Growing pen obsession.

[DrBadStrings]

I've recently seriously gotten into collecting pens. I've always been obsessive about my pens not letting others use them and always on the look out for a new good pen though it was always disposable pens. But over the last few months I've started collecting reusable pens, rollerballs and now I've started down the fountain pen rabbit hole. I plan to use this thread to share my pen finds and provide samples of how they write. If anyone out there is into pens and wants to share here please do.

This is my first real fountain pen I got today. An entry level pen at $35 Cad. An Ellington which is a noname brand.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

sixty years since I used a fountain pen.

 

[Gerontius]

Try FPR out of Texas. Fountain Pen Revolution has some really nice imported Indian pens that are super cheap and feel close to the old antique pens. I have a FPR Jaipur v2 in orange vegetal resin and it's nice, got it for $12 on sale.

Osprey Pen is a more premium cheapie, if such a thing exists. $30ish for the Osprey Scholar. Acrylic, turned on a lathe, converter/cartridge, simple and comes in fun colors. I got my girlfriend one and she seems to like it very much. It doesn't leak.

Fountain pens are awesome, usually do not need to be thrown away, and make practical ways to write. I like them a lot.

 

[Misery]

Ooh, pens.

Look at this:

This is just some of it. Certain things are easy to deal with, others are not.

That blue one in front, that one needs to be completely disassembled in order to refill it with ink, typically makes a hideous mess. Lovely pen though. The weird looking metal one next to it was my very first one, much easier to refill. I use a converter for both.

Got various dip pens too, different inks, and a variety of cleaning supplies offscreen (bought from Goulet). Stuff like cleaning fluid, syringes, weird bulb thing.

I have A LOT of stuff like this. Who knows how many random pens and pen-related things in the hideous disaster that is my art supply area. Though, the fountain pens and dip pens are always kept separate from the mess.

I dont know if brush pens count, but those are what I actually use most. Have a bazillion of those things. Lettering is my specialty, brush pens are practically made for that. That's very different from how fountain pens and such are used though.

I have various books on lettering and fonts and such, useful with all of these. Different pen types are good at different things, when it comes to lettering and calligraphy.

 

[Outdated]

There was usually a companion to the fountain pen too, and sometimes they came together in sets - the clutch pencil.

 

[Raggamuffin]

I enjoyed using fountain pens at school.

I use a Pilot V-ball foe my art. Liquid ink is lovely and smooth to write and draw with.

Compared to a scratchy, inconsistent roller ball biro. I find my handwriting is so much neater using flowing, liquid ink, rather than that congealed gunk used in biros.

Ed

 

[DrBadStrings]

I enjoyed using fountain pens at school.

I use a Pilot V-ball foe my art. Liquid ink is lovely and smooth to write and draw with.

Compared to a scratchy, inconsistent roller ball biro. I find my handwriting is so much neater using flowing, liquid ink, rather than that congealed gunk used in biros.

Ed

Always been a big fan of those particular Pilot pens. As a lefty I always had issues with ballpoints, and could only use either the liquid ink pens like that or pricier rollerballs.

Fun fact for you, by design ballpoints and rollerballs are right handed instruments. As a righty you drag the pen across the page pulling the ball away from the tip allowing for proper ink flow. A left handed person pushes the pen across the page pushing the ball up into the tip which then causes the pen to jam and stop flowing.

I guess us lefties should all learn one of the right to left writing languages like Hebrew or Arabic. Then we'd be able to use a ballpoint properly and the righties would feel our pain.

 

[Raggamuffin]

I'm left handed too. Didn't ever think that would cause an issue with pens. I find I tend to press quite firmly when I write too. I like to take my time writing, but with a rollerball I find I have to push even firmer to try and get consistent and neater ink flow.

Ed

 

[DrBadStrings]

I'm left handed too. Didn't ever think that would cause an issue with pens. I find I tend to press quite firmly when I write too. I like to take my time writing, but with a rollerball I find I have to push even firmer to try and get consistent and neater ink flow.

Ed

What I found to be an amazing pen and had been my go to until this current pen obsession have been the Sharpie S-Gel rollerball pens that have smearproof ink. I've never had a rollerball glide better on the page and depending where you get them from they are only $2-3. Best part is that you can by refills as well and those refills fit most standard rollerball pens. I posted this on another thread but here are some examples of what the S Gell looks like. Both using the Pen Sharpie provides, and how it writes in a more expensive pen body. Both the 0.5mm and 0.7mm. My preference is the 0.7mm.

 

[Raggamuffin]

Perhaps you or someone here might be able to help. When I finish colouring my art, I reoutline it with the Pilot V-ball. But the waxy surface left by the pencils are hard going for the pen. Sometimes it takes several attempts to go over the surface to get a proper outline.

I wonder what pens there might be that'd allow for 1 simple reoutline. I'd pondered markers. But whilst they tend to work with ease, the ink the leave behind isn't as substantial as the liquid ink from the pen I use.

Ed

 

[DrBadStrings]

Hi Ed,

I don't know the answer for certain but I did some quick searching and there is a wiki on the topic of inking that lists some preferred pens used. And I've also seen that there are inks specifically for that. Typically super fast drying/waterproof permanent inks. And as well I've read a lot use dip pens which lays down more ink. Hope that helps you bud and if you find out something that works for you please share.

 

[DrBadStrings]

Today I recieved a Lamy Safari fountain pen along with a left handed nib. Also picked up a bottle of Pelikan ink Edelstein collection Tanzanite blue.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I inherited a Montblanc fountain pen with nibs and ink. Unfortunately some part wasn’t working properly and the company told me it would cost more to fix than to purchase a new one.

 

[DrBadStrings]

Alright so the more I write with the Lamy Safari and the LH nib the more I'm of mixed feelings about it. The grip is an issue for me as it's been designed to accommodate a right-handed persons grip. So even with the the LH nib I still have to hold it at an odd rotation so that my thumb and forefinger aren't on the flat grip parts but on the ridge between and the round back half. That aside though it does flow very nicely.

After the current ink fill is out I'm going to try it out again with the original right handed nib to see if there is any real difference. I'm also going to try the same ink as I used with the Ellington that I purchased. Comparatively speaking the Ellington has a much faster flow to it when writing. But I'm not sure if it's the nib or the ink or both but the Ellington actually, for me, writes better.

What I want to try though is a Lamy with a round barrel grip. I think with a better grip the LH nib may function better for me.

 

[Mary Terry]

I inherited a Montblanc fountain pen with nibs and ink. Unfortunately some part wasn’t working properly and the company told me it would cost more to fix than to purchase a new one.

I bought a Montblanc fountain pen years ago, thinking it would make my signature on legal documents more impressive. All it did was leak in my purse!

 

[DrBadStrings]

This matters more for the lefties out there but here is an imagine showing what is meant by an overwriter vs underwriter as compared to the expected horizontal right handed approach. Personally in my own writing I am a severe overwrite so when I'm handling a fountain pen I actually have the nib rotated about 90 degrees compared to a right handed person/Horizontal writer. But in writing differently than the way instruments were designed it creates an added learning curve. Any other Over/Under writers out there?

 

[DrBadStrings]

Just an example of my own hand position and the way I hold the nib.

 

[Outdated]

You have a slight forward lean on your lettering which is unusual for a lefty, although that's how we're taught to write. My mother said she was left handed when she was little but they beat it out of her in school, so she learned to write right handed but did many other things left handed.

 

[Judge]

I've used my right hand, but in an "underwriter" fashion if any.

Going on to become an underwriter quite literally.

 

[DrBadStrings]

You have a slight forward lean on your lettering which is unusual for a lefty, although that's how we're taught to write. My mother said she was left handed when she was little but they beat it out of her in school, so she learned to write right handed but did many other things left handed.

Honestly the lean forward is typically more pronounced, especially if I'm writing quickly. I've worked very hard to have legible handwriting.

My now deceased Aunt was of the era where she had the left beat out of her by the nuns at school. Hardly surprising the mental health issues she had as an adult in addition to schizophrenia.