School is around corner, some dry/feather/bleed test on Mead notebook paper

[KBeezie]

School is just around the corner for some of us (1st semester starts late august for me).

So thought I'd do a smear-rub on some Mead 5-Star notebook paper with the pens I have inked, in case some students are still in the market for pens and curious what some nib/ink combo seems like on some typical Mead 5-star notebook paper in regards to drying time, bleeding and feathering.

All but three of these were under $100 for me. (The Falcon [$140], Eversharp Demi wide-band [$100] and Invicia Deluxe [$100]).

Click the Image to see it in the full 600 DPI scan.

http://static.karlblessing.com/paper/mead5star/07272014_front_small.jpg (http://static.karlblessing.com/paper/mead5star/07272014_front.jpg)

http://static.karlblessing.com/paper/mead5star/07272014_back_small.jpg (http://static.karlblessing.com/paper/mead5star/07272014_back.jpg)

[LagNut]

Great idea!

Well executed, too. Bleedthrough and drytime would be the big concerns in note taking.

Thanks much
Mike

[mhosea]

I sometimes use Mead notebooks at work, and everything feathers on them...at least a little bit. IIRC, I got feathering down to a minimum with Hero 232 Blue-Black (iron gall) and (IIRC) Montblanc Toffee Brown. This is more of a paper forum thing, but as regards feathering mainly, there are other cheap notebooks out there that might be a bit more fun to write on, e.g. Staples spiral-bound notebooks that were made in Brazil. These are feather-resistant, but bleed-through resistance is no better than average. I didn't measure dry times when I did this. As you might imagine, some of them were dry in 5 seconds, while others were almost dry in 10 seconds (particularly the ones that were laid down by wetter pens).

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3880/14759500252_a39c585e99_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oufidh)Staples Notebooks -- Made in Brazil (https://flic.kr/p/oufidh)

[KBeezie]

Yep, I aware of the Brazil tip, but have not had any luck finding them in any stores here (including Staples) for the past few months. The idea is that they're cut from older trees, not recycled, so tends to be better grain and more consistent from page to page, notebook to notebook. The availability of such seems to be seasonal.

The idea behind the Mead 5-star was simply that people may already have a bunch of them laying around, or generally stocked up on those during the back to school sales.

[inkyletters]

Norcom books this year at Walmart are either USA or Colombia. USA is loads better than the Colombia ones.

[mhosea]

The idea behind the Mead 5-star was simply that people may already have a bunch of them laying around, or generally stocked up on those during the back to school sales.

Sure. Didn't mean to imply that I missed the point, just that it's awfully hard to avoid feathering on mead with any pen+ink combination.

[KBeezie]

The idea behind the Mead 5-star was simply that people may already have a bunch of them laying around, or generally stocked up on those during the back to school sales.

Sure. Didn't mean to imply that I missed the point, just that it's awfully hard to avoid feathering on mead with any pen+ink combination.

It seems like that with nearly everything except maybe some special art paper. If nothing else it's hard to find anything with much consistency from one notebook or ream to the next. The CPP University Ruled paper they sell here (made in canada) seems pretty consistent in terms feather/bleed quality, but it does change a tiny bit in terms of smoothness and brightness from one notebook to the next.

The Cachet Earthbound sketchbooks are probably one of the only ones I've found made from 100% recycled paper that doesn't suck like most 100% recycled products. But it's also not cheap, nor something you'd use for notes generally. (and a strong tan colored paper with small flecks of colored fiber)

I should have looked at some papers while I was at Staple's the other day looking at school supplies for my boys... turns out staples is overpriced in the 'sales' department, everything was much cheaper over at Meijers and Walmart. But I didn't look at paper in general.

[Austin_Malone]

A better alternative is the Mead Composition notebooks I found while school shopping. They don't do flex or gushy stubs, but through fat medium they performed well.

[KBeezie]

A better alternative is the Mead Composition notebooks I found while school shopping. They don't do flex or gushy stubs, but through fat medium they performed well.

I picked up a bunch of mint composition notebooks from the local good will (guessing 2011/2012 based on the coupons still attached inside), and would seem that while both the stack of green and yellow ones are the same, one is Mead and the other is Tops, but they're exactly the same composition notebooks.

So I'll be doing the same test as above especially since I got my hands on some Noodler's Texas Live Oak which is a fun ink, very wet, but dries instantly on paper (can't even rub the page fast enough to get it to smear, like even though it has bleed/feathering like a heavy wet ink, it's immediately dried, and waterproof). So will be interesting to see how well it does on something like those.

[Austin_Malone]

Cool, can't wait to see them in action

[KBeezie]

I got several of these composite notebooks, they're identical in the cover texture, and paper quality, both 2011, but the Mead ones come with a flashier label, coupon sheet bound into the first page, and only gives 70 sheets (also got a couple 70 sheet in college rule instead of wide rule). Where as the Tops one, again identical, but has a plain label on the cover, 90 sheets, and no added laminate page containing coupons. (obviously seems like Mead is all about cutting cost and marketing :P)

Covers look like such:

http://static.karlblessing.com/paper/tops/mead_cover.jpg

http://static.karlblessing.com/paper/tops/tops_cover.jpg

Click for 1200DPI

http://static.karlblessing.com/paper/tops/composite_2011_front.jpg (http://static.karlblessing.com/paper/tops/composite_2011_1200dpi_front.jpg)

http://static.karlblessing.com/paper/tops/composite_2011_back.jpg (http://static.karlblessing.com/paper/tops/composite_2011_1200dpi_back.jpg)

Compared to the Mead 5-star at top, the paper isn't as smooth/glossy feeling, so some of the pens have a bit more feedback from it. Feathering is pretty minimal, but that's probably because it's not quite as absorbent as the Mead 5-Star above, as a result it smears on more of the pens, but doesn't show-thru as much as the Mead 5-Star notebooks.