» Question: Why do the lines on my Rhodia pad appear darker than in the past?
Every now and again we receive a letter asking whether or not the signature Rhodia violet lines have become darker. Rob Morrison sent us the photo above and said that the seemingly darker lines “really disguise the writing.”
The lines on the new pads do appear darker because Rhodia is now using a 100% natural ink as opposed to a chemical one.
In terms of color, the dye sources are providing recipes to match as close to possible to the standard violet Rhodia was using until 2010. While the ink formula remains the same in terms of intensity, the new inks are no longer sensitive to UV rays. What previously appeared to be lines of a lighter color were actually the chemical inks becoming fainter once exposed to light. While both old and new pads had the same ink intensity coming out of the factory, the old ones became lighter within a relatively short time. The new ones will not.
In both intensity and hue, natural inks tend to show more variation from one production batch to another. They are more sensible to machine speed, direction of the paper fiber etc.- each batch requiring a fine tuning to meet quality standards.
We hope that you will understand our choice for natural inks to be an integral part of our commitment to protect the environment, from sustainable fibers to water and air treatments.
That being said, we are actively working within those ecological parameters to answer your request for lighter rule in our Rhodia pads.
Stay tuned for updates!
Comments
I would love it if there were more ruling choices available for the side staplebound Rhodia notebooks. I find the line ruling on Rhodia and Clairefontaine to be too wide for my writing. I’d love a Dot, blank, and/or grid option on the side staplebounds. I like the cahier form for daily journaling since they don’t weigh down my messenger bag.
I know Clairefontaine has this option, but I pretty much have to go to ArtBrown for those. The grid staplebounds and TwinBooks are not nearly as ubiquitous as the lined rule.
While I prefer lighter lines myself, I think your decision is the only responsible one.
This is great to know. I had no idea your products were this ecologically sound. I don’t really care about the color of the lines, but it’s nice to know about Rhodia’s committment to the environment. Plus it encourages me to recylce every single scrap of paper I use instead of just throwing it away.
I have utmost respect for Rhodia and your products – they really are the nicest pads out there, especially for us fp users. However, I truly don’t understand what you mean by “natural” as opposed to “chemical” ink. Please don’t take this the wrong way – I’m keen to be educated here – but I’m a bit wary of the “recent” trend of associating chemicals with ecologically harmful ingredients by default, when in reality there are plenty examples of both harmful and safe natural and artificial substances. (Oil comes straight out of the ground, remember.) Do you perhaps mean that the new inks are more biodegradable than the old ones?
Again, I love Rhodia products and am just keen to understand exactly what you mean here.
There’s a similar discussion regarding mollies except the fellow complaining about the darker lines is angry enough to ditch mollies in favor of the German Leuchtturm notebooks.
Me, I want a Rhodia Daily planner.
I’d prefer lighter lines, though finding out why the lines were lighter is pretty interesting!!
Also, I’d like to second Alejandro’s request, I’d love graph or dots on the side staplebounds, especially the larger ones. I use them for notes in class, and graph/dots are necessary for math classes. Even general writing, since the ruling is tighter than with lined.
I am extremely disappointed with the quality of the lines in the new notebooks. I use the notebooks with the grid or “bloc” print lines. The lines are now much darker than my writing is with a fountain pen. The excuse that the old inks changed when exposed to light doesn’t hold up. I’ve used these notebooks for more than ten years and have never seen the lines turn lighter as they are being exposed to light
The real reason the lines are so dark and thick is because they are smeared. When I first received my new “reverse” notebook I was shocked at how dark and thick the lines are. Upon closer examination I can see that the lines are smeared – and that is what is giving the lines the thick, dark appearance. Looking at the lines with a magnifying glass one can see how severe the smearing actually is. The bloc pattern now resembles the cheap graph paper I used to buy as a kid.
These new notebooks are unusable. What is even more frustrating is that I was told by Rhodia that all of their notebooks will vary greatly by batch.
You have a very unhappy (soon to be ex-) customer.
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