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Hello - I am relatively new to the world of fountain pens but what I lack in experience I make up for in enthusiasm and curiosity! I have a relatively small collection of pens and have started venturing into new inks to enrich my experience. A few months back I purchased a private labelled Red Brown ink co-branded De Atramentis, who is presumably the ink's actual manufacturer. This ink bleeds through all but the highest grade papers like no other ink I have used previously or since, (I have tried without issue Waterman Black, Waterman Brown, Diamine Sherwood Green, Private Reserve Tanzanite). My wife returned home on the weekend after a shopping expedition and presented me with a gift...a pen case and a bottle of Kind of Blue ink with the store brand of the aforementioned Red Brown and I politely accepted the gift all the time thinking oh no, I'll never use this. To my surprise the ink does not have the same bleed through issues and while not co-branded De Atrementis, the bottle is the same and I suspect it too is manufactured by De Atrementis. I was wondering if anyone could provide some insight into why the Red Brown was problematic? I have looked at the Goulet site and find some helpful information on some inks, but very little on others. Is there a more comprehensive source? Is there an underlying driver of bleed through i.e. color? Thanks in advance. bl

I've tried at least 20 different papers over the last two months. I can honestly say that THE VERY BEST is staples 120gsm, and if you tolerate a slighly heavier weight the 160gsm from staples as well. I've been on a bit of a quest lately, and I've tried HP colour laser 100 and 120gsm, Claifontaine DCP 100 and 120 gsm, conqueror, Mondi colour laser 100 gsm, 120gsm, and 160gsm. I've compared smoothness, feathering resistance, and bleed through to both Rhodia and the Clairfontaine triomphe, and the Staples colour laser 120gsm and 160gsm performed as well if not better. It's also incredibly good value, with 250 sheets costing between £6.5-£7.5 depending on the weight you choose. The Staples100gsm was not particularly good so don't bother with it..

Hi, everyone! I am new to both - fountain pens and this forum. Sorry, if this has already been discussed, but I haven't found it on the forum. I recently bought my first fountain pen - a Montblanc Jonathan Swift with medium nib with Montblanc toffee brown ink. I was looking for a decent notebook which would be used both - for office notes and my personal ones. Moleskine seemed to be the perfect choice due to it's design and creamy paper colour. It turned out to be a disaster as I can use only one side of the notebook due to severe bleed-through of the ink. Please see the pic. http://s11.postimg.org/domcfwwir/image.jpg Please advise if all moleskines are like that or it is due to the choice of pen/ink. What substitute to moleskine would you recommend? I would rather change the notebook, then the pen . Do all monblanc inks have the same bleedthrough qualities or should I try another ink, maybe a non-montblanc one? thank you in advance! Dennis