A pen test is essential for understanding which stationery works best on the journal pages.
Pens
First, I tested the Sakura micron pen, and as expected, it writes on really smoothly without any issues. I also tried the Zebra Sarasa clip gel pen as well as the Muji fountain pen. There were no feathering problems and none of the ink bled through to the other side.
Brush Pens
Then I tried out a couple of brush pens which all worked beautifully on the smooth paper:
1. Tombow dual brush pen
2. Pentel brush sign pen
3. Koi colouring brush pen
4. Zebra mildliner brush pen
Please don’t mind the ugly lettering; I’m not sure why my lettering skills decided to go on holiday that day (*facepalms*). On a closer look, the Pentel brush pen feathered and ghosted a little more than the other pens, but I’m not sure if it’s because this pen is relatively newer and has more ink than the rest.
Pointed Pen & Ink
Next, I tested the pointed pen using a Gillott 170 nib and walnut ink, and surprisingly, they worked fine without any scratchiness and the ink didn’t feather at all. There was hardly a trace of the writing on the other side which was a pleasant surprise.
Stamp Ink Pads
Also, I tested a few pigment stamp pads since I love using stamps during bullet journaling. None of the ink pads bled through the page, and they were all pretty quick-drying.
Watercolour
Lastly, I was curious how watercolour works in this journal so I tried painting a few colours using a water brush. I didn’t make the paint too watery, and only painted a single layer for each colour. None of the paint bled through even though the paper did warped a little due to the water. The results definitely surpassed my expectations since the paper is only 120 gsm thick!