Writing/paper Experience Worsens Down The Page

[hologram]

I have used many different grid notebooks, pens and inks and usually experienced a common problem: after the initial 75% or so of the page, I experience a progressive loss of 'bite' or ability to put ink on the page. It's hard to describe and feels like a combination of drying up and/or waxiness in the paper. Occasionally accompanied by feathering.

 

I have thought this might be due to oils from my hand transferring to the paper as I wrote but experiments involving starting to write at the foot of a fresh page were inconclusive.

 

More or less true for Clarefontaine, Rhodia, Maruman and Miquelrius grid paper as well as cheaper alternatives. True for Waterman, Diamine, Parker, Pelikan and Sailor ink in Pelikans, Parker Vacumatics and Sailor pens, amongst others.

 

Any thoughts on what's happening? Do others experience something similar?

[A Smug Dill]

I have thought this might be due to oils from my hand transferring to the paper as I wrote but experiments involving starting to write at the foot of a fresh page were inconclusive.

 

 

Never mind using the whole page for experiments. What happens when you write three lines of text on the bottom quarter of the page, wait for the ink to dry, then cover the bottom half (or three-quarters) of the page with a fresh/clean piece of kitchen paper towel, and write three lines of text on the top quarter of the page? Does the writing experience differ between the two steps? What about the appearance of the written text?

 

Also try covering the as-yet-unused part of the page with a piece of kitchen paper towel as you do your "normal" writing moving down the entire page.

[Karmachanic]

I use an A4 page of cheap copy paper folded in half underneath my hand whilst writing. Also functions as a blotter and page marker..

[mhguda]

What happens when you turn the page bottom up, so to speak?

[MBDostoevsky]

I had a similar problem and I started to put a small support under my arm/wrist and adjusted my wrist position slightly to account for the difference in writing. The top of the pages were usually crisp after i wrote on them while the lower ones were a bit damp and I would say for the sake of a better word a bit pressed by the weight of my hand... the nib sometimes slipped over the lower part... with a few adjustments and a blotter paper I managed to get over this issue

[PAKMAN]

I had this problem and it was from hand oil. Started covering the bottom of the page with another piece of paper for my hand to rest on and cured it.

[XYZZY]

Not sure what to say in light of your inconclusive tests, but I agree with others here that the symptoms you describe immediately bring to mind my experience from hand oils, and I too find that keeping something under the hand helps. The hand oils are not being transferring the the hand that I am writing with: I am a lefty overwriter and any oils come from fingertips on my right hand which usually lead the way down the paper to hold the page down/flat. Whether the page needs to be kept flat is irrelevant, it's a matter of 50+ years of habit. If I need to protect the page from oils then it's something under the non-writing hand. You'll have to figure out if you have similar quirks.

 

I have also found that I do not notice this problem with Tomoe River paper: that's my daily driver and I do not keep anything under my hand when using this paper. I don't recall anybody here mentioning this before, maybe it's unique to me, or maybe it's just a feature of TR that has flown under the radar.

 

When I hear of this problem I think of Clairefontaine & Rhodia, which this is worse for me and I avoid mostly for this reason. I have never used Maruman or Miquelrius so I cannot speak to those. I'm pretty sure that I have experienced the problem in Leuchtturm1917 A5 notebooks as well, although I haven't bought any of those since 2018.

 

I also have a recollection from when I tried Clairefontaine & Rhodia that some inks were better in this regard than others, but unfortunately I don't remember what those were.

[MBDostoevsky]

I had this problem and it was from hand oil. Started covering the bottom of the page with another piece of paper for my hand to rest on and cured it.

 

Solves problem in almost majority of the cases.

[Studio97]

Finally, being an overwriter lefty has an advantage except when ink doesn't dry fast. Oh well.

[cellmatrix]

its your hand oil thats causing the problem.

 

If you print then as mentioned above, just put another piece of paper under your hand as you move down the page.

 

If you write cursive, then you should learn to hold the pen the way you are supposed to, according to the cursive penmanship experts, like E.C. Mills, by keeping the side of your hand off the paper, and just having your 4th and 5th fingernails touch the paper. It takes practice but once you learn it, you'll find that you have much more control over your writing.

 

[hologram]

Thanks everyone for your insights.

 

Various subsequent tests writing on the bottom part of a fresh page and using kitchen towel have confirmed that hand oils are causing the issue, both from my right hand (writing) and my left hand (holding the page flat).

 

I am now using kitchen towel under my hand and neither the side of my writing hand or my left hand are in contact with the writing surface. The result seems to be: no hand oils.

 

So good, so far, but will also be trying out a modified writing position as suggested by @cellmatrix above and have found my excuse to source some Tomoe River paper (thanks @XYZZY).

 

Thanks again to all!