Review: Rhodia Webnotebook (Small US Version)

Go to this blog post for more photos of the small Rhodia Webnotebook still in the wrapper and stacked up (literally) with a few other common notebooks! :-)

(As always, please click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Karen Doherty, VP of marketing of Exaclair (US distributor of Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Quo Vadis, Exacompta, and J. Herbin), kindly sent this advance copy of the Rhodia Webnotebook for review! Thanks, Karen! :-)

Note--this Webnotebook has the 90g Clairefontaine paper. The US distributor (Exaclair) requested a change from the previous 80g paper, which was made in places such as Singapore/Japan, and behaves quite differently from this paper. So if you want this notebook, make sure you're purchasing the 90g version (some places are still selling the 80g version).

The Rhodia Webnotebook has been greatly anticipated by many who are looking for a Moleskine replacement. The paper band that encircles the notebook has the pertinent stats:


It comes with black or orange covers, an elastic band, a ribbon bookmark, and a back pocket. The small version measures 3.5" x 5.5", and is lined with 6mm ruling. There are 192 pages (96 sheets) of 90g ivory paper. It also comes in a larger version, which measures 5.5" x 8.25", and also has 192 pages (96 sheets) of the same lined ivory 90g paper.

Here's the front cover, with the debossed Rhodia logo (the two trees are rumored to represent the two brothers who originally started the company):


And the back cover:


The cover is a little difficult to describe--it's definitely a hardcover notebook. However, it has a rubberized surface to it, which gives it warmth and a tiny bit of "give" to it. If you're familiar with the Quo Vadis Habana, the Rhodia Webnotebook cover is much stiffer. The Webnotebook cover won't bend much at all when you write with it on your lap (whereas the Habana cover is more flexible).

I personally love the fact that the cover is hard enough to write on the fly. The rubberized material gives the notebook a richer feel. And the rounded corners are definitely appreciated--I've been jabbed many times while attempting to grab a sharp-cornered notebook quickly out of my purse or bookbag!

However, since the cover surface is a bit spongy, it's prone to take on some impressions of items it's pressed up against. In the pic below, you can see where the elastic band has already made a dent in the cover. This doesn't personally bother me at all, but this may distract some people. The elastic band is nice and tight--it doesn't feel as if it's going to stretch out and become limp any time soon!


Here are the sewn signatures. They feel very firm, and the pages don't move on the top or bottom when you flip the pages. The line spacing is comparable to the Moleskine or other pocket-sized notebooks, at 6mm. I personally love 5-6mm line spacing, and wish there was also a larger notebook with Clairefontaine paper that had 5-6mm ruling (I don't have a copy, but the larger Webnotebook reportedly has 7mm line spacing).

The paper is an ivory color, a little darker than some of the pocket notebooks I've used. But, as you'll see below, the bright inks I used still show up just fine! :-)


The Rhodia logo appears in the bottom corner of every right hand page. This isn't a deal-breaker for me, though I'd prefer completely blank pages.

The lines don't go all the way to the edges, and there's a little bit of space at the top and bottom of the pages. I'm perfectly neutral about both of these features, but some people are very particular about these things, so I thought I'd point them out!


The Webnotebook has orange endpapers (the black version has black endpapers) and an orange back pocket.


So the form factor is nice, but now to answer the most important question--how is the paper? It's divine!! :-) It's thicker than the usual Rhodia paper, which makes it feel very luxurious, but isn't so stiff that it's like writing on cardstock or anything. It is super-smooth to the touch, and feels very satiny. I couldn't stop running my fingers over the surface (and yes, I just did it again ;-)!


On this page above, I wrote with various J. Herbin and Noodler's fountain pen ink (from top to bottom: J. Herbin Violette Pensée, Rose Cyclamen, Orange Indien; Noodler's Rachmaninov, La Reine Mauve, Verdun Green [twice], and Prime of the Commons Blue-Black). I used Fine to XXXXF nibs on it. All of my tiny nibs really liked the paper, except for my temperamental XXXXF nib (which doesn't like anything ;-). The paper was very smooth, even with my scratchiest writers, and a delight to write on.

As for feathering, I tried to use some inks that feather on most papers to really test the paper out. There was a tiny bit of feathering with the Rose Cyclamen, La Reine Mauve, and Prime of the Commons Blue-Black, but it's all so mild that you have to really look hard to see it.

Here's the reverse side of the page. There was no bleedthrough with any of these inks, and very little showthrough. (Of course, I use very fine nibs, so YMMV.) I never write on both sides of the page because I can't stand writing over showthrough, but there was so little showthrough that I'm considering using both sides, for once!! :-O


Here are some more ink tests. From top to bottom: Noodler's Verdun Green (yes, again), Manijiro Nakahama Whaleman's Sepia, The Violet Vote/Vanda Miss Joaquim mix, Prime of the Commons Blue-Black, Majestic Orange, Naval Orange, and Rachmaninov. There was a tiny bit of feathering with the Verdun Green and Whaleman's Sepia, but these inks feather on most paper with which I've used them (especially the Whaleman's Sepia). Even with these two inks, the feathering was so minimal that I had to stare at the paper hard in order to detect it.

Even though some of the inks were the same as the previous page, I still wanted to try them out to see how the XXXF nibs performed on the paper. It was an absolute delight to write on this paper! No stray fibers in the tines, no digging in the paper, no catching!


The reverse side of the page. Again, no bleedthrough, very little showthrough. The marks you see are actually some of the Rose Cyclamen from the previous page that transferred when the notebook was closed.

Which brings me to the drying time. Some people note that the drying time of Rhodia paper is a bit longer than other paper. This appears to be somewhat true for this paper, as well, but I personally didn't find the drying times to be too long. As you can see, only the Rose Cyclamen transferred (and 2 dots of the Violet Vote/Vanda Miss Joaquim mixture on the third review page).


As much as I enjoy fountain pens, not everyone writes with them all the time (not even me! ;-). So I also tested the paper with other pens, including gel ink, rollerballs, felt-tip markers, a mechanical pencil, and a highlighter. Oh, and a Platinum Preppy fountain pen (filled with Noodler's Legal Lapis) managed to sneak in there, too. ;-)

The paper was so pleasurable to write on, especially with the Signo Bit 0.18mm gel pen (that pen is scratchy on everything!), that I was compelled to stop and add "wow, so smooth!" while doing the ink tests. :-)


Again, no bleedthrough. A little more showthrough than the fountain pens on average, but still pretty minimal. (And the 2 dots of the Violet Vote/Vanda Miss Joaquim mixture that transferred from the previous page that I mentioned above.) There was the tiniest bit of feathering with Legal Lapis (again, so slight that you probably need a loupe to see, but I'm really picky about feathering).


So, in conclusion, this is a wonderful small notebook! It's in a popular size (though a little thicker than your typical Moleskine, Piccadilly, or Markings notebook, due to the thicker paper), and a popular form factor. It has all the "essentials"--a hard cover, rounded corners, ribbon bookmark, elastic closure, and back pocket. And the narrow line spacing (6mm) is great!

But the most amazing thing about this notebook is the paper!! The paper is absolutely smooth, and felt heavenly with my Fine to XXXXF nibs. Even using gel pens and other writing utensils was almost a sensuous experience on this paper! The bleedthrough was nonexistant, and the showthrough was so minimal that I'm considering converting and using both sides of the paper (which I never do!). I usually prefer the bright white Clairefontaine paper, but the ivory paper is easy on the eyes without being too buttery yellow. And while I usually prefer thin paper, the thicker 90g paper gives the notebook a luxurious feel, without appearing too snooty or too precious to write on. This notebook was definitely made to be loved and used! :-)

This notebook will be available in the US and Japan soon. Other possible countries that may distribute the version with Clairefontaine paper in the future include Australia and maybe Canada. Other countries will probably stay with the 80g NON-Clairefontaine paper until 2010, if not permanently.

I've been a big fan of the Quo Vadis small Habana notebook, and hope to do a comparison of the Webnotebook with the Habana soon! :-)

Review: J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage

Karen Doherty at Exaclair very graciously sent 2 inks in her most recent batch of products for review! I was happily surprised to receive both Lierre Sauvage and Orange Indien. Thanks so much, Karen! :-)

Lierre Sauvage is one of the J. Herbin "La Perle des Encres" (The Jewel of Inks) fountain pen inks. There are 30 colors available, which come in 30mL bottles and cartridges (6 cartridges in a cute little metal tin--I use the empty tins to keep dip pen nibs in them!). They are advertised as non-toxic and pH neutral, with natural dyes.

(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Here's a shot of the bottle. I had a bottle of Bleu Myosotis for years before I found out that the little lip on the front of the bottle is a built-in pen rest. Very cool idea!


Here's a full-length shot of my handwritten ink review (thanks to SProctor on the Fountain Pen Network for the template). I'm not ecstatic about the way it photographed--I tried it outside in bright sunlight, but got some weird effects. I tried it inside in natural sunlight, but as you can see, I got some shadows over it. However, the ink color looks pretty true to life on my monitor, for what it's worth! I'll try using a smaller sheet of paper or a notebook for my next ink review. Feel free to comment or tweet me with tips for improving my photography! :-) (But nothing too technical like fiddling with 15 different settings or downloading expensive software, please--honestly, it won't happen.)


Here's a closer view of the top half of the page:


A closer view of the bottom half of the page:


I used a Sensa Meridian fountain pen, custom ground to an XXXF nib. The paper was some random cheap copy paper I had around the house (Georgia Pacific). I also tried it on Clairefontaine paper, but didn't photograph it.

I really liked the bright green color--it wasn't too yellow, nor too blue. It was slightly on the yellowish side, but not much. And, surprisingly, it was quite legible for a bright green color. It's a nice spring/summery color, and makes you think of golf course lawns.

Flow: Flow was really good in my dry-writing, finicky XXXF nib! It wasn't a gusher, either--just a nice, consistent flow.

Drying Times: Granted, I'm using a really fine nib, but I find that J. Herbin inks typically dry pretty fast (and even work pretty well on glossy textbook paper). Lierre Sauvage was no exception.

Feathering: It feathered a little on this cheap copy paper, but I haven't found an ink yet that won't feather on this paper (I'm never getting it again!). Not surprisingly, there was no feathering on the Clairefontaine.

Bleedthrough: A few tiny pinpricks of ink on the back of the cheap copy paper, mostly where I paused. None on the Clairefontaine.

Shading: Yes, there was some shading, even with my XXXF nib. On glossy textbook paper, it was more noticeable.

Waterproof: This ink does not claim to be waterproof, and I did not test this quality myself.

Nib Creep: Just the tiniest drop on the very tip of the nib.

Staining/Clogging: I only used this ink briefly (see below for the reason), but there was no staining or clogging detected, and the ink rinsed out of the pen fairly easily.

Smear Factor: Since it dried quickly, it didn't smear on glossy textbook paper after 3 seconds! It was GREAT for the few pages of margin notes I took.

Odor: It has a noticeable, pleasant scent, though it's not a "scented" ink. The ink was somewhat like a perfume, slightly earthy and floral. The scent disappeared from the paper pretty quickly. However, I'm really sensitive to certain odors, and this ink gave me a bit of a headache. I was really saddened by this, since I loved the rest of its qualities. But I would be remiss in not mentioning it, so my fellow headache sufferers can be forewarned. If you have headaches from certain scents, you might want to try a sample of this first, before you buy a whole bottle!

Caveat--I'm REALLY sensitive to certain scents, and the average person probably won't have any problem with this ink. I had a headache in one class every morning at the same time, until I figured out that the hand lotion of a student a couple rows away was causing my pain! (I changed seats and everything was fine after that.)

Not all J. Herbin inks give me a headache--I've tried Orange Indien recently, I usually have a pen inked with Violette Pensée, and I've tried Rose Cyclamen and Rose Tendresse in the past. I didn't have a problem with any of those inks--just this one so far! (Oh, and I tried the rose scented J. Herbin ink, which also gave me a bit of a headache.)

The scent also lingers in the pen. I flushed it until the water ran clear, and washed what I could of the plastic feed, then refilled it with another ink. However, I can still smell the Lierre Sauvage one week later (though it's muted and isn't strong enough to give me a headache anymore). Just a warning, in case you object to the scent. (Many people love the scent, however, and actually like this quality!)

Appearance: The squiggle to the left is from one swipe of the Q-tip, and the squiggle to the right is from two swipes of the Q-tip.

Overall Conclusions: This is a happy, colorful green ink--the epitome of spring! :-) Bright enough to stand out, yet dark enough to be legible. The flow was great in my XXXF dry writer, and it dried really quickly on the 3 different papers I tried. I loved this ink, and would have continued to use it if it wasn't for the scent. The scent is really pleasant and not extremely strong, but unfortunately, I'm prone to headaches with certain scents (especially perfumes/botanicals).