Sunday, February 06, 2011

Fountain pen and the Cotton Cream...

Yesterday, while browsing the Flickr Philofaxy group, I noticed a discussion topic asking about the behaviour of the Cotton Cream refills from Filofax with fountain pen ink. Some readers said that it was good, while others (myself included) weren't too satisfied with it.

Well, it just so happens that last week, not knowing about this discussion, I decided to do a comparison of the QuoVadis Prestige, which I'm currently using in my Scanda, and the FF Cotton Cream, by trying out 4 fountain pens.

So, the arsenal I used was:
-Lamy Vista w/ Lamy blue ink, M nib
-Lamy Safari w/Lamy blue ink, M nib
-Parker Vector w/Quink in black, M nib
-Pilot Vpen (known as Varsity in the US), w/black ink, M nib

The page on the left is the QuoVadis Prestige, the one to the right the FF Cotton Cream, and above them, my pens.


On the left: the Vista and the Safari on the QV. As you can see, they don't show any feathering.
On the right: Both Lamys on the FFCC. The Vista is slightly thicker and the edges not as fine as in the QV, but it is hardly noticeable. The Safari is still quite thin and it seems darker.



On the left: the Parker and the Pilot on the QV. The Parker comes with a thicker nib than the Lamy, being a bit wet at times. But using Quink this shouldn't be a problem, as this ink is known for its fast-drying capabilities. There is no feathering. The Pilot on the other hand, has a very thin nib and is quite wet, taking a bit longer to dry. Still, no feathering, and the lines remain thin.
On the right: the Parker and the Pilot on the FFCC. The Parker's thick nib is more evident and the ink remained wet longer.The feathering is barely noticeable. The Pilot was very wet, and the line was also much thicker. Feathering was quite noticeable.


This is the backside of the QV. No bleedthrough whatsoever, even from the Pilot, which is the wettest pen I have and doesn't perform well on thin papers.


The reverse of the FFCC, on the other hand, tells a different story. Although the Lamys didn't bleed through at all (which is why that part isn't pictured), both the Parker and the Pilot do show through. Even using Quink! 

One other thing that I also noticed was that when I was writing on the FFCC, the paper would buckle sightly due to the wetness of the inks. This didn't happen with the QV. Nevertheless, by putting the paper under some weight, like keeping your binder closed, it will flatten out again.

In conclusion, although it is obvious that the QV is the clear winner here, the Cotton Cream only performed badly with the Parker and the Pilot. For those of you who plan on using a fountain pen, particularly the Lamy with its own ink, you should be fine. There won't be any feathering nor bleedthrough.

As for me, I fell in love with the QuoVadis paper the moment I tried out their planners!
Goodnight!