Can correction fluid be used with fountain pen ink? Will it clog or damage the nib?

When I use white-out type fluids with a ballpoint, felt-tip, or gel pen it's usually kind of difficult to write over. It's slick and kind of like trying to write on ice or wax paper. Then pen tip skips, slides, or grates.

I haven't used correction fluid with a fountain pen yet. I'm hesitant to try it.

No. I would definitely advise against it, mainly because A) the correction fluid does not dry evenly no matter how nice you try to be to lay it down; and B ) because flakes can get on and clog the nib. The ink also does not adhere well, just with other mediums. The same applies for correction tape. It may go down smoother, but it can tear and flake under the nib of a fountain pen. This is one time where I grab the old ballpoint, even though the bp makes a mess as well, with smudging. I like my FPs too much to subject them to correction tape or correction fluid torture.

Yeah, I think the biggest issue is simply that the ink just won't dry on top of it in a timely manner, if ever. Tape will just rip back off (not that I would ever try something silly like that... ).

The above responses are pretty close to the same speculations I had. Thanks for the heads-up.

But these questions remain:

• If you make a mistake while writing with a fountain pen, what then?
• Do you black-out (scribble over) the error, instead of white-out?
• Do you start over from scratch?
• Do you "cheat" by using white-out but then fill in the correction with a different type of pen, as long as the ink color matches?
• Try really really darned hard to not make any errors to begin with?

I've been doing the latter. It's extremely tedious and time-consuming, but it works.

I have several unused leather journals that I would LOVE to write in with my fountain pen(s), but I'm really paranoid about making boo-boos and uglying-up the page(s)! Secondly, my FP ink is not waterproof and therefore smudges easily from the slightest moisture in my hands.

Sure, I could write in my journals with a different kind of pen, or even a pencil, but that detracts from the elegance. I can write in cursive so much better with a FP than any other pen.

Personally, I
1) Avoid mistakes
2) If I do make a mistake, I try to adjust the rest of the sentence to go with the mistake. Maybe it was meant to be...
3) If all else fails, I cross out what needs to be and write the right thing instead.

However, 95% of my handwriting is for private purposes. And I am not at all bothered by the traces my mistakes may leave...

BUT
you can always turn to erasable blue ink (Parker Blue or Waterman Florida Blue or one of the Pelikan blues, not sure about that one) with an ink eraser.

Yes, it will clog the nib.



And so you should be. It'll dry up like paint and you'll have one very un-functional fountain pen.

I often make mistakes writing. Especially note taking. I never use correction tape or fluid. I simply draw a straight line through the mistake and pick up where I left off. Personally, I find it much more distracting to have a scratched, inky blob that to have a single line strike-through for crossing errors.

This is what I do as well. A single line strike-through. We all make mistakes.

I do a two or three-line strikethrough. One line just doesn't stand out enough for me!! Or I use the maximum flex of my Parker '45' and just do one fat black line through it.

If you don't want your mistake to show, use Pelikan's blue and get one of their ink eradicators. I think Pear Tree as well as Dillo (in the Marketplace) may even be selling kits consisting of a black Pelikano, an eradicator, and a few cartridges if you need to totally stock up to make this happen.

I use correction tape with no problems.
Do not put excessive pressure when writing on it.
The brand I use is "Dryline Grip" which was the cheapest i could get and i got no problems with it.
Drying or smudging is also a non issue.
Liquid PAPER i would not try because of the aforementioned reasons but correction paper works just fine.




Mame

It's the single line strike-through for me. I don't make many mistakes, but if I'm writing I like to get my ideas out. It takes too much time for me to go about correcting things.

I like the strike-through idea. Ironically, I have used the strike-through in one of my journals, prior to reading this post. I didn't use it to cross-out mistakes. Rather, I used it to cross out expired notations; i.e. information that is no longer relevant.

I think I do my strike throughs a little differently than what has been described. It sounds like you folks are doing your stirke-throughs horizontally, like this. I have been doing my strike-throughs, diagonally, like this ØØØØØØØØ. I find the diagonal strike-through more neat-looking and it seems to have, in my opinion a stronger "cancelling" effect. Note: I haven't used diagonal strike-throughs with italic cursive handwriting, only printing. I don't think the diagonal strike-through would have a good effect on italic cursive. I suppose if I come to need to use a strike-through with italic cursive, I'll use a ruler and a double horizontal line.

Most of the blue inks on the market today are listed on this message, grouped by the effect of the Pelikan Super-Pirat on them in my copy of Clark's 2006 Sampler. Here I have repeated the darker and medium-shade ones, as Dr. Clark swabbed them and I see them on the paper Dr. Clark chose:

The darker eradicables:
Aurora Blue (purplish)
Campo Marzio Blue (grayish)
Dupont Royal Blue (grayish)
J Herbin Bleu Myosotis (purplish)
Montegrappa Blue (dark without purple or gray tones! I keep forgetting about this one.)
Platignum (with a "g") Blue (almost as good-looking as Montegrappa Blue)
Stipula Blu Della Robbia (purplish)
Visconti Lapis Blue (grayish; do they sell this color anymore?)
Waterman Florida Blue (almost as good-looking as Montegrappa Blue)

The medium-shade eradicables:
Calligrafico Blu
Camel Royal Blue
Lamy Blue
Rubinato Blue
Sheaffer Skrip Blue (new stock, from Slovenia; my favorite blue for bad paper, and good-looking to me on good paper too)

The other eradicables are lighter.


I haven't tried the "Dryline Grip," but my experience with other correction tapes is like Mameluke's: light pressure gives the best results.

Some inks do better than others at soaking into the tape and drying. Of the few I've tried on correction tape, the ones that worked the best were Levenger Cocoa and Namiki/Pilot Black, Blue and Blue-Black. When I write with Noodler's standard Black and use correction tape, I use Namiki/Pilot Black for the portion(s) of the stroke(s) that go over the tape and the N's Black for anything that goes beyond the tape.

Where I work they tried to go all environmental for a while, and banned Xylene based correction fluid. The replacement was a water based white paint. Bad news when painted over fountain pen writing - the whole lump of paint turned a lighter shade of the ink, and when you then wrote over it, the same happened with the new ink. It was impossible to see where the writing was supposed to be.

The idea was given up and the old stuff was re-introduced even though it's not great for fountain pens.

Regards

Richard.

Personally I just strike out once should I make a mistake. Its a habit since correction fluid/tape isn't allowed in official exams anyway. But I've recently taken up a part-time job coaching primary school kids, and it shocked me to see how much correction tape they use. Its almost impossible to grade anything without going over some tape. But if I go over it gently it doesn't tear the tape. And I use a $1.20 Hero so even if it spoils its no great loss.

If you write with blue ink, you can use an eraser pen, which erases fountain pen ink. School kids typically use them. They won't work with non-washable inks though.