Um.. didn't they use Parchment (very thin leather) in the Medieval period or am I completely wrong about this? Thanks for the video, I covet that paper deeply but as I'm in the UK and it's likely to be heavy, the postage from Canada would be pretty extreme!
Great question! They did, but not exclusively, at least by the later middle ages. Paper began appearing in Europe in the late medieval period and by the 1300's there were several established paper mills in Italy. Increased demand for books by the late middle ages contributed significantly to the widespread use of paper. Fun fact, of the 180 bibles printed by Johannes Gutenberg in 1455 (the very end of the medieval period), 145 of them were printed on paper! (source: The Library of Congress Bible Collection)
It looks like your question was already answered, but I would like to add one small detail: parchment is not leather. Leather is chemically treated by soaking in preservatives -- traditional tanning used brains, among other things. Parchment, by contrast, is not soaked in preservatives. After removing the fur and flesh, the raw hide is stretched on a rack and scraped thin. The scraping causes the collagen networks inside the skin to flatten out and lock together, resulting in a very thin but quite strong material. It has a tendency to expand when exposed to moisture, so getting parchment wet is to be avoided. Years ago the Harry Ransom Center -- a special collections library at the University of Texas at Austin -- had troubles where they would come in and find some of their medieval manuscripts lying on the floor instead of the shelf. They eventually installed security cameras, and it turned out that their vault was too humid. The parchment was expanding in the night due to humidity, and in some cases this was enough to actually push adjacent books off the shelf. It's climate controlled now. I'm unclear on when exactly that was supposed to have occurred; I heard about it in around 2006 when I took Janine Barchas' class *Graphic Design and the Literary Arts,* but I believe the phantom book pushing must have happened much earlier.
@@FourKeysBookArts Thanks for your reply Alan - this is really interesting. By co-incidence a YT'er I follow has this video he just released on a genuine and complete Anglo-Saxon book! The cover is particularly gorgeous ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NvqpM3mQ3T4.html
@@Tinalles Thanks for your response, that's so interesting. I love the idea of books being phantom shoved off the shelves, although I accept the reality must have been distressing for the librarians. As you seem to have an interest here is a video of a genuine and complete Anglo-Saxon book, amazing what's lying about in this country...ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NvqpM3mQ3T4.html
Dennis... I want to specifically thank you by name for this video. Very often people making these kinds of videos try to "show excellence" and take a fast formal super dense tone. That's great for what it is. You "reviewed" the paper but you also "reviewed basic paper traits" in the process...sort of like putting a stack of notes on the podium then delivering the lecture extempo and chatty with no recourse to prepared remarks. Really good job.
Regardless of any labeling on the quality per pens, I just went to Amazon and bought some! I love this paper! (and your video) And I appreciate your quality review anyway. ;) PS what kind of printer did you use?
"I'm not much of an artist" -Proceeds to sketch a bottle and a book that look better than most things I can actually do. I... am honestly surprised. I did saw the Tested video, didn't expect to see a full review of it here, yet here I am. Such an interesting video! And honestly gives me some ideas for a D&D project I've been working on.
There's an artist I follow who uses the phrasing, "I'm not very confident at [insert skill here]." Which is like such a great way of putting it, because centers the speaker's feelings in a way that I don't feel as invited to compare myself to
The subject of the video might be the paper but the writing and the pens are the stars of the show for me. Finding another left-handed writer doing calligraphic writing seems virtually impossible whenever I try to search for it, so it's pretty fascinating to see you do it! It's kind of sad that, in my experience, the vast majority of people trying to show off fancy-looking handwriting happen to be right-handed.
I had a feeling the pen and ink portion of the video would have a wide appeal! As for calligraphy, I've been an (often frustrated) left-handed enthusiast since my youth, but it can be done. Thanks for watching!
I actually really really enjoyed this. I love seeing active, real test of art materials, especially by someone else who knows what to look for! I also like being able to actually see if something generally seen as "high quality" works well for real! I think it'd be awesome to see you test other materials you think would be good for bookbinding, whether for vinatage books like your stuffor handmade sketchbooks!! I think i'd also love to see your recommended materials and a practical study of them? Just cause i'm always on the look out to try new stuff haha
If you ever want to put up a long review of your lessons learned as a left-handed calligrapher -- especially since you write with a hooked hand, as I do -- I would be eternally grateful. I've always loved calligraphy but long ago realized it was simply not possible for me. I don't even like watching calligraphy videos because of that. But if you EVER feel inclined to put up a video about it where you discuss techniques, ways to write and hold the pen, smudge avoidance, and pens that work for you, especially that do NOT require "fixing" the hook, I would very much appreciate it. Literally, every single vide I've ever seen about left-handed calligraphy starts out with, "The first thing you'll need to do is not hook your hand."
I think, to be fair to Nomad, alcohol inks do bleed through most *paper* types, quite ferociously! Back when I used to journal in bought notebooks, the back page of each new (type) to me book would be tested with various pens/pencils etc. - exactly the same test you've done here - and alcohol inks would fail, every single time. I would always do 2 types of test: single line, and colouring in of a block (since the books were usually dot grid, the block would be 0.5cm square). I always wanted a book where the notepaper would stand up to a square of fountain pen ink - usually diamine with my TWSBI 580 - which I think is the kind you have as well. Eventually I got fed up with the books always failing on that one point and got into making my own - and that led me down the bookbinding rabbit hole! Interesting video though. Would be interested in further exploration of different types of paper - maybe a discussion of what kind of paper would be most suitable for sizes of books, in your experience, e.g. watercolour paper might be most sought after in an A5 landscape size for artists - what kind of watercolour paper, the pitfalls, the benefits, the kind of spine that might work best, etc. On the subject of vintage-looking paper, in the junk-journalling community (many of whom make their own books), its really popular to coffee or tea dye paper to get that vintage looking hue. Its also really popular to put plastic patterned tablecloths/doilies in as well so that the paper gets a pattern to it, as well as those watermarks you noticed. That might be another rabbit hole to explore...!
You're right about the alcohol pens, they were really the hardest test for this paper, and I can hardly fault it for not being able to handle it. I too habitually test new papers with my favourite media, so this video was just a natural extension of that. And it has been many years since I tea-stained paper, so maybe I'll have to give it another go. Thanks for the great comment!
I don’t want to presume what papers you have or haven’t tried for fountain pen ink. But my favorites are Tomoe River 52 and 62 gsm., Rhodia, and Endless Stationary. Tomoe and Endless do wonders to pop colors, shading, and shimmers in different ways. Cheers
@@Soul_Watcher to be fair, the process that i described above, of trying lots of different notebooks and struggling to find ones that could cope with fountain pens was quite a few years ago. I think the choice is not only wider, but easier to find alternatives. Or maybe I'm just better at finding alternatives!! I did try tomoe river papers a couple years ago and you are right, they do cope well with fountain pens, but by then i was already making my own notebooks. 🙂 It might sound odd but i disliked the thinness of the tomoe paper. I like firmness and crispness when i turn my pages. My notebooks are made with navigator 120gsm paper and that works very well for me. 🙂 Thank you for your suggestions though!
This was fascinating! And a really thorough look at the ways to test a paper sample, as well as some great explanations of what the basic traits are, what the terms mean and so on. I really enjoyed it! I do think that there's no such thing as a paper that can do ANYTHING, of course, so it didn't entirely surprise me that this didn't like high moisture. I don't know if this is a real term or not but it seems like the paper had a lot of "tooth" - like the nibs of the fountain pens dug down into the paper a little bit, and so that broad-tip parallel pen seemed to really bite into the grain and tear it up as you said. I agree with you on the value though, that's a VERY good price for hand-made paper and it really would be fabulous for TTRPG use, I can already imagine how beautiful some of my old D&D maps would look on paper like that. Or a good cryptic letter, something I was fond of letting the players find now and again. Really great video and I liked this kind of review a lot! I think you've got a wonderful knack for explaining! Thank you!!
Thank you so much! I agree, there's not really such a thing as an all-purpose paper, though maybe the marketing folks at Nomad would disagree. That being said, you're totally correct on the value factor. I'll definitely be making use of this paper in the future!
Just a follow-up: I bought a ream of this and have printed out a small book (**The Library of Chester Fritz** by Brian Urlacher, which is CC-licensed). Some lessons learned: first, this stuff is *thick*. I had to feed it through the sheets through the manual override tray on my printer one sheet at a time. Second, I made four-sheet signatures, and I can probably make them work, but honestly they're too much too thick to fold well in that quantity. In future I might try three or even two-sheet signatures. Finally, note that unlike the package in this review video, my paper did not have fold lines down the middle.
Over the past year or so I've been thinking about what sort of paper to use for a binding project I'm slowly working towards. I'd noy really made any headway mainly I think because I had no idea how to test things. This video not only introduced me to yet another possible paper but also gave me a real good template on how to go about testing. Thanks for the inspiration and instruction Dennis 👍👍👍
I bought the same paper after seeing Mr Savage's episode too. I've been doing some pyrography testing on it. I noted the same "rough" surface as you. For burning it causes some unintended "splotchy" burns, but it can be an interesting texture once you get control of it. I passed a bone tool over it and was able to smooth it out a lot and burns are more controlled. The surface has a tendency to turn white if you overheat it. This is probably the color components (chemicals?) burning out into the air . The cotton fibers are very hard to accidentally burn through. Overall it's been fun to work with and I'm getting results I'm happy with. I'm working on a binding now with it. Hope to see one here too! 😁
So.. I think you need to create a spell book 🤗 you can do the artwork and random text designs! 🎉 oh, have family and friends create a page using that paper, then you do the binding and cover. That would be so cool!
Judging by the visible fibers this paper clearly is less of traditional cellulose pulp and more containing either cotton or some other fibers that have been blended and pressed, which is why there was less bleeding with watercolors, as watercolor paper comes in various percentages of cotton. And specifically because of that I'd suggest just buying some more traditional watercolor paper which can also come in more "aged" forms and likely cost less, or just look for some of those who make pure recycled cotton paper, which should give better results and can be aged through various means if one wants to achieve that look. I was pretty surprised by the printing result, regardless of that though, the video is very informative and you pretty much covered all grounds one would have looked for and I wouldn't mind seeing more in the future. Your writing is also very satisfying to look at.
Adams' book led me to your D&D project and now I'm enjoying making little notebooks, and I even have some of this paper that I have been trying out. Great video, I appreciate your insight.
Not surprised the watercolors didnt work well, most watercolor paper has sizing on it, which makes a huge difference. You dont want an absorbant paper for watercolors, you want the paint to sit on top of the paper and flow.
I too was doubtful of how the watercolours would perform, but the paper was marketed specifically as such, so I had to give it a try. Thanks for watching!
Compliments on the video and the review: both were of good quality. Further, I really appreciated the knowledgeable and approachable approach you used. I don't find many paper reviews and appreciate them when I can find them. Also, given that I saw the Savage vid just after your series rebinding Dune, and then this, tied all the videos together in a very good way for me!
Odd really, I got this exact set, after Adam had did that video, and mine were not folded at all...thank god....yours were prob returned, and they folded it before they sent it back. I mean for your use folded are not a major thing, but honestly they should have not been folded.
I am endlessly impressed with your knowledge and many, many, maaany skills!!! So glad that RU-vid recommended your channel to me. Also, your filming is exceptional. The various shots and angles, the music, the voiceovers or the ASMR style videos, it's all SO WELL DONE. Bravo, sir!
Things I took note of that seemed worth mentioning: The red Tombow ART marker didn't bleed through at all. The most common watercolor paper weights are 190 gsm, 300 gsm, 356 gsm, and 638 gsm vs ther 150gsm of the vintage paper. Being handmade vs machine made, not surprised the water color pulls up the fibers. It's the same reason there is no grain to the paper and possibly why the fine tip fountains are struggling so much. My main issue for my would be the pre-crease. I think that would feel like it pre-dictate the page orientation I use.
Found your videos recently and appreciate your content, your delivery and your professionalism. Thank you. Glad your video on marbling (tiger eye) came up on my feed. I dabble in marbling and binding and marbling videos are few. Always looking for quality content that isn’t a factory on the subject. If you videos on mixing the paint, would greatly appreciate it. I can’t seem to get it right, unless I order it already mixed and then play with the oxgall. Thanks!
I absolute enjoyed this paper testing video. Loved seeing you break out your fountain and dip pens! Paper, ink,nib choices, and brands create so much diversity that it’s always interesting and new every time I try a different combo. That’s part of the freshness that I’ve come to love so much about it myself. Cheers
I was so ready to buy this paper until you got to the fountain pen section. I have a calligraphy project in mind for Christmas. This is not the paper for that project.
I really appreciate this video, I never know what paper to use for my projects. It's so hard to tell just over the internet but you've given a good foundation for testing different samples. Thank you
There are a couple of types of newsprint paper you can buy, one is very much like what you'd find used in a newspaper. Very smooth, thin and heavily grained. The other type looks a lot like this medieval paper, which is not as brown, but very fluffy, and textured. But those papers are made to be dirt cheap and used for dry medium drawing.
Glue!!! You didn't test glue! Lol. Seriously collage is important. But you covered it all except perhaps a burn test lol. Very interesting. Things for me to think about when I make my own paper.
Okey Dokey, totally unrelated to the paper... what is the "font" you are using for the word "Dragons" etc at about 22:10? looks LOTRish, but isn't... i love the aesthetic, i want it in my repertoire...
A fountain pen lefty..... Interesting that it doesn't feather and draw out the ink... Do they say what the paper is made of? I pretty much exclusively use Noodler's bulletproof inks, and they chemically bond with the cellulose in cellulose based papers... (Nathan lives the next town over from me, we went to the same university, i have to support the local guy, lol)
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Looks like taht paper is thirsty af xD By the way ive watched your marbeling video, what kind of paper do u use, if u so kind, researching for paper is breaking my nerves. Love your channel
I feel your pain for being left-handed in a right-dominated world. We won't discuss scissors and kitchen gadgets... Out of curiosity, what would it do to the paper surface if you were to run over it with a clothes iron, possibly even with the steam function? Would this help with the fibers lifting?
Out of curiosity, did you contact the vendor and ask them why every single page was damaged because you know, if I went to an office supply store and bought a thing of paper and it was all folded in the middle, I consider it damaged. And if so what was the response. ;)
The true test of laser printing is how well it holds up over time (usually not very well). But, why on earth, would you use a laser printer in the first place? It's not ink; it's not archival quality; and it heavily contributes to microplastics in the environment.
Best review I've seen in a long time! I'd love to see more paper reviews. If you do any more I would also like to see how the paper would react to oil pastels since they are meant to blend and would react to texture in potentially fun ways
The crease in the middle is externally frustrating to see. It means it basically can only be used to create a book type item. No scroll, wall art or anything else. I’m also super annoyed the crease isn’t even in the middle. Just my opinion though 😊 besides the crease, the paper seems awesome.
Absolutely not something a watercolor artist would want to use on a regular basis. But then most handmade papers are like this - they're not sized. Sizing is what prevents the paper from completely absorbing all the water. Their graphical demos that you flashed up on the screen at the very beginning were pretty misleading. I'm not saying you cannot watercolor on this, but be prepared for it to not behave like real 100% cotton watercolor paper like Arches, unless you prepare it first with watercolor ground. I was curious if you watched that Adam Savage video. I was getting anxiety watching how he crafted that book. I mean, yes, he managed to create a book, but a lot of his methods were really out there, and I kept wondering where the "tutorial" portion of the video was going to show up because he prefaced that whole video by complaining that no one ever shows how to make a book, so he was going to show us how, but sped through everything. I think Adam is great, but yeah, that video wasn't instructional at all. Glad there's channels up like yours and Sealemon's and Nick the Booksmith who actually slow down and are willing to show step-by-step closeups of all the intricacies involved in book binding. Thanks for the honest review of this paper.
The paper texture would have me think it wasn't pressed or agitated. You agitate the paper slurry so the fibers which are like straws will line up. There are just to many loose fibers and it bleeds like toilet paper. The corner impression was probably from dipping the paper to stain it. How to make high quality hand made paper is a dying art.
To all those people whom argued with me on this channel that they didn't have cotton rag paper in the medieval Era, ha, who's the enlightened one now lol.
Ero used to be a small German fountain pen maker, they made afordable but high quality pens. That's all I know of them, from this old profesor that used, and swore by, one. Thank you for remindig me of him and thank you for the video ^_^
the question I'd like the answer to is what would actual medieval paper be? we know people envision it being not well done...blocthy and tinted... but would it have been really? isnt the darkened color just from age? wouldnt paper have been whiter?
Color aside, this paper is actually closer to medieval paper than our modern papers, as it is made of recycled plant fiber, in this case cotton. Medieval paper was made in much the same way, though usually using linen. Wood pulp paper is very much a modern invention.
For the markers, while you generally want a white surface for most things, toned paper can make for some nice effects with the right colours. However I fear that the rough surface on this paper would likely damage the brush nibs; some brands are more durable than other, but generally the foam brush nibs that many alcohol markers have are quite sensitive and fray easily on the wrong surface. I'm not surprised that they bled. Alcohol markers are notoriously difficult for paper to handle and I suspect their bleedthrough claim was for fountain pens and other wet water-based ink.
When I saw Adam's video I thought of you. His technique was a bit different but seemed to work. I was curious about the paper too, so thank you for the review! I does look like it's coated with something, maybe that's where the no bleed comes from, but it really pills up a lot. Might benefit from some sizing. Would be interesting to put some sizing on a sample and try the wet media again.
Well, it's certainly visually attractive if you like the old-fashioned hand-made paper look. When using the nibs, if you listen carefully you can actually hear the nib catching on paper fibers as it passes over the paper. Still and all, it looks like it could be an affordable option for those who cannot make their own hand-made paper. I did like the look it gave with the pencils, which is about all I can do these days, I might even give this paper a look myself. Must say, your calligraphy skills have survived much better than mine, LOL, must admit to serious lack of practice. Thank you, this turned out to be not only informative but also entertaining. I'll watch more if you make them! 👍
Great video! Thanks for doing this kind of materials test. Also, when I saw you bring the Higgens jar of ink out I had a feeling it would have the most bleed, it was the ink you used that I've had the most experience with.
As an archiving student who eventually wants to go into preservation and restoration, this video was SUPER informative for me! Thank you! I have only taken 1 intro bookbinding class but this video really solidifed some of the things I learned and even reminded me of things I had learned in my rare books class. I appreciate thebknowledge sharing!
When i began binding books i wanted to know and complete the whole process. The paper process was a wild ride but very satisfactory to bind a book 100% made by me.
What a great video! You took the time to test the paper in each of its attributes. I loved to see you testing each and every resource you had available and reviewing them as you went on testing. I really enjoyed the wonderfully crafted and honest reviews. Thanks 🙏
Thank you very much for making this video. I have seen this paper and wondered what it would be like to work with, now i know. I'm another leftie, so it is facinating to watch you using your pens.
