2 New Tangles, Rhodia DotPad No: 16: Review and Rhodia 'R' Pad No. 16 Giveaway

The winner of the Rhodia 'R' pad giveaway is Duchygirl37.

There's a giveaway coming up later in this post, and some new tangle patterns, but first the review.

Karen from Exaclair generously sent me a Rhodia dotPad No. 16 and Rhodia 'R' Pad No. 16 for review.  Thank you, Karen!

The Rhodia dotPad No  16

The facts, just the facts, ma'am
Top staplebound
Paper- White 80g vellum, ph Neutral, acid-free
Dot grid (5 mm)
80 sheets
Microperforated - light lilac dots
Black cover
No. 16 size 14.8 x 21 cm/ 6" x 8 1/4"
(also available in 8.5 x 12 cm, 3 3/8" x 4 ¾"; 21 x 31.8 cm, 8 ¼" x 12 ½" and 42 x 31.8 cm,16 ½" x 12 ½")

Now, the nitty gritty
The first thing that might catch your eye about the Rhodia dotPad are the heavy duty staples and score lines along the top.  They give the appearance of a sturdy product, and indeed, the Rhodia dotPad exceptionally sturdy.  Both front and back have a soft-cover, and the back has a strong cardboard piece to add stability and strength.

I'm using a photo from my current 'R' pad because the orange cover shows up better, and you can see how the score lines on the cover add flexibility.  The dotPad doesn't lie flat with this binding, and if you write or draw in it, using the portrait orientation (you may have trouble writing on the back.  I tend to use the portrait (6"h x 8 1/4" w) when drawing or writing on the front and then switch to a landscape orientation (  8 1/4" h x 6"w) when I'm working on the back.  That might be disturbing for some.

The dotGrid is awesome!  The dots look gray to my eye, but if I blow them up on the scanner I can see that they are a light lilac color.  It's very easy on the eyes and definitely less instrusive than a full grid.

The scanner barely picks them up.  In fact, I had to run a scan at 600 DPI to get them to show!  You can see from the scan that there was no feathering or shadowing with any of the pens I used, and the Lumocolor is the only that bled.  And the Lumocolor bleeds through most paper.

The paper is vellum, so it has some weight without being stiff or as heavy as a cardstock.  It's silky and smooth with little texture, so your pen glides across the page.  I won't say it's smudge-proof but I've yet to have anything smudge on me with either this dotPad or the 'R' pad I've been using for quite a while.

Next up, I tried out my Letraset Promarkers.  They did bleed through, as always, but the colors really glow on this paper.  I was inspired and decided to see how this paper works for designing tangle patterns.  I found that the dots help guide the eye but are easy to ignore if you don't need them.

When doing this pattern space your circles far enough apart so you'll have plenty of room to complete the 'icicle' in the (sideways) flames.  Lots of room for varition by changing the size of the circles, the height and width of either the flames or the icicles.

Whew!  I get to working in one of these Rhodia pads and just can't quit!

The idea of the dots got me to thinking, and I saw this book on String Art in the store, so another pattern was born--well, re-idealized, might be a better word.  String Art has been around since man had boards, pegs and twine.  I know that other tangles patterns that look very similar to this have been posted, but I don't think any of them follow these steps, so I went with it.  If you do know of anyone else that has used steps like this, please let me know so I may give the credit to them instead of myself.

Even though the dotPad has dots, I didn't want to go dot-to-dot.  I wanted to place 'pegs', and just use the grid dots for what they are best for--guiding the eye.  So I placed my own dots, pretending they were pegs.  Then I pretending that I was weaving twine between the pegs as I drew my lines.

You can vary the pattern by varying the length of some spires--make one round of spires all one length, make the all the second set longer, and the third set longer yet.  I would advise keeping all the spires in one round as close to the same length as possible.  Add details inside the circle and the spires.  Change the last step and fancy up the border.

This makes me think of Bridge Mix being made--chocolate covered raisins & almonds & brazil nuts and hazelnuts. Ahh!

If you don't like the feel of working on Graph paper, but do like something to help you keep track of your tangle steps this would be an excellent paper to use for organizing patterns or for practicing them.  I don't find the dots intrusive at all, and find they only add a sense of texture to my color work.

If you want to learn more about the dotPad, especially if you are into fountain pens and premium inks, check out these other reviews.  But come back!  There's still the giveaway coming up!

Other Reviews of the Rhodia dotPad
Pencil Revolution Rants of the Archer
Spiritual Evolution of the Bean
Ink Nouveau

The Rhodia 'R' Pad
Karen also sent me an 'R' Pad.  I already have one, and have written a Rhodia 'R' Pad Review, so check it out if you wish to know more.  A lot of it is similar to the review of the Rhodia dotPad except that it comes with 90 lb paper is ivory rather than 80 lb white, and it comes in black or orange covers, with either blank or ruled paper and has 70 pages versus 80.  And, no dots.  The 'R' Pad I'm giving away has blank pages like the one in my 'R' pad review.

I was sorely tempted to keep this new one for that time when I've filled my current one. But, nah!  I can't do it, knowing there are some of you out there who have yet to experience the 'R' Pad.

 So, I'm giving it away.

Leave me a comment and I'll enter your name.  Your entry will be assigned a number, and the winning number will be chosen via the random number generator.  Entries end at midnight PST on December 5th. The winner will be announced on the 6th.

You know, even though I've been sick, and ache like I've been trampled, I 'feel' good!  I love doing these reviews and I love having these giveaways so I can share my excitement with you.  Life is good!