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An interesting article from Scientific American New Scientist (edited - thanks to those who pointed out the error), 1959, outlining the history of the development of quick-drying fountain pen ink, and how the ink and paper interact to influence perceived feathering or line spread. It also is clear how ink recipes can affect pen components or reliability thereof. http://bit.ly/Science_of_Quick_Drying_Fountain_Pen_Inks

Hello everyone! When one discusses about the writing experience of fountain pens, a common topic is the combination of the three big elements of FP writing: pen, paper and ink. If one starts the fp hobby, more or less inevitably end up becoming a paper connoisseur and with one or more tri-part favorite combos. Perhaps less mentioned is the recurrence of the topic with other types of pens, specially with ballpoint pens which have a double reputation of "writing on almost anything" (including paper, plastic surfaces, etc. due to water insoluble, high viscosity ink) and also of being really temperamental hard-starting and skipping writers. After writing with fps for a while, I discovered that I like writing marks on paper as much as I like my fountain pens. lately I got back to (mechanical) pencils and ballpoints and started exploring into gel ink (rollerball?) pens. I am gladly surprised at what ballpoints can deliver in terms of smoothness, saturation and overall writing experience. Not what I remember of ballpoints as hideous disposable writing instruments. My current theory is that those poor pens are actually the remnants of once ok pens that suffered horrific mistreatments and kept painfully going despite this So, for new-out-of-the-package ballpoints (modern ones, of course) the writing is not nearly as bad... well, most of the time. I have noticed that paper quality is of great importance for ballpoints, maybe even as much as with fountain pens! Let me explain why I think this is the case: After trying some brand new pens, I noticed that they wrote sometimes allrigth and sometimes very badly. This behavior coincided mostly with the end of pages where my arm and hand have passed many times, in contrast with fresh empty pages where writing was easy at first. At other times, the pens skipped on one particular part of the page and refuse to write no matter how hard I push. In this cases, the writing sensation was quite distinct, and can be described as if the point of the pen slides over a very smooth surface. This can be proven by looking close to the area where the pen is not writing where the surface looks polished and even slightly shiny. In normal writing, ballpoints have a drag feeling due to the viscosity of the ink but this was obviously not the case here. In order to write, the ball at the tip of a ballpoint pen needs to be constantly covered in ink, which is achieved by means of the rotation of the ball caused by the friction with the paper. So, to write, a ballpoint needs that the friction of the tip with the paper be more than the friction of the ball with the ink above it. If, for any reason the ball gets stuck, or the friction with the tip diminishes enough, the ball does not rotate and ink cannot come out. The issue with paper is then if the paper can grip the point strongly enough to make it roll. In a fresh page, the surface is still rough enough to make this happen (Ink may also contribute to stick the point to the paper), but in the polished surface at the end of a page, it may become more and more difficult until the pen starts skipping and refusing to start. Other contributing factor that is relatively easy to observe is that small fibers can shed off the surface of the paper, then stick to the ink at the point of the pen and collect at the side of the nozzle making the ball stuck. this becomes visible as a little ball of inky fibers at one side of the tip. When you remove this material by wiping the borders of the tip in a clean paper, the pen starts out smooth again. This is very much reduced in other kinds of paper. I discovered that coated papers tend to grip the point much better, which eliminates skipping and makes starts much easier. the same papers tend to make a variety of pens to write nicer and smoother. Lines also look much more saturated and uniform. On the other hand, the tendency to smearing is more pronounced. So, in practice, there may be also good (even ideal) ballpoint friendly paper. I'd like to know if any of you have also had similar experiences and what is your favorite paper in combination with ballpoints. Saludos Tadeo

Which fountain pen inks would you use to test an unfamiliar paper product for (at least some aspects of) its fountain pen friendliness? Recently I've been in a frenzy of acquiring more notepads and notebooks, on which to write with fountain inks, largely in brick-and-mortar stores with Japanese names such as Daiso, Muji and Kinokuniya. Unfortunately, it is not common practice for stores here to have samples or tester units of paper products; Daiso has none, and Muji may put out just one or two but not selected on the basis of either, "compare our premium made-in-Japan writing paper, against our 'planting tree' line sourced primarily from Indonesia, and our recycled paper line with a minimum of 55% recycled content made in either country," or, "we say this line of notebooks is show-through resistant, so have a go writing or drawing on it with your pens of choice!" Kinokuniya offers a few, but far from covering all the main brands of which it sells multiple product lines; the samples are mostly $20+ notepads and $25+ journals. Nevertheless, Daiso products on a per-item (but not necessarily per-page) basis, are cheap enough to be perhaps 'worth' just buying one as a private tester unit, if upon inspection in-store the paper seems promising; the same can be said of (only) some Muji products. Not so what Kinokuniya sells! Anyway, I'm of a mind to put together a handful of (no more than five or six) fountain pens in a carry case, as the essential test kit for writing paper, whether I do the testing on provided tester units in-store, or what I actually purchased on a punt. Obviously, the selection of pens and inks would reflect my personal writing habits and preferences, but as a limited test kit and of course limited time in which to do such testing I'm primarily interested in covering edge cases while still being 'reasonable'. (For example, as far as I'm concerned, using Noodler's Polar Green ink would be unreasonable; in my experience it feathers on and bleeds through just about every make and type of paper, so much so I had to stop using it for anything and give my bottles of it away in spite of having bought them for its purported 'bulletproof' qualities.) Here's an example of the kind of testing I have in mind: Muji 裏うつりしにくいノート B5 Notebook Set Now, I'm curious as to what you — and everyone else — would choose for testing. I hate feeling as if I have to pre-empt this, but I want to make this clear: the question is not, "What would you like to see in a paper review prepared by someone else at their expense?" I want to know what's relevant and important enough to you that you would spend the money, take risks, and/or make the effort to buy, sample and test unfamiliar paper products for their suitability for your usage with fountain pens; what enthuses you enough that, pass or fail, you'll want to share the results at your cost with other hobbyists. I'm thinking in terms of us as doers and contributors to the community, not merely takers and consumers of crowd-sourced information or frugal shoppers. I'm still refining my own list, but roughly in order of priority: Platinum Carbon Black — I love pigment inks for their permanence and waterproofness, including not changing colour when soaked or washed, when it comes to content that I want to remain legible for the lifetime of the paper (and perhaps my lifetime); and I'd want a dense, dark, 'formal' colour for testing. Sadly, Sailor kiwaguro is not waterproof, and so I prefer Platinum Carbon Black, but I do find that some papers don't take well to the latter. All the better to include that as the Number One ink in my test kit. Interestingly, problems with feathering and bleed-through of this ink are more likely to manifest with high stroke density using a very narrow nib, as opposed to writing with a broad or stub nib, so for the purposes of the test kit, the ink will be dispensed using a Japanese Fine or Extra Fine nib.Platinum Classic Ink Lavender Black — I think a paper product should be tested for how it deals with iron-gall inks, and of the three iron-gall inks I have today (but two more are on order), I like the colour and punchiness of Lavender Black the best, when delivered using a Stub nib. Not just writing with a broad nib for "showing off" the ink, but to render some semblance of Italic writing on paper; the shading is a not-unwelcome side effect, but the base colour (which would get ruined by soaking or washing) and water resistance is the reason I use this ink.Pelikan 4001 Blue/Black — This is just a very old bottle of presumably iron-gall ink I have, which is what I use with the pen that has my favourite nib, a 14K gold Pelikan EF nib that Dan Smith customised to a crisp italic for me. For the purposes of testing a paper product, I'd be primarily looking at the crispness of the pen strokes on the page.Sailor Shikiori yodaki — I love the colour but hate the wetness of this ink, and it's a relatively expensive ink to boot (as it was never offered in the round 50ml Sailor Jentle bottles the way the sixteen originally Shikisai colours were). Oh, and it sheens green and gold. In my experience, many coated and uncoated papers don't deal well with a wet line of this ink.Diamine Iridescink Robert — A highly saturated monster-sheener of an ink, that is much cheaper than Sailor Shikiori yodaki and of which I have a large bottle. At the moment I primarily use it in a Pilot Elabo with a Soft Extra Fine nib, and many papers have problems with bleed-through when I allow the nib to linger for a moment as I try to flex the nib to get swells in pen strokes.I haven't quite decided what the sixth ink should be; Noodler's Air-Corp Blue-Black is a candidate, and so is Diamine Jalur Gemilang. I use Sailor souboku and seiboku pigment inks in Fine-nibbed pens often, but they tend to be so well-behaved on most papers that they don't warrant testing when I'm unsure of a new or unfamiliar paper product. Over to you! Edit: Eleven new inks just arrived in the past 24 hours, so I may have to look at revising my list.

I picked up a Daiso Rakugaki A5 Sketch Pad while I was in the store yesterday. I'd strongly advise not writing on the pages of one with a fountain pen.

Dear All, I think this is an age old debate. I just want to start it again. I am from Chennai. I am using FPs with Western Medium Nibs coupled with dry ink. Which are the fountain pen friendly papers / notebooks (minimum size: B5) made in india which can be bought online or may be in stores directly. Please share your views. Thanks in advance.

Hi, I love drawing on newsprint paper which feathers and soaks up ink in glorious globs whenever I stop moving the pen for an instant. But of course newsprint is not archival and turns yellow. Is there an acid free newsprint-like paper? I've looked but have not found such a thing. Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Where can I buy nib Tuning Supplies like micro-mesh and mylar paper in India?

Afternoon All, Wondering if someone could impart some friendly advice on me. I have used Black n' Red's wire booked A4 90gsm "Optik Paper" for the last 5-6 years for my day to day notes / scribbles at work etc. I probably go through a 140 page notebook every 2 months so I have quite a few of them collected on my bookshelf now. Sadly it appears that they have recently changed the manufacturing process / paper finish as on my latest notebook from my recent re-stocking of new notebooks, I am getting pretty annoying feathering for the first time ever. The paper looks and feels different, but Black n' Red have this down as the "same" notepad. I am using the Platinum Mixable Inks as there is a particular shade of blue I have become fond of which I mix myself, which is the blue colour in the photo. (For anyone interested it is 3 parts Aurora Blue (AB), 3 parts Aqua Blue(QB) and 1 part Silky Purple (SP).) I have never had this problem on this notepad prior to the change but its incredibly annoying now especially as I keep all my filled in notebooks. Would someone be able to give a bit of advice if there is anything I can do to the ink to "dry" it out a bit or if anyone could recommend a good notebook that I can use moving forward which has good quality paper as well as a cover finish (Hard back cover and wire bound). Cheers Mike

I recently bought a Leuchtturm1917 Bullet Journal from Spot The Craft, a seller on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/str/spotthecraft for $12.99 + $4.99 shipping from Canada to the US. The lowest price I found anywhere by $7. However, the seller sent me a regular Leuchtturm1917 by mistake. When I contacted the seller to return the notebook for replacement, they told me to keep it, as an apology, and sent me the Bullet Journal I had ordered. When I received the correct journal, I found that the seller had included a set of Copic Multiliners as a gift, along with a hand-written note. Probably the best interaction I had with a seller on eBay ever.

Having settled on 100g A3 Colotech+ Xerox paper I started by cutting it in half to make A4 sheets to write with. The next step was to fold it in half Then I started using my paper rounder - a paper punch to give a 10mm rounded corner - to round the corners of the folded A3. The final stage was to fold the A3 twice, into an A5 format. I wasn't entirely sure that my paper punch (rated to 200g card) would cope with the twice folded paper (4 x 100g)but it did and I ended up with an A5 format eight page letter. Anyone else doing creative things with paper? (Kinda saturated with pens and inks)

So I was looking through my old stacks of papers/ journals and found some suitable paper for personal correspondence, in the form of G Lalo paper. Try as I might, I've never found anyone making journals out of G Lalo paper, or anything with the verguere pattern on their paper It's embossed lines onto the paper, so it helps guide you in writing in straight lines, and provides a rougher texture to the paper vs baby seal smooth Clairfontaine like paper. I've been using journals with dots, because I'm hopeless with blank papers and writing in a straight line. Anyone seen journals/diaries/notebooks with such paper ?

Hello all! I could really use some help looking for a notebook. I'm planning to use it as a planner/journal type thing. My preferences are: ~ Fountain pen friendly ~ Dot Grid ~ Wirebound/Spiral ~ Side binding, not top ~ About the size of a piece of paper or slightly smaller? I don't want bigger than that but I don't want anything too small either. I can't seem to find anything that hits these marks, is there anything out there?

Paperblanks makes beautiful notebooks and diaries with off-white paper. I've used various Paperblanks notebooks for journaling and found the paper to be of good quality. Not overly smooth (i.e. not coated), but well-behaved with all but the wettest fountain pens and with a nostalgic feel, like old paper. Having been so encouraged, I bought a 2019 diary from Paperblanks, in the expectation that the paper would be the same. Guess what? it isn't. At first glance and first feel, the paper appears to be the same as that used in their notebooks but in fact it responds totally different to fountain pen inks. I decided to do a quick test and got interesting results. On the positive side, this paper (despite being off-white) really brings out the colour of the ink. The colours are a joy to look at. Also the paper has a pleasantly "grainy" writing feel, a sort of texture that offers lots of control while still being pleasantly smooth. No fibers, no plasticy feel as with some coated papers, just a really nice writing experience. The degree of control also makes it easy to jot readable notes when on the move (cars, buses, trains, planes). On the negative side... As you can see, there's a profound "mottling effect" that's caused by the ink being absorbed into the paper in some spots, which leads to colour differences. The inks that mottle most also cause the most bleedthrough and are pretty much unusable. The Herbin inks fall in this category, which surprised me a bit because I consider Herbin inks to be extremely well-behaved. But not on this paper... The best-behaved inks on this paper, i.e. the ones with only very little mottling or no mottling at all, are Sailor Kiwa-Guro (bottom line in above image) and Platinum Blue-Black. Both are pigment inks. By far the wettest writing sample is from an '80s Sheaffer Targa M with Platinum Blue-Black: There's a ton of Platinum ink on the page, but zero mottling, zero showthrough, zero bleedthrough. Remarkable. The only non-pigment ink that comes close is Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black, which also doesn't mottle or absorb. Diamine Ancient Copper is also well-behaved on this 'difficult' paper. The purpose of this comparison is not to burn down Paperblanks diary paper, but to show how much inks differ from each other in how they interact with paper. Their properties really vary widely. The amount of ink deposited on the page (wetness) is *not* the deciding factor, it's really all about the chemical composition of the ink and how the paper responds to that.

Hi guys. A while back I got a sample of tomoe River paper from cult pens, and I absolutely love it. It's so smooth, it makes my Rhodia paper feel rubbish! So what I'm wondering is, what is the best way of getting tomoe River paper in the UK? You can get it on Amazon but it's VERY expensive. Around £15 for 100 sheets the last time I checked. Is buying in bulk an option, and if so where can I get it from? Thanks!

Hello again to all my FPN friends, I just purchased a leather A6 6-ring planner (same size as Filofax Personal or Daytimer #3) that I'm going to use for a project that needs to have somewhat archival paper (basically, the pages and what's on them need to do their job for at least the next 50 years amidst daily use). The paper that the planner came with feels like writing on sandpaper, so I desperately need something else. So far the best paper I've come across seems to be Life Noble and DaVinci (which uses 52gms Tomoe River paper). For my project, the planner refill paper needs these three qualities, in order of importance: 1. Fountain pen friendly - Minimal-to-no bleed through or feathering with a fine or medium nib and waterproof inks like Sailor Sei-boku, Platinum Carbon Black, and De Atramentis Document inks. 2. Durability - Pages need to be able to withstand regular thumbing through over decades without curling up (discoloration is to be expected) 3. Opacity - As much as is possible, I would like to be able to read both sides of the paper in various lighting without the text on the other side of the page getting in the way. Given those considerations, can anyone who has used the aforementioned filler papers let me know how they fare? Here are the two options I'm looking at: Additionally, I'm totally open to any other suggestions for fountain pen friendly planner refills. I'd rather not make my own. Many thanks for any assistance!

Some of you like to match specific inks to specific pens. And I do that myself, sometimes. But do any of you try to match specific inks to specific papers? I really love Kaweco Paradise Blue but recently discovered that the strokes of ink form a weird greasy-looking halo, plus bleed-through, apparently only on cream-colored Rhodia paper after several months. I checked back in my Leuchtturm 1917 notebook where I had used the ink about a year or two ago with no such problems showing up (just a tiny bit of bleed-through). And some inks look dulled on off-white paper, while others look richer. Right now I am trying to find a good A5 notebook match for J. Herbin Cacao Du Brésil, my all time favorite ink. I was using it in my Bullet Journals but the color visually made the dot grid on my journal pages look extremely prominent, causing each page to look like a crazy Svengali hypnotic pattern (i.e. hard to read)! I’ve been trying lighter dot-grids than what is in the Rhodia “goalbook,” but I may have to move to a lined or blank journal if I want to use my favorite ink. What inks and papers do you like to use together?

I've seen with one of my wing sung 3008 pens that there's always hard starts on cheaper paper. If i press hard on the nib, the flow resumes but is a bit too wet. It does not write with it's own weight. This led me to think it had baby's bottom since the tines appeared aligned. However, when I use Tomoe River paper, it writes the first time every time. It also delivers a wet line, not a faint one. So is it a feed issue? I've never had this kind of a problem before. There's no issues with the feed keeping up with Tomoe River. I'm willing to experiment on this pen as well and would love any advice!

Hi all. I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what paper brand this this. The paper is standard 8x11.5" college ruled binder paper. It appears rather plain like any cheap office paper but it's surprisingly great quality. The packaging is ordinary plastic wrap and unfortunately the label insert is missing. I can get sheening to occur on the paper with inks such as J Herbin Emerald of Chivor and the red sheen from Diamine majestic blue. It's very tolerant to bleed through, feathering and the margin and ruling lines are thin and crisp; the margin being a red-orange color and the horizontal lines blue. The holes are cleanly punched and overall the paper gives the impression of being good quality. The grain when held to the light has more detailed features than the splotchy and fuzzy looking grain of, for example, mead. I hope any of this helps. I'll be more than happy to provide any additional observations if need be. Any leads would be greatly appreciated.

Greetings: I made the mistake of going into a new Michaels in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Wandering past the discounted/clearance section I came across some pads. The brand is Kelly Creates. I purchased four dotted pads of 100 pages figuring if it's lousy paper, I can still use it for non-fp writing/notes. The paper is wonderful. I used my second wettest pen and had no bleedthrough and no feathering. The paper is very smooth and came in dotted or plain for less than $3.50 cdn a pad. That would have been a nice price for mediocre paper, but this stuff is as good as my Rhodia pad.

I'm looking for a FP-friendly ruled B5 notebook/pad (spiral or not) that has perforated pages so I can easily remove them and file them. I'm currently using loose, ruled Kokuyo Campus paper, which is great except for it being 20-hole paper. I liked the look of the Maruman Mnemosyne notebooks I saw online but I can't tell from the pics whether the side-spiral pages are perforated (like top-spiral Rhodia pads are). Does anyone know? If not, can anyone point to any other ruled perforated B5 pads I might want to look at? I'm looking for something without insane dry times (so Tomoe River is out of the running).

Hey everyone! I've been checking the F-C website every once-in-a-while to see if the Model 40 Panther has come into stock yet. No luck on that yet. However, it seems that F-C has released a new color, orange, of their pocket sized notebook in a limited production run. Only 75 pieces have been made so if you're interested give it a look! http://www.franklin-christoph.com/the-stock-room.html It seems that the price is the same as the regular pocket sized leather notebooks. Notebook alone is $25.00, $31.25 with shipping in the US. Orders over $50 get free shipping so if you want to stock up on paper you can save on shipping. I'm not paid by F-C nor do I get a kickback from any sales related to this post. Just trying to do my due diligence.

I'm looking for non-feathering FP-friendly lined paper in the B5 size. (If I have to I'd take American 8.5"x11".) Over at Jetpens they have two types of Kokuyo 6mm lined loose leaf paper: the Sarasara and the Shikkari. They're both 26-hole papers and therefore use weird binders, but I'm okay with that if the paper is good. Is it? I couldn't find any information about the differences between Sarasara & Shikkari, but reviewers on the site seem to like them both with fountain pens. Does anyone know what the different types for this brand mean? And finally, what other lined loose leaf paper should I also be considering? I want to buy 50-100 pages at a time. (And I don't want to run blank paper through my printer to make my own lines.) 6mm or 7mm lined would be ideal.

Hello again to all my FPN friends, After acquiring too many inks and far too many pens, I thought it was time to turn this obsession toward papers in order to round out the experience. I just received a blank notebook in the mail from a Chinese stationary company called Kinbor (www.kinbor.net/). They seem like a Chinese version of Midori and offer very similar products (at much lower prices, of course). Here's an article about the company that has nice photos of their products. I'm thoroughly impressed with the paper in this A5 notebook. Although this paper is 80gsm and quite sturdy, it's also very supple and floppy like Tomoe River paper. The sewn binding is better than most I've seen; the journal will lie open completely flat regardless of what page you open to. The paper texture is much smoother than Midori paper but not slick like Rhodia and Clairfontaine, again reminiscent of Tomoe River. I've only tested a couple inks with really wet pens so far but there has not been any bleed through or even show through, although a little feathering in same cases. It is advertised to be fountain pen friendly (see picture below). These journals are currently offered in A6 and A5 with the options of blank, dot grid, graph, a blank/dot grid/graph combination, 7mm lined, lined with red side rule, thick sketchbook paper, and a calendar/planner combination. They come with either white or brown covers. I'm in no way affiliated with the company, but I thought I'd ask about these journals because this is the first Chinese paper I've ever tried that has actually blown me away. That's saying a lot because I live in China and have tried lots of papers over the past few years, most of them being quite unfriendly to fountain pens and often unbearable toothy as well. I'll try to post a review once I spend more time with this journal and run in through some tests.

Hi, so I've recently started using fountain pens and want to take notes for school. I've decided to buy clairefontaine or Rhodia for my notes, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Does anyone know where to buy it anymore without importing it? All the threads I've seen aren't updated and thus may be inaccurate. I've checked most stationary stores, department stores but none of them have the notebooks I'm looking for. I've found Rhodia paper in Chung Nam but not the notebooks. One place I know of is called Parentheses which is a French bookstore They stock clairefontaine and Rhodia but they aren't quite 'right' as the Rhodias are in A4 and I prefer the Webnotebooks. The Clairefontaines aren't also quite nice as I've seen the lines seem to too overpowering (as shown below) and I prefer the ones for taking notes that are either dotted grids or single lines. w Does anyone know of places that stock the notebooks of the mentioned brands that aren't wayyy too expensive? Thanks! http://reviews.shopwritersbloc.com//wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Clairefontaine-Side-Staple-French-Ruled-Notebooks.jpg

I do not know how 100% cotton paper will work. I am looking for something with a ivory color so I could make my own journal. Anyways I found this but I do not know if it will work well. Hopefully it should work with watermen black, noodler's xfeather and De Atramentis archival ink. Do you guys think it would work. I didn't really get straight forward answers for cotton paper, and I have no idea what resume paper is. Ive also heard things about noodlers not working with cotton. https://www.staples.ca/en/Southworth-100-Cotton-Resume-Paper-24-lb-8-1-2-x-11-Ivory-100-Pack/product_365513_1-CA_1_20001