As much as I can although due to moving they are all currently all packed away.
Normally, I use them in Bullet Journal which is an organizational tool rather than a way to unpack my feelings. I’ve toyed with traditional journalling but I just don’t feel my life is interesting enough to write about. Otherwise, odd notes for work and home life and I have brought some books to learn and practice my penmanship. I also try to write the odd letter around the festive season to some of my older relatives that still appreciate real letters.
I use them at work - when in the hospital, to jot down notes and to-dos throughout the day to help me document electronically later. When I’m in my research role, I have tons of meetings (many via Zoom). I have a big Leuchtturm1917 (A4+) notebook that I use to jot down notes, which keeps me engaged, and also to work out ideas / write out math or pseudo-code.
Outside of work, I will sometimes write passages of poetry or prose to try to improve my handwriting or check out inks. I’m giving the journaling thing a try at the moment though it’s not something that I’ve done regularly before.
Replying again after my order arrived. It’s heavy in the hand, but feels good for short scribbles. It’s a good shape for my small hands and four-finger grip. I’ll have to test it for a longer time to be sure, though. Ink capacity with the built-in converter looks very small, so be warned.
I mostly use my fountain pens for my Hobonichi planner, snail mail penpalling, and a little journaling now and then. I also prefer them for general use like making quick notes, but in that case I’ll write on and with whatever I can grab before the thought escapes.
I like my Hobonichi Techo planner. The paper is thin, so it ghosts a bit, but it doesn’t bleed. I think they also make plain journals, and it’s not uncommon for Hobonichi fans to buy an extra planner to use as a journal.
I’ve gotten good mileage out of Rhodia and Claire Fontaine, and my sibling swears by Tomoe River. Do not try Moleskine, I have gotten more feathering on those notebooks than on any paper I have ever used. I think they’re designed for pencils, or something.
Fair disclosure, though, I usually just use cheap composition books, and find a pen/ink combo that looks good on whatever I happen to be using. I only use nice paper if I particularly need it for a given pen or ink, or if I am going to show someone else what I’ve written.
Midori MD pads with one of their covers work well and aren’t too expensive. Available in A5 and A6 if I recall. Otherwise as already mentioned I like the 90gsm Rhodia or Clairefontaine notebooks. The 80gsm Rhodia paper (found in a lot of their pads) always feels like the backside of the paper has less coating on it and not as enjoyable.
My favorite notebook is the JetPens Kanso Noto. They have 160 sheets (320 pages) of Tomoe River paper with a 5mm dot grid. Tomoe River paper is a premium fountain pen friendly paper that should solve your feathering problems.
JetPens offers free shipping in the US for order of $35 or more. I don’t know what options are available outside of the US.
The notebook is currently out of stock. I expect more to be back soon. Tomoe River paper was sold from one paper company to another. I think JetPens just cleared out their stock with paper from the original company and I anticipate they’ll bring the notebook back soon with paper from the new company (Sanzen). In the past, the notebooks sold for $19.50, which is a great price for a premium paper notebook (seriously, I think only the Nanami Seven Seas notebooks have a better price per page for premium paper) . However, to keep the price low, the notebook doesn’t have bells and whistles like an elastic closure or page marker ribbons.
I give this pen a hearty +1. I have owned, sold, and given away a lot of 30$USD and below pens in the last decade. The 601 and Lamy Safari (and technically a brass Kaweco Sport if that counts) are the only pens in this budget I have kept. The 601 is my off the beaten path recommendation beside the usual suspects of beginner pens. The pen’s capacity in a very pleasant body is the big selling point for me. The filling system is neat, and the use of a O-ring type piston (is that the technical term?) like the one found in a piston filler over the latex used in the original 601 model is an excellent upgrade in my opinion. For people who throw around their pens, the plastic isn’t the toughest thing in the world, but I think your metal version solves that problem.
The hooded nib is great for slowing dry out too!
My question to you is how the balance on the metal version, especially when posted? The plastic grip worries me a little.
The balance is great - I almost always post and have had no problems. I think that its because the pen itself has a small profile, so while the steel adds some weight, it’s still not a very heavy or big pen overall.
For me, that was Noodler’s Black Swan in Australian Roses. It looked so cool and full of shading in the swatches I looked at - especially when it got dark, nearly black where it pooled.
Maybe I got another, worse batch of it or something, but for me it’s just a really uniform magenta, even on TR and wet pens. I don’t get what the hype is about, but maybe I was just unlucky.
Funnily, for me, skull and roses sheens red pretty heavily on nearly all papers. Maybe you got a bad batch, as well?
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