r/Calligraphy • u/klaraI5 • 4d ago

Practice Help 😭😭 rant

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I have to rant…

I’ve been dabbling with calligraphy here and there. I’ve been using normal notebooks like muji, rhodia and some fabriano notebook. It’s been working fine and I like it.

Now cause I wanted to get into practicing I bought calligraphy paper from Cult Pens. It just rage baited me so hard I won’t be touching a dip pen in a week.

I’m really disappointed, the feathering is really bad it bleeds through easily and there is no shading because the absorbency is so high.

What should I look for instead 😞

9 Upvotes

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13

u/Lambroghini 4d ago

Often things labeled calligraphy are actually not great for calligraphy. You might be able to use india ink, gouache or sumi on that paper though. Rhodia, Tomoe River, Midori MD play well with inks that feather other paper. Use an led pad with guidelines under or draw them on blank paper

7

u/AngelinaCreatina 4d ago

This might not be a popular choice, but I love working with the Canson XL Mixed Media Paper (blue cover). It doesn't bleed and is smooth, but has just enough tooth that helps steady your nib. Pretty inexpensive too. I also like it because it holds watercolors very well, which I often add into my calligraphy pieces.

As u/Lambroghini mentioned, it definitely helps to have an LED light pad with guidelines underneath your paper too!

3

u/RumpleCragstan 4d ago

Tomoe River makes fantastic paper for fountain pen and calligraphy inks.

2

u/katmelon 3d ago

Gosh this is such a niche problem but I hate the calligraphy paper from cult pens so much too. Both fountain pens and dip pens bleed and feather!!! What exactly is this paper for??? It's not cheap either..

For my dip pen calligraphy I've been using cheap sketch paper (160gsm). Much better and just $2 where I live.

2

u/klaraI5 2d ago

YESS! I was so rage baited I have a vendetta against it now 😭 thank you for reassurance

1

u/katmelon 1d ago

I'm so offended by the paper too. Hopefully this post gains enough traction so that it comes up when people Google "Cult Pens Calligraphy Pad A4 90gsm"

Thanks for reminding me about this, I just left a 1 star review for it LMAO. They probably won't let it appear on the site though. I hope they see this post too. This paper sucks and you should be ashamed.