Bullet journalling has seen a huge surge in its popularity with each passing year for the last five years with some of the more popular bullet journals exploding in popularity. One of the three main bullet journals of choice at the time of writing is the Leuchtturm1917 that just keeps on going from strength to strength growing its market share with each month that passes.
Due to it being such a popular option, we constantly see people reaching out and asking questions about how they are able to get the most out of their notebook. One of the more commonly asked questions that we see is based around the Leuchtturm1917 ghosting and how you are able to stop it. Thankfully, there are some relatively easy steps that you are able to take to help prevent your Leuchtturm1917 from ghosting or bleeding helping improve the quality of your bullet journal spreads.
Before we go any further though, due to the popularity of the Leuchtturm1917, there are a number of counterfeit products on the market that use low-quality paper. If you are using a counterfeit journal and not an official Leuchtturm1917 then these steps covered in our article below may not help at all. That said though, they can work very well with the official Leuchtturm1917 range and help you to stop any ghosting or bleeding in your bullet journal.
What Is Bullet Journal Ghosting And Bleeding?
The term ghosting is used to describe the effect of your pen’s ink faintly showing up through the paper on the next sheet of your bullet journal. The term bleeding is used to describe the ink of your pen actually bleeding through your paper and showing up on the other side with clear ink lines. Both of these can ruin your bullet journal and really detract from the time and effort that you put into your bullet journal spreads.
Both ghosting and bleeding is causes by the pen you are using releasing too much ink for the GSM (grams per square inch) rating of the paper in your bullet journal. Thankfully, there are a number of quick and easy steps that you are able to take with your bullet journal to prevent this from happening and ensure that your Leuchtturm1917 is free from ghosting or bleeding.
How Thick Is Leuchtturm1917 Paper?
Although the Leuchtturm1917 is definitely one of the main three bullet journals on the market, it actually has a slightly lower GSM rating than the other two popular options with it coming in at 80GSM. This is a little on the thin side so it is not surprising that so many people report having problems with their Leuchtturm1917 bleeding and ghosting on them.
That said though, the vast majority of the first generation bullet journals were never intended for the high detail of the modern bullet journal spread with most options being 100GSM or lower. This means that even if you go with one of the leading competitors of the Leuchtturm1917 it is still likely that you will end up having problems with ghosting and bleeding.
Thankfully though, there are a number of second-generation produces such as the Yop & Tom bullet journal with its 160GSM rated paper quickly growing a reputation for itself. With a paper rating that is double the thickness of the Leuchtturm1917 it is very rare that you will have any issues with bleeding or ghosting when using the You & Tom journal even when using a wet writing pen. We hope that the rapidly growing market share of the Yop & Tom journal will push Leuchtturm to release a high GSM bullet journal but at the time of writing, there is no confirmation of this happening.
How To Stop Leuchtturm1917 Ghosting!
As you are restricted to the 80GSM paper of the Leuchtturm1917, the obvious option to stop the journal from ghosting and bleeding is to change the pen that you use when writing in it. Although we have our article on the best pens for Leuchtturm1917 bullet journals that goes into much more detail on the topic, there are a number of solid options that you are able to use that will not ghost.
One of the more common pen options for writing in the Leuchtturm1917 without having problems with ghosting is the Pilot G2 with the fine or extra-fine nib option usually being the best choice. The Pilot G2 has an excellent reputation due to its high level of performance while having a very budget friendly price tag making it an excellent option for all of our readers no matter your budget.
If you do like to make beautiful, color, detailed spreads for your Leuchtturm1917 bullet journal then there are Pilot G2 color packs available too. This should ensure that you are able to make some excellent spreads for your Leuchtturm1917 while having access to a wide range of colors without you having problems with bleeding or ghosting in the journal too.
Although we have noticed a number of people recommend a bleeding tissue to people having issues with ghosting or bleeding in their Leuchtturm1917, this tends to do little or nothing. A bleeding tissue is designed to prevent problems with bleeding or ghosting through multiple pages of your bullet journal rather than just one.
As the majority of people tend to only have some slight ghosting with the Leuchtturm1917 rather than full on bleeding a bleeding tissue offers no protection against the problem of ghosting through a single sheet of paper. This is why we recommend that our readers avoid shelling out for a bleeding tissue as we have seen them hyped up on social media as being the ultimate solution when in actual fact, they do little to nothing other than part you with your money.
If you do bullet journal on a regular basis then once you have filled your Leuchtturm1917 and are ready to move on to your next bullet journal, you can try to switch over to a high GSM option. Something like the Yop & Tom bullet journal that we touched on above with its 160GSM sheets is perfect to allow you to use any pen you want in your journal without having any issues with ghosting.
Conclusion
That brings our article on how to stop your Leuchtturm1917 ghosting or bleeding to a close. We hope that you have found it helpful but due to the 80GSM paper of the Leuchtturm1917 there really are not many options available to prevent ghosting issues. The only real option is switching out the pens that you use with the bullet journal and we know that some of our readers will want to keep to their current stationary collection leaving the only other option to be a different brand of bullet journal.
