I was sent a new to me fountain pen paper from Frank over at Federalist Pens and Paper. I was happy to do this as I enjoy trying out new paper products and anything related to fountain pens.
I received an A4 pad of spiral bound paper. The pad came with 50 sheets or 100 usable sides. The paper weight is 100 gsm. The paper color is called “natural shade” and appears to be slightly off white in color.
Ayush Paper is based in India and it appears there’s a small number of online pen shops that are carrying this line of paper.
The pad has perforated sheets for easy removal.
I already had thoughts on what I was going to do with this paper and how I was going to put this pad of paper through the tests.
For my first page I grabbed my EDW or every day writers and art fountain pens and started a pen & ink log. I wanted to see how my fountain pen inks reacted to this paper and how well the variety of nibs wrote on this paper.
The paper is not super smooth, but has a tiny bit of texture to it which I like.
The paper handles the fountain pen inks well. On the back of the paper there is no bleed, but there is a bit of ghosting.
The paper does have a slight issue with water. It tends to buckle in the areas where I applied water to my sketches. I left the paper alone for a few days hoping the buckled areas of the paper would flatten. As you can see, it has flattened a bit.
For my second paper test, I created another swatch page. For this page I used my automatic pen and a glass dipped pen which means more ink would be applied onto the paper. Again I wanted to see how these two pens handled the paper. I also was curious to see how the inks looks on the paper and whether any of the ink’s characteristics would show.
The paper shows the sheening ink beautifully.
Summary:
There is no bleed through on the pages I used for writing and for pen and ink wash. On my second test page, I noticed some slight bleed through when a few of my inks were pooling more on the paper. There is some ghosting on the back side of the paper. That ghosting reminds me of my TRP. I have similar ghosting with my Stalogy journal paper, but the light grid lines in that journal help soften the ghosting on the reverse side of the paper.
I do like how the paper handles my sheening inks and the inks dry slightly faster than on my TRP. I like how my pen and ink sketches with a water wash flow on this paper. Also the colors appear to be brighter.
After flipping the pages back and forth on this Ayush spiral pad, I found the paper handling to be a bit noisy. I think it has to do with the paper being a bit firm. I went back to my journals and flipped a few pages and that’s when I noticed how my TRP and Stalogy paper feels more fluid.
I plan on using the pad of paper for my pen and ink washes. I love this large size pad of paper and there’s plenty of room to write and sketch.
There are two other spiral bound paper pad sizes available including A5 and a pocket version. I’ve also seen a notebook that is bound like a journal and I might purchase one of those.
After using and experimenting with this Ayush A4 pad for the last few days, I have to say I’m on the fence with this paper. While it shows wonderful sheening and shading qualities of my inks, I’m not sure how or what else I would use this paper for. I typically use A5 or B5 size paper pads (Rhodia) and journals (TRP, Stalogy, Stillman & Birn) for writing and sketching.
I plan on tearing out a few blank pages and making a smaller journal/booklet. I’m sure I’ll have additional thoughts and experiences which I will definitely share in the next few days.
Paper: Ayush Paper Pad A4 Unlined
US Reseller: Federalist Pens and Paper (https://federalistpens.com)
SusieG Studio 