Karen at Exaclair graciously sent this
Clairefontaine Triomphe Stationery tablet with blank pages to me for review. Thank you, Karen! I was very much looking forward to trying out this paper because I'd heard so much about it, and I have been searching for new plain stationery for letter-writing purposes.
This particular tablet is
an A5, or 5.875" x 8.25". If you need to picture this, think of Rhodia's N. 16 pads. The Triomphe tablet is very simple - with a soft cardboard-type cover and a stiffer cardboard back cover to offer a more firm writing surface. The front cover folds back completely, along creased edges, so the tablet always looks clean and sharp, even when it's been folded repeatedly.
The first page is lined and the rest are blank. I have a terrible time writing straight on blank pages, I don't know why, and I try really hard to concentrate and not do it, but I always fail. This is perfect for me. I just tear out a page, place it over top the lined page, and the lines are easily visible through the paper so they provide the perfect guide.
There are 50 removable pages in this tablet - not perforated, just removable from the glue at the top. The 90 g paper is acid-free and pH neutral so it is archival quality. Now your pen pals can keep your letters forever!
The paper is very clean and white. It's a pleasure to look at because it is visually flawless - no little fiber bits or blobs or anything unusual in it. Just a clean blank slate to work with. The paper is very smooth but does not feel slick or coated, which is very common with Clairefontaine/Rhodia paper.
I expected this paper to be seriously fountain pen friendly, as in, it would handle anything. Realistically, it will handle most fountain pens. With this Waterman flex pen though, ink flow is very generous and very wet. Where the ink was most pooled, there was some bleed through.
When I wrote with the pen normally, that is, without pressure/flex, even though the ink flow was still generous and wet, there was no bleed through. When a wet fountain pen moves quickly across this paper, there are less chances of bleed through as well. Despite the bleed through, there was no feathering, which is more important to me. The letters were still beautiful and crisp, so I am still very pleased.
Price
Goulet Pens - $5.00
Overall
This is a very nice tablet of lovely, clean, and crisp white fountain pen-friendly paper. Clairefontaine holds the bar high for paper quality, both in terms of user experience and the manufacturing process, and I'm still pleased with this paper, despite the bleed through experienced with the very wet flex pen. Normal use (i.e. not crazy wet inky pooling flex pen use) gives a great writing experience! With matching envelopes, it makes a pretty set for sending off to friends and family. Colored inks pop on this paper!
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