Onion Skin Paper Notepad
The quest for “perfect” paper is part of every fountain pen user, journaler, and writer’s journey. When I began using fountain pens over a decade ago, I was continually disappointed in the paper I would find in beautiful journals. At some point while attending a pen show, someone gave me a stack of different paper types to try and there were a few sheets of onion skin paper in the mix. I loved them, but I couldn’t find anyone making journals out of this type of paper. Then I came across the Onion Skin Journal on Instagram. The company was founded by poet Rémy Road during her lifelong quest to find the perfect journal. Their products are made by a father and son team based in Miami, FL. Onion Skin paper is made from 100% wood pulp and advertised to be fountain pen friendly and never leak through. They graciously sent me one of their notepads to try out. Thanks go out to them for sending this to me and if you are interested in learning more about Onion Skin Journal, check out their website.
Packaging: Their packaging is amazing! The notepad arrived wrapped in brown paper, tied closed with twine, and with a white sticker imprinted with an ouroboros, the symbol for wholeness or infinity with the words “The Onion Skin Journal” printed in black. It is simple with a cool vintage feel, and lets the product do the talking.
Design: The notepad has a simple white cardstock front with the ouroboros printed on it, the back is plain brown. It measures 5.4 in. x 8.5 in and 1/4 inch thick and contains approximately 125 sheets. The pages are glued in at the top allowing them to be removed with relative ease, but strong enough to hold up in a backpack.
Performance: I tested the paper with the usual spread of nib sizes, inks, pencil, and the infamous Sharpie. Due to the thickness of Onion Skin paper, there was ghosting on all writing instruments tested. I was pleasantly surprised that there was no bleed though even with the Sharpie! There was a small amount of feathering with the more saturated inks, but nothing too serious. The paper is ultra-thin and has wonderful texture to it. I typically flip the cover over the back of my notepads when using them, since this is a top glued notepad, I would advise against this as the cover can peal off the notepad if you bend it too far. This happened with mine, but I am very rough on my notepads and notebooks.
Value: $26 USD for approximately 125 sheets
Overall: This paper is truly fantastic. I remember using Onion Skin paper with my family typewriter prior to getting a computer as a kid, so it holds a special nostalgia for me as well. While the price point for the notepad is a bit higher than some of the other “big” brands, you are getting an amazing product and supporting a small business and father and son team working to keep alive a wonderful style of paper. In my opinion, their products are worth every penny, and I can’t wait to get more of their products in the future.
In the same price range:
Midori A5 $15 for 96 sheets
Tomoe River $20 for 100 sheets
