Paper lovers have the opportunity to sample some different Rhodia papers and test them out, thanks to the Rhodia Drive’s Paper Project. As part of this project, I was one of the lucky participants that has been given the chance to test out the Week 19 Samples. This sample contained 2 sheets of graph ruled paper from the Rhodia Le Carré pads – small and large. The paper is 80g, white graph with violet coloured grid lines. I have never tried out Rhodia paper so I am definitely pleased to have been given the opportunity to do so for free and to share my thoughts on it.
I used one of the small sheets to test out a bunch of different pens (and a pencil) that were on my desk. In order to mix it up, I went with a mix of fountain pens, gel pens and rollerball pens (and a pencil) and somehow this paper held up very well against all of them. There was no feathering or bleed through. There was not even any show through! What I love most about it is the paper is that it takes Fountain Pen ink really well – as that tends to be a tricky one that can easily feather or bleed! However, what surprised me is that there was no bleed or even show through with the Sharpie pen or Faber-Castell Pitt Pens and I definitely was anticipating at least a little bit for one of those! I am really pleased with how the paper has handled all of these different pens, have a look for yourself…
I am a huge fan of the colour violet and love that this paper has gone with this colour for the grid. It’s rather unique (and quite frankly, the normal grey grid lines do get a bit boring after a while). The only downside to this, however, is that some of the pens don’t stand out very well against the violet grid lines! My favourite on this paper would be the Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen in Medium as that easily stands out but some of the others – especially the coloured or finer ones – could just as easily get lost against these grid lines. Ideally, the grid lines would have been a bit lighter to avoid this problem. The distraction of the grid lines is perhaps the only reason I would hesitate to use this paper. I think that this is something that could quite easily be rectified by using a lighter shade of purple instead. For this reason, I would probably not use the paper for writing but rather for quick sketching and since it can handle the Faber-Castell Pitt Pens, I would definitely opt with that pen for doodling purposes.
Personally, I prefer the smaller size for every day use. It’s a great size to travel with or even just keep on your desk for the quick notes. The quality of this paper is incredible and I am really quite pleasantly surprised at how well it held up against this range of pens. It is definitely the sort of paper you want to test all of your pens on, creating a good base line for your pen tests and notes. I’m starting to understand why people love Rhodia so much now, that’s for sure.
Disclaimer: I was sent these samples as part of The Paper Project. Rhodia Drive’s The Paper Project is a free project, which gives everyone the opportunity to sample some paper products. Week 19 allowed the first 50 sign ups to receive 2 sheets of the small sheets and 2 sheets from the large pad. This has nothing to do with my blog and it’s open to everyone.