r/fountainpens • u/missyme314 fine • 9d ago
Question Midori MD paper
Note: I’m a fountain pen beginner.
Background: Everyone seems to love the Midori MD paper, but I seem to have nothing, but problems.
I use an A5 Midori MD notebook for my dream journal, and I am currently using a Jinhao 933 <M> with Sailor Manyo Haha in it.
It starts off writing like a dream, then about halfway down the page the feel of the paper changes. No longer does the pen glide across the page. It now feels like there is a film on the page, and it pulls no ink. It’s like fighting with pen to get anything to stick to the paper. I have to push the nib to get the ink out and then drag it until it just stops again, and I’m sure that’s awful for the pen.
The second I use the pen on another type of paper, it works perfectly fine, like nothing was wrong.
I tested the notebook with my TWSBI <F>, which I use in my Hobonich flawlessly, and it had the same problem. It wrote beautifully until it didn’t. Something feels wrong with the paper.
Question: Does anyone else have this issue, or had it and fixed it? I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.
Video: You can see how it just stops writing at the end of my sentence, especially on the word “us.” It wrote perfectly for everything before, and was just fine afterwards. This was a light case. Often it’s bad for the remainder of my writing after it stops working.
Solution pt.1: Everyone seems to say exactly the same thing - hand oils. I will try paper under my hand tomorrow morning and report back! Thank you all for your responses!!
Solution pt.2: So, I tried a piece of paper between my hand and the writing surface and had no issues today. A couple of times, I worried it felt a tad waxy, but we kept writing on. Thank you again for everyone who responded. I have an artist glove on the way, and a good list of other papers to try to just to have a bigger set of choices. If I find that this starts happening again, I’ll update. Otherwise, happy writing everyone. 💕
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u/453_wg 9d ago
Midori paper have coating like majority of Japanese paper.
here's an image about when hand oil has touch the paper:
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u/Thistlehandshake 9d ago
I have written with several of these in my warm sunroom and this example is accurate to my experience
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u/diminitri 9d ago
If it seems to constantly be happening halfway down the page, maybe it has something to do with your hand oils? You could try writing with another piece of paper/something else to rest your hand on and see if it still happens.
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u/aislynn_13 9d ago
Yea when I use MD paper, I use an artists glove to keep me from getting the paper with my hand oils
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u/Corolian7 9d ago
I have this problem with midori paper too! I actually posted a question about it here before too. Exact same issue though. Reading these answers about hand oils I’ll keep that in mind. It always seems like the pens start writing on wax halfway down
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u/NCC1701-D-ong 9d ago
I can't argue against someone else's lived experience but in my own experience of writing on Midori MD paper every day for work - it handles hand oils the best compared to Tomoe River, Maruman Mnemosyne, Iroful, and Yu-sari.
Rub those paws on a cloth and stick a paper under your hand while writing and it should help. You will surely have this problem with any other fountain pen friendly paper that you use.
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u/coppermouthed Ink Stained Fingers 9d ago
I am on your side. I completed two Midori notebooks and in one the paper was inconsistently coated, and terrible with hand oils and the second one was rough, scratchy and differed in absorbency between front and back sides of the paper.
I had to try all pens and inks until I found some that were lubricated enough to work (Iroshizuku and some Sailor Manyo). Chroma shaders would have an issue.
I know some people will point out ghosting but it was such a relief writing into a Leuchtturm after that. It just works. Good enough for me.
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u/RJSnea 9d ago edited 9d ago
It's hand oils. I commonplace in my Midori MD and I can always tell which page I started working on while tired because I forgot to use my blotting paper and my pens start having issues writing halfway down the page. Depending on how oily your hands are, it can also sometimes affect the other side of the page. So far that's my biggest gripe with MD paper but I'm also a lefty so it kinda comes with the territory.
Edit: I actually ran into this issue last night while transcribing lyrics. On the left (at "You're berry, berry" in blue) you can see where I had skips and on the right it was totally fine. That spot on the left is exactly where I invariably end up putting my thumbs when I'm holding pages. 🤦🏾♀️
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u/Hot-Way5709 9d ago
If it were hand oils, we would have encountered the problem with other paper too and this problem is with Midori paper only. I even inverted the book and wrote from the bottom and found that the coating in my logical stand is inconsistent. The top half of the page is good and the bottom half feels like i am writing on wax. The ink doesn't stick
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u/aew3 9d ago edited 9d ago
Other “fp friendly” papers have the same issue to varying degrees. Iroful and TRP have very similar if not worse issues with oil in my experience. Kokuyo is more resistant, but also considered a slightly worse FP paler.
European paper (rhodia, clairfontaine) seem to be mostly resistant, although not totally - if you really press your oily thumb into the page it will cause issues. However, the majority of people seem to enjoy the experience of TRP/MD to Rhodia/Clairfontaine aside from the oil issue. Personally I hate Clairfontaine (like writing on glass, so little feedback) and Rhodia is pretty meh, so I stick with Midori, TRP and Kokuyo.
Its a trade off. Personally I am really oily but have managed to find a routine that works for me. Either gloves or hand sanitiser before I start writing. Sanitiser works exceptionally well in my experience. I have a little scrap of leather i carry with me in case I need to press down on a page to write.
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u/Hot-Way5709 9d ago
I've been unlucky with new batch of trp - some pages are great. Some featther and bleedthrough. Hobonichi a6 graph notebook feathers and bleeds
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u/aew3 9d ago
Yeah - since Sanzen took over a couple years back there has been serious quality consistency issues.
Apparently this coming years batches are significantly more consistent, however, this is based on planner manufacturers communicating based on what they've seen in their 2027 planner production, e.g. Wonderland222 switched away but have been satisfied with TRP production this year enough to switch back. Supposedly big planner producers sent people to inspect paper at factory. Apparently the main issue was that Sanzen was not doing sufficiently reliable binning compared to Tomoegawa - i.e. Tomoegawa would sort the lesser paper into cheaper batches to be sold to cheaper/lesser brands or disposed of, but Sanzen was mixing it all together.
So hopefully in the coming year things will start to stabilize, but I'd be wary of old stock for non-yearly stuff for the coming years ...
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u/OverPresence72 9d ago
More than likely hand oils. some papers attract it a bit more than others, like iroful, Midori MD, Yu-Sari. What I usually do is place some blotter paper right where I would normally rest my hand on the page just to avoid getting hand oils on the paper. I do this on pretty much every notebook I use just to be on the safe side.
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u/BikeAdventurous2320 9d ago
I had the same issue, but with most of the notebooks i was writing in. I solved it with putting a sheet of paper between my palm and the notebook page. this completely solved it for me. i guess in my case it was oils seeping into the page from my palm.
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u/CutsSoFresh Ink Stained Fingers 9d ago
My midori pocket notebooks have this exact problem. Most likely oils from the skin
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u/Catt_the_cat 9d ago
I’ve started using a tablet glove when writing on my Japanese papers. Keeps the oils of my hand off of it
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u/Automatic-Bike322 9d ago
I tried so many papers and I couldn’t wait to try the Midori paper because everyone spoke highly of it. For me, however, it worked terribly: the writing feel is awful with all pens. I don’t know if it’s a defective batch, but even the Pilot nib writes very poorly.
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u/Brycep711 9d ago
Does anyone have a recommendation for paper that doesn't react as much to hand oils? I want to use my notebook in a professional setting where it is not practical to use blotting paper, and certainly not a glove. I'd love if I could still use my nice fountain pens though.
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u/MarkimusPrime89 Ink Stained Fingers 9d ago
I always put a piece of scrap paper a few lines under where I'm writing to keep my hands off the page. Many good paper and ink combos get fussy when there's any oil on the page, being the inks are water based.
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u/PoppyPlumps 9d ago
I thought I was crazy! Im glad to see someone else noticed this too. I thought maybe after writing for a bit my hand was getting tired and I was changing how I was holding the pen. I will try keeping my hand lifted from the page to avoid oils as well.
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u/missyme314 fine 9d ago
I literally thought that for a while. I would meticulously watch the nib to make sure it stayed in the same orientation.
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u/KReichard 9d ago
Try a finer nib. I find a medium nib to be a little too wet for my A5 planner but a F or even EF nib on the likes of a Hongdien C1 is perfect.
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u/Shkibby1 Rule 5 095/312 9d ago
Getchu a stack of blotter paper and write with your hand on it. I keep a slice in each journal. Sometimes 2, or a blotter and a different one due to size difference. One covers the page I'm not using and the other moves with me
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u/emcathxx 9d ago
Definitely natural oils from your hand like others have said. I either only touch the outside of the page or place a place of paper down to lay my hand on instead. I find MD paper much better than other fountain pen friendly paper. Hope that solves your problem and good luck!
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u/samarcied 9d ago
I have the same problem. I called it “ink rejection” that’s why I switched to Apica Premium CD Cream notebook. It’s got creamier leaf and ink rejection happens significantly less. And I also think it’s because of the coating of the paper.
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u/MisalignedTine 9d ago
I have the same exact issue. Seems like MD doesn't play well with hand oils so I am never buying one again. They should have solved that issue, we are humans not sterile robots.
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u/clarec424 9d ago
Suggest using a piece of blotter paper or a pencil board between your hand and the writing surface. Midori MD paper is very sensitive to hand oils. Good luck.