Fountain Pen Friendly Christmas Cards

[inkypete]

I have never had a problem. I look for the better quality cards, Hallmark ae usually good, and make sure I open a pack and feel the surface before I buy them. Had a good run last few years using Lamy F Safari.

[Runnin_Ute]

I have had pretty good luck with cards from the dollar store. Even with a wider nib. This year I used pens with a fine (M150), OB, (M200), 2464/manifold B (LJ), 1.1 (Al Star), B (3776), B stub (580)

[FPRebel]

I buy my cards from childrensartproject.org (no affiliation). Although they are a bit pricy as Christmas cards often are, this is $ I feel very good about spending.
The cards are slick"ish," but also very fountain pen friendly. I used one card this year to test a variety of red and green inks using a variety of pens, and everything that I threw on these cards dried very quickly without smearing, bleeding, or feathering. I was amazed!
(For those of you who, like me, are wary of unknown links even, this is the MD Anderson Children's Art Project link. Artwork of pediatric patients inspires each of the cards, and proceeds go back to the young patients, funding programs especially for them.
Did I mention they're very fountain pen friendly?!?

[WolvertonMountain]

I thank you, FPRebel, for your suggestion. These cards seem to me to be nowhere near as costly as the cards from Papyrus. Plus, I really like how the proceeds of their sales are used.

 

I buy my cards from childrensartproject.org (no affiliation). Although they are a bit pricy as Christmas cards often are, this is $ I feel very good about spending.

Did I mention they're very fountain pen friendly?!?

 

I will also purchase one of their notepads just to test how well they accept fountain pen ink.

 

Clifton

[FPRebel]

I thank you, FPRebel, for your suggestion. These cards seem to me to be nowhere near as costly as the cards from Papyrus. Plus, I really like how the proceeds of their sales are used.

 

 

I will also purchase one of their notepads just to test how well they accept fountain pen ink.

 

Clifton

Oooh! Let me know how the notepad works out!

Even though my "test" card dried quickly, etc. I still left my cards open as I wrote each of the succeeding.

[Retro-user]

Just curious -- would a rocker blotter help any with the less-FP-friendly card stock? I know it wouldn't help with feathering, as that goes to the absorbency of the paper, but perhaps it would help with slow dry times, smearing, etc. All bets are off on coated paper!

[Tasmith]

 

In general, ferrogallic inks (Akkerman Ijzer-galnoten blauw/zwart # 10, R&K Salix & Scabiosa, Platinum's blue/black, Diamine Registrar's, old formula MBMB,......) seem to be the most greeting card friendly, but you still have to test these inks out before you use them on any card stock.

 

I found iron gall inks tend to work best on "iffy" envelope and card stock.

[thudthwacker]

Just yesterday, I wrote out a card made by Image Arts, and was really impressed with how well it took fountain pen ink (in this instance, Sheaffer Skrip Green in a really wet broad nib). I'm not sure how old the box of cards is, though -- old enough that 36 cards and envelopes sold for $5.99, but recent enough that there was a URL printed on the box. Hm. I realize that a URL really only means that it's probably not more than 20 years old, and the price suggests that it's likely at the upper end of that range. Well, if you happen to see a box for cheap, maybe give it a try?

[Retro-user]

I just signed two of mine with a Lamy Vista sporting Lamy violet ink (there was another one I signed with red Pentel Energel ink, but we won't talk about that ).

[Rhincodon]

I don't know how accessible they are, but I got some cards from Trader Joe's (99¢) and they take fountain pens pretty well. Even a broad nib with sparkly J Herbin ink looked good. I am also in the group that writes a "real" letter on my usual paper, and does the "Happy holidays!" short message on the card.

[FPRebel]

I don't know how accessible they are, but I got some cards from Trader Joe's (99¢) and they take fountain pens pretty well. Even a broad nib with sparkly J Herbin ink looked good. I am also in the group that writes a "real" letter on my usual paper, and does the "Happy holidays!" short message on the card.

 

Yes, this.

[Retro-user]

None of my Hallmarks had issues this year.

[Dattebayo]

ShutterFly Foil cards are unfortunately not great for Fountain Pens. I was thinking of using a sheet glued to it, but I just ended up writing and layering the ink on with a trace through with the fountain pen.

 

Probably may opt for something else in the future.

[clazbill]

This year I used https://www.currentcatalog.com/ for christmas cards. Catch them on a sale and it you can get 18 cards with envelopes for about 6 bucks. Not bad at all.

 

Was part of a massive swap and I sent ~200 cards. I didn't have a problem with any of them, even the test card that I doodled on.