03. Clairefontaine Papier Veloute – 90 g/m2
You can get this paper in Clairefontaine notebooks which makes them pretty easy to come by in Europe. I’m not sure about availability on other continents. The paper is again nice to the touch and it’s on the whiter spectrum. Bleed-through and ghosting is fine and I would say that due to the whiteness, the colors of the inks look great. So color reproduction is good on the paper. Shading is also visible especially on Colorverse Sea of Tranquillity.
I would definitely recommend a wet nib and wet ink because for some reason this paper seems to hinder ink flow a bit. It probably has to do with the coating on the paper but the writing experience was not great with all of the pens I used when creating the sample photo. The Pelikan M805 with the M nib and Edelstein Olivine was okay since the Pelikan is already a wet pen but on this paper it’s noticeable that the line is thinner so you might need to push your pen harder. The paper is smooth and doesn’t offer much resistance. Sheen is also pretty non-existent. You have some on Diamine November Rain, but Oxford Blue and Supernova don’t have anything.
VERDICT: If you’re really curious it’s worth trying once in your life but I think there are better papers out there and I would skip this one. If you’re into thin lines do give it a go though, just be prepared that some of your ink/pen combos might under-perform on it.
