Could someone post some scans of what "feathering" looks like when it bothers people? I'd like to recognize it and qualify it properly.

--John

Annoyingly, I cannot get feathering to work when I want it to...

But what it is, is ink which has stained through the paper and has spread out beyond the original line made by the pen nib. It makes writing look messy and blotchy and overly bold. Feathering closes up loops (in Os, lower-case Es, loopy lower-Fs etc etc) and it can sometimes bleed through the paper to the other side of the page.

It's best combated by finding decent writing paper. General printing paper is normally feather-free.

Feathering is the broadening of a line by capillary action along the fibers of the paper. In other words, it doesn't just broaden the line, it makes it look like an ugly caterpillar. Feathery paper also often has the disgusting habit of printing through to the other side of the page where it leaves random blots here and there. Yuck.

Here are a few close ups of various inks on Levenger Circa paper. The x-height of the letters is around 2mm:







The following is an example of a paper that does NOT feather. It's from a Kunst & Papier journal which has fountain pen friendly paper. Although the paper isn't super smooth like Clairefontaine, you can see in the thins created by this cursive italic that the ink isn't spreading out or getting catepillary:



Anyway, hope this helps.

Doug

Yes indeed. Thanks for the pictures and for the explanation.

--John