If what you really want to do is use a paper that you know is going to withstand some serious abuse, you're going to have to also find a writing tool that is also sort of abuse-averse. It won't, you know, it'll stand up to the abuse.