Ink According To Paper Or Paper According To Ink?

[bwnewton]

Do you buy your inks so that you can use any quality of paper or do you tend to buy your paper so that you can use any ink regardless of its behavior?

 

A couple of years ago or so I decided I was most comfortable in the former. I want the inks I use to have practically no feathering or bleed-through on the papers I most often find myself using throughout the course of the day at home and work--20lb copy paper, Moleskine weekly planner & cahiers, Made in Brazil Norcom Composition Notebooks, Ampad Gold Fibre Project Planner, Ampad Gold Fibre Classic Planning Pads, Leuchtturm1917 Journals and Rhodia Classic Side Staplebound Notebook (3x4.75). Therefore, my most commonly used inks include Lamy Blue, Lamy Blue-Black (old formula, iron-gall), R&K Scabiosa, R&K Sepia, Stipula Calamo Musk/Moss Green, Quink Blue-Black, Quink Black, and Skrip Red. Basically, most of the inks I use regularly would make Inkyjournal's 100% Moleskine Proof list of inks.

 

While I like Diamine Emerald, for example, I would be limited to using paper such as Rhodia, Clairefontaine and 24lb-32lb copy paper.

 

So which way do you lean, inks that behave well on any quality of paper or paper on which any ink behaves well? Please include then the applicable inks and/or papers.

Edited February 7, 2014 by bwnewton

[Inkling13]

Ink and pen are with you for the day, paper will come and go. I like my ink versatile. Pilot Blue-black is my current go to, Noodler's HOD is 2nd, and Sailor Kiwa-guro is 3rd.

Edited February 7, 2014 by Inkling13

[bwnewton]

Ink and pen are with you for the day, paper will come and go.

 

Very well stated! Thank you.

[Joane]

Very good question. Any paper I use at home has to be "fpf"--fountain-pen-friendly. The ones that work well for regular correspondence or art use with fountain pen and any ink are Clairefontaine, G. Lalo, Atoma and Crane. Printer/copy paper is Step Forward wheat-straw paper and I make fpf cards with Hammermill 100 lb card stock called Color Copy Digital Cover.

 

That said, at work I never had any problem with whatever paper was available, with fountain pen in use every day. I use mostly MB and Herbin ink and I'm sure their properties also contribute to a good result as I find them the most versatile brands, regardless of paper variety.

[mirosc]

It's easier to change the pen (which has already a certain ink loaded) than to ask colleagues or management to change the sort of paper. So: I adapt to whatever is needed, as I have enough inks and pens to choose from.

[Biology]

I have few inks as I choose very carefully for purpose and longevity of use however I always but paper of high quality. This does not mean that I spend more that .98 UDS, it just means that I know how to pick good paper. I have a great deal of .98 UDS ( why do I have a $ sign on my keyboard but not a cents symbol?) composition notebooks that are nearly as good as my Rhodia ( my go to paper for quality). In the US I have found that the office supply store STAPLES has good standard stock paper. I have bought several 5 subject spiral binders from there and the paper is of good quality. It really is about picking good ink and understanding that really good paper is not always expensive, in fact it can be very very cheap. First thing i did is find a good paper, in my case it was good old Rhodia, then I just compare the "feel" of all other papers. The closer it feels to your standard "good" paper the better it is. In paper it is about three things; Is it More wood pulp, is it more rag (cotton) fibers, and is it coated in vellum such as Rhodia and quite a few super value brands that cost pennies. TIPS: Do not but copy paper (bad quality, or the good stuff is pricey), DO NOT buy paper that is obviously light and see through (hold it up you will know), DO NOT trust gram weight or store employees description of paper (NEWS FLASH: I have yet to find an employee at an office supply store that knows anything about paper). In truth FEEL is going to be the very best factor, you can , feel the difference between slightly varying degrees of rag and fiber content with your finger tips, it is the best tool you have. I have a very large stock of "cheapo" brand NORCOM composition notebooks that are as nearly as good as Rhodia and Staples prodices decent stock paper for more money than NORCOM but of less quality, put that in your pipe and smoke it. Hope this helps, probably didn't.

[Inkydinkydog]

 

Very well stated! Thank you.

Agreed.

[lapis]

Inks are much more important for me. I highly regard their colours and good maintenance. I collect inks, not papers. The main paper thing is that I need something with texture, like Artoz, Rhodia, 1917, Graf it 90g, even Moleskine. Of course, the paper shouldn't be the cheapest and/or most absorbant, otherwise no shading. Bleedthrough and feathering are for me unimportant, likely because I usually write on one side. Finally, I stay away from Clairefontaine because that has (for me) no texture at all; it's like trying to write on a piece of glass. Thanks for asking this good question!

 

Mike

[WirsPlm]

I don't limit myself in either way, I just buy the ink and paper I want and use them all, although getting used to using printer paper turned out to be a good idea all round when my work stopped providing us with notepads (cheap, cheap, and so frustrating).

Edited February 7, 2014 by WirsPlm

[ac12]

At home, the paper should handle whatever ink I want to use on it. I get rid of paper that feathers or bleeds through with my journalling pens/inks. The inks that I use at home are Cross/Pelikan, Waterman and Sheaffer Skrip.

The paper that I use for journalling is Staples made in Brazil notebooks.

I also have other papers for when I want to do something other than journalling

• HP 32# preimium
• Hammermill 28# Color Copy Digital
• Staples 20# cane
• Staples 16# Brazil filler paper.

In the work environment, as others said, I have no choice on the paper, so the pen/ink has to handle it.

In this case I used Cross/Pelikan or Waterman ink, depending on which pen I have on me at the time.

[JakobS]

Outside of work I use a paper that I have found can take on any ink I have thrown at it, about 15 different Diamine inks, R&K Scabiosa, Organic Studios Aristotle and F. Scott Fitzgerald being the ones I can think of immediately. There is no bleed through even with pretty wet writers, and only a bit show through. its the college ruled loose leaf paper from Roaring Springs, called Environotes and is made from sugar cane waste. You can find it at many college bookstores, and is just a fantastic all around paper. I fond it superior to the Staples variety, at least the version made four or so years ago.

 

Within work, I use the Roaring Springs paper as well as office max printer paper which can be a feathery mess outside of using Iron Gall Ink such as Diamine Registrars or OS Aristotle.

Edited February 7, 2014 by JakobS

[Paddler]

I don't lean either way. I select the paper and ink I want to use and then look at the test sheet I made when I first bought the paper. If the ink doesn't behave well with that paper, I make another selection.

[Bookman]

I don't buy paper with particular inks in mind, I don't buy inks with particular paper in mind. I sometimes buy inks with particular pens in mind, or pairs or groups of pens, but generally I buy them on their own merits, as I buy paper.

[Runnin_Ute]

The papers I use usually are the following:

 

Red n Black notebooks - journaling, the occasional letter or quick note mostly.

Made in Brazil composition books. Most of the notes I make for work. These are notes of phone calls and certain things don't get written down. Because of HIPAA, I have to be careful of PHI (personal health information) so things like names, addresses, phone numbers etc don't get written down - on occasion if I have to put a name, it will be a last name and then gets scribbled out.

I have a Piccadilly leatherlook notebook, which feathers more than I would like but it is ok.

Several years ago for resumes I bought a box of Southworth Granite Specialty paper. 90 gsm, 25% cotton, watermarked. - It primarily gets used for letters.

I have a package of Avery notecards as well. (#8317) They are ok, for the money.

 

I mix and match most if not all my inks work pretty well with most if not all.

[herbsttag]

All of my personal paper is very nice, high quality stuff. When I buy paper for myself it's with the expectation that it will handle all ink. However, as an English student, I do lots of annotations on horrid quality book paper or copy paper. So I do tend to make sure that I have at least one pen inked at all times with ink that works nicely with low quality paper. Ink working on bad paper isn't my highest concern, and if I like a color I will buy it even if it turns to a feathery mess on bad paper, but ink that does play well with bad paper is a big plus.

[bwnewton]

My initial post of this topic has been posted with a pic (no biggie) at http://bartnewtonblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/ink-according-to-paper-or-paper.html.