Vellum Paper - Ok For Fountain Pens?

[cpmcnamara]

This is a newbie question, but I just wanted some confirmation. I do lots of design sketches on vellum paper, and I wanted to confirm that it is ok with fountain pens. Levenger mentions that chemically treated surfaces can cause ink to back up and clog in the tip - can this apply to vellum? I use clearprint (100% cotton), which seems to settle on the paper fast enough.

 

Thanks in advance.

Best Regards,
Casey

[magicdragon]

Vellum paper works fine - don't know about clearprint though. Ink takes a lot longer to dry on vellum.

[Sasha Royale]

I assume that you mean velum paper. The finish is less porous, so drying time for liquid ink is longer -- much longer.

Papers, that are intended for use in photocopy machinery, may be "dusted" with powder to enhance feeding. You may

have to clean your pen more frequently. Nevertheless, such paper is fine for fp use.

 

(I believe true velum is sheep or goat skin.)

[Sandy1]

Hi,

I haven't knowingly written on that paper, so my comments are based on my experience with other 100% cotton papers.

In general terms, most FP inks will perform well on cotton papers, though I've noticed there is some difference in absorption, which can influence:
> line quality (line-width gain/loss and edge sharpness)
> smear/dry times
> value (light - dark).

As opposed to writing paper, which achieves a smooth surface primarily by coating, unplasticised draughting paper achieves the smooth surface by being highly polished (super calendered.)

 

The very smooth hard surface is best matched to nibs that are very well tuned and ground, and set in feeds to give a pleasant drawing experience, consistent ink delivery and high line quality, especially when drawing employs different line length and speed than writing. If cost constraints allow, purchase of a pen that arrives in your warm welcoming grasp from a craftsperson who specialises in the arts of nibs and feeds is well worth the investment. That said, there are perfectly good inexpensive pens that will do more than be a proof of concept test bed.

As you haven't mentioned a specific ink hue or physical property, I'll suggest a few inks from the major types for consideration, which should be available in sample size from select [online] Vendors:
> Noodler's Black: A very well regarded high performance robust cellulose-reactive ink.
> Organics Studio Manganate V: An aniline dye ink that demonstrates very high absorbency on hard-surfaced papers.
> Rohrer & Klingner Salix: A hybrid of iron-gall and aniline dye that gives very high line quality, but not quite the cloud nine performance of inks with higher I-G concentration such as the Registrars and Urkundentinte inks which can be a bit mischievous.
> Sailor sei-boku: A robust malleable nano particle ink capable of very high line quality.
> Waterman Serenity: A 'standard' Washable aniline dye ink, which is widely available and serves as a good reference for comparison to other FP inks.

Should you run into problems with absorbency / line quality, the use of pounce or climbers' chalk to pre-treat the paper might be the fifth ace in the deck.

Let us know how it goes!

Bye,

S1

Edited July 8, 2014 by Sandy1

[cpmcnamara]

Thanks! This forum is great - I really appreciate the responses. Especially all of the ink recommendations.

 

As I get more into this, I would like to look at some of the ink components/properties in a bit more detail (I'm a chemical engineer and would like to offer some input at some point). For now, I look forward to sticking around and learning a bit more. Thanks again.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

You're welcome!

 

FPN Members are enablers of the best sort, sharing knowledge & experience to promote enjoyment and success of others. We don't always agree on things, which is to be expected when there are a tremendous number of variables in material and personal nuances in manner of working.

 

The inks I suggested as starting points were reviewed, and the results are in the Ink Review Forum, which is very well indexed. The pinned Ink Review templates provide a summary of points (scope) and good way to present core results of sampling, though each Member may choose their own way. The ICS&T Forum holds a trove of more 'free form' information. Those Fora will also provide an insight into some of the FP-specific lingo.

 

I am amongst those who look forward to learning of your adventures.

 

Wheee!

 

Bye,

S1

[Notgatherox]

I believe Rhodia is vellum paper (on my Rhodia Premium pad it says high grade vellum paper), so I guess it's fine!

 

 

http://dept4.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/rhodia12_back.jpg

 

 

 

~Epic

[Komitadjie]

I have about four hundred sheets of Clearprint 1000H sitting here on my desk at work right now. It takes ink beautifully, without the slightest hint of feathering, bleed-through, or anything else. I'm using it with my VP and Carbon Black, a Parker 51 and Noodler's Fox, a TWSBI 580 Medium with Diamine Wild Strawberry, a TWSBI 580 "Lumi" with one of Pendleton's fine "BLS" nibs and DCSSB, and a Preppy with Baystate Blue.

 

Even the BSB, which is the worst-feathering ink I use writes gorgeously on the Clearprint. Beware, though, that the statement about the ink taking a while to dry is very true! We're talking dry times in excess of 30 seconds, even up to a minute for slow-dry inks. But the lines are laser-etched sharp, and I love how well the paper stands up to handling. It's also translucent enough to work extremely well with a writing guide below it, much like Tomoe River paper in that respect. However, also like the TR, it has tremendous show-through because of it's thinness and translucency. Count on using one side only. Not the slightest hint of bleed-through, though!

Edited July 10, 2014 by Komitadjie

[1791thinkshop]

For my 2¢:

Staedetler Vellum #16 & Strathmore Bristol Vellum work fine; my favourite is though Clearprint Vellum. They have a wide assortment and holds up well. As for inks I've used Noddlers Bulletproofs and iron gall inks with no issues but expect long drying times as others have mentioned. If you are using a very wet ink, be careful before intersecting lines if your really want crisp intersections.

Good luck, Shannon

[inkypete]

I have used velum many years ago and had no problems but there is no guarantee with any paper these days. You just have to try it out and see how it goes - should be fine.

[VivienR]

I used Original Crown Mill Vellum paper without any problem.

[FLZapped]

The only hang-up with paper vellum is that you need to make sure there are no surface contaminants - especially skin oils. It will cause most inks to bead up on the contaminated area. The one exception I've found so far is Kung te Chen, which seems to not care. *shrug*

 

The best property is that many are truly archival paper.

 

As others have mentioned, dry time is exceedingly long!

 

-Bruce

[Vintage_BE]

On 10/13/2017 at 9:48 PM, VivienR said:

I used Original Crown Mill Vellum paper without any problem.

FWIW here are some close ups of Original Crown Mill vellum 100g with walnut ink, Diamine Florida Blue and Parker Quink.

[txomsy]

I suspect that various makers may have different definitions of what they call vellum paper.

 

In any case, the ones I've used have always taken FP ink like champs (other than the long drying times).

[Vintage_BE]

On 11/27/2022 at 6:53 PM, txomsy said:

 

I suspect that various makers may have different definitions of what they call vellum paper.

 

Yes that’s my impression as well. “Vellum” is a non-standardised term just like “fine”, “smooth” or “flex” nib or “royal blue” ink. 

[webgeckos]

My experience with vellum paper is yes and no.

 

I wouldn’t use it with a wet ink and wet writer. Some inks, like Noodler’s Apache Sunset take foreever to dry on it. (I did a splotch test on it with a number of oranges and it took +9 days for a fat splotch drip to completely dry.