The other day I wrote on a pad with pens filled with PR Lake Placid Blue and PR Avocado Green and they both feathered badly. I didn't get any feathering using Florida Blue or Aurora Black. Fortunately, I don't have this problem with the paper I usually use, but was wondering if this is an issue Private Reserve inks?

Not for me except for when I haul out the buck apiece school special notebooks for major writing projects. And then I'm scribbling so hard and marking thru so much all I notice is it soaking thru. But then ALL my inks do that given the cheap paper and B nibs.

Generally, no.

I find Shoreline Gold has very good flow, and makes a wider liner - but it doesn't feather. Blue Suede on the other hand, does feather. All my other PR inks write normally.

It's always a combination of the paper and the ink, as you have sort of pointed out already. It seems to me that in real life situations it's kind of a crap-shoot whether a certain paper and ink will add up to feathering or not.

My lowest-feathering ink is Noodler's. My highest-feathering ink is also Noodler's. (different inks of course.)

It seems to me that almost any ink if in a wet enough pen and used with crummy enough paper will feather. A dry ef on good paper is hard to get to feather no mater the ink.

I've never had feathering problems with DC Supershow Blue, American Blue or Midnight Blues. I found that Black Velvet is somewhat prone to feather, but my experience with it is limited -- I prefer Noodler's Black.

For what it's worth, I was writing in a Moleskine journal last night with PR Avacado (in a medium Phileas) and had absolutely no problems. I also use the DC Supershow Blue in a Pelikano (usually taking notes in a Moleskine Cahier) and while smearing is an issue, feathering is not.

On the other hand, I tried some of that Fast-Dry Sherwood Green, and it feathered so badly the individual letter turned into blobs. This was again in a Cahier. The problem was lessened when I wrote on an index card. Haven't tried it in a different pen yet.

Jeff

I think that feathering is also a function of the paper used. My only problem with PR inks is the long drying time and resultant smudging, so I have to carry a blotter when using PR with my wet, wide nibs.

I have a few different PR inks. I have only noticed higher-than-average feathering with Orange Crush. Even then, it hasn't been too bad -- I still like and use the color.

I sometimes have cause to write on standard copier paper. I've recently switched from Quink Black to PR Midnight Blues at work. I note that the PR starts to soak through the paper, whereas the Quink did not. All down to it being more saturated I guess.

A.

I have noticed that my PR Chocolate doesn't give nearly such a crisp line as the Diamine Imperial Purple - and this is when I am using the same pen, on the same page (going back and adding notes to a previous page). This is on Black and Red paper, which generally seems to behave very well.

I've just tried it on some cheap paper, along side the Diamine (which is now in another pen, but also with a narrow italic nib) and the chocolate is indeed feathering, while the purple isn't.

Clare

By feathering, do you mean it bleeds on to the paper.....like with watercolor paint on wet paper????

It means that the ink seeps along the lines of the fibres in the paper, giving a fuzzy (or sometimes illegible) effect to your writing

I'm relatively new to the fountain pen world, but I've used many different inks, and I own three different bottles of PR. My velvet black tends to feather when I'm using a broader nib and cheaper paper (such as every day legal pad). My Black Magic Blue doesn't seem to feather that I've notices, and my quick dry Sherwood Green only feathers on really cheap paper with a broad nib. It doesn't bother me enough to stop using the ink.