Peter Pauper "thank-You" Card Mini-Review

August 28, 2017

Greeting cards have been, for me, quite hit-or-miss as regards how well they deal with fountain pens. I've had cards that have run the gamut from entirely useless to spectacular -- and, sadly, the number of quite expensive cards I've bought which turned out to have egregious paper has been quite high (one was so bad that I actually wrote a rather sharp note to Hallmark about it).

When I wanted to write out a few thank-you cards, I did a little reading around to see if there was a brand I'd be likely to be able to trust. Searches here on good ol' FPN lead me to Crane & Co., which I dutifully looked up. And, while they do seem to be quite excellent quality, they were a bit more expensive than I was hoping. However, while checking prices on Crane & Co., I kept seeing Peter Pauper Press in the "related items" results, and so I refocused my searching in that direction. There are reviews of Peter Pauper Press journals here, and from those, it seemed like a company I might want to take a chance on. Also, though I can't find it now, I believe I saw a review on Amazon -- with a username that struck me as familiar from FPN -- that indicated their note cards were fountain-pen friendly.

So, I took a chance on a box, and I'm quite happy with the results.

The cards come in a pack of 14 cards and 15 envelopes -- which seemed to me to be quite considerate. I know I've goofed up any number of envelopes over the years, so having an extra is a good plan. The cards themselves are relatively small -- 3 1/2" by 5" -- which was fine for the brief notes I planned to be writing, but if you're expecting a more standard size, it could come as an unpleasant surprise.

The cards are quite well-printed to my eye, though I confess I'm not an authority. The lettering is embossed and crisp, and so far as I've seen, the gold ink hasn't flaked off. The texture of the outside of the card is somewhat like linen, and the stock itself feels comfortably thick and sturdy.

The inside of the card is quite a bit smoother, though I would say that there's a bit of feedback. It didn't feel at all scratchy under any of the pens/inks I used, but I definitely feel a slight drag against the progress of the nib. I prefer smoother paper, generally, but I don't find the sensation unpleasant. I experienced no skipping, nor do I see any feathering (even on the Yama-budo, which was in the wettest stub I own). There's a bit of shading evident, and even a tiny bit of sheen on the Yama-budo, though my photography skills aren't up to capturing it.

All in all, I would certainly recommend these cards, and plan to pick up a few more boxes of blank cards (they've got one design with an owl on the front that I find most fetching ), so I know I'll always have a fountain-pen-friendly card ready to hand whenever I feel like sending one. And, at the current price -- $9 for the set of 14 cards -- they don't really break the bank, either.