What Are Some Tips When Using Fountain Pens On Cheap Paper? - Q&A Slices
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- What are some tips for using FPs on cheap, everyday paper?
this is a really popular question, because especially in the US, we don't have great FP paper as a standard in most places
"cheap" paper will be more absorbent, often feather and bleed more
because of the absorbency, it will almost always spread more, making your lines appear broader than they do on more ink-resistant paper
go with as fine a nib as you can stand, ideally EF or F, Japanese nibs in this size will generally be ground a little finer
go with pens that don't gush ink, especially be conscious when using flex nibs
steel nibs will often put down a little less ink that gold nibs, because gold is softer and will put more ink down with pressure
try not to write with a lot of pressure, that puts down more ink
some ink will perform better than others on cheap paper, and you often need to sample it to see how it does perform (this is where ink reviews can help a lot)
be prepared to only use one side of the page, because of bleed through
this is where you can almost always cost-justify nicer paper, because you can actually use it on both sides!
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I found that the Tul notebooks sold at Office Depot do really well with fountain pen ink. The notebooks are sold at a fair price and are customizable. I don't comment much on these videos but I am glad that they are here, I am fairly new to the fountain pen world and am learning a lot from the video and comments. So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone.
Thanks for watching the videos! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask away. We're here to help. :) - Colin
This has been most of my life because I'm too cheap to buy $20 notebooks, and I personally don't like the trade off for longer dry time that you get with Rhodia paper. Basically, I usually get a pack of cheap copy paper from a big box store, most will carry 24lb paper, which I find takes up to a M and B nib without too much fuss or bleedthrough. Again, like was said in the video, you're gonna get more spreading, it's gonna absorb faster. I find my fast dry ink from private reserve works great for crappy papers because the ink is meant to evaporate quickly anyways, and I actually just started a moleskine that gets terrible bleedthrough but I made a deal with myself to finish the stationery I have before buying more(I mean I'll probably fail but I gotta try).
- Chinese or Japanese pens(not the Jinhao x750 or x450, both of those are too thick and have M, wet nibs) Think Pilot Penmanship, Pilot Petit1, Pilot Metropolitan in F or EF. Wing Sung has a few well reviewed models, but I also have an EF desk pen from Sailor that I've used and loved for many years, and has worked well on even the worst quality paper.
-Inks, there's some like Noodler's X feather that are meant to avoid feathering(literally the only peeve I really have with cheap paper, I will deal with ghosting or bleedthrough, that's kind of par for the course for something I paid $1 for), but also any ink that dries quickly. Cheap paper will not give you sheen or much shading, so I tend to stick with good like, work friendly inks anyways, and Goulet has a work friendly sample set if I remember right. So like a Black/Purple, Black/Blue, Black/Red, Black/Green, any of those should work well. I personally used Noodler's Bulletproof Black on plain notebook filler paper in a Pelikan Pelikano Jr. for my entire set of years in college, and it was good enough for me, especially since it made my notes waterproof.
You CAN still get a nice pen/ink combo, you just can't use a Bold nib or any of the sheen inks that have been popular lately.
I've had great results with Greenroom notebooks (sold at target) with many of my f-m nib pens. They're still more expensive than the basic mead or off brand spiral but comparable in price to a five star notebook & if you're using it for school it's much more affordable than buying Rhoda or something every term. Can also write front and back!
yes, this is sad.... we get a lovely pen and nib and ink combo but the kind of paper we have all around in everyday / business work renders it no nicer than a /99 cent rollerball.
@abhishek kumar sinha nobody cares
abhishek kumar sinha Can you buy me a Rhodia DotPad and a Leuchtturm 1917 please? Thanks daddy
I've had great experience with Five Star notebooks, they take fountain pens surprisingly well and my pilot metropolitan barely if anything never feathers on it.
I'm a student using a Pilot Metro as my daily and last week I bought some 8.5"x11" college ruled paper from Staples to take notes on since I had a very good experience with their lined paper in the past. (I had just run out of it.) Even though it was the same size, packaging, and weight, for some reason the paper is TERRIBLE. It feathers and bleeds like crazy with liquid ink, even with Uni-ball roller pens! I read on some forums that the origin of the paper makes a big difference when it comes to cheaper paper, so I'll give something else a try. It's a shame that office stores let you test their pens all you want but not the paper. I won't know if it's decent until I buy it and open it, rendering it un-returnable if it turns out to be way too absorbent for my needs.
I have literally had this exact experience #NeverAgain
Mead notebooks are cheap and work pretty well :)
I just use random paper because that’s what past me bought and current me is dealing with for eco-friendly reasons
I got some Noodler's X-Feather for my Pilot Metropolitan Fine nib last Sunday and been having good results so far.
Love X-Feather. Great on cheaper paper, just a longer dry time. - Colin
It seems like a lot of effort to try to make bad paper work with nice pens and ink. I tend to stock up on nice notepads and notebooks when they are on sale. When I organized my home office recently, I pulled a few to take to work. I have found the Office Depot steno pads are fine for times when I need to scribble a fast note, but writing on quality paper makes me happy. Life is too short to use cheap paper.
I agree. Investing in quality paper is just as important in a quality pen and ink. - Colin
I found the Walmart brand Pen + Gear Steno pads work really well for fountain pens, which I was expecting to be terrible.
In regards to pressure I remember when I first got my Pilot Vanishing Point, Fine I was horrified because the lines were so broad and I thought my nib was damaged only for my fine point (disposable) pen lover friend to pick it up and create magical perfect fine lines because they obviously have a better writing style and were likely using less pressure while I am still used to regular ball point pens which use more pressure.
I have heard that learning to use a brush pen is good for learning to write calligraphy because it helps you learn to control the pressure you're using so perhaps that could be a way for newbies to learn how to use fountain pens properly or at learn how to control the pressure you're using, I just haven't tested it yet.
The main difference, I think, would be that with brush pen and calligraphy is that you press down for down strokes and lightly for side strokes where as with a fountain pen you would be pressing lightly all the time unless you're using a flex nib so my idea is that you could try writing lightly with a brush pen all the time and because the brush pen makes it obvious when you're using more pressure it could help you tell if you're using a small amount of pressure or not. I haven't actually tried this so I don't know how hard it would be to do down strokes with less pressure but maybe it could work.
I like watching the ink reviews by VittaR ua-cam.com/users/VixR because she tests ink out on all different kinds of paper including cheap copier paper and mead style notebook paper. She has slowed down in reviewing inks, but there's sooooooo many. Lighting isn't always great, but she knows her stuff.
i could see feathering being a sort of cool thing if it were like being written huge and that was the given effect it would almost look like fireworks writing but on paper
Couple things. First, Id dedicate one or two pens for work paper. Pilot Perria is what I use. Very thin lines.
Some comment that notebooks are too expensive, so they can't afford good paper. This also goes for office employees, too. Buy some "HP Paper, Premium Choice Laserjet Paper Poly Wrap, 32lb" from Amazon. 8.5x11, full ream (500) sheets. If you have to print something to mark up. Take about the number of sheets you need, put it in the printer, print. Sucks you're probably funding this, but if important enough then this makes sense. For those who don't have money. This paper plus a 3 ring binder and you got a notebook. Its not lined. Really need lined? find a template online, print double sided, few hundred at a time. A faint line wont use up a lot of ink, and boom...instant notebook.
Yeah, that's the printer paper we used to use at Goulet for printing orders that were signed by team members. Really FP-friendly. - Colin
Futaba!
Holy crap, that shirt is The Best.
In the UK here, but I tend to use Red & Black notebooks for work. I write with a Parker IM or Pilot Metropolitan most of the time, with Medium nibs and using Namiki black ink (v.cool and practical bottle BTW).
Mead and Mead Five Star notebooks work well with my Benu and Pilot fountain pens. Benu and Pilot pens really seem to glide smoothly over the soft pages of Mead and Mead Five Star notebooks. Also, these notebooks are reasonably priced and known for academic and school reliability.
very helpful - thank you Brian
Is the lamy safari ef good on cheap printer paper and loose-leaf paper? I want to get one for school but I don't know if I should
I've gotten decent results with a Kaweco Sport (Medium) and Diamine Oxblood ink.
hello. I need a bit of help. Im an engineering student and i use books with paper of 60g/m2. I cant find extra fine fountain pen where i live. Im wondering if its ok with fine pen on these type of papers? i just dont want ink on the back side of the paper, so i can write och both side of 60g paper. Thank you.
A Japanese Fine nib should be a good option. Something from Pilot/Platinum/Sailor would be the way to go. Ink does play a part, so something like Pilot Iroshizuku inks tend to not ghost or bleedthrough as much. - Colin
I use fountain Pens for all my life. Love it, because you can write without applying pressure to the pen. I never care what Paper I use. For the last few years, I used Recycling Paper for environmentalists reason. No Tree shall have to die for me. As long as it isn't too thin, it works fine with fountain pens. I've lived that way all through my Student years and after. Handwriting is pretty much only taking quick notes, so it is important to write quick and comfortably, and there is for that purpose no way around fountain pens. Whilst, it doesn't really matter how that looks, as long as it isn't bleeding through the pages and it is readable.
I have to mention, I live and write in Europe, so there might be some less cheap paper around. I figured, that just any Notepaper will do it, as long as it has at least 65g/sqm.
When it comes to copy paper, you just have to know that most copy paper has a fine (coated, sealed) side and a more open and rougher backside. Use the Front side preferably. It is indicated by an arrow on the package. That fine side reduces also wear on the printer itself. Double sided printing is no Problem anyway, but put the Package on your Desk with the Arrow Pointing up, so you get the fine side of the sheets on top, at least for those occasions, where the backside doesn't get used anyway.
With a fountain pen you'll surely remark a difference between the front and backside of copy paper. You can even feel that in most cases. If it is too bad, just don't use the somewhat rougher back side of the Paper.
In some Printers that front side needs to face down in the paper feed, so it ends up being the side that is imprinted first. Mind that, when putting it into a Printer.
Inks in Rollerballs are normally just plainly boring. So even if the Ink of a fountain pen doesn't always look perfectly sharp on cheap paper, it is still more fun to write and read, because it has more soul, more uniqueness.
I appreciate the fact, that not every paper behaves the same. That's what Life is.
The more interesting side of the equation is the Ink. does it fade and bleach, when you look at it three or more years later? Usually not really in a notebook or diary, which is kept closed normally. But when you take notes and put them onto a Wall, fading may be an issiue quite quickly, within weeks or Months, and that is when a wetter Ink or just a better quality of it might make a visible difference.
Just an idea, you could possibly use thicker inks that you wouldn't normally fill in a fountain pen and just use the fountain pen as a dip pen. Dipping could limit the amount of ink coming out at once, thicker inks may not bleed or absorb as much into the paper, and if you clean the pen right after use, it may not gum up the insides. It may be too much of an inconvenience in terms of cleaning, portability, and practicality, but I'm just throwing it out there to see what others may think.
Cam Balacuit I use dip pens a fair amount. Decent nibs will mitigate the initial dump of ink on paper. Using your solution, Id be tempted to use some dip pen ink, like a sumi or india ink. Pigmented inks may perform a bit better. If I have some time, I may test this.
For practicality, it's tricky. I tried to use dip pens for some work writing, but it only worked okay if I had to do a lot of writing at once. say marking up a research paper. For programming notes, I found it very hard because of the delays between one note and the next.
Question: So I am a dumbass, and used an oil based calligraphy ink in 2 fountain pens. used them well. stopped using them and the ink dried up. When trying to flush them, it was impossible with water, and idiot me used acetone. Now, in the mean time, I was watching ur videos, to see if I found a tutorial, and realized what I was doing was very very dumb. Pens r still clogged, and the ink converters r ruined, the acetone melted them a bit. But I want to see if I can save the nibs! Now, assuming that no major harm was done (hopefully), how do I go for unclogging them, if it is an oil based ink? thanks!
Pen flush (www.gouletpens.com/goulet-pen-flush/p/GP-10003) might be your best bet. Soaking them in that should loosen up any ink that has dried up in there. - Colin
Thank You!! Btw, I like your videos. Keep up the good work!
I have got a question for you team. I recently bought a xezo fountain pen and it was absolutely awful. Ink starvation and a scratchy nib. I then bought a sheaffer pen that was a lot cheaper and it was exactly the same. I am a student that writes books as a hobby, (I study mathematics) and use pen on paper a lot, so I am always looking for better ways to write. Both fountain pens from different brands wrote awfully and nothing like the test writing that you see on review sites and videos. Sometimes a would write and entire word and nothing would come out. Is it me or are fountain pens just worse writers? Is it possible that I just coincidentally got two bad pens? How can I ensure quality with my next purchase?
I don't have experience with either of those brands as it's not something we carry, but it's possible the nib quality just isn't there. Not sure what size the nib is, but if it's #6, you could swap for a JoWo or Bock nib that is something you can trust. Was it an EF or F nib? Those tend to have some feedback which could feel scratchy. In general, fountain pens should flow easily & glide across a page, so going with a brand like Pilot or Lamy could be a good way to go. - Colin
love fountain pens, from EF to broad stub nibs. I’ve used Franklin Covey planners for decades using roller ball pens. Has their paper changed? Now, I use an extra fine (EF) vintage Japanese Pilot Super 200 fountain pen with MontBlanc black ink, a very fine line writer. Problem is significant ghosting or bleed through the page. Any fix or work around for this. I’d hate to change planners..
Use a different fountain pen. One with a rather rigid steel nib and a dry one, as well as a dry Ink, as many of the more expensive Inks tend to be on the dryer side. Flexing nibs are always on the wetter side.
It is difficult to make a wet nib dryer, but if you love your planner, I suggest you to change Pen/Nib and Ink. Usually, cheaper ink flows better, because it is watery. With a less watery Ink the same Pen might write dry, and that's more suitable for your planners.
For a Planner, it may be suitable to combine it with a pocket pen, for example a Kaweco Sport. They have nice rigid Nibs for everyday writing.
For letters and caligrapy, I'd recommend a wet, nicely flexing nib of other brands, but there you usually write on better paper too. Different situation, different Pen/Nib.
Most cheap Pens, as long as not cheapest chinese are decently dry, as long as you don't flex them or make them wetter on purpose.
Unpopular foutnain pen opinion: if forced to use copy paper, I just use a gel pen, smoother than a fine japanese nib, no bleed trough, water resistance, better color and no feathing. Ilove fountain pens with all my life, but when it comes to paper, i only use it on paper that isn't super cheap
Bleeding with EF how terrible paper can be
Does lamy fine nib do a good job?
Yup it does
Spray it with a light coat of hairspray first.
But all the things you’ve suggested are to avoid the most wonderful things about fountain pens! :(
Mmm, uninformational video, talk a lot said nothing.