Quick Paper Review: Life Bank Paper Notepad

        Just to preface; I am not really a paper kind of person. As a fan of fountain pens, paper that can handle fountain pen inks well is a necessary part of the experience of using them. The texture that helps in the experience as I glide the nib across the page, its ability to prevent bleedthrough and feathering, so the words do not become a web of mess across the page.

        Usually, I just follow recommendations; like Tomoe River Paper, both the original and Sanzen, Rhodia, and Clairefontaine. But I am curious enough to at least try out some other paper brands I heard less about. Such as this notepad from the Japanese brand, Life. Although I had seen it written as ‘Life Co. Ltd’. For this blog post, I will simply refer to them as simply LIFE.

        I found this notepad while browsing through Galen Leather’s website. Alongside some other notebooks and papers, and of course, a traveler’s notebook, I bought this notepad just to see if it can be an alternative to any of the aforementioned brands.

        Unfortunately, it is not. Well, to me at least. 

        There is simply one single reason; texture. 

        I had heard of LIFE before and that they make fountain pen-papers. This is my first experience with their products. But this notepad that consist of this so called ‘Bank Paper’, have a very noticeable texture, the most I had experienced so far. It really does affect my experience writing. 

        The feedback does grind my gears as I write on this notepad. I can feel like the tip of my nibs get caught in the teeth of this paper’s texture. It really does suck the joy of writing with my fountain pen after a few minutes. As of the writing of this blog post, I don’t think I will be using this paper and notepad.

        But to be fair, there are actually some positives to this Bank Paper from Life Co. It mainly is to do with inks. Now I am also not too much of an ink enthusiast as well. If the inks are well-behaving and also easy enough to clean, then they are the type of inks I usually prefer. Additionally, I do find myself drawn to inks that have deep, saturated colors. Besides that, I don’t really look into sheening, and shimmering, nor look at how the color stand out on different kind of papers.

From top to bottom; Pilot Blue, Monteverde Green Emerald, and Noodler's Qin Sin Huang

        

        I can at least say this Bank Paper really handles ink very well. So far, there has been no bleedthrough, mild showthrough that doesn’t bother me, and no feathering. Every excellent trait of a fountain pen friendly paper really. It is just unfortunate, for me, that the texture just kills all pleasure from using this paper. There are many pros, depending on how one looks at it, and technically only one con. Yet the latter weights heavily and very noticeably on its own.

        But if there is one benefit to the texture I can think of, it is very good for the use of pencils. I use them less often nowadays, but when I do, I would appreciate a nice textured paper that helps in breaking down the graphite. Thus, I suppose I can use this Bank Paper notepad for whenever a pencil comes in handy, both personally and during work.