Which ink for "unsized" paper

[Nicole B]

I've been trying to find the right paper for my stationer to create a stationery set that resists feathering of the ink.

 

Currently, I have a letterpress set with 100% cotton paper, blank paper with a blend that includes animal waste fibers (aka poo poo paper), random vintage and Brause nibs, and JHerbin inks. Apparently, all high end stationers use 100% cotton. And I insist on using JHerbin ink because it seems to be made with natural ingredients that don't trigger my chemical sensitivities.

 

My understanding is that the paper must have "sizing", (much like watercolor paper) if water-based ink is to be used; or I need to switch to a non-water based ink which wouldn't easily be absorbed tnto papers that aren't crafted with "sizing"agents/additives. 

 

But I also heard that fountain pen inks are water-based, and so I find it difficult to believe that fountain pens can't be used to write letters and notes on luxury stationery products of which the crème de la crème of paper is 100% cotton.

 

Any insights?

Edited December 5, 2022 by Nicole B
Clarity

[A Smug Dill]

51 minutes ago, Nicole B said:

But I also heard that fountain pen inks are water-based,

 

They are.

 

51 minutes ago, Nicole B said:

and so I find it difficult to believe that fountain pens can't be used to write letters and notes on luxury stationery products

 

Not everyone insists on the ink marks, that form their letters and words on the page, having crisp (as opposed to woolly) outlines absent feathering on such paper.

 

51 minutes ago, Nicole B said:

And I insist on using JHerbin ink because it seems to be made with natural ingredients that don't trigger my chemical sensitivities.

 

In which case, I'm not sure what you're asking us. There are only so many different colours of fountain pen ink that under the Herbin and Jacques Herbin brands, and only a subset of in which you'd want or deign to write for your letters and notes. How difficult is it to take a sheet of your luxury paper of choice, write two lines in each colour of Herbin ink you can (and would) get, and decide for yourself which of those are most pleasing or at least tolerable to you on the page?

 

Your chosen thread title asks, “which ink?” but you've already settled on constraints that disqualify the vast majority of commercially available, fountain pen compatible inks available for retail purchase today.

 

Or are you asking fellow fountain pen users from all over the globe to broaden your horizons as to which luxury “unsized” papers are available in the market that may be more feathering-resistant specifically with the use of Herbin-branded inks (but, even then, which colours in particular)? They aren't paper merchants, and are hardly going to show you how Herbin inks perform on several different luxury “unsized” papers either produced by their relatively more local mills, or they'd remotely ordered from far-flung corners of the world, for you to make an informed purchase selection.

 

Hot-press papers will perform better in keeping tighter, crisper lines of ink. A drier-flowing pen that deposits a lesser volume of ink per unit area on the page (and/or per unit time of contact between nib and paper) will produce less feathering than a wetter-flowing pen, all things being equal. You can do an initial round of filtering out of paper products, down to maybe ten or twelve that are accessible to you in the market; the rest of the process should be just testing each of those paper products against all the Herbin inks you would/could use, then judging the results visually.

 

[Karmachanic]

All writing paper is sized.  Some more that others.

[arcfide]

Cotton paper can be more absorbent than some other papers, but writing paper has been sized for a long time, and you can find records of older paper makers discussing how important the right sizing technique and ingredients were to ensuring the best writing paper. There are some good cotton writing papers that are out there today, and many of them have decent sizing and good behavior with fountain pens, but some do not. 

 

Getting 100% cotton/linen rag paper designed for watercolor is an excellent general rule for getting archival, high-end papers that just work. However, those papers are usually very expensive, and very thick. Incrementally going down the "food chain" of papers will get you something that works well for you, I would think, but you may have to specifically look at things like hotpress art papers rather than standard writing papers, depending on your situation. 

 

Fortunately, many J. Herbin inks in their standard line (not their Luxury line) are very well behaved and well suited for this task. 

 

Keep in mind that because cotton paper is more absorbent than many other papers, and many of the produced papers with cotton in them are just made to be more absorbent, if you write with them, very often, you will get a decent line, but it will absorb quickly. This alters the feel of the nib on the paper, and it also means that you generally get much less shading or sheen from your inks. The inks do, in my experience, tend to look more saturated as a trade-off though. 

 

Also, keep in mind that there's "Creme de la Creme" and then there's "Creme de La CREME," if you know what I mean. There are a *wide* range of 100% cotton papers, and some of them are entirely unsuitable for your typical fountain pen work, while others are excellent. Moreover, if you want to talk about real creme de la creme paper, look into binding pure traditional vellum parchment. Then 100% cotton paper starts to look like a bargain. 

 

 

[txomsy]

I've been using "rough" paper (which is what I suspect you refer to, paper with minimal sizing) preferentially for decades, and am now going over cotton rag recycled paper notebooks I got from India with fairly rough paper.

 

Other than the eventual notebook with "scaled" paper (paper that has scales like those of fish which may come out while writing) which I have always hated when I found it (and i still do -hate and find it-), this paper (sized or not) has worked fairly well for me as long as I didn't use notoriously well known feathering inks. But I do tend to touch paper before buying and have learnt to recognize bad paper by the touch.

 

You may want to consider other possibilities: not just cotton, but other natural materials (linen, banana skin, whatever, there are many papers around).

 

As for water/oil... you want a hydrophilic surface to write on with water-based inks, or they will have difficulty to impregnate and stick. So, that is OK. if you try to write on an oily or hydrophobic surface (e.g. crystal) with FP ink, it will have difficulty sticking. Which is something to note: you hand oils will smear on the paper as you write, so you may find paper that starts OK at the top of the page and worsens as you proceed (this may also apply to non-FP pens and pencils, depending on skin): that is not a failure of the paper but of your hand and can be fixed with a guard sheet if needed.

 

That said, it helps a lot using an F or EF nib; if you still have trouble, using a dry ink, and in the worse case, Noodler's X-Feather ink which is reported to work better on bad paper than on good paper, but may not fit your chemical standards.

 

Generally, J. Herbin inks are well behaved and should not give too much trouble on cotton paper, at least if used with an F or EF nib. At most they may write with wider lines. That does not mean some ink in their line may not feather or bleed-through.

 

Which paper? In my opinion, practically most papers that are not plastic or wax coated (modern copy/inkjet printer paper is typically wax coated) may be good. at least in principle. Just try to avoid papers where fibers are too loose.

 

Bottom line: recycled rag cotton paper needs not be FP unfriendly at all. But there are many varieties and finding the right ink-pen combination may be a matter of trial and error until you find the one that works best for you.

 

[alkman]

Not all high end stationers use 100% cotton for a variety of reasons, many of which are noted above. There is a wide variety of paper from Crane which is beautiful and not wholly cotton. But if you are looking for cotton paper, try Crown Mill Pure Cotton which comes in A4 and A5 sizes, and can be personalized by your local stationer. 

 

If you are worried about the sizing causing problems with sensitivities, that is a much more complicated aspect. You can probaby contact most paper makers to inquire about what they use to aid ink adherence. 

 

I have less experience with Herbin inks than most, but you might also try reaching out to some smaller ink manufacturers about their products such as Tyler at Organic Studios. There is probably an important niche for hypoallergenic ink.

 

Cheers!

[mizgeorge]

I'm not going to comment on the papers, other than to say that if you have chemical sensitivities, these are more likely to be triggered by the paper than ink (unless it is highly fragranced, as some Herbin inks are) due to the amount of physical contact involved. 

 

Limiting yourself to Herbin is certainly not necessary if you're looking for 'clean' inks. There are lots of smaller European ink makers who would also fit the bill, such as Pennonia, Inkebara, L'Artisan Pastellier (including their Callifolio range) and many others.

 

Then there are all the wonderful indigo based inks from the far east, particularly Taiwan and Korea, as well as so many interesting plant-based formulas being offered now. 

 

I'd also look at some of the other artisan producers like Van Dieman's Ink in Tasmania, Kiwi Inks in California, Papier Plume (who I believe use L'Artisan Pastellier base inks), not to mention Troublemaker and Vinta in the Philippines, as well as Colorverse and Dominant Industry from South Korea, both of whom appear to produce hypoallergenic products.

 

I should add a quick hello, and welcome as well

 

 

[Nicole B]

Hello, Everyine.

 

Thank you so much for your help.

 

I want to leave an update because I have found your comments helpful in my search. It's quite the rabbit-hole of a journey though; so when I get the right combo of paper, ink, and, pen I will let you know. 

 

Thanks again,

 

Nicole 

[XYZZY]

On 12/4/2022 at 6:55 PM, Nicole B said:

I've been trying to find the right paper for my stationer to create a stationery set that resists feathering of the ink.

 

Currently, I have a letterpress set with 100% cotton paper, blank paper with a blend that includes animal waste fibers (aka poo poo paper), random vintage and Brause nibs, and JHerbin inks. Apparently, all high end stationers use 100% cotton. And I insist on using JHerbin ink because it seems to be made with natural ingredients that don't trigger my chemical sensitivities.

 

My understanding is that the paper must have "sizing", (much like watercolor paper) if water-based ink is to be used; or I need to switch to a non-water based ink which wouldn't easily be absorbed tnto papers that aren't crafted with "sizing"agents/additives. 

 

But I also heard that fountain pen inks are water-based, and so I find it difficult to believe that fountain pens can't be used to write letters and notes on luxury stationery products of which the crème de la crème of paper is 100% cotton.

 

Any insights?

 

I would not assume that 100% cotton paper (or linen or poo or whatever) is unsized.  Only that the "100%" is referring to the substrate that makes up the bulk of the paper, and that there may very well be sizings (and coatings) applied to that.

 

How the papers behave will also vary a lot across specific SKUs.  For example, you could try five different 100% cotton papers from Neenah, and they will not behave identically even with the same pen and ink. Different colors in what you might otherwise expect to be the same product may behave differently as well.  

 

Definitely interested in hearing how your search ends up.

 

ETA: I like txomsy's description of "rough" paper.  When I was trying out 100% cotton papers I was talking to distributors who normally work with letterpress shops, and this was never mentioned to me.