Paper of Triumph: Clairefontaine Triomphe Lined Notepad
I’ll admit it, I love a good paper pad. The evidence is in the large stash I have acquired. I blame my university days on my love of notepads, I was a strict adherent to the yellow legal pad for a few years. I would scan the pages into Evernote and then discard them. The legal pad was useful though because I didn’t have to carry more than one notebook around at the time. Nowadays I’m a big fan of the A5 size for notepads due to its flexibility. It can be used as is when I want a larger page to write on, but not so huge that I can’t easily slip it in my bag. If the mood strikes me I can also tear some pages off the pad and combine them into a simple A6 notebook that I can stash in my travel journal.
Recently, the Clairefontaine Triomphe entered the arena. It’s a paper pad I had somehow never tried before despite Clairefontaine (along with Rhodia) being the earliest fountain pen friendly papers I ever used. In fact, I think one of my first fountain pen notebooks was an A4 grid Clairefontaine. That thing was huge! I tend to shy away from A4 now except in really specific circumstances, such as intending to cut out pages to create smaller notebooks. I picked up one of the lined ones as I was feeling nostalgic for my legal pad days.
The notepad itself is very clean and professional looking with gold foiling around the Clairefontaine logo in the center. The inside of the cover is a soft blue. The pad comes with 50 A5 sheets with 23 lines each and about a 3/4 inch margin at the top. I really appreciate that they went all the way across the page with the lines. Many pads assume that the user wants massive margins, which can definitely cut into useable writing area.
The paper, I believe, is the same used in all Clairefontaine notebooks. This paper is made in France and is 90 gsm. Not as thin as tomoe river paper, but not as heavy as 120 gsm. Ghosting is pretty much nonexistent. It has a smooth writing surface. This allowed my pens to glide across the page. It’s good to note that dryer, finer nibs can get a little grabby, which provides a feedback. It’s not catching, just giving a more tactile feel to the writing experience. The paper is a bright white which really allows inks to pop. Elements like shading or sheen aren’t as prevalent as they would be on something like Cosmo Air Light or Tomoe River, but it still shows.
Some shading, courtesy of a Kaweco Sport B nib and Colorverse Apollo 11.
Due to the coated element of the paper, the nibs are going to lay down lines that are “true to size”. Ink doesn’t spread in the fibers so extra-fine and fine lines come out really crisp. Medium and up nibs can look narrower, just because of that reduction in ink spread.
One thing about Clairefontaine ruled papers is how bright the ruling is. Regardless of lined, grid, or Seyes, the blue lines pop off the sheet. If you want your rulings to disappear, this is probably not the best choice of paper (at least with a ruling! It is also around out there as a blank).
Hard to miss these lines.
It’s a very reasonable price for a fountain-pen friendly paper, running about $7 depending on where you shop. It’s in that sweet spot where I never worry about “wasting” it by doing drafts and making lists on it. It’s not finicky like some fine writing papers can be. That being said, like pretty much all coated papers if you put lotion on your hands before writing, the oil can create spots where it will look like your pen skipped. To avoid this a piece of blotting paper or a writing board could be placed between your hand and the page. One weakness of the pad is that the glue at the top wasn’t strong enough to flip a page over and wrap it around the back (in case you are writing standing up or without a table), but that’s a pretty minor thing to me.
Overall, I think this paper is very utilitarian for the fountain pen user and a solid choice for a working paper (whether that’s taking notes, work work, writing stories, etc.) I honestly wouldn’t hesitate to use this notepad in a school or office setting. It’s simple enough that it doesn’t stand out and distract one’s colleagues, but it still shows off our inks.
Currently Inked
Nothing has changed from last week. FWP Mulberry Majesty and Colorverse Apollo 11 were refilled after being the workhorses of last week.
