{"id":1667,"date":"2018-06-29T08:00:35","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=1667"},"modified":"2024-01-15T13:29:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T18:29:10","slug":"fp101-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/fp101-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Fountain Pen 101: Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Welcome back to Fountain Pen 101. We’re down to the last two issues. This week I’m covering paper.<\/p>\n

As a fountain pen user, you\u2019ll have to give thought to what paper you use. You\u2019ll want to make sure you use \u201cgood\u201d paper, often referred to as \u201cfountain pen friendly\u201d. This term references paper that \u201cbehaves well\u201d with fountain pens, and is, to some degree, personal preference.<\/p>\n

In this particular case, it will be easiest to discuss various properties paper is judged on, rather than the paper itself. If you\u2019re only interested in overviews of different paper and notebooks, then feel free to jump ahead<\/a> to that section below.<\/p>\n

Bleedthrough<\/h2>\n

Bleedthrough is considered a negative trait. As I mentioned before, this is how much an ink bleeds through paper. Particularly \u201cbad\u201d paper will cause bleed-through with nearly every ink, but some ink will bleed through on nearly every paper. Keep in mind that you can make virtually any paper bleedthrough if you lay down enough ink.<\/p>\n

\"Examples<\/a>
An example of minimal (left) and major (right) bleedthrough.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Feathering<\/h2>\n

Feathering is another negative property I discussed in the Ink issue. Feathering is where thin \u201cveins\u201d branch out from the line drawn\/written. This tends to be based on the quality of the paper, with \u201cbad\u201d paper far more prone to feathering. However, some inks are more prone to feathering, and will feather on even the best paper.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
An example of minimal feathering.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ghosting<\/h2>\n

Ghosting is a more neutral issue. It’s when you can see the writing from the reverse side of the page. Some people don’t mind it; I despise it. Darker inks are, of course, more likely to cause ghosting. Some paper has bad enough ghosting that you can see the writing from a couple pages back.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
An example of ghosting. Notice how you can see the writing on the reverse side as well as that on the following page.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Absorption<\/h2>\n

I wasn’t quite sure what to call this paper property, but absorption seems as good a name as any. Paper that is less absorbent will improve ink qualities like shading, sheen, and shimmer. A lower absorbance means that the ink will pool, rather than soak in, and dry slowly, improving desirable ink properties. It’s why “fountain pen friendly” paper is typically coated to resist ink.<\/p>\n

Paper that is more absorbent will pull the ink into it, so you won’t see much, if any, of those desirable ink properties. Of course, you can use this to your advantage if you like a specific color but don’t like that it sheens, shades, or shimmers. Find a nice middle-ground paper that is absorbent but doesn’t feather.<\/p>\n

Ruling<\/h2>\n

There are three main types of page ruling readily available:<\/p>\n