Apr 18
Tomoe River 68 old vs Regalia paper
Two things happened over the weekend that shock my “fountain pen” world. I came to know that Tomoe River paper has been discontinued in 2020 (production from machine 7) and the subsequent paper (from machine 9) and its successor (from Sanzen Paper) has been to varying degree not the original. For me TR has been the bedrock against which other mere mortal of notebooks were compared with.
Though I don’t use the Endless Recorder with the Tomoe River 68gsm paper for any daily use, I do use them extensively to check and review my inks. It’s the Lamborghini you have that pleases your soul than the daily driver you need.
The second piece of information is that Endless is now dropping the TR successor paper altogether and introducing the Regalia 80gsm paper in their awesome notebooks.
So, I did two things, tried to grab Endless Recorder notebooks with old stock TR68 paper and a new one with Regalia paper. Then had to wait a couple of days to get home to check it out with my inks. And here are my findings.
Krishna Mumbai & Diamine Wild Strawberry
Krishna Mumbai is one of the heavy sheeners, so much so that most of the time you wouldn’t be able to see the base color (dark brown).
Diamine Wild Strawberry on the other hand is not a sheening ink per se, but in very wet nibs it shows a golden halo. Especially on the Tomoe River paper.
Mumbai ink shows the same amount of sheen, but Wild strawberry is showing a gold shading almost like a shimmering ink on the Regalia. I checked this multiple times across different pages and other TR notebooks too. The sheen on this ink is unique and I love it.
Iroshizuku Kon-Peki
Normal ink has no sheen and a tiny shading under normal use.
Both the papers are showing a pink sheen. Point to note is that most of these inks were in the pen for a week or so and my Faber Castell Ambition do tend to concentrate the ink over time, but Kon-Peki never dries out and writes every time.
Again, the regalia paper is showing a bit more of that pink sheen
Taccia Sabimidori
This is one of the weird inks I have, its a teal when wet and dries to a much darker greenish torquoise. And its a heavy sheener
Here you can see that color difference. The ink retained that bluish shade even when it dried in the Regalia but in the Tomoe River as in other papers, its changed colors when its completely dried.
The sheen is more of less the same, but the pink is a bit more saturated in the Regalia.
Robert Oster Soda Pop Blue
This is a very tricky ink, as such it dries quickly in the pen and over time becomes sticky and difficult to write. Hence, I have paired it with the wettest nib I have. This ink shades in all paper especially when inked fresh and doesn’t sheen much in other paper.
As usual the Tomoe River paper shows incredible sheen, Since I wrote the TR page first, the starting line is pink in its entirety. Again, regalia is not behind in the amount of sheen and its more vibrant. This is the trend on all the sheeners.
Shading Inks
These are some of my heavy shading inks, especially the Coloverse Matter.
The trend continues here too, both show off the beautiful shading but Regalia the shading is more prominent. Look at the Goldgrin and Mustard inks, the sharp contrast between the lighter and darker shades is crazy.
Multi-Chromatic Inks
Some of my multi colored inks. These are fast becoming my favorite types of inks.
Here TR68 beats the Regalia. Both show off the multicolors. But it's more prominent in the TR paper. Regalia shows more/better shading, but the second color comes of a bit muted. Though Studio #162 ink showed similar colors but I can see the difference in both Nekoyanagi and Haha.
Here are some close ups. You see the multicolor in both but in TR68 it shows up in lighter shades as well, in the Regalia paper it shows up only where the ink has pooled. Also, you can see the better shading in regalia.
Other properties:
The regalia does have thicker lines, the mediums on the Faber Castell shows up as much as a broad. This doesn’t bother me as I’m mostly a stub guy, but if you prefer fine or EFs then this might bother you.
Though the paper is silky smooth with nothing in terms of feedback, it does hold the nib more than the TR68. I didn’t notice till I went looking for it, so again its not a issue for most
Final Thoughts
The pattern is clear. They both show the same amount of sheen but its more saturated in Regalia. Also, Regalia shows more shading and the variation is more prominent. TR68 shows better color halo effect in multi-chromatic inks and TR68 has thinner lines
These are all splitting hairs, in general I’m very impressed with the new Regalia paper, my anxiety of loosing out on the old TR68 is now more of nostalgia rather than a real one. Also, since its a heavier paper, ghosting is controlled better. Though it wasn’t a big deal for me.
Interesting points to note, the sheen in Kon-Peki, which I’ll have to investigate further and the absence of color change with Sabimidori, which changes color on almost all the papers (I like the cooler base color)
For me, this is a revelation and I’m hoping we see more papers (like one for daily use and a bit cheaper) and designers (journals, their Storybook series) for the regalia brand. Also now that I’m spoilt, I need an updated version with better showcase for the multi-chromatic inks.
