How Do You Test Paper?

[Suw]

I was just watching one of the videos someone posted comparing some notebooks, and the guy doing the test dropped a couple of drops of ink onto the corner of a page in each book to see what happened. This seems like a pretty sensible test, although I am currently doing it myself and note that the paper I thought was worst is doing better in this test than the paper I thought was best! So I clearly have no idea what I'm doing...

 

What tests do you do on new paper? What do you look for? What are big warning signs? What will you let go? What key lessons should a newbie learn?

 

I shall be very interested to hear your replies!

[fuchsiaprincess]

I usually just write on a page with a favourite pen. Sorry, no trade secret to share here.

[Lorna Reed]

As above! I just write and scribble with various width pens and see how it goes. If there are more scientific ways of doing it, I haven't come across them. But there are lots of experts here who will know more than me!

[Mille]

If you do the drop test I guess it is important not only to look for the feathering and bleedthrough. If the ink just stays on the surface without going into the paper there hould be a problem. Also putting a drop of ink on the paper can be misleading because the ink has to go somewhere. When you write just enough ink to write a line goes into the paper, but a drop of ink on one spot cannot be consumed properly by the paper.

 

These are just guesses why ot may not be a good test to do the drop test. It is not realistic. I do as the other contributors and just write and see and feel how it works. Not an objective method of course, so I would also welcome ideas on how to test paper professionally.

[dcwaites]

I will try a range of different inks, from wet through to dry, trying to find the point where the ink won't feather and/or bleed. I start with a medium ink like Diamine WES Kensington Blue. Depending on the results I will either head for wetter inks like the Private Reserve series, or drier inks like Waterman Florida Blue or Mont Blanc or Lamy Blue-Black.

 

I tend to use a particular dip pen -- a Perry Iridinoid 105 -- because it writes like a fountain pen, yet is much easier to change the ink.

[Suw]

As above! I just write and scribble with various width pens and see how it goes. If there are more scientific ways of doing it, I haven't come across them. But there are lots of experts here who will know more than me!

 

But when you say 'see how it goes', what do you look for? What makes you think, 'Oh, this is nice paper!', or 'Oh, this is horrible paper'?

[Suw]

If you do the drop test I guess it is important not only to look for the feathering and bleedthrough. If the ink just stays on the surface without going into the paper there hould be a problem. Also putting a drop of ink on the paper can be misleading because the ink has to go somewhere. When you write just enough ink to write a line goes into the paper, but a drop of ink on one spot cannot be consumed properly by the paper.

 

These are just guesses why ot may not be a good test to do the drop test. It is not realistic. I do as the other contributors and just write and see and feel how it works. Not an objective method of course, so I would also welcome ideas on how to test paper professionally.

 

Those are good points, I think.

 

One of the things that was interesting is that the paper that reacts worst to the standard paste/PVA mix bookbinding glue reacted best in the drop test, and the one that does best with paste/PVa was much more absorbant to the ink than it is to the glue. Obviously one doesn't want the paper to be *too* absorbant to the glue, because otherwise the paper deckles -- in a bad case, the whole book block can deckle which is Not Good.

 

Ah, I still have much to learn!

[WendyNC]

As above! I just write and scribble with various width pens and see how it goes. If there are more scientific ways of doing it, I haven't come across them. But there are lots of experts here who will know more than me!

 

But when you say 'see how it goes', what do you look for? What makes you think, 'Oh, this is nice paper!', or 'Oh, this is horrible paper'?

 

I'm not any kind of an expert, but I'll throw in my two cents and answer Suw's questions for myself. Note: the significant part of this is "for myself." Just as we all have different preferences in pens and inks, there are also different preferences in paper.

 

I hate feathering. I can work with a little even spreading, but if there is ink going off along little thread lines of its own accord regardless of the pen/ink combination, that paper is not for me. I also look for bleed-through--ink actually coming through on the other side of the page--another non-acceptable quality for me. Personally, I don't mind show-through, where you can see some of what is written on the opposite side of the page, but there's no ink on the backside.

 

The next thing I consider is "drag," which is an unfortunate downside of papers with more sizing. I don't like to feel as if I'm pulling my pen through wet sand. I don't accept this in my scribble books but because papers with lots of sizing often make the ink look best on the page, I'll tolerate a little of it on correspondence paper, if I must. And on the subject of sizing, I also look at drying time. Again, generally speaking, ink takes longer to dry on paper with more sizing, which is part of why it looks good. I think the balance is entirely a matter of personal preference and drying time varies so much with different pens and different inks that I don't know that one can set a standard beyond personal preference.

 

And then there's squeak. Some ink and pen combinations are more prone to this than others on any paper, but if most of the combinations I use result in a true squeaking sound when I'm writing, that paper is not for me.

 

The other element is cost. Despite the tendency to spreading, I use quite a lot Staples bagasse notebooks because they're so darned cheap and they are okay on all the other elements.

 

As with everything else in pendom, what is "best" is what pleases you most.

[bassopotamus]

As above! I just write and scribble with various width pens and see how it goes. If there are more scientific ways of doing it, I haven't come across them. But there are lots of experts here who will know more than me!

 

But when you say 'see how it goes', what do you look for? What makes you think, 'Oh, this is nice paper!', or 'Oh, this is horrible paper'?

 

There are three attributes that I look for

 

1. Feathering- are the lines crisp or are they spready and hairy around the edges?

2. Bleed through- Does the ink soak through to the other side

3. Show through- even without soaking, can I see "ghosting" from the written side on the back?

 

Those are kind of my standards. The other, that is kind of starting to get to me is drying time. My Gold standard for paper these days is rhodia/clairfontaine (two lines of the same company as I understand it). By 1-3, it is outstanding. However, the anti bleed and feathering comes at the serious expense of dry time, and to a degree, waterproofness. I noticed this last night grading student work on cheap paper. The same Inks that might take 20 seconds to dry on rhodia are dry instantaneously on cheap paper. BUT they also are more apt to feather and bleed. LIfe is choices I guess...

[farseer911]

I write a few sentences with a few different pens and ink. I would love to say I put it through a battery of tests, but alas I do not....

[Suw]

Thank you, WendyNC and bassopotamus! That's really very helpful!

[Parse Error]

1. Take your main pen. Write normally

2. Draw a line. Check the back for bleedthrough.

3. draw a plus sign, check the back for bleedthrough.

4. continue until you start seeing bleedthrough. I generally stop at 8 lines, since it's harder to add additional lines, especially since I can't draw a straight line (STILL!!!) without a guide

5. Open up your favorite novel and copy off half a page's worth of text onto the paper. Don't write too small, but don't write too large either. (I do it with math equations.)

6. rate the paper on the feel of the writing. This is the only subjective part.

7. check the nib for gunk. If there's more than just trivial gunk or the stuff that was on the pen before you started the tests, then it can't be a good paper.

8. hold up your text to bright light and check for feathering. If you don't care about that, then skip this step. But otherwise, you should get very little to a very minor amount of feathering.

[txinsk]

Other posters above have covered the feel of paper in the writing experience, but I will add one thing. Unless you know that only a certain pen and ink combination are being used, then I use a wet flexible nib. There are a lot of factors in feathering and bleed through, but generally quantity ink is the biggest. So I find that writing with a wet nib that is somewhat flexible and making it flex, I will find out if it will bleed through or not, or even feather. With this test I have found papers that will pass a dry, nail but utterly fail a wet, flex. Again if you only plan on using one type of pen, then your test is much more narrow.

 

Rick

[Suw]

Thanks Parse Error (love the name, btw!). I'll give that a shot.

 

Rick, how do I know if my pen is wet or dry? I have two, one that I got as a present for speaking at the LSE and I have no idea what make it is, the other is a Lamy which I really don't get on with. I'm left handed, so the LSE pen's rounded nib does really well for me. The Lamy is much harder work. I also have some technical drawing pens that I use a lot. Of the pens I use, I'd think that the LSE pen is 'wet', but I'm really just guessing.

[Shangas]

I fold it into a plane and run tests on its aerodynamic abilities and shortcomings.

 

No I kid.

 

I test paper for three things...

 

1. Smoothness. If the pen catches on the page, it's no good.

2. Feathering. If the ink starts spreading out everywhere...no good.

3. Bleeding. If the ink seeps through the page, no good.

[Chevalier]

The problem is that there isn't any paper, that works well with every writing utility.

The best test is to write with the tool you are planning to use on this paper, at least

that's what I do.

 

I however do a test on almost every new paper, dropping Indian Ink (a special japanese

brand I use all the time) pure and diluted 1:2, 1:4 and 1:8 on it, looking for feathering

and waving. I do this on both sides, because some papers have a writing side and a backside.

 

There's another test I use on uncut sheets and drums of paper. That's basically tearing, to

check the direction of the fibres.

 

 

Don't forget that you can prevent feathering on many papers by adding gum sandarak dust to

the surface. That might come in handy if you like to use a beautiful paper, that won't work

with your writing fluid and/or pen.

Edited October 8, 2010 by Chevalier

[txinsk]

Thanks Parse Error (love the name, btw!). I'll give that a shot.

 

Rick, how do I know if my pen is wet or dry? I have two, one that I got as a present for speaking at the LSE and I have no idea what make it is, the other is a Lamy which I really don't get on with. I'm left handed, so the LSE pen's rounded nib does really well for me. The Lamy is much harder work. I also have some technical drawing pens that I use a lot. Of the pens I use, I'd think that the LSE pen is 'wet', but I'm really just guessing.

 

Look at the letters closely as you write. How long does the ink glisten after writing? Does it dry immediately? You're a southpaw, do you have trouble with smearing ink as you write (or maybe your hold is unusual)? If you have a problem with smearing sometimes it is a wetter nib. A dry nib may be hard to start from time to time or prone to skip. A wet nib leaves ink around sometimes too much ink. Something you just have to observe.

 

Rick

[kazoolaw]

What key lessons should a newbie learn?

 

Welcome aboard, said the old junkie to the newbie.

 

At the scribbler level I function at, it's a matter of putting ink into a pen and writing on a piece of paper. If it doesn't soak through the paper (bleed through) that's a good thing. If the ink doesn't spread across the paper with little veins, or looking like small hairs growing from the line of ink (feathering) that's a good thing. If the ink doesn't bead up on the surface of the paper, like water on a newly waxed car, that's a good thing. If the nib on your pen doesn't get caught in the texture of the paper, that too is a good thing.

 

Many of us started with using any paper at hand: three-hole punched notebook paper, copy paper, the back of junk mail, just to try different paper. As you use different paper you'll figure out which work best with your pens. And you'll adjust to each paper: nib width, how much ink the pen lays down, even which ink works on which paper best for drying time.

 

It's no dark science. After all, it's only paper. And it's only colored water.

And this is a friendly place to be. There's a wealth of information, and photos, about different papers.

Hunt around for paper samples, maybe even ask for some.

 

gary

[Bo Bo Olson]

""""""""Other posters above have covered the feel of paper in the writing experience, but I will add one thing. Unless you know that only a certain pen and ink combination are being used, then I use a wet flexible nib. There are a lot of factors in feathering and bleed through, but generally quantity ink is the biggest. So I find that writing with a wet nib that is somewhat flexible and making it flex, I will find out if it will bleed through or not, or even feather. With this test I have found papers that will pass a dry, nail but utterly fail a wet, flex. Again if you only plan on using one type of pen, then your test is much more narrow."""""""

 

Now I start to understand, why folks don't own any semi-flex nibs, it's too wet; they use poor standard or less paper.

 

Why people were complaining against 'wet writers'.

[Chevalier]

I miss high-flex nibs every single day. Sure, you can get a fancy vintage pen, but using them every day would be a waste. I always wondered why they have been discontinued, but your assumption might be the explanation. I am always carrying a dip pen with high-flex nib around and that's annoying sometimes, because I have all necessary items in a small but pretty bulky wooden box.