Best Paper for Fountain Pens & Ink?

[scribe822]

I find porous paper (heavy cotton fiber) are un-fun to use a fountain pen with, my handwriting is illegible! Wondering:

1. What ink brands work best with heavy cotton fiber papers, which tend to be porous and ink-soaking? I have a lot of old blank letterhead that I'd like to use for letter-writing.

2. What paper is best for fountain pens? (I have a LAMY M, Aurora Ipsilon F, and Aurora M).

 

Thank you so much.

S822

[SilverStoneMetallic]

I can't answer your first question, but I have had success with Midori MD notebook paper and also Clairfontaine 90 gsm paper.

[SpecTP]

how porous is that paper? are you talking about heavy cotton paper like 300gsm cotton stock? you will likely need to write in big lettering. You can opt for high sheen inks to make the letter pop out more.

 

my favorite is Tomoe River paper

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, scribe822 said:

What ink brands work best with heavy cotton fiber papers,

 

I wouldn't recommend that approach. Treat each ink, even those of the same brand, as being potentially (and likely) different in performance characteristics. Especially if you're not using a particular make and type of paper that is well known to fellow fountain pen hobbyists, you can expect either lots of trial and error if you don't just want to settle for one ink and one colour, or set yourself a goal of one or two inks you need for letter-writing, and as soon as you find a couple of candidates that prove acceptable on the page, stop searching for ‘better’ inks to use on that old blank letterhead you have, and get on with writing letters.

[Ergative]

Check out the forum on paper and pen paraphernalia. There's lots of discussions of paper there. 

[Karmachanic]

And then there's the nib.

[collectorofmanythings]

I really like Tomoe River, but since it has been discontinued and will probably disappear off shelves within the next year or so, I’ve heard good things about Cosmo Air Light.

[bunnspecial]

I've used 25% Cotton Rag Bond in the past for personal correspondence and the like. This is nothing special-it's sometimes sold as "Resume Paper" or under a similar name ans is widely available at least in the US in office supply stores. I've found it a generally well behaved with a wide variety of nibs and inks, and not particularly prone to feathering. Standard office copy paper, especially with a high recycle content, is a different story.

 

I use 80gsm Clairefontaine as my default paper, and generally in 5mm dot grid. It's good quality paper and to the point that I personally use it as a reference paper, and it's commonly used as such in a lot of pen and/or ink reviews. As a note paper, and I use it heavily for that, it easily will handle two-sided writing even with the wettest and broadest nibs.

 

Personal correspondence I generally do on either Clairfontaine Triomphe 90gsm or Tomoe River 52gsm, the latter of which has an uncertain future. The latter is legendary for showing off things like sheen, but is a very interesting paper in how thin it is. The Clairefontaine has a certain "presence" with its weight and color. It also shows off inks well, albeit in a different way that Tomoe River(where they can show some interesting colors relative to other papers).

 

Black'nRed notebooks are widely available in office supply stores in the US, and use excellent Oxford paper. I especially like their hardbound books as lab notebooks and other more "permanent" things.

 

One of the things I'm glad I did not too long ago was purchase a "sampler pack" of notebooks from Goulet not too long ago. I haven't tried everything, but one I've really enjoyed has been a Japanese Mnemosyne B7 sized notebook. It's heavier than Tomoe River, but is still thin and light, and is a very smooth paper. I will be buying more of it.

[sandy101]

Lamy's own notebooks are very nice. I've also found Apicia, Papuro, Smythson, Paperblanks, Leuchteurm1917 (the numbered pages are useful) and Moleskine to work well. Moleskine works well with Quink, Platinum and LAmy. Not so well with Waterman and other wet inks.  

 

For correspondence, Basildon Bond is very good.

[georges zaslavsky]

Clairefontaine, Moleskine and Rhodia worked and work well for me.

[SpecTP]

I got my hands on some 'new' Tomoe paper 52gsm notebooks (Crossfields) and a new local vendor (Odyssey) that makes notebooks using 68gsm Tomoe paper. Looking forward to trying them out.

[sirgilbert357]

On 7/26/2021 at 1:12 PM, scribe822 said:

I find porous paper (heavy cotton fiber) are un-fun to use a fountain pen with, my handwriting is illegible! Wondering:

1. What ink brands work best with heavy cotton fiber papers, which tend to be porous and ink-soaking? I have a lot of old blank letterhead that I'd like to use for letter-writing.

2. What paper is best for fountain pens? (I have a LAMY M, Aurora Ipsilon F, and Aurora M).

 

Thank you so much.

S822

 

You find the heavy cotton fiber papers un-fun to use with a fountain pen because those papers were not designed with fountain pens in mind. Why use it for letter writing then?

 

If you want to enjoy the process of writing letters, I'd encourage you to get some proper fountain pen friendly paper. It usually enhances the entire writing experience: nib feel on the page, shading & sheening of the inks, inks "behave" better (little to no feathering, ghosting, bleed through, etc), nib doesn't fill up with paper fibers, etc.

 

I use almost exclusively Rhodia Webnotebooks and Clairefontaine 90g/m spiral notebooks. I have one Endless notebook with Tomoe River paper in use right now and I like it (enough to buy four more just like it to keep in reserve).

 

If you cheap out on the paper, you diminish your own joy of writing. Good paper is more costly than cheap stuff, but it is worth it in my opinion. There is literally nothing like a well-tuned trifecta of ink, nib, and paper coming together as you write.

 

Use a rollerball or gel pen to write your letters on that old cotton letterhead, LOL.

[Bo Bo Olson]

You should name the culprit.

 

Good fountain pen paper should be at least 90g....if you want shading.

Laser is best...

Laser & Ink Jet is a compromise.

Ink Jet is a major NO NO, NEVER!!!

Common 80g copy paper is not worth the $3.00 you save on 500 sheets..........it's only good for printing, it does nothing for an ink or pen. A dull lay there item.

 

	20lb Bond	75 gsm
	24lb Bond	90 gsm
	28lb Bond/	105 gsm
	32lb Bond	120 gsm.....

 

Good paper need not be 100% heavy cotton to make the ink dance.

90g/24 pounds is adequate.

I like heavier paper 100/110/120 or even 150 and more.............but I got lots of paper and none of those heavy papers are 50-100% cotton.

Max is 25% cotton like for my classic rough Verge  de' France 160g. or @ 43 pounds. 90g =24 pounds. (I don't have any Verge de' France in the normal 90g.)

 

I have 100-50% cotton paper that is ok for a narrow nib, in it don't shade as is........soft easy to write on....but not for fat nibs. Feathering can be a problem with wide nibs.

 

25% cotton works well.

 

Scribe...it helps to tell us in what country you are so we can aim you.

Europe or England would be easy....Red and Black notebooks have Oxford Optic 90 g paper...real nice I have some of it and Clairefontaine Velot which are equal. I have affordable spiral notebooks of both.

Slicker is Clairefontaine Triomphe 90g or Rhoda 80g...I have Rhoda 90g.....lots of folks freak out at the expense of those two papers.

I ran across a place in Italy that makes hand made paper at $10.00 a sheet.

 

I recommend getting a ream, or 100 sheet box of good to better paper with every three inks you buy. Good to better paper cost only a cup of Starbucks or two mechanically delivered cans of coke more than 80g copy paper.

In no time you will have a good selection of paper....as long as you don't get shoot your self in the foot stupid, by putting real paper in a printer.

 

Staples in the States has some good paper from Viet Nam....don't buy the same name stuff from Brazil.

US Mohawk makes a very good paper but $$....from my understanding. I live in Germany.

Don't know about Canada or New Zealand or so.

If we know where you are we can tell you what paper is good.