99% of my writing life is spent on TR paper, be it the 68GSM or 52GSM variety. It is simply my favorite kind of paper so I usually don’t venture away, but when I saw the Rhodia Heritage Notebook I had to try it. I’ve been hearing about Rhodia for a while, and got to give it a quick try at the DC Pen Show. The good people at Pen Chalet were kind enough to send me some items to review, and this included the Heritage Notebook ^_^

This review will cover:

  • Rhodia Heritage Notebook
  • Platinum Izumo Fountain Pen
  • Kobe #13 Nunobiki Emerald Ink

Let’s start with the Platinum Izumo Fountain Pen, it is quite simply glorious! I almost wish it weren’t on loan so I could write with it more often!

Upon seeing the box, the packaging felt very familiar.

It reminded me of the boxes Nakaya come in! This makes sense as Platinum and Nakaya are closely related.

The wooden box has a similar feel as well, but the Platinum box is substantially larger.

The Izumo comes with an absolutely beautiful kimono, that I prefer to the Nakaya version. Instead of the plain plastic chip, it has a cloud shaped piece at the end to secure the tie. The body of the kimono is made out of a metallic material that makes a perfect backdrop for the cloud.

Now the pen itself…its a beautiful and rather substantial urushi pen. It isn’t heavy, but has a wider girth than most of the pens that I own.

The nib is gorgeous and looked great after it was dipped into Kobe #13.

Some comparison photos with other Japanese pens ^_^

Writing video, written on TR paper.

I decided to review the ink in the Rhodia Heritage, great way to test out the paper and see the ink all at one time. Sensory overload? ^_^

I love the design on the Rhodia cover, it is a soft cover yet has a nice consistency. It’s a great size as well, if I were still in uni, I wouldn’t hesitate to take something like this to class for notes. Lots of room! The book also has a table of contents and page numbers.

What I found particularly interesting about this notebook was the binding.

It reminded me of the softcover Japanese storybooks of my childhood. It is also thread bound with an attractive red thread that goes really well with the orangey color theme of this book. The book lays completely flat.

So how does the 90GSM Clairefontaine paper perform?

It’s definitely not TR paper, but I was using a very juicy pen. The paper is very smooth, and if I were using a fine nib with an average flow, I suspect I wouldn’t have gotten any bleed. I did notice feathering in small amounts, and this paper is not good for doing ink blobs.

The ink itself is a gorgeous teal color. It reminded me of the ink I reviewed yesterday, Pent Saijiki Aomidori, but the blob didn’t really have that fantastic deep red sheen. It did have some in the wettest pools, but it was more a muted red. The blob was done on Hippo Noto 68GSM TR paper.

These three items were fantastic, I will be sad to return the Izumo to its home but will probably buy one in the future. It will fit right in with my other urushi pens. I loved that on this Izumo it was easy to see the color contrast in multiple places, that is my favorite characteristic of urushi.

The Rhodia Heritage is probably something I wouldn’t buy for my purposes, but would definitely consider if I were a student or someone who liked nibs that weren’t gushers. It has a lot of charming qualities, that binding!

The ink is just lovely, if you’re looking for a teal whose base color isn’t sheen, this could definitely be it! Kobe has such a fantastic color range and this was no exception. The ink had a wonderful flow, a good range of color and is saturated enough for most purposes. If you haven’t tried out the Kobe range, now is a great time!

All of these items can be purchased from Pen Chalet and were provided to me free of charge or on loan for review purposes.

Hippo Noto Ivory Late Pledges are open! ^_^ Join the #hipposquad!

I leave you now with this video of dessert up in flames…now that would be a pretty ink color!