Rant: My fancy new brush pens bled through 3 pages of my journal

Ngl I was so excited to try those Tombow pens everyone raves about but they soaked right through my Leuchtturm paper. Learned the hard way that thicker paper like 160gsm is a must for wetter ink. Anyone else have a favorite paper brand that handles brush pens ok?

2 comments

2 Comments

stella_lane1mo ago

My friend bought a set of those Ecoline brush pens and tried them in her Rhodia notebook. She was so hyped about making some fancy lettering but the ink went straight through like 5 pages. She ended up having to glue in extra sheets to cover the bleed marks. Now she swears by stillman & birn paper for her wetter pens, says it handles the ink way better without ghosting.

stella_lane1mo ago

Man I totally feel that. Same exact thing happened to me with a set of Kuretake brush pens on my Leuchtturm. I was trying to do some envelope addressing for a wedding and the ink just bled straight through to the next page. Ended up having to redo like ten envelopes before I figured out it was the paper not the pens. Stillman & Birn is definitely the move for wet inks. I switched to their Beta series sketchbook and haven't had a single bleed issue since. The difference is honestly night and day when you're using anything water based.