Moleskine Problem With Fountain Pen Ink

[ajingko]

In many pages, I could find finger print of someone(may be paper maker).

Very annoying, uncomfortable.

 

 

[LizEF]

But kinda cool-looking. I wonder how often this is a problem. Perhaps the page was at the top or bottom of a stack that a person carries during the binding process, and Moleskine don't require employees to wear gloves. Or maybe it was after manufacture for some reason - someone leafing through it or something. Do you know if it was just this page/sheet or if there's lots of this throughout the book?

 

Meanwhile, not to take things off topic, but could to tell me what ink that is? I really like it.

[Astronymus]

I used to work for a printing company. This could have happened during many stages of the production, printing, binding, cutting. It is not usual to wear gloves while working on print products. Normally one would throw dirty pages away. But these stains seem invisible. Maybe silicone oil. Either someone didn't notice or was careless. Anyway such pages shouldn't end up in the product.

 

At least we know it would be easy to identify the culprit.

Edited June 14, 2018 by Astron

[WilsonLaidaw]

I have given up on Moleskin. About 10 years ago the quality of paper was adequate. The one I bought recently is like trying to write on blotting paper. I always use an OB nib which pen dependant, flows anything from a medium amount of ink to quite a lot. I am using either Pelikan or MontBlanc violet ink. Even the better Moleskin from 10 years ago had sufficient print through that you could not write on the reverse page. On the recent Moleskin I was getting bleed through to the extent of the page below being unusable, with a G v Faber-Castell Classic FP with OB nib.

 

I would like to find a maker who supplies book bound notebooks of 100 gsm lined paper in A5 size, that is FP friendly. My wife gave me a beautiful calf bound Quarto size notebook, full of hand made paper. It is a lovely object but the paper is so coarse, you can really only write on it with a 4B pencil and I think it was more made for sketching than writing.

 

I travel extensively and occasionally write articles for airline magazines supplying my own photographs. On a typical trip I will take upwards of 1000 digital photos and maybe 6 to 8 rolls of 35mm film as well. A couple of my professional digital cameras have GPS logging but they are quite large and heavy, as are the lenses. The lighter digital camera I now use, a Leica CL, does not have GPS logging, so the diary I write up every night on my travels is a very useful guide when geolocating photos I have taken. On a trip to Myanmar 18 months ago, if I had not had GPS logging and a diary, I would never have been able to sort out which of the 50 plus temples I had been photographing.

 

Any suggestions folks? European availability is preferable but not essential.

[mauckcg]

I have given up on Moleskin. About 10 years ago the quality of paper was adequate. The one I bought recently is like trying to write on blotting paper. I always use an OB nib which pen dependant, flows anything from a medium amount of ink to quite a lot. I am using either Pelikan or MontBlanc violet ink. Even the better Moleskin from 10 years ago had sufficient print through that you could not write on the reverse page. On the recent Moleskin I was getting bleed through to the extent of the page below being unusable, with a G v Faber-Castell Classic FP with OB nib.

 

I would like to find a maker who supplies book bound notebooks of 100 gsm lined paper in A5 size, that is FP friendly. My wife gave me a beautiful calf bound Quarto size notebook, full of hand made paper. It is a lovely object but the paper is so coarse, you can really only write on it with a 4B pencil and I think it was more made for sketching than writing.

 

I travel extensively and occasionally write articles for airline magazines supplying my own photographs. On a typical trip I will take upwards of 1000 digital photos and maybe 6 to 8 rolls of 35mm film as well. A couple of my professional digital cameras have GPS logging but they are quite large and heavy, as are the lenses. The lighter digital camera I now use, a Leica CL, does not have GPS logging, so the diary I write up every night on my travels is a very useful guide when geolocating photos I have taken. On a trip to Myanmar 18 months ago, if I had not had GPS logging and a diary, I would never have been able to sort out which of the 50 plus temples I had been photographing.

 

Any suggestions folks? European availability is preferable but not essential.

Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks are pretty nice. They have hardback and softback, multiple sizes, line, dot grid, blank, planners and so on. Paperweight is 80gsm 250 pages. I've been using one for about a year now and I get a little bit of ghosting. No bleed through or feathering that have have come across.

[dan in montreal]

I have given up on Moleskin. About 10 years ago the quality of paper was adequate. The one I bought recently is like trying to write on blotting paper.

I agree. I've not used them in years. What I can't get over is the price of the cahiers / journals. Premium prices for bad or at least uneven paper. Over the years, I've gotten a few small notebooks as stocking stuffers and I can only use them with graphite pencils.

 

Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks are pretty nice. They have hardback and softback, multiple sizes, line, dot grid, blank, planners and so on. Paperweight is 80gsm 250 pages. I've been using one for about a year now and I get a little bit of ghosting. No bleed through or feathering that have have come across.

Yes. Although some around here have not had as happy experiences with this brand, I definitely have. I find them to be pretty consistent and reasonably priced. However, they will not handle very wet and very broad nibs as well as Rhodia / Clairefontaine.

[WilsonLaidaw]

Thanks folks. I had a look at Leuchturm in a pen shop in the UK. The paper seemed very thin to me and as you confirmed only 80 gsm. The perfect paper for me is Conqueror 100 gsm cream wove paper (? made by Wiggins Teape). If I were a quality pad maker, that is what I would choose for the paper in the pad. It is the perfect material to write on with an FP. No bleed through or feathering and super smooth. I wonder if my best route would be to buy a ream of that in A5 and buy a good quality A5 ring binder. OK it's not lined but you can't have everything.

 

PS Someone else has pointed me in the direction of Lemome pads. Book bound, lined, A5 and 125 GSM paper - sounds perfect.

Edited June 15, 2018 by WilsonLaidaw

[Silmaeween]

I use the travelers notebook system and my favorite brand has a "wide" size which fit perfectly the moleskine large cahier. I have a retailers at 2 min from my door so I won't be out of stock. Everything was perfect !!! Until I did write with a fountain pen... bad bad experience, no matter the ink or the nib. Now I am stuck with useless notebooks. I do not recommend the brand it is not fountain pen friendly at all.

[WilsonLaidaw]

My 2 Lemome pads arrived from Amazon France today (well as usual I had to go into the village on my ATV to fetch them from the van driver, who was completely new to the area and lost - good idea Amazon). They seem extraordinarily good value for €9 each. They are book bound in compressed cork covered heavy card, have around 100 sheets of very nice 125gsm paper, which seems to work perfectly with my fairly "inky" Faber-Castell with OB nib. No bleed through, no feathering. They also have a pencil loop, a silk bookmark and a folder for loose papers in the back cover. I can't really think of any way in which they could be improved. A lucky find.

 

Wilson

[katerchen]

 

Meanwhile, not to take things off topic, but could to tell me what ink that is? I really like it.

 

Pilot Blue Black maybe?

[bogiesan]

I’ve got dozens of pocket molies,that span three owners over two decades. Never seen this issue where some contaminant is on the surface. But paper is a huge commodity, lots of things can happen during the production of millions of tons of rolls and the subsequent trimming, handling, and assembly.

 

BTW, I only use themrecto side,fmeach leaf so I don’t care about bleed through. Fountain pen users are not in molie’s target,demographic; they don’t care about us. I have accepted that.

[ajingko]

 

Pilot Blue Black maybe?

Yes, correct.