trying out: kobeha graphilo paper

Takeda Jimuki Kyo no Oto Hisoku shows off some fantastic shading. 

I tried Kobeha Graphilo for the first time last year and it’s quickly rocketed up my list to one of my favorite fountain pen friendly papers. It has a very smooth and soft (dare I say pillowy?) texture. Pens feel wonderful on it. Nibs write a little broader than usual, but lines are really crisp. Shading and sheen are great. Dry times are a little long, but if you’re used to Tomoe River I would say you’re looking at a similar situation.

The devil's tendril. But in all seriousness, that little thread under the "a" in "basically" has been the worst feathering I've experienced so far. The ink shown is De Atramentis Sha Wujing.

The only downside is that Graphilo can be hit or miss, with reports that it feathers and bleeds. My first theory is that it reacts pretty strongly to hand oils, so you have to be careful while touching it. My second theory is that the quality control isn’t perfect, so sometimes you’ll just get a bad batch. Honestly, I think the good outweighs the bad here, but I also didn’t have to pay (at minimum) $15 for it. If you have the opportunity to try it out (maybe by splitting a pack of loose leaf paper with a friend?) I would definitely give it a consideration.

Speaking of loose leaf paper, we brought loose leaf sheets and slimmer threadbound notebooks to JetPens late last year (do I sound like an ad saying this?). Before that, we only had the Style notebook. It's a nice size and shape: a little slimmer than A5, but quite hefty. 188 pages of ~82 gsm paper puts it at just over half a pound. Despite its otherwise lovely qualities, it came in at a whopping $36.50, which is a bit rich for my blood! I was lucky enough to grab a damaged lined notebook. It was originally used for D&D notes, but now I pull out sheets and put them in my regular journal, because I am a multimedia artist. Or whatever.

Have you tried Graphilo yet? What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts.