Pen-worthy Paper: What I look for when I choose Fountain Pen-Friendly Paper and Notebooks

When I first started getting into fountain pens back in late 2024, I was absolutely clueless about what it entails besides the fact that I'll be using a different kind of pen than I'm used to. You see, I've used gel pens exclusively since sometime around 2015, and with my pen case containing nothing but Stabilo highlighters and Muji 0.38 gel pens, pretty much any notebook did the job just fine.

As I ventured into the world of fountain pens, I found out that not all papers were created equally. Naturally, I was aware that there were different types of papers—different thickness, different textures, different colors, etc., but I didn't know that not all papers are fountain pen-friendly, and so I fell into the rabbit hole of papers and notebooks. I began to nerd out about paper and notebooks. I watched endless content, lurked subreddits, and bought and experimented with any notebooks I came across.

And so here I am, wanting to share with you the things I’ve learned through my (endless) quest to explore papers and notebooks, cheap or expensive.

There are a few things that are very important to me when selecting the right paper or notebook: feathering, ghosting, bleed-through, and the paper texture/coating.

Feathering

Feathering happens when fountain pen ink spreads out on the paper in little fuzzy lines, instead of staying nice and crisp. So instead of clean, sharp letters, you get these slightly blurry edges—like the ink is bleeding into the paper fibers. It kind of looks like tiny veins or feathers coming off your writing, which is where the name comes from.

It usually happens when the paper you’re using is really absorbent, or if you’re using a super inky pen, like a broad nib or a really wet ink. The paper just can’t handle that much ink, so it soaks in and spreads out.

Using flex nibs on absorbent papers can also result in extreme feathering, where you can hardly read your handwriting anymore, as flex nib pens tend to lay down heavy lines of ink and ink tends to pool at the start or end of a stroke, especially if you pause mid-stroke. When using flex nib pens, even inks that seem moderately wet in regular pens can gush, so if you're using the wrong kind of paper, then feathering will be inevitable.

Ghosting

Ghosting is when you can see your writing from the other side of the page, but it hasn’t actually soaked through. It’s like a shadow of the writing—you can tell something’s there, but you can still write on that side if it doesn’t bother you. It happens a lot with really thin paper, especially if you’re using dark ink or a juicy pen.

Some people love thicker paper because ghosting bothers them. Personally, I quite like a bit of ghosting because it makes my papers and notebook feel a bit... well-loved? well-used? I don't know. I just like it, but not to an extreme, of course. I can't quite use the reverse page if the ghosting gets too extreme, now, can I?

Bleed-through

Bleed-through, on the other hand, is when the ink actually soaks through the paper and shows up on the back side. Sometimes it even leaves little dots or smudges. That usually means the paper just isn’t handling the ink well—it’s either too thin, too absorbent, or both.

BUT thinness and price don’t always mean ink will bleed-through, there are really well-made papers that are very thin yet are incredibly resistant to bleed-through, and there are expensive notebooks that perform terribly in terms of bleed-through.

Sometimes, the paper can handle certain pen and ink combos, but cannot handle wetter inks or broader nib pens (or a combo of both). As I've described how flex nib pens and inks perform in the feathering section, a lot of papers are not able to handle flex nib pens due to the amount of ink they lay down on paper, and are likely to bleed-through where the ink pools.

Coating & Texture (Tooth)

Different papers are made with different textures; this is basically how smooth or rough/toothy the paper feels when you run your hand or pen over it. Different coatings also affect how ink behaves on paper.

Smooth paper (like Rhodia or Tomoe River) allows your nib to glide across the page, and the ink sits nicely on the surface, so it doesn’t spread or feather. It’s great for clean lines and ink shading or sheen.

Rough or toothy paper (like Midori MD Cotton or Life Noble Note) has more texture. You can feel and hear the feedback from your nib when you write. It can also suck up ink more quickly and make the colors duller.

Coated paper (like Clairefontaine or Rhodia) helps ink sit on top of the page longer, so it doesn’t feather and bleed. The inks tend to be more vibrant and crisp, but the dry time can be slower, so smudging is more likely if you’re not careful.

Uncoated or lightly coated paper (like Midori MD) strikes a nice balance. It absorbs ink just enough to dry reasonably fast, but still gives you good sharpness and shading.

Picking my Paper

When choosing the paper or notebook to use with your fountain pen, the main thing I consider is "what will I be using this for?"

My preference for paper coating and texture varies greatly depending on the purpose I have for the notebook/paper I'm using.

If I’m picking one for my bullet journal, where ink properties like shading or sheening hardly matter, I pick one that’s resistant to bleed through and not much else in consideration (in fact, the one I’m using right now is a hard cover notebook I got for less than 80 THB (less than 3 USD).

My absolute favorite paper for long writing sessions is the Midori MD paper, because I love the subtle toothiness it has, all while still performing great in terms of showing ink properties like shading or sheening and without any feathering or bleed-through.

But when it comes to my ink journal, where I swatch inks in my collection, my go-to paper is definitely the Tomoe River paper as it's super smooth and coated in a way that allows every ink property to shine.

Well-loved Papers

There are a few well-loved fountain pen-friendly papers out there like Tomoe River, Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Midori MD, Maruman Mnemosyne, Life Noble Note, Stalogy, and the list goes on. If you’re in Bangkok, you can find most of them in Kinokuniya.

A couple of more budget-friendly options I've tried are Muji notebooks and Kokuyo Campus notebooks. I do have to caution that the Muji paper quality varies; for the most part, if the label says “Made in Japan”, it’s usually a safe bet, though it is more prone to feathering depending on your ink and pen of choice.

I’ve also been trying out locally made notebooks; I’ll definitely be posting about them in the future.

Recommendations and Reviews

I will be posting my reviews of notebooks and papers here, and hopefully, my posts will be helpful to those who are finding their perfect fountain pen-friendly notebooks.

I’d also recommend checking out recommendations from Reddit, from the subreddits r/notebooks, r/fountainpens, and r/journaling.