Fountain Pen Friendly Paper
Fountain pen friendly paper, paper that take ink well, can be expensive. Ink can feather, bleed or show through (ghost) on paper that is not resilient enough.
The often suggested remedy to these problems is to buy expensive paper from certain brands. For example Clairefontaine, Rhodia or Leuchtturm. I’ve tried some paper from these brands and while some have been good I’ve found better and cheaper paper. My thoughts are collected below.
Cheap Paper
Bantex Hardcover Notebook recommended
The Bantex Notes – Casebound notebook with EAN 4006144929388 contain 96 pages of 70 gsm paper. There are no issues, ghosting is limited. The texture of page front and backsides is the same. I imagine that ink shades well on this paper.
This may be my favorite paper thus far, and it’s cheap!
No-name Spiral Bound A4 Block recommended
The spiral bound A4 block with EAN 7319024206002 has 70 pages of 90 gsm paper. I think it’s only available in Sweden. This paper takes ink very well and feels like paper should (not too glossy). The texture of page backsides is coarser and this is noticed in writing.
Rhodia Side-Stapled Notebook A5
This side stapled Rhodia notebook contain 96 pages of 80 gsm paper. It’s pretty cheap coming from a recognized paper brand. The paper takes ink well. There is no feathering, no bleed through or significant ghosting. The texture of page backsides is slightly coarser and this is noticed in writing.
Despite the paper’s handling of ink being good I don’t like it. It’s chalky (glossy) and writing on it feels weird. Even though many inks look vibrant on it, they shade poorly and writing lacks character.
Middle of the Road
Yu-Sari Paper recommended
Japanese Yu-Sari paper. Very well behaved in all aspects. Slight yellow tint, but less so than Leuchtturm paper. Just as on Leuchtturm, pens write slightly wider.
Rhodia Head stapled pad N°15 recommended
This top stapled Rhodia pad contain 150 pages of 80 gsm paper. The paper quality is just about perfect, perhaps a smidge too glossy for my taste. There are no issues, ghosting is limited.
Highly recommended, although it’s only usable for shopping lists and the like.
Expensive Paper
LEUCHTTURM1917
The Leuchtturm 1917 is a hard or soft cover journal with 251 pages of 80 gsm paper. The paper has a yellow tint. It takes ink well. There is no feathering but ghosting is significant. Ink seems to spread out on the absorbent paper so that pens write wider than they usually do. It may be prudent to use pens with fine nibs.
The notebook is nice and I don’t mind using it despite its flaws.
Lamy Notebook Softcover A5 avoid
The Lamy Notebook Softcover A5 contain 192 pages of 90 gsm paper. Even though Lamy makes fountain pens I find this paper poorly matched with such writing instruments. Writing looks dull, there’s occasional feathering and even bleed through with wetter pens.