Dip pen friendly ink & paper combination.

[Mark T]

Happy New Year to all.

I appreciate that the, 'which is best,...' questions are asked/answered a lot, but I don't recall that the, 'which is the best combination ink for a dip pen and loose leave paper for practising other than using HP32' question has been asked, but if it has, then ,..ooooops - bite me, but not on the bum. ;-)

[Erica McPhee]

LOLOLOL!

This post on Practice Paper has been read over 119,000 times.

My updated favorites are:

1. Rhodia Notepads, blank, orange or black cover
2. Kokuyo Japanese inkjet paper, 64 gsm, white degree 80%
3. HP Premium Laser Jet, 32#, 100 brightness


Still Walnut ink or McCaffrey’s (even though it’s rough on the nib).

[brose]

For broad edge, some of the highly regarded papers for pointed pen do not work well. Things that can happen are wavy spots where the ink is or the paper easily tears when a stroke crosses a place with ink.
I only do broad edge and Rhodia is my preferred practice paper currently.

[Mark T]

LOLOLOL!

This post on Practice Paper has been read over 119,000 times.

My updated favorites are:

1. Rhodia Notepads, blank, orange or black cover
2. Kokuyo Japanese inkjet paper, 64 gsm, white degree 80%
3. HP Premium Laser Jet, 32#, 100 brightness


Still Walnut ink or McCaffrey’s (even though it’s rough on the nib).

Only 119,000?

[Despoina]

For broad edge, some of the highly regarded papers for pointed pen do not work well. Things that can happen are wavy spots where the ink is or the paper easily tears when a stroke crosses a place with ink.
I only do broad edge and Rhodia is my preferred practice paper currently.

LOLOLOL!

This post on Practice Paper has been read over 119,000 times.

My updated favorites are:

1. Rhodia Notepads, blank, orange or black cover
2. Kokuyo Japanese inkjet paper, 64 gsm, white degree 80%
3. HP Premium Laser Jet, 32#, 100 brightness


Still Walnut ink or McCaffrey’s (even though it’s rough on the nib).

Hello both!
Relevant (or not?  ) with that thread, but for practice, does it happen that you have used the Rhodia paper on top of a book to trace the letters?
I very recently ordered Michael's Sull book "Learning how to write spencerian" (yep, taking spencerian seriously  ), but I can't find very easily transparent paper here thick enough to hold the ink without bleeding. I was wondering if I can use rhodia paper on top, I can certainly find some.

Thank you in advance

[Mark T]

LOLOLOL!

This post on Practice Paper has been read over 119,000 times.

My updated favorites are:

1. Rhodia Notepads, blank, orange or black cover
2. Kokuyo Japanese inkjet paper, 64 gsm, white degree 80%
3. HP Premium Laser Jet, 32#, 100 brightness


Still Walnut ink or McCaffrey’s (even though it’s rough on the nib).

Sorry - had to post and leave quickly before finishing post reply, Erica.
What I was going to say was,.... I have read that thread several times, and because of doing so, I think I bought Amazon out of Rhodia, Clairefontaine Triomphe Pad etc (by way of note pads etc), but I now have a nice printer and have lots of acetone sheets with many guidelines (taken from links here) but for some reason, I don't seem to find any A4 loose leaved paper (other than HP32) which fits all perameters. (HP32 costs me £101.00 for 1500 leaves) What with being newer than a freshly minted 2024 £2.00 coin to calligraphy and flourishing, that makes no sense to use HP32 as practise paper. I enjoy the pads, and obviously they fit a purpose, although the dotted pads - my wife thought she would let the next door neighbours little ones use as 'noughts and crosses' (I think you call it tick, tack, toe) paper and scrap books to keep them happy whilst babysitting. Was I annoyed? Much!!!! Thats why I asked for loose leaves advice. As for inks,..... I have a couple of full sets, such as the Diamine calligraphy set, and the McCaffrey’s which I took notice of when you mentioned it to me before when I asked a similar (but different) question before. This time I was being specific regarding loose leaf.

For broad edge, some of the highly regarded papers for pointed pen do not work well. Things that can happen are wavy spots where the ink is or the paper easily tears when a stroke crosses a place with ink.
I only do broad edge and Rhodia is my preferred practice paper currently.

Hi Brose,
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it.
Being new to calligraphy, and flourishing, I have never used a broad nib, although I intend to, especially the rarer/older nibs I have bought over the last few months (To the point that the postman now opens the front door and shouts up the stairs, (you've been buying more nibs, I'm guessing Mark. I've left them on the stairs. ) I caught him out yesterday though. When he shouted up the stairs, I shouted back, 'yes, and a Sampson Mordan Barley Twist Dip Pen' to which he replied,... does Jan know?? (my wife) that tickled me, cos she didn't until she came home from work.
As said, thank you for the reply.
To quote the master, -'I didn't have time to write a short reply, so I wrote a long one' - Mark Twain

[Erica McPhee]

@Mark T That gave me such a good laugh! I wish I was on a first name basis with my postal delivery person! Wow - that is expensive for the HP paper. I’m sorry I don’t know any other for suggestions there except the Clairfontaine copy paper.

@brose - good point regarding the broad edge. I think a Multimedia paper would be a better choice than copy paper for broad pen practice. You need something with a little tooth in it. I found a paper that was a bit thinner than construction paper in my stash - have no idea where it came from but I had a stack of it. It worked like a dream for Italic practice. Wish I knew where I got it as I would buy more!

@Despoina You may be able to use the Rhodia for tracing. It is fairly light. It’s not as see through as tracing paper but certainly more so than say HP copy paper. The Kokuyo paper is also lighter (don’t know if you can get that there). I found it on amazon.