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Post by ladytiger7647 on Oct 20, 2015 12:18:53 GMT
Just an interesting question. For your letter writing purposes, which do you believe is better? There's a lot of pros and cons that go with each of these. I do like my letter sets because I can easily find them at second hand stores were as I have yet to find anything of the loose leaf variety there. Most of the time my letters are typically two pages filled front and back. However, I do write longer letters and use some loose leaf as extra paper for those letters. I'm just now realized the versatility of using just loose leaf mostly because most letter sets only have one or two sets of paper per envelope. One company that is confusing in this matter is Hallmark. Their letter sets are one sheet per envelope while their "thank you" letter set is two sheets per envelope.
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Post by sgtstretch on Oct 20, 2015 12:38:47 GMT
I tend to use paper pads, or loose leaf over letter sets, mainly because there is only a few pieces of paper per envelope with sets.
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Post by MrAndersen on Oct 20, 2015 12:58:05 GMT
Loose leaf or pads here, too. I average considerably more than one or two sheets per envelope, and most letter sets I see around here are A5, which I find too small.
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Post by Mia on Oct 20, 2015 15:35:50 GMT
I bought a bunch of sets cheaply - the envelopes are just a micrometer too small for the writing paper. I think it was 30 sheets to 15 envelopes. Pattern on one side. A5. Finding non-plain writing pads is harder - I like some of the Paperchase pads. I have plain Basildon Bond pads - airmail and also lilac, cream thicker paper, plus Three Candlesticks A4.
Other than the option of getting different designs... I prefer writing pads.
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Post by kansaskyle on Oct 20, 2015 16:42:40 GMT
I'm still new to the penapal thing, and I started with letter sets. I'm finding I run out of envelopes before I do paper, and then I mismatched colors and/or sizes if I use different paper.
Also, considering how thick some of my stationery sets are, I find writing more than a couple pages makes for a bulky letter! I'm admiring the thinness of Tomoe River paper, but I'm wondering where to find complimentary envelopes.
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Post by Chris on Oct 20, 2015 17:37:59 GMT
I tend to use a wide variety of different papers depending on where I am and what's on hand, and more often than not the envelopes don't match the paper. Sometimes that's because the paper came from a pad or a box without any envelopes, sometimes it's because I've had letter sets but invariably run out of one or the other (usually the paper) first, so now I have odd leftovers.
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Post by chojo on Oct 20, 2015 18:17:18 GMT
I tend to use loose sheets or pads rather than sets as I've found a lot of stationary sets are not fountain pen friendly, add to that the fact there seems to be few sets suitable for men. Lots of fluffy bunnies and flowers but not much else, I did buy a Monet set once from eBay which ran off crying when I got my fountain pens out.Pity as it was very nice.
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Post by sharmon202 on Oct 20, 2015 22:01:49 GMT
I do not use many "sets". I agree most are not fp friendly which is all my writing.
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Post by writingrav on Oct 21, 2015 14:00:25 GMT
I keep a variety of options available for letters depending on the anticipated length. A card (into which I can always stick another folded sheet) letter sets and various sized pads.
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Post by ladyonogaro on Oct 24, 2015 2:21:41 GMT
I do have a few letter sets that are okay with fountain pens, but I mostly use Tomoe River pads or onionskin paper or other fountain pen friendly paper. Sometimes I start a letter on a card, and quite a number of cards are of heavy enough stock that they are okay with fountain pens. Sometimes the friendliness depends upon the pen I use.
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Post by MrAndersen on Oct 24, 2015 5:06:01 GMT
Sometimes the friendliness depends upon the pen I use. Yes, that's very often the case with paper that isn't inherently fountain pen friendly. Finer nibs and more viscous ink tends to solve a lot of problems, sometimes I'll even use dip pens with very heavy non-fountain pen ink if I really want to use a troublesome paper. When I buy a new type of pad or pack of sheets, the first thing I do is to write a line or two with different nibs and a few different inks to give me an idea. I don't go through a ton of different inks, but I'll at least use ink I know often causes problems (De Atramentis and Iroshizuku), and ink that tends to work on anything (Pilot Blue-Black, Platinum Carbon Black). If it wasn't completely useless, I'll archive the test sheet so that I can refer to it when needed.
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Post by sharmon202 on Oct 26, 2015 8:58:16 GMT
I log all my fountain pen fills in a notebook so I can compare inks and know what I have in the pen. Keeping paper the same I can see two of the variables. I also look at the inks used in letters to me to compare pen/paper/ink combos.
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Post by saskiamadding on Oct 26, 2015 20:25:59 GMT
A lot of my pen pals start their letters on a pretty card, then insert several pages of FP paper folded up into it, on which they write the remainder of the letter.
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Post by richila on May 3, 2018 16:25:57 GMT
I tried letter sets, but most were too hard to write on with my fountain pens. Since then, I have created my own"letter set" with Tomoe River paper and a shimmery envelope in cream. I print my top sheet with a mermaid and my address stamp is a mermaid. I always use this stationery. So,my answer is loose leaf to create my own set.
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Post by tramplingrose on May 3, 2018 17:15:36 GMT
I tend to use all of the above. I have letter sets for shorter letters, but I have a couple penpals who get really long letters, and I use loose leaf for those. I also do a lot of envelope art, so it’s no matter that the paper doesn’t necessarily match. I also will occasionally type letters, and that’s usually done on plain white paper, though I’ve used stationery as well.
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