What Sort of Paper Should You Use With Your Fountain Pen?

Whatever you like, just try it and see if it works. The end.

Wait, you want more? Like some real advice instead of avoiding the question like that? OK, well, go with Rhodia or Clairefontaine, they’re lovely and smooth, and work great with fountain pens. The end. Again.

Oh, ok, a little more. But we’re mostly going back to the first version if we do that. Lots of paper works well with fountain pens, but some doesn’t. And different people have different standards. So you probably need to try it, and see how it is for you.

The price of the paper doesn’t necessarily correspond to how well it will work with fountain pens. Many super-cheap reporter’s notepads work very well, and the sort of A4 pads aimed at students tend to be pretty good too. So while you might see fountain pen people (and us, just up there!) recommending a nice Rhodia hardback notebook, if that’s a bit over-budget given how much you’re going to be writing, don’t worry about it - try that cheap pad, it may well work just fine.

And as mentioned, what someone else considers ‘completely unusable’ might look and feel perfectly ok to you. Ink showing through to the other side of the paper is a deal-breaker for some, but doesn’t bother others at all. And paper some would consider perfect, bringing out the sheening effect of their favourite ink, someone else would find its slow dry-time makes them smudge ink all over the place.

So - whatever you like, just try it and see if it works. The end. For real.