Hello folks!

I’m still rather in the “shallows” as of yet, I have a handful of pens (Lamy, Platinum Preppy, Donegal Pens) and only a couple of bottles of ink (I rather like Noodler’s 54th Mass.). One of the areas in the hobby that I’m least knowledgeable in is paper. So, I’m hoping that you folks have some recommendations, both for myself and my sibling who is a bit of a fountain pen enthusiast but has sensory sensitivities.

What are you favorite papers, both loose leaf and bound, for texture, color, and any other properties? Preferably, nothing too bright/with fluorescent pigment.

Bonus question: I really like muted colors (desaturated in digital-speak but I think that doesn’t write mean the same with inks). Any suggestions for good inks on that category?

  • 柊 つかさEnglish
    4•5 months ago

    Fountain pen specific papers usually work very well (unsurprisingly) but they are quite expensive in my opinion. Popular brands are Tomoe River, Clairfontaine, Rodia, etc. These papers are usually very smooth. I happen to know you can get Clairfontaine in both white and ivory/cream. Cheaper paper is a bit of a lottery. If you buy random papers some of them will do well others will be terrible. The difficulty is that cheaper paper brands don’t keep the paper consistent: if it works one time it might not be exactly the same the next time. A middle of the road option is Oxford Optik paper, which works quite well. Currently I have some thick A4 booklets from a no-name brand I got from Action(shop with random cheap stuff) which happens to be quite good for 1.29 eur a piece (amazing price lol). It even takes serious flex well depending on the ink. But it’s exactly those types of scores that are not very consistent. I’m more of a dark ink guy so I can’t help you with inks.

  • Dr JekellEnglish
    2•4 months ago

    Have a look at Mountain of Ink.

    They have very nicely done images of ink both as a swatch and writing on various papers.

    From someone relatively new to fountain pens here are my paper observations:

    • Flexbook Adventure Notebook - 85gsm paper - Found to be very fountain pen friendly and tends to suck ink into the paper making it dry quickly making it good for fast writing with minimal to no bleed through.

    • Leuchtturm 1917 - 80gsm paper - Nice to write on but ink is slow to dry and dark ink bleeds through (lighter inks may not be as noticeable).

    • Moleskine - 70gsm paper - Not recommended for fountain pens, the paper bleeds through if you even breath near it, feels scratchy while writing and can cause feathering with certain inks. The paper would be good for pencils though.

    • Rhodia - 80gsm paper - Nice paper to write on, has a slight scratchy texture that feels strange when first using it but you get used. Barely any bleed through with dark ink and dries pretty quickly.

    • R by Rhodia - 90gsm paper - This is their premium paper and although it has the same features as the normal Rhodia 80gsm paper if you can get this version I recommend it.

    • Clairefontaine Triomphe - 90 gsm paper - Very nice paper to write on though it’s almost too smooth with little feedback from the paper.

    • Midori - ??gsm paper - Haven’t tried this paper yet.