You may have noticed that when fountain pen ink gets wet, it can sometimes separate out into different colors. This might happen when you’re cleaning your pens or just playing with some ink and water on paper. The reason this happens is because ink can be made up of different base colors. For example, green ink might consist of both …
When you look online for budget notebook recommendations, one of the most recommended is a Black n’ Red Spiral Notebook. Not only are they supposed to be very fountain pen friendly, but they’re also carried by many different office supply stores, which means that you can usually purchase one in person instead of online. Are they worth all the fuss? …
I recently had the pleasure of taking a long, much-needed vacation in Paris. While I was there, I couldn’t pass up exploring the many different locations around the city that sell fountain pens. I was surprised to find that fountain pens are found in many more places around Paris than just in specialty shops. Most department stores and stationery shops …
If you’ve used fountain pens for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard of Tomoe River paper. If you haven’t heard of it before, it is widely regarded as one of the best and most fountain pen friendly papers around. People love it for many different reasons. One reason is that it is very thin, which means notebooks or letters …
I recently posted a review of the Leuchtturm1917 Softcover notebook and gave it high marks for the paper quality. Specifically, I was impressed with the great shading and lack of feathering or bleeding that the paper showed. Shortly after posting that review, I heard from a few people who had vastly different experiences with their Leuchtturm notebooks. I also realized …
Recently, I have found myself really gravitating towards paper. While a great fountain pen experience requires a good pen, ink and paper, I’ve been focusing on trying out as many different types of paper as possible lately. I feel like many people don’t appreciate just how good (or bad) different papers can be. Because of this, I’m going to try …
If you’re planning on attending your first fountain pen show, there are a few things you might find useful before you step through the doors for the very first time. Whether you’ve been using and collecting fountain pens for less than a week or for many years, your first time at a pen show will probably be equally overwhelming. I …
Disclaimer: I have left the following post as it was originally written since it does apply to this particular notebook, but for a more complete review of Leuchtturm notebooks, please read my blog post A Tale Of Two Notebooks: Differences In Leuchtturm Paper Quality. I do not recommend you purchase a Leuchtturm notebook based solely on the following review without …
Is there such a thing as paper that is too smooth? Most fountain pen users want paper that is smooth to write on, but I’ve regularly heard people say that Clairefontaine paper is too smooth for them. I have used Clairefontaine Triomphe in the past and thought it was extremely smooth, but wondered how a basic notebook would compare. So, …
The other day I was testing out some different papers and was surprised to find that the ink looked significantly different on one type of paper versus another. This was not something that I had ever experienced before, and it made me wonder, can different papers really change the way an ink looks? I had experienced inks looking less saturated …