Yamamoto Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection

I was leery of spending $40 for 16 5-page samples of paper, especially in light of the fact that so, so many papers I’ve tried have failed the “fountain pen test.” But I took a chance, and don’t fear! These papers are incredibly good, especially if you’re worried about ink bleeding and spreading. Every ink I tried came out sharp, with zero spread. I don’t yet know about the lightfastness. Some slick ones do blur if you accidentally smear before ink is completely dry, but that’s a given. To date I’ve sampled 12 of the 16 papers, and every one of them rates from “very good” to “excellent” to “awesome”. I notated on the front cover my opinions; the worst I could say was “tape does not stick to” on a couple papers. Now my problem is obtaining several of these individual papers so that I may use them for more projects. ?

I have been using my collection of Yamamoto sample paper for about two years. At first I evaluated the heavier weights of paper for use in color inkjet work and laser printing. I rated each group of papers I tested using the cover of the Yamamoto paper. All 18 selections are listed on the heavy cover and this is an excellent way to score the paper as I used each group. Additionally, I made made notes on the individual cover sheets of each sections. Most recently I have gone back to the packet to find paper that is suited for hand written correspondence using fountain pens. In two years, I have not finished using the paper (80 sheets) but I have used all five sheets in some of the categories. The history of the papers and the folks who designed each one is fascinating.