Paper Review: What Is Bank Paper, and Why Is It So Popular?

January 19, 2022

Though the fear and FOMO has since subsided, the rumored demise of Tomoe River paper prompted many manufacturers and enthusiasts to begin searching for the “next big thing” to replace it as the go-to option for fountain pen friendly paper. One alternative that kept popping up was “Bank Paper,” a product originally developed by Mitsubishi for the high-end office market. While it offers a different writing experience from Tomoe River Paper, it’s yet another ink-friendly paper that’s becoming more available in the U.S., and which I personally enjoy very much.

Life Bank Paper "Three Diamonds" Watermark — The classic Mitsubishi “Three Diamonds” watermark adds some vintage flair that I adore. You can also see some of the texture here.

What strikes me the most about Bank Paper is the tactile feel. The paper has a slight texture to it - not nearly as pronounced as a heavier bond paper or antique laid paper like Original Crown Mill, but it’s there. Some may enjoy it, some not, depending entirely on personal preference. It reminds me of the business letterhead I used to steal from my Dad’s office as a kid.

Life Bank Paper Writing Sample — Most Bank Paper is ivory, so your inks may look slightly different than they would on bright white stock. Performance, however, is exceptional.

Performance-wise, you won’t go wrong with Bank Paper. Like most ink-friendly papers, it can be somewhat slow to dry, but I had no issues with usability. (As noted below, the Life Bank Paper Writing Pad shown here ships with a large piece of blotter paper, in case you find yourself using especially wet nibs or slower-drying inks.) While there is some show-through, I experienced zero feathering or bleeding, as should be expected of a paper at this price point.

Life-Bank-Paper-Reverse-Writing — Zero bleed. I’d characterize this as the ultimate office paper, and is something I could use every day if it weren’t so pricey.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Personally, I love the look, feel, and overall writing experience that Bank Paper offers. I sometimes find Tomoe River paper (or at least the 52gsm variety) too smooth for my preference, and enjoy the more tactile Bank Paper texture. I also tend to prefer ivory paper over bright white for written correspondence. For those few letters I write, I can see myself turning to Bank Paper, and once I work my way through my enormous journal backlog, I wouldn’t hesitate to use this paper in a notebook (with a blotter sheet as necessary).

Bank Paper is no longer so specialized that you can’t easily find it. We sell the letter-sized Bank Paper writing pads from Life Stationery, which contain 100 sheets and a full-size piece of blotter paper, perfect for stocking up in advance of InCoWriMo (International Correspondence Writing Month). Another option are the paper sampler packs from Yamamoto Paper, which have a Bank Paper option. And Atelier Musubi has long offered certain of its handbound journals with Bank Paper.

Finally, I wanted to alert all of you to a new product that recently hit the market: Bank Paper notebooks from The Paper Mind, a new venture from a pen enthusiast and former stationery blogger who recently started a company focused on high-end notebooks with fountain pen friendly paper. Currently available in A5 size, these notebooks feature 192 pages of lined Bank Paper in a stitched lie-flat binding. Be sure to check these out and support this sort of creativity in bringing new products like this to market!

I will note that none of the Bank Paper options are inexpensive - $28 for the writing pad, and $35 for the notebook - but this is imported specialty paper, after all, and I get the impression Bank Paper is a highly specialized product, even for Japan, that’s not made in large quantities. The things we do for an exceptional writing experience!

I received the Paper Mind Notebook pictured here for review purposes, free of charge. This post does not contain paid third-party affiliate links, but does contain links to the T.G.S. Curated Shop. By shopping with us directly, you are supporting original content, pen reviews, pen show events, etc. from The Gentleman Stationer. If you would like to support us even further, please consider checking out the T.G.S. Patreon Program, which offers access to online meetups, exclusive discounts and pre-orders, and more!

Clairefontaine A5 French-Ruled Looseleaf

Stock Update: Clairefontaine French-Ruled Paper Went Fast

January 18, 2022

Just a short note here for those of you hoping to land some of the Clairefontaine French-ruled looseleaf paper: I’ve sold through a huge chunk of my shipment over the last three days! The reaction to this particular product has been bigger than anything I’ve ever tried to do before in the shop, and I’m going to order more of it immediately. The problem is, since it’s an import product, it will likely take a while. As of now, we are completely sold out of the A4 single sheets, and very low on both A5 single sheets and the 100-packs of A4 booklets. If you were looking to get your hands on some, don’t sleep on it.

You can check out our entire offerings of Clairefontaine products here. Note that we’ve also recently added lined wirebound notebooks in the A5 size.

By shopping with us directly, you are supporting original content, pen reviews, pen show events, etc. from The Gentleman Stationer. If you would like to support us even further, please consider checking out the T.G.S. Patreon Program, which offers access to online meetups, exclusive discounts and pre-orders, and more!

The Paper Product That Started It All! French-Ruled Looseleaf Sheets and Booklets Are Finally Here

January 15, 2022

Yes, as you might have guessed, it’s Clairefontaine French-Ruled (Seyes-ruled) paper, but not in notebook form. I finally managed to source looseleaf sheets of this paper in both A4 and A5 size, taking me back to when I could travel freely and schlepped suitcases full of this paper back from France because I couldn’t find a reliable source that stocked it in the U.S. You can read more about my love affair with French-ruled paper here, including how I first discovered it and why I like using it so much.

As part of my initial order - which had to be imported as part of a special order through Exaclair, Clairefontaine’s U.S. distributor - I managed to get my hands on single sheets in both A5 and A4 size, as well as the coveted Clairefontaine booklet-style A4 double sheets, which combine four pages of writing into a versatile format that I love to use to make flowcharts, outline oral arguments for my legal practice, draft longer documents, and more. I’ve been down to my last pack and have been using them only sparingly. (If nobody buys any, at least I’ll have a personal lifetime supply! For a stationery addict, there is nothing more satisfying that looking at a warehouse full of hundreds of packs of high-end paper. but I digress.)

Availability and Pricing Information

Ok, so I bought a LOT of this paper. Feel free to stock up. When I’ve had it readily available, this has served as my default looseleaf paper for most of my writing, and I used to burn through packs of it regularly. I personally can’t wait to get this back in my rotation, and I’m working on a large work project right now that’s going to be the perfect use-case for these double booklets. If this sells well, there are other formats and options I can stock, including colors such as pink and blue, but I started relatively small since an import order requires me to purchase large quantities, and this is still very much an experiment.

As of this morning, looseleaf French-ruled paper is live and available for purchase in the T.G.S. Curated Shop. One of the reasons I love Clairefontaine paper is that it’s relatively inexpensive for how good it is. The single sheets are priced at $6.50 for a pack of 100 A5 sheets, and $9.50 for 100 A4 sheets. The double sheets (or booklets), are priced at $6.50 for 50 sheets, and $10 for 100. Finally, a note on shipping - I know it’s expensive relative to the price of a single pack, but paper is heavy and nearly always needs to go USPS Priority or UPS. From a value perspective, it’s probably best to purchase 2-3 packs of this to make up for the shipping charge, or to do a couple of major stock-up purchases per year and hit the free shipping threshold, currently set at $75.

Kokuyo offers five different rulings, including three different grid widths.

Kokuyo PERPANEP "Zara Zara" Paper: Funny Name, Great Paper!

September 30, 2021

Ok, I’ll get this out of the way first. What’s behind the naming convention here? According to Kokuyo, “PERPANEP” is an anagram of “Pen” and “Paper,” designed to reflect the new product’s emphasis on paper feel in addition to writing performance. Kokuyo is one of the largest Japanese stationery manufacturers, and already has a broad lineup of paper. PERPANEP looks like an attempt to target the higher end of the market with high quality paper that offers multiple options for both paper texture and ruling.

You’ll have no issues getting the PERPANEP notebooks to lie flat.

Kokuyo PERPANEP products are quite understated, taking a page from the Midori design book. The notebooks feature grey covers with a white cheesecloth binding, and hold 60 pages/120 sheets of slightly off-white 75gsm paper. Functionally, these notebooks are straightforward workhorse stationery, featuring excellent quality paper, a flexible binding that allows the notebook to open completely flat, and five different rulings. It’s a versatile product, as you can choose from .4mm dot, .3mm grid, .4mm grid, .5mm grid, and a .6mm steno ruling.

While PERPANEP paper comes in three different paper variations - smooth, ultra smooth, and textured, I decided to stock just the textured (“Zara Zara”) because it was, for me, the only version that performed consistently well with fountain pens, meaning that it had zero feathering or bleed through. I brought one of these notebooks to the last meeting of the Middle Tennessee Fountain Pen Club last week, and we could not get this paper to feather or bleed even with our wettest writers. I would compare the paper feel to Fabriano or Baron Fig in terms of texture, but the performance to Midori. It’s that good. Dry time is pretty decent (10-15 seconds with the inks I tried).

Kokuyo PERPANEP Paper is currently available for purchase in the T.G.S. Curated Shop, priced at $14. If you’re interested in reading further on fountain pen friendly paper, check out this brief guide to the “hierarchies” of paper, which I try to keep updated as I discover and review additional brands.

The T.G.S. Curated Shop is an authorized retailer of all brands we carry, including Kokuyo.

Stálogy Paper: My Thoughts, Two Months In

September 22, 2021

You can’t really evaluate a new paper until you’ve used it regularly for a couple of months, and since July I’ve been putting a Stálogy notebook through the wringer as my daily work notebook. I’ve never used this paper before, and I can see this brand easily forming a part of my daily rotation going forward. If I had to sum up Stálogy in a single sentence, it would characterize it as extremely thin, versatile Japanese paper that makes a great daily driver or work notebook, especially if you value quick dry times. That said, if you’re looking for thin paper to showcase pooled ink like Tomoe River, this may not be the notebook for you. While Stálogy doesn’t feather, and the ink looks great on the white paper with the grey ruling, you may see limited pinpoint bleed through with wider nibs and/or wetter inks, as thin, absorbent paper has its limitations.

(You may recall that I wrote a piece back in July discussing how you can customize notebooks by cutting them down to size, and that’s exactly what I did here. Stálogy notebooks don’t come in “Traveler’s Size,” - I made this one myself so a half-year version would fit in my Standard Traveler’s Notebook.)

Stálogy covers come in a range of colors other than black, including yellow. light blue, and red versions.

Style and Build Quality

I love the Stálogy aesthetic. The flexible leatherette cover feels sturdy without adding unnecessary bulk to the notebook, which would only detract from the key selling point of paper this thin. I’ve been carrying this notebook in my briefcase or car on a daily basis for two months (albeit in a Traveler’s Notebook cover), and so far the binding has held up well.

The Stalogy pages feature grey rulings with a header allowing you to label the month, day, and date.

The other thing I am truly enjoying is Stálogy’s light grey, 4mm grid ruling. Those who find bold rulings obtrusive, but who are still looking for more structure than a blank notebook offers, should give the Stálogy system a try. The grey lines essentially disappear under your writing, and 4mm is a great size for those of us who write small.

Every two lines are subtly numbered along the left-hand margin of each page, providing a 24 Hour layout for scheduling and logging.

Layout and Performance

In addition to the minimalist, almost industrial “leather book” aesthetic, people love Stálogy for the subtle date/time layout in the header and margin, allowing you to use this notebook for notetaking or journaling, or as a planner. The left-hand margin is subtly numbered 1 through 24, for a full 24-hour layout if you want to use your notebook as a planner or log book. Across the top, you can select the month, day, and date, which is always useful, no matter what your use case might be.

A handful of writing samples on Stálogy paper. As you can see, the ink looks great on the white paper with grey ruling, and I had absolutely no feathering even with some very wet pens.

Which brings us to the big question: what about the paper? It’s quite good. That said, paper is all about trade-offs. Those who love really thin paper know that in order for a thin paper to handle a lot of ink without feathering or bleed-through, you typically have to coat the paper and accept a longer dry time. Stálogy takes a different approach. This paper is more absorbent than something like Tomoe River, so you have a (much) shorter dry time. (Several friends who are lefties LOVE Stálogy for this very reason.) The paper also has a nice texture that lends a pleasant, tactile feel as you write. The trade-off might be some slight, pinpoint bleed-through with wet inks and wider nibs, though most fountain pens still work very well. While I absolutely did not experience anything that would keep me from using this notebook as a daily driver, I am overly cautious in labeling something as “fountain pen friendly” because that’s become a loaded term that has different meanings for different people.

The reverse side of the same page. You see some slight “pinpoint” bleeds on especially wet writing samples (i.e., stubs and ebonite feeds with wet ink), but nothing that prevents me from using this paper all day, every day. For how I use paper, the quick dry time is absolutely worth the trade-off in a work notebook.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

With future availability of Tomoe River Paper in question, the focus has turned to other options for extremely thin paper that allows notebook makers to pack a high page count into a compact size. While it’s not absolutely “ink proof” like Tomoe River, Stálogy paper is a very good alternative, especially for those of us who need a thin notebook and value more absorbent paper with better dry times. Personally, I’ve been using Stálogy every day for the past couple of months and love both the paper feel and quick dry performance.

My favorite color? The light blue (though the yellow really pops).

Stálogy notebooks are available in a range of sizes, including A5, A6, and B5, in both “365 Days”/“Year” (368 Page) or “180 Days”/”Half-Year” (192 Page) versions (also referred to as “year” and “half-year”). Currently, the T.G.S. Curated Shop stocks the A5 notebooks in both 365 and 180 Days, with the grid ruling. Dot grid is also available, which I hope to stock soon. In addition to the classic black cover, Stalogy has released brighter pastel versions, such as the light blue shown here, as well as periodic special editions. Half-Year notebooks are priced at $20, and 365-Day versions at $28.

The T.G.S. Curated Shop is an authorized retailer of all brands sold, including Stálogy. For more information on paper recommendations, I would check out this post on “Fountain Pen Friendly Paper” and how I categorize different brands.