Interest Has Waned

[oldmatekev]

I don't know what's come over me.

 

I've gone from being mad about using an array of stub, vintage flex, crazy broad and soaking wet nibs, regularly carrying 8 or more pens about my person and desk (all with different inks that I'd change from time to time), to using just 3 nails and 3 inks.

 

Lying permanently on my desk at work is a burgundy Parker 45 (M) with a Parker 'mocha' cartridge. I have the original aero converter at home but carts are.......easy.

 

In my breast pocket is a silver plastic Caran d'Ache Dunas (M) with a very poor quality slide converter filled with good old Parker Blue. I also usually carry the P45 pencil that matches the pen above with 2B lead.

 

I usually carry a small A6 sized hardback notebook in some other pocket often with a burgandy Parker 17 (F) filled with Waterman Tender Purple floating around somewhere.

 

That's it. I haven't touched any other pens or inks since Christmas. I have a substantial cantilevered storage box filled with stuff that I'm not interested in any more but I can't bring myself to get rid of.

Maybe I'll swing back someday.

 

Has anyone else gone through this?

 

[Justcurious]

Sometimes I'll become really interested in something and then lose interest in it. I find it to be completely normal as I'll generally return to things I enjoy i.e fountain pens, computers etc after a given amount of time. Maybe all you need is some breathing room and a while later something will go off in your head and you'll come back. Just my thoughts

[The Blue Knight]

I recently have been experiencing the same. I recently boxed all my pens and inks and put them on top of a cupboard. I just don't have the interest in pens and inks I did a year ago. I may come back to them in a few years.

Edited March 30, 2015 by The Blue Knight

[pyramidValley]

Curious to know how long have you been interested/collecting fountain pens?

[Miles Hand]

It just happened to me. I feel like I've explored fountain pens enough and I've settled down with the pens I actually use (Pilot Capless and Lamy 2000 at work and Pilot Custom 823 at home, with a Pelikan M800 totoiseshell I don't often use but which I don't want to part with yet). I've begun to sell the other decent pens that somebody else could make better use of and I might give away some of the cheaper ones to a potential user.

 

The money that I get from the pens goes on my most recent enthusiasm, Chinese mechanical watches. I expect to reach some similar point with watches and end up with a few that I enjoy and use regularly. I've learned a lot and I own some beautiful and functional toys as a result of my various brief obsessions.

 

Maybe you've got to the point where your curiosity is satisfied and you have the writing tools you want. There are bound to be lots of former enthusiasts who haven't announced their loss of interest and have simply stopped visiting FPN.

[Bo Bo Olson]

The trouble is you have too much work, to have fun doing 'work'. .

You should take up writing a jornal, to get back into funky pens and inks. Get out of the winter depression.

 

I've reached the point where I don't need any more pens. Should sell half my semi-flex so folks can have fun too.

I have a couple of semi-flex pens I'm using right now, a green striped 140 and the slightly better nibbed gray stripped Geha 790...both in OB. Vintage is like a Fat M...so good writing nibs.

Have others inked in the cups....but right now....I like the stubbish ones I'm using most.

[Lou Erickson]

Need and interests change. I started with fine nibs, all nails, and have decided wider nibs and stubs are more fun. This leaves me with ... a bunch ... of pens I don't use often, or don't enjoy much when I do use them. I'll eventually figure out what to do with them. My pen case is almost full, and I haven't really thought, "I need this pen!" in a while. Maybe I have enough!

 

Except that I'm all over ink now, and wish I had more ink-test-friendly pens.

[Intellidepth]

I anticipate that this will occur in due time as I refine my preferences. It is a natural cycle for my hobbies.

 

However I have promised my young son he'll inherit the pens (hmm, errrr, yes, he asked indirectly and was pleased I said 'sure!'), so am selecting pens with half an eye towards his future experimentation. For now, he has a Lamy Nexx.

 

I have no doubt that I'll end up with a few faithfuls I enjoy and that will continue to be a part of my life once the intense exploratory phase passes. Then I'll carefully pack away what's not being used regularly by either of us for 'another day'.

 

If I didn't have him in mind I'd probably sell or give away the duplicates and give away the cheap ones to curious people. I'd hold on to any I wasn't sure about.

[tryphon]

Join a pen club, find others who share your interest.

Widen your horizon and add new web forums to the ones you already attend: you may find new interesting aspects to pen collecting!

Try also sites that give you stories as well as technical content: read this one to see what I mean!

http://www.newpentrace.net/penbase/Data_Returns/full_article715c.html?id=433

[Paddler]

The novelty has worn off of pen collecting for you. Great! Now, write something with them.

[Charles Rice]

A friend of mine does that with wives all the time.

[LuckyKate]

I don't know what's come over me.

 

I've gone from being mad about using an array of stub, vintage flex, crazy broad and soaking wet nibs, regularly carrying 8 or more pens about my person and desk (all with different inks that I'd change from time to time), to using just 3 nails and 3 inks.

 

Lying permanently on my desk at work is a burgundy Parker 45 (M) with a Parker 'mocha' cartridge. I have the original aero converter at home but carts are.......easy.

 

In my breast pocket is a silver plastic Caran d'Ache Dunas (M) with a very poor quality slide converter filled with good old Parker Blue. I also usually carry the P45 pencil that matches the pen above with 2B lead.

 

I usually carry a small A6 sized hardback notebook in some other pocket often with a burgandy Parker 17 (F) filled with Waterman Tender Purple floating around somewhere.

 

That's it. I haven't touched any other pens or inks since Christmas. I have a substantial cantilevered storage box filled with stuff that I'm not interested in any more but I can't bring myself to get rid of.

Maybe I'll swing back someday.

 

Has anyone else gone through this?

 

 

Lord, I wish this would happen to me. Congratulations!

[CarlosCaligrafia]

The novelty has worn off of pen collecting for you. Great! Now, write something with them.

That's it.

 

I enjoy fountains pen but what I do enjoy more is writing,

I'm writing 2 journals and also have a motebook where I write quotes, I relax trying to work on my penmanship and also draw a little. Collecting is about fantasy, and our brains can wander from hobby to hobby once the novelty wears of. But when you CREATE something you value, like a journal, a drawing, a beautiful writing sample, you can't get enough because you recharge your interest every time you see what you are creating.

 

My FP obsession is more about the power of writing, the passion for collect and write and left those passions to the next generations, than the inherent pleasure of using a fine instrument or the joy of possessing some piece on jewelry that writes.

 

That is why I think having too much pens could be more tiresome. For me less than 10 is ideal so you can rotate them more and have more time to knowing each pen personality.

Edited March 30, 2015 by CarlosCaligrafia

[CarlosCaligrafia]

A friend of mine does that with wives all the time.

Talking about expensive hobbies

[Dronak]

Well, some years ago when I started getting into FPs, I tried to use all the ones I had. There were only four, but I found that I just wasn't writing enough to keep ink flowing in all of them consistently, and decided to pick one to use on a regular basis and cleaned and stored the other three. I don't think it was a lack of interest, just a practical matter. I didn't want pens inked up if I wasn't actively using them. I'm writing more often at work now though, so I've brought out my other pens, popped in some newly purchased cartridges, and I'm using them again. I also bought a few less expensive new pens to add to my small collection and have them in the rotation. I don't actually have the pens on a scheduled rotation, I just switch around trying to make sure I use ones I haven't for a bit so they all get some use fairly often. But interests come and go, and there's nothing wrong with that. There have been other things I enjoy where my interest as waxed and waned, and I don't worry much about it. I just do what I'm enjoying most now, and pick up others when my interest in them is rekindled. FPs are on the rise again right now, hence my presence on these boards, but I wouldn't be surprised to end up doing what I described first again at some point in the future.

[FountainPages]

I think I am there also. It seems I have found a small number of pens I use regularly, five to seven. And while I have ten pens I rarely use at least three. My question then, is why buy more when I have lost interest in buying? I am very satisfied with what I have. I am not disinterested in writing and with fountain pens in particular, just buying more in search of that elusive thing when it does not exist. I don't chase windmills and I like to think I have gotten off the merry-go-round of see, want, buy. Dere is nowt wrong wit thee, Oldmatekev.

Edited March 30, 2015 by FountainPages

[D.C. in PA]

I admit to a bit of ebb and flow in interest occasionally, mostly due to work load and reduced opportunity to really play with pens and ink (er .. I mean use my pens for work), but the fact that both my wife and I are collectors and have made getting to pen shows part of our off-hours schedule has prevented serious degradation of enthusiasm. Pens are our hobby, shows are our vacations, even though we generally work shows with a noted vendor or the PCA. That's probably why our interest doesn't greatly flag - we're involved with fountain pens much of the time.

D.C.

[Kelly G]

I can relate. I've been actively accumulating for 15 years or so and my interest ebbs and flows. Much my drifting has to do with location; off the beaten path and a long way from any pen show or club. Also my vocaItion inhibits attending shows as I work on Sundays and have limited Sunday vacation days. Combine this with location and that keeps me away from shows - unfortunately.

 

My work intensity also slows things down and most of my "professional" writing is on the computer for the sake of convenience.

 

This is not to say I'm out of the game, but my pen buying seems limited to a very select few pens I want to try and the occasional sumgai deals I run across. Lately my interest has turned toward ink variety and we'll see where that heads.

 

And with this, I've hit 2000 posts - a good reason to buy a pen? Probably not.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Kelly G

[wimg]

Hobbies and interest come and go in cycles, that is perfectly normal. Things may lie dormant for a while, or a low level of interest, possibly because another interest somehow has come to the fore again, or because of circumstances - work , family, other things.

 

It happens. If it is an interest you like, with time it wil come back again and other things will likely go dormant or to a lower energy level. There is not enough time in a day to practice or exercise all one's interests at the same time and same intensity level, unfortunately .

 

Warm regards, Wim

[Jamesbeat]

I'm the same with my hobbies; I get really into something for a while, then lose interest and get really into something else.

My last fountain pen 'kick' was around 2001.

 

When I moved to the States, I had to sell a lot of my stuff, and sold off most (but thankfully not all) of my collection of vintage pens.

 

I really regret that now, and wish I had kept hold of them.

 

I have become used to the cyclic nature of my hobbies, and I now just let it happen, confident that I will pick each one up again at some point.

 

I probably have some weird OCD or something, but I guess it's relatively harmless, and I actually see it as a benefit.

I find that I learn things quickly (like a new job for instance), and am able to concentrate on things very deeply.

Hey, at least it's not crack, right?