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So what do you DO with your pens?


KCat

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So... I was thinking this a.m. about how I have no life and how I have very limited uses for my pens. It made me wonder what all you fine folks use your pens for on a regular basis.

 

Do you use them for meeting notes at work?

 

Do you use them for writing freelance articles?

 

Do you use them for editing? accounting? diagrams?

 

Do you use them just for snails and signatures?

 

where do FPs fit into your daily activities?

 

of course, if pens are your job... I want to know that also.

 

KCat the Hausfrau answers this:

 

1) I use them for everything I can think of around the house:

a. notes to hubby,

b. grocery lists,

c. to-do lists,

2) I use them for my so-called creative writing:

a. notes in the middle of the night that seem creative

b. rough drafts of stories or poems

3) I take one with me to church and there is always one in my purse when I'm running errands though I mostly sign receipts and the like with a Fisher-type purse pen.

4) I use them for practicing my handwriting of course - calligraphy and "copperplate"

5) last but not least but not doing enough of lately - i use them for snails. Long, boring snails.

 

K :meow: (I need a little kitty icon with a mop in one paw and dishrag in another.)

KCat
Save animal lives - support your local animal shelter

My personal blog https://kcdockalscribbling.com

My nature blog https://kcbeachscribbles.com
Venerable are letters, infinitely brave, forlorn, and lost. V. Woolf, Jacob's Room

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Well this morning I was using my M400 to write fat cheques to the government and sign my corporate tax returns. I used a different one to digram a math problem a friend was struggling with. At other times I use fountain pens for meeting and interview notes and most other writing purposes other than crossword puzzles and multipart forms.

Ther are 10 types of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't

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Well, I just ordered another one so I'd better start using them for some more things. The Mont Blanc is only used for drawing, my original intended purpose. No point dulling the nib down writing letters with this one. I was concerned that decades of sketching away freely with this pen might have blunted it some but it is fine as ever and the medium nib seems as fine or finer than the Aurora VF.

 

My old and battered Pelikan 150 was the knockaround pen. Since the fine steel nib doesn't seem as fine nor the flow as flexible as the MB, I tended to use it for jotting. After a basic recon to remove dried ink it is leaking so today I ordered a finer replacement in the form of a Pelikan 600 with an extremely fine nib.

 

The Aurora Optima I recently acquired was intended for additional drawing and since my trusty old MB is a medium nib, I got the Aurora in a VF. But it doesn't seem noticably finer that the med pt MB. ??? Since then I've noticed on nibs.com that the Italian standard is thicker. Since an additional motive was to have different shades of ink for crosshatching it is ok. The Aurora flows out ink like severed artery so it encourages quickness which will definitely affect technique. Or I'll try a very diluted ink with it. Something that will approximate a 2H pencil.

 

I've got a stack of journals to fill. I like the Moleskins but the lined and grid papers look like they would suck up ink and require single sided writing. These handy journals date to pre-ballpoint days so maybe they changed the paper type recently. The sketch versions certainly look FP friendly though. I haven't started into one of these yet since I'm still filling up another one. I guess I'll take out the small Moleskin I filled up some time ago and try a test on the lined paper. After I get the Pel.

there are no persons worth knowing except saints, scoundrels, and quacks

J-K Huysmans

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I'm trying to write with my pens more - I mostly do things on my laptop.

 

I'm currently snailing with an Aurora Ipsilon in bright yellow that I just got off of PT. It's inked with Swisher's Apricot Orange and has a gushing medium nib, but it shows off the shading of the SAO wonderfully.

 

I use my fp's for jotting notes, practicing my shotty handwriting which I am trying to improve, revising / editing sermons, paying the bills, and I carry one with me while visiting and preaching / teaching / etc.

 

I'll probably start journaling with them very soon.

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8, NKJV)
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I use my FPs for almost everything. I journal, sign documents, write cards and letters, take notes during counseling sessions. If I'm on the road I will occasionally write a sermon with them though I prefer using the laptop for quick editing (gives me more time to write with the FP - lol). I do use the fountain pen to 'pen in' notes in the margins of the sermon if needed.

Later,

Lee

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I have the "luxury" of still being a student, so I mostly use my pens to take notes. When I started out with FPs, I realized that I would take more notes than necessary--to the point where note-taking was most likely counterproductive; instead of highlighting themes and ideas, I'd just end up re-writing the whole biology chapter--with bullet points. :) These days, I'm able to use my pens more as a tool than a source of amusement, though I'm still constantly evaluating the nib smoothness and flow in the back of my head.

 

Other than that, I'm also a compulsive journal-er, so that's how my pens stay in shape during the summer.

 

Oh, and I, of course, write some snails here and there!

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I use my pens for all sorts of day-to-day writing. I keep a personal journal and an idea notebook for my artwork, I write a fair number of letters, I make lists and take phone messages. I got to a lot of meetings and always use a FP to take notes. When I send out orders from my company, I always include a note with the merchandise. Then there are to-do lists (those seem endless!), notes to my kids' teachers, writing checks and doing the bills... And then there is the copperplate practice I do every day now. Oh, and editing the text on web page printouts, brochures, project proposals, and such.

 

I've been using fountain pens since childhood and I never think to grab anything else. In fact, there really isn't much else around here to write with! The kids use pencils, I know I have a few freebie ballpoints kicking around in the junk drawer, along with the permanent markers. Other than that, it's just my fountain pens. :)

 

ElaineB

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Guest Denis Richard

I do all my work related writing with it, which can be quite a few pages each day. It ranges from drafts to quick notes. I also write all my papers/reports/proposals with ink and paper first, then type them.

 

Then there is the agenda/journal and the rarer creative writing times.

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I use my fountain pens for just about everything I write:

 

Paying bills.

Checks.

Long snail mails.

Notes.

Journals (when I find time to keep them).

Brithday and Holliday cards.

Note taking.

Calligraphy (in the future).

Editing documents.

Sincerely yours,

 

Ronnie Banks

"Like a prized watch, a good fountain pen is a trusted companion for life."

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I use my fountain pens whenever I can. And I'm trying to find more time to use them by writing snails and writing in a journal, which at times is harder than I thought it would be. I bought my kids Sheaffer Javelins from PenHero.com and journals to introduce them to the joys of fountain pen use and to help me to remember to write in my journal. It's working, but we still get a little too busy to write an entry sometimes.

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." - Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice President

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I'm trying to write with my pens more - I mostly do things on my laptop.

This was me too, before I returned to FPs. Now, it's what i use nearly all the time - work, notes, cheques, my first few snails since ages ago. The times when i don't use one are those few moments around the house where ballpoints are conveniently nearby just to take a note or two down - we still have them scattered around the house for convenience. My FPs stay in my study until i buy more cheap ones to replace those ballpoints. :rolleyes: :D

You can't always get what you want... but if you try sometimes... you just might find... you'll get what you need...

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Strike fear and awe into the heart of Ball Point users....

"Your library is your paradise."

--Desiderius Erasmus c.1466-1536

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I use my fountain pens for:

* writing in my journal (daily, or close to daily, for seventeen years)

* notes to coworkers

* signing letters and documents

* writing personal letters

* drafting fiction and essays

* doodling in margins of documents at work

* amusing myself at work

* terrorizing the coworkers who try to borrow pens without returning them

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Just about everything. I started using them because of all the paperwork here in the office, but now I use them at home to snail, and to take notes at meetings, and any kind of written word at all.

 

<G>

 

kathy wc

We find rest in those we love, and we provide a resting place in ourselves for those who love us.--Bernard of Clairvaux

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Just about everything. I started using them because of all the paperwork here in the office, but now I use them at home to snail, and to take notes at meetings, and any kind of written word at all.

 

<G>

 

kathy wc

We find rest in those we love, and we provide a resting place in ourselves for those who love us.--Bernard of Clairvaux

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I use them for almost everything written by hand, notes, snails, journals, logbook entries, envelopes.

 

About the only time I don't use them is when I have to fill out multipart forms using carbon or NCR paper which requires a lot of pressure where the ink meets the paper. There I use a Pilot Precise V 0.5mm.

 

Oh, I use a BP to do the crossword puzzle; the newsprint absorbs too much liquid ink.

George

 

Pelikan Convert and User

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Oh, I use a BP to do the crossword puzzle; the newsprint absorbs too much liquid ink.

heh..

 

i use a pencil. Love crosswords... never said I was good at 'em though.

KCat
Save animal lives - support your local animal shelter

My personal blog https://kcdockalscribbling.com

My nature blog https://kcbeachscribbles.com
Venerable are letters, infinitely brave, forlorn, and lost. V. Woolf, Jacob's Room

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Hi KCat,

So... I was thinking this a.m. about how I have no life and how I have very limited uses for my pens. It made me wonder what all you fine folks use your pens for on a regular basis.

 

Do you use them for meeting notes at work?

Yes, a lot of them. I like to switch between pens from paragraph to paragraph while making meeting notes. I can assure you, that it makes a boring meeting a wonderful experience, writing with many different pens and ink colours, and seeing the epressions on people's face when doing so :lol:.
Do you use them for writing freelance articles?
When I have an opportunity, yes. First drafts are always in pen :D.

 

Do you use them for editing? accounting? diagrams?
Yes, no, but I do adding and math etc., and yes, all the time, different pens and different colours. That is great fun again.

 

Do you use them just for snails and signatures?
Yes. I don't write many snails, or I end up not sending them, because I tend to get absorbed by something else all the time :D. And I always use a fountain pen for signatures.

 

where do FPs fit into your daily activities?
Wherever I can find any excuse to write something down or scribble something, I will use a fountain pen. Doodling is one of my favourite pastimes, again preferably with many different pens :D.

 

of course, if pens are your job... I want to know that also.
Nah, just a hobby grown out of control. I haven't really done anything for money yet, other than costs involved. If I do get paid, I don't say no. Happened a few times.

 

KCat the Hausfrau answers this:
O, I have to see this:KCat the hausfrau. Just that image alone... :D

 

1) I use them for everything I can think of around the house:

a. notes to hubby,

b. grocery lists,

c. to-do lists,

I have pens that i use exclusively for shopping lists, one to create them, and another one to mark the items off :D.
2) I use them for my so-called creative writing:

a. notes in the middle of the night that seem creative

b. rough drafts of stories or poems

So do I. Somehow it works better than sitting behind the digital typewriter :D.
3) I take one with me to church and there is always one in my purse when I'm running errands though I mostly sign receipts and the like with a Fisher-type purse pen.
I always have at least 3 fountain pens with me when running errands, most of the time 1 inked up with blue or blue black, one with green and one with red or burgundy.
4) I use them for practicing my handwriting of course - calligraphy and "copperplate"
Oh yes, that too!
5) last but not least but not doing enough of lately - i use them for snails. Long, boring snails.
Nope, that isn't true.

 

Then I do these ink reviews every so often. Another excuse to write a lot with fps, and change inks all the time, in many pens :lol:.

 

K :meow: (I need a little kitty icon with a mop in one paw and dishrag in another.)

Well, I may have some time next year to have a look into this... If you do not want the mop and dishrag to collect spider webs etc, you may have to start on this yourself. :D

 

Warm regards, Wim

Edited by wimg

the Mad Dutchman
laugh a little, love a little, live a lot; laugh a lot, love a lot, live forever

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My first fountain pen purchase was for my journal that I'd decided to try again with - I couldn't stand the way I could literally feel my words on the page, and how it got even worse when I wrote on the back of the page. With ballpoints and rollerballs, I press hard, and fountain pens eliminate my need to do so (which makes writing for extended periods so much less tiring!). So, I use it to write in my journal (when I get around to it, usually one or two times a week), and...

 

*taking notes at meetings

*grading student papers (sometimes grading is so painful that using a cool pen is the only fun aspect of it!)

*I just used one yesterday to keep score for a domino game between my husband and me! :)

*to do lists

*letters, cards

Vanessa

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