Mike Dee wrote:


Thank you guys for a load of suggestions on finding a 'foolproof' fountain
pen!

Now, could anyone please mention some fountain pen friendly papers -
loose sheets, letter pads, note pads, notebooks; preferably (or at
least also) by European manufacturers?

When searching paper for a fountain pen, what exactly should one
look for? Linen-based paper? Smooth surface, weight heavy enough;
what else?

Are smooth drawing papers acceptable? (Some of the papers are rather
expensive and it is not possible to try them out in a stationery
shop - that's why I am fishing for ideas here.)

Molekine notebooks seem to be very good but they don't sell loose
leaves, do they? What do you think is the paper used in them?

Is it worth buying "newspaper-sized" sheets and having them cut to
various sizes to be used for letter writing, personal short notes,
(perhaps glued together to make small pads) and so on?

Would love to use a fountain pen for personal notes, but copier paper
is just useless in most cases and other papers are too soft.

I don't have all the answers by any means, but here are a couple of
things:

If a certain kind of paper works, then by all means use it. There are
some kinds of special coated paper that could clog your nib with sludge,
(you would just wash it out, but that's inconvenient of course) so don't
buy unfamiliar paper in large quantities - try it out first.

There's nothing wrong with ordinary copier paper. Most pens & inks go
just fine on it. (Recycled copier paper, however, causes most inks to
feather horribly. Nathan Tardif is claiming that his new "Noodler's"
brand of ink works well on recycled paper, so you should try that if you
have no choice about paper.)

Ink can make a big difference. You may find a brand of paper that works
well with some ink and not with other ink. (So if you're using a strange
brand of ink, don't blame the paper right away.)

Some people have said that the paper in Moleskine notebooks may not be
ideal for fountain pen ink - that it tended to feather or bleed through
or something. (I haven't used it, so I can't comment directly.)

One popular brand of paper that I have used is Clairefontaine (made in
France). They are a large company and make all kinds of paper products,
including many sizes and shapes of notebooks and pads. The notebooks,
pads, and letter paper I've bought here in Canada all use the same
paper, which is generally quite fountain-pen-friendly - very smooth
surface, and no feathering or bleeding, even with a very heavy line of
ink. Not everyone likes it (some people find it too slick, I think), but
it's just fine for me. (And it was what I could find in the store that
looked nice for a reasonable price.) :-)

David