Blog

Journalers obsess over pens, but paper is the other half of the equation — and often the real reason ink bleeds, feathers, or ghosts. The right notebook can make a cheap pen look great; the wrong one ruins an expensive one. Here’s how to choose.

What the specs mean

• GSM (weight): grams per square meter. Higher = thicker and more resistant to bleed and ghosting. Under 80 gsm is thin; 90–100 gsm is comfortable for most pens; 120 gsm+ handles almost anything.
• Coating/smoothness: smoother, coated papers (like Tomoe River or Rhodia) let ink sit on the surface and dry cleanly instead of soaking in and feathering.
• Sizing: how much the paper resists absorbing ink. Well-sized paper is what makes fountain-pen ink look crisp.

Notebooks journalers trust

• Rhodia: smooth 80–90 gsm paper that handles gel and fountain pens beautifully — a safe default.
• Leuchtturm1917: the bullet-journal favorite; dotted pages and solid paper, with “edition” versions offering heavier stock.
• Tomoe River: remarkably thin yet extraordinarily resistant to bleed and feather — beloved by fountain-pen users (though wet ink dries more slowly on it).
• Midori MD / Clairefontaine: smooth, well-sized papers that take a wide range of pens cleanly.

Match paper to your pen

If you use wet pens (gels, rollerballs, fountain pens), prioritize heavier, well-sized paper. If you’re stuck with thin paper, switch to drier ink — a pigment fineliner or hybrid ballpoint — instead; see our best pens that don’t bleed through. The science of why this happens is in why pens bleed through paper.

The quick test

Before committing a new pen to a notebook, scribble a dense patch in the back, press firmly, wait a minute, and turn the page. If it bleeds, pair that pen with heavier paper or switch to a drier ink. Ten seconds now saves a ruined spread later. Choosing a pen to go with your paper? See the best pens for journaling.

It’s the most-used writing tool on earth, yet almost nobody knows the story behind it. The ballpoint pen took decades to get right and made (and lost) fortunes along the way. Here’s the short history.

The first patent: John J. Loud, 1888

An American named John J. Loud patented a pen with a rotating steel ball tip in 1888, intended for marking leather and rough surfaces. It worked on those materials but was too crude for writing on paper, and the patent eventually lapsed. The idea was sound; the execution wasn’t there yet.

The breakthrough: László Bíró, 1938

The modern ballpoint came from a Hungarian journalist, László Bíró. Frustrated that fountain-pen ink smudged and took forever to dry, he noticed that the thick ink used in newspaper printing dried almost instantly. Working with his brother György, a chemist, he paired a quick-drying ink with a tiny rotating ball in the tip that fed ink smoothly onto the page. He patented it in 1938. In many countries, ballpoint pens are still called “biros” after him.

War, pilots, and a sales frenzy

The ballpoint’s first big break was altitude: unlike fountain pens, it didn’t leak in the low pressure of an airplane cockpit, so air forces wanted it during World War II. After the war, it exploded as a consumer product. In 1945, a New York store sold thousands of ballpoint pens in a single day at a premium price, despite early models being expensive and prone to leaking.

Marcel Bich makes it cheap

The pen became the everyday object we know thanks to Frenchman Marcel Bich, who refined the design and drove the cost down dramatically in the 1950s. His company — BIC — turned the ballpoint into a disposable item anyone could afford, selling it by the billions.

The ballpoint today

Modern ballpoints have come a long way from those scratchy early pens. Low-viscosity and hybrid inks (like the Uni-ball Jetstream) now write as smoothly as gel pens while keeping the ballpoint’s fast-drying, low-bleed advantages — which is exactly why they’re great for journaling. See our best ballpoint pens for journaling, or learn how every ink type compares in pen types explained.

If your hand aches after a page or two, or your handwriting gets messier the longer you write, your grip is probably the culprit. A relaxed, correct pen hold makes writing neater and lets you journal for much longer without fatigue. Here’s how to fix it.

The classic tripod grip

The grip handwriting experts recommend is the dynamic tripod:

• Hold the pen between your thumb and index finger, resting it on the side of your middle finger.
• Grip about 2–3 cm (1 inch) above the tip — not right on the point.
• Let the pen rest in the web between thumb and index finger, angled back toward your shoulder.
• Keep your fingers curved and relaxed, not locked straight or clenched white.

The biggest mistake: gripping too hard

Most hand pain comes from a death grip. You need far less pressure than you think — the pen should feel light in your fingers. A simple test: if your fingertips turn white or your knuckles ache, you’re squeezing too hard. Consciously loosen your grip and let the pen glide. Using a pen that writes smoothly with light pressure (a gel or fountain pen) makes this dramatically easier than a stiff ballpoint you have to press.

Move from your arm, not just your fingers

Good writers move the whole hand and forearm across the page rather than cramping everything into tiny finger movements. Keep your wrist relatively still and glide your arm along. This produces smoother, more consistent letters and spreads the effort across larger muscles.

Small tweaks that help a lot

• Angle your paper slightly (to the left for right-handers, to the right for left-handers) so your hand falls naturally.
• Try a wider barrel or a cushioned grip if you have joint pain — a thicker pen needs less squeezing.
• Take breaks. Even perfect technique needs a rest on a long journaling session.

If you’re left-handed, a few extra adjustments help you avoid smudging too — see our guide to the best pens for left-handed journaling. And a comfortable, light-pressure pen makes all of this easier; browse the best pens for journaling.

Faux calligraphy is the easiest way to add gorgeous hand-lettering to your journal — and you can do it with any pen you already own. It mimics the thick downstrokes and thin upstrokes of brush calligraphy, but instead of relying on pressure and a flexible tip, you draw and fill the thick parts by hand. It’s beginner-proof and genuinely looks great.

What you need

Just a pen and paper. A fineliner or gel pen works perfectly (a fine point pen gives the cleanest result). That’s the whole point — no brush pen required.

The core rule: down = thick, up = thin

All calligraphy follows one rule: strokes that go down are thick, strokes that go up are thin. In real brush lettering, you create this with pressure. In faux calligraphy, you create it by hand in two steps.

Step by step

1. Write your word in cursive, slowly, with normal thin lines. Leave a little extra space between letters — you’ll need room for the thick strokes.
2. Find every downstroke. These are the parts of each letter where your pen traveled downward.
3. Draw a second line next to each downstroke, leaving a thin gap between the original line and the new one.
4. Fill in the gap so each downstroke becomes one solid, thick line. Leave the upstrokes thin.
5. Admire your lettering. That contrast between thick and thin is what reads as “calligraphy.”

Tips for better faux calligraphy

• Write slowly — this is drawing, not handwriting.
• Keep your thick strokes a consistent width for a polished look.
• Add small flourishes to the first and last letters once you’re comfortable.
• Use a pencil first if you want to plan spacing, then ink over it.

Ready for a brush pen?

Once faux calligraphy feels natural, the thick-down/thin-up instinct transfers straight to real brush lettering. The Tombow Fudenosuke hard-tip is the best pen to graduate to — see our best brush pens for journaling and lettering.

If you carry a pen, sooner or later it leaks — or your toddler finds it. The good news: most pen ink comes out of clothes if you act in the right way. The trick is matching the method to the ink type, and resisting the urge to rub (which spreads it). Here’s exactly what to do.

First, two rules for any ink stain

• Blot, don’t rub. Rubbing pushes ink deeper into the fibers and spreads it. Always blot with a clean cloth from the outside of the stain inward.
• Don’t put it in the dryer until the stain is gone. Heat sets ink permanently. Air-dry and check before tumble-drying.

Also, always test any solvent on a hidden seam first, and check the garment’s care label — this advice is for everyday washable fabrics, not dry-clean-only or delicate items like silk and leather, which should go to a professional.

How to remove ballpoint pen ink

Ballpoint ink is oil-based, so you need something that dissolves oil — most often alcohol.

1. Place the stain face-down on a clean paper towel or cloth.
2. Dab the back of the stain with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Clear hairspray that contains alcohol also works.
3. The ink will transfer onto the towel beneath. Keep moving to a clean section of towel so you’re always lifting ink away, not re-depositing it.
4. Rinse with cool water, apply a little laundry detergent, and wash as normal. Air-dry and check before drying with heat.

How to remove gel pen ink

Gel ink is water-based with pigment, so it often responds to detergent and cold water, with alcohol as backup.

1. Rinse the back of the stain under cold running water to flush out as much ink as possible.
2. Work a little liquid laundry detergent or dish soap into the stain and let it sit for 5–10 minutes.
3. If color remains, dab with rubbing alcohol as for ballpoint ink.
4. Wash in cold water and air-dry.

How to remove fountain pen ink

Most fountain-pen ink is water-based dye, which actually makes fresh stains easier to flush — but pigment and permanent inks are tougher.

1. Immediately rinse under cold water until the water runs mostly clear.
2. Soak in cold water with a little detergent for 15–30 minutes.
3. For stubborn color, dab with a mix of equal parts milk and white vinegar, or use an oxygen-based stain remover.
4. Wash and air-dry. Repeat before using heat.

How to get dried pen ink out of clothes

A dried stain is harder but often not hopeless, as long as it hasn’t been through a hot dryer. Rehydrate it first: lay the fabric on a towel, saturate the stain with rubbing alcohol (for ballpoint/gel) and let it work for several minutes to loosen the dried ink, blotting onto the towel below. Then treat it with detergent and wash as above. An overnight soak in cold water with an oxygen-based stain remover can rescue stains you thought were permanent. It may take two or three rounds — just never tumble-dry between attempts.

When to give up (or call a pro)

If the garment has already been through a hot dryer, the ink is likely set for good. For dry-clean-only fabrics, delicate materials, or a stain you care about a lot, take it to a professional cleaner and tell them exactly what the ink is — the sooner, the better.

Avoiding ink leaks in the first place

Most pocket leaks come from capped pens carried tip-up, or cheap pens with worn seals. Carry retractable pens clicked closed, or capped pens tip-up in a dedicated pen sleeve. If you’re choosing new pens, our guide to the best pens for journaling favors reliable, well-made pens that don’t leak — and if you want pens that don’t bleed through the page either, see our no-bleed pens guide.