Guide To Choosing The Best Notebooks For Fountain Pens

You've just discovered the pleasurable and life-changing art of handwriting with fountain pens. Of course, you want to know the best notebooks to help you better enjoy your fountain pen writing experience.

Luckily for you, there are many options for fountain pen-friendly notebooks out there. Too many, in fact, that you can easily get confused and overwhelmed. But don't worry because we're here to help you.

This article will show you the essential criteria for the best paper and notebook for your fountain pens. Use them to guide you in trying out and choosing the one that will fit your fountain pen writing needs.

Best Notebook Paper For Fountain Pens

Choosing the best notebook for fountain pens or any writing tool starts with selecting the best paper. Different papers handle fountain pen ink differently, and the right paper can help your fountain pen work at its best.

The following are the criteria for the best notebook paper for fountain pens:

Ideal Texture

The best paper for a fountain pen is absorbent to allow for a quicker ink drying time. But too absorbent paper can cause fountain pen ink to bleed through the page. A thin and absorbent paper also has fibers that show feathering, which is the pulling of ink that results in less sharp lines.

Fountain pen-friendly papers also need to have just the right roughness to have enough feedback or writing resistance. This resistance, also called 'tooth,' must be at the right level, or writing with your fountain pens would be too strained or too slippery.

High Quality

Texture is not the only requirement for the ideal paper to use with fountain pens. You also need high-quality paper that has a smooth finish, high opacity, and the right color.

A paper with a smooth finish lets your hand glide effortlessly across the page as you write while protecting your pen nibs from scratches and other damages. High opacity simply means the trait of a paper that prevents the writing on one side from being visible on the other. This trait comes from properly made and compact paper fibers.

High-quality papers can come in bright white colors that show off the fountain pen ink at its best. Yellowish or ivory-colored paper, on the other hand, gives an old-world feel to your writing, although these colors can hide some of the shine and vibrancy of the fountain pen ink.

Versatile Paper

Avid fountain pen users can have more than one type of fountain nib or ink. So the best fountain pen-friendly notebook paper should be able to work with any size, tip type, or material of fountain pen nib or any consistency, dye type, or color of ink.

Also, fountain pen users are not limited to using fountain pens only. There is a good chance that you also own other writing, drawing, or sketching tools alongside your fountain pens. You need a paper that can handle these tools and give you the best results, whichever tool you use.

Whatever purpose you may use your fountain pen for, you need a reliable and multi-functional paper type. You can choose from various sizes and styles like blank paper, lined paper, or grid paper.

Lightweight Paper

Fountain pen-friendly paper should be thick enough to prevent fountain pen ink from bleeding through. But papers that are too thick can be heavy or bulky for practical use. The ideal paper for fountain pens should have the right balance of thickness and weight.

Modern paper products for fountain pens now have technologies that allow thicker paper to have lighter weight. Other specialty papers on the market are light and thin but are perfectly capable of handling fountain pen ink.

Reasonable Price

Specialty papers don't have to be expensive. You can find affordable fountain pen-friendly papers that will work better than some high-priced brands. There are cheap brands you can try for a start and use your experiences with them as a basis for your next purchases.

Start on the cheap but don't settle on inexpensive brands with poor quality. You must remember that your fountain pen is only as good as the paper you write it on. Your most priced fountain pen is useless if you produce pages that are unreadable due to ink transfers, blots, or stains.

Best Notebooks For Fountain Pens

The best notebook is the one you'll love to write on. Getting the right paper is only the beginning; there are additional factors that make the best notebooks for fountain pens. Listed below are the things you need to consider when choosing the best notebook for your fountain pen.

Intended Use

The style and size of a notebook depend on your writing purpose. Notebooks for daily note-taking may not be suitable for sketching or drawing. Most fountain pen-friendly notebooks are made for bullet journaling, traveler's notebooks, writing to-do lists, poetry, and calligraphy.

Cover & Binding

The ideal notebook for your fountain pens must have sturdy covers and binding to protect your pages from the elements. You can choose between spiral-bound and non-spiral formats.

Most notebooks with elastic band binding, stitched binding, and similar non-spiral binding have secure pages. But these pages don't lie flat, which can be frustrating when writing with a fountain pen. Notebooks with spiral binding have pages that lie flat but can easily tear from the binding if poor paper quality is used.

Style & Aesthetic

A notebook's looks and appearances may not help much with the quality of your writing, but they sure can motivate you to write more. There are countless classic designs, modern styles, and attractive colors to choose from.

You can go for a notebook that matches the look and feel of your fountain pen. A modern fountain pen needs a simple and minimalistic notebook; an intricate old-fashioned pen will go well with a vintage and classic notebook.

Accessories & Other Features

Most modern notebooks come with functional components such as a bookmark, pen holder, and card slots. These are simple yet handy accessories for a better and smoother writing experience.

One very essential feature of an ideal notebook for fountain pens is having refillable pages. Getting one notebook and buying refills when you run out of paper is much more cost-effective than purchasing a new notebook every time.

Choose The Best!

Trial and error is the best way to know the best paper and notebook for your fountain pens. We hope this guide is helpful as you try out and test notebook brands, lessening your errors in the process. May you find the best notebook for your fountain pen soon, and enjoy the process of coming up with your best choice!

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