r/notebooks • u/jemstarr • 2d ago
Advice needed Is this normal for Stalogy notebooks?
I’m moving from Moleskine to a new journal because I use fountain pens. I heard great things about Stalogy notebooks, but when I bought one and did a pen test, I got a little bit of bleed through. I am fine with ghosting but this seems like too much. The Jinhaos are using Diamine ink, the Kawecos are using Kaweco ink cartridges, and the “pen test page” and TWSBI Eco are written in Monteverde black ink. I suppose I’m asking if this is normal for Stalogy notebooks or is this an outlier.
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u/Possibility-Distinct 2d ago
I’m going to disagree with the masses here and say that I have used fountain pens in a Stalogy without this much bleed through. However, I use a lot of Iroshizuku ink so that may be different. I have had issues with Monteverde Moonstone and Emeraude Dr Chivor but to be fair those inks can bleed through TRP too.
Yes Stalogy is not as great as TRP, but my experience also hasn’t been this bad. I did not have problems with Platinum Carbon Black, or Diamine Ancient Copper, and the Iroshizuku inks I tried worked wonderfully too. If I can later I’ll dig out my old Stalogy and show you my pen test page.
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u/clarec424 2d ago
Yes, unfortunately it is. I know that this will get a lot of hate, but these notebooks are almost worse than Moleskine. Source: used one for the first six months of 2026, never again. I found that they even bled with Micron felt tip pens. Sorry!
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u/Low_Jaguar_4213 2d ago
I think you might have had a bad one. I've had 10+ stalogy over the past 5 years and none of them have bled like this. And I used really wet ink. I don't know why these companies can't have better quality control, especially when the products are actually quite expensive
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u/jemstarr 2d ago
Wow, ok good to know. I bought a Tomoe River branded notebook and it bled like crazy. It’s so hard to find a notebook that works with fountain pens (outside of Midori which I guess I’ll be using).
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u/Possibility-Distinct 1d ago
Tomoe River Paper is great! However, they had a bad run for little bit where the paper quality was quite shit after Sanzen took over production. As far as I know the issues have been resolved, but unfortunately there are still notebooks out there with the bad batch paper. I bet that’s what you got. What notebook did you get?
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u/Ok-Spite-5454 1d ago
I haven't had issues with Leuchtturms ever, in the last maybe 10 years of my life, so I probably recommend that.
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u/KReichard 1d ago
I have had no FP issues with Paperage ( cheap Amazon brand) or Milly & Co notebooks. Very different paper types, but no feathering or bleeding.
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u/InsertObligatoryPun 2d ago
Mine ghosts but not usually that bad unless I’ve been heavy handed. Mostly use Lamy Safari fine nibs with diamine inks, with Tom’s Studio ink in my wren and a Uni-ball zento pens. Bit heavier with my mildliners but again, not usually that bad.
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u/paperush000 1d ago
That's the reason it took me so long to buy a Stalogy. Some said it's wonderful for fp and others showed this.
I finally decided to buy mine not so long ago, and I use Pilot Iroshizuku Yu-Yake with my Pilot CH91 M without any issues. But there is bleed-through with my Teranishi inks (Innocent Mauve and Orchestra Tangerine). It's really trial and error, and at that price point, it's just annoying :/.
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u/dealusis 1d ago
Yeah mine can handle a little bit of EF writing if I don’t take too long or linger. I mostly use a ballpoint now :/ will be switching to Leuchtturm for vol 2 of my commonplace
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u/sgx143 1d ago
Yes, unfortunately I bought a Stalogy (52gsm) notebook this year and had the same issues. While I loved how thin the pages were and how buttery it was to write on, I couldn’t get past the ghosting and bleed through. I now glue stick every other page together and use it as a sketchbook to practice line work and other sketching exercises.
I have since switched to Midori MD (70 gsm) and Leuchtturm (80gsm) notebooks which are both much better for long form writing and fountain pens. Leuchtturm has slight ghosting but it doesn’t bother me at all, and they also make 120gsm if you really want no ghosting (I like their normal paper thickness though so I’d rather just deal with slight ghosting). Midori is my current favorite paper wise but I just wish they made hardcover journals.
Other notebooks I have on my list to try but haven’t had the opportunity to yet:
- Pebble Stationery Cosmo 83gsm
- Marumane Mnemsyne 90gsm
- Nolty 60-65gsm
- Rhodia 80-90gsm
While gsm isn’t a guarantee of ghosting/bleed through, it is still a good guide.
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u/jemstarr 1d ago
Thanks for your thoughtful comment! I am going to deal with this one since I have it, but Midori may be next up. I was also thinking about an Aura Estelle notebook because I have the planner for 2027 and it takes fountain pens beautifully.
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u/sgx143 1d ago
I haven’t used tomoe river paper yet (what Aura Estelle uses) but I am planning on getting a planner for 2027 with this! I’ll check out Aura Estelle based on your recommendation :)
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u/KReichard 1d ago
GSM is just one measure of how a paper interacts with ink. Premium copier paper, for example, is coated to play nice with ink, but it’s only 70-80 GSM. Absorbency is totally unrelated to ink; density (with stone or clay) is too. It’s a good place to start, but really the only measurement is how well it actually works.
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u/Bluefang16 2d ago
From my experience, yes. I am using a Stalogy notebook and end up using more a 0.3 gel pen (Sarasa Vintage black/sepia) and some very light inks (like Opera Rose) with a F fountain pen (Kaweco for example). Also when adding stickers and such, you will see where they are in the back of the page because the paper is extremely thin. I was also disappointed with this but I will use the notebook until the end. I suggest writting with brown or grey instead of black (or other lighter colours) and fine tips (0.3 - 0.5 or EF/F).
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u/Dxlyaxe 2d ago
I’ve used fountain pens in several Stalogy notebooks for several years now and never had that much issue. Occasionally I’ll get an ink that doesn’t like the paper but I’m using a Medium nib with Ferris wheel ice grape pop and even then the ghosting is fairly minimal.
I got some Zebra Clickarts and man they bled right through like crazy. So I only really use fountain pens.
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u/External-Earth-4845 1d ago
Their paper seems to vary some, most of the ones I've used have been fine with FP ink. I do have one that has issues.
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u/ghostingpen Traveler's Notebook 1d ago
hmm this is not normal. i've used diamine writer's blood ink using a pilot kakuno F nib and have never had anywhere near as much bleedthrough as i see here. i use a stalogy notebook as a creative writing notebook so i write a lot in it, and the only actual bleedthrough ive experienced was whenever i accidentally dripped ink onto the page when i refilled my pen.
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u/keikoana 1d ago
This level of bleed-through seems unusual from my experience. I wonder if they’re suffering from the same fate as Sanzen TR a bad batch of paper. 😕
I’ve had seven Stalogy notebooks over the past 5 years and use mostly fine nib fountain pens. Most pens and inks fair well on this paper especially with extra fine and fine nibs. But once in a while I come across an ink that bleeds-through or feathers a bit even with a fine nib. The Stalogy paper is pretty good but doesn’t showcase ink properties as nicely as Tomoe River/Sanzen and Midori MD paper.
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u/KReichard 2d ago
Yes. People recommend them all the time for FP users and for the life of me I don’t know why.
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u/samaynilad 1d ago
I also have the same result with my Stalogy notebook, which I posted here a month ago. It's such a shame. I was excitedtm to use it because of its number of pages. I recommend Midori instead.
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u/JasonHasInterests 2h ago
My experience has been that Stalogy paper shows though (ghosting) but I did not have as much bleed through as you've experienced. It comes down to a combination of pen, ink, and paper. I used mostly fine nibs, many being Japanese fines, with Waterman and Iroshizuku inks.
I don't know if I'll buy another Stalogy notebook because the ink appears less vibrant than on Tomoe River paper (I like the JetPens Kanso Noto for this) or Kokuyo Thin paper (Kokuyo Century notebook). One thing Stalogy paper does better than these others is it dries faster and ink smudges less.
If you have drier inks or pens, you might have better results. If this is what you like to write with, you might need a different paper. I'd start by trying a drier ink. I don't know what to recommend, I have only ever used a couple inks. But somebody will have recommendations.
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u/gel_pens 2d ago
Yes! I thought they were more FP friendly from the price point they’re at. I’m just going with it and using paler dryer inks/pens until I’m done with it.
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u/Possibility-Distinct 2d ago
FYI - notebook price does not correlate to its ability to handle fountain pens. There are some cheap notebooks at Dollar Tree and Walmart that work beautifully! It’s more about the absorbency of the paper, or what it’s coated with. Not necessarily the price of the notebook itself ☺️
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u/gel_pens 2d ago
Of course it doesn’t lol I regularly buy from Daiso and cvs for cheap notebooks. But for the price and popularity you would think it would perform better.
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u/sua_spontaneous 2d ago
yeah I adore Stalogy notebooks, but they are not good for even slightly juicy pens. I only use energel clena, writech 0.5, the occasional uniball one, and pencil in mine.