A while back I sold my VP because the constant clicking got on my nerves & the ink supply was so small. Now I find myself daydreaming about the white and pink Decimos. I like the design and colors, but I know the same issues would irritate me -- so why do I keep looking?!

I also decided that I would never again buy a piston-filler that doesn't have an ink view window because I can't stand not being able to see how much ink I have left. But then I catch myself looking at those gorgeous Omas pens...

Do functional vs aesthetic issues ever create problems for you? Are you willing to put up with functional shortcomings for the sake of "beauty?" Do you find yourself wanting pens even though you know you'd probably never use them? Is this simply the difference between collecting & using?

Oh dear yes. There have been pens I have desired and 'lusted' after but since I can't try them out find when I get them in my hands they are 'dead fish' I would then sell them. Now I have tried to do pre-emptive strikes and look at pens toward using them before I buy. It has made me happier in the long run.


Kurt

Timely topic for me.

After jumping in more than a little enthusiastically, I've had to pull myself back when confronted with a desirous pen. I force myself to imagine using a pen I'm desiring, rather than just lusting after its beauty. I recognize there are features I must have in a pen: a certain size & weight, and it must be piston-filling. Otherwise I'm just irritated when I carry the pen around. I'm definitely a user not a collector. The honey-tortoise Pelikan has been glowingly recommended to me numerous times, and there's a part of me that feels it is so very beautiful and I must have one. Yet I know myself: I will have some kind of freak accident and spill Bay State Blue all over it's gorgeous white body. And then I will be irritated with it, and myself. I would have this pen just to have it. So, I resist and find another beauty that, for ME, is more usable.

For me, not usually. Even though I prefer larger pens, I might buy a blue & black Sheaffer Balance in any size, just because they are so rare. There are plenty of other good-looking pens that I just pass by because I know I wouldn't use them very often, if at all. I love my PFMs, even though they have no ink view window. For me, they are so good in every other respect that I am willing to overlook the lack of a visible ink supply. By the way, I have a single Vanishing Point. I'm going to keep it because a one-handed fountain pen has its uses, and it does write rather well, but the clip placement is very annoying for a left handed writer like myself and, as you mentioned, it has a very small ink supply.

Do functional vs aesthetic issues ever create problems for you?

I have two answers.

Yes, aesthetics have created some issues for me. I have been attracted to a number of pens over the years that looked really good to me, but they had issues I could not avoid. Perhaps size, shape and feel in my hand, a nib that just would not work out for me, etc. I still enjoy such pens as eye candy, often wishing that I could have them.

Yet, function has motivated me to buy some pens I might not otherwise have gotten - which might be defined as a problem. There is the pen that is quite small - but has a lovely writing nib. The pen that feels wonderful in my hand - but has a smaller nib that I would usually buy. The pen that has both a great feel in my hand and a super nib - but is an oxidized mess. I look at some of the pens I have and shake my head. They just aren't the sort of pen I usually buy, but I know exactly why I bought them - and use them.

I think the dilemma you're describing is part of the addiction we have! Constantly longing for something besides what we already have, with no end in sight...

Since I'm really a user rather than a collector, I found it helpful when, after buying and using different pens for a while, I could focus on what qualities I really wanted from a pen and not get distracted by other issues. I like using large pens, with large springy nibs and piston filling systems - so I concentrate on pens that have those qualities. I did buy a Namiki Bamboo because I love the design - but it sits in the pen cup on my desk mostly, so I remind myself of that when I'm eyeing the Nakaya pens or those wonderful Indian pens Steve Braun is selling. (And I suspect that some of those will eventually end up in that pen cup!)

Do you try on shoes before you buy them?
I do, and I usually try pens before I buy them too.

Here's a cut and paste from a prior comment I made -

I usually buy from a brick and mortar store where I'm allowed to dip test pens. I also carry my ink and stationery, and after I buy a pen, I fill it up and write with it before I leave the store. If there's a problem, I can ask for another pen. You generally pay more at a brick and mortar, but you get this advantage. I've never had to return a pen with this tact. Another option is to buy from an online dealer you can trust to test and adjust a pen for you, but I'm so finicky about nib feel and flow that I prefer the brick and mortar route.

The feel of a pen - its weight, balance, grip, nib feedback, ink flow, nib's sweet spot & angle of attack, etc are so personal, I find it worthwhile to try a pen before taking it home.

Dear Jeen,

I agree with your buying style. I prefer to write with the pen a while before I purchase it.

My personal problem is; that the fine pen stores are in Washington, DC where parking is awful and meter-maids are perched ready to swoop down on a meter that is just about ready to expire. This puts external pressure on me, to which I hurry up my 'test drive.'

I dearly miss fine pen and stationary stores around Fairfax. Because I am very lame with arthritis in all my joints, I just can't run in or run out.

This is why I am so dependent on everybody here to guide me where my abilities to access the 'brick and mortar' stores like Farney's Pens, especially now they do not have their outlet store in Maryland in a warehouse area, at least a person could park and not fear being ticketed and towed.

Just some thoughts.

Respectfully,
Maria

Yes, I've done the same.

I've accumulated a fair number of pens based on how they look and/or my initial impression of their writing qualities, only to find later - after much use - that I made a bad purchase. And I've rotated through them to make sure my later impression is still legit, which it is. So I plan to sell a bunch in the future, I just have to find the time to photograph and post them.

I now know what i like and only buy after testing a pen in a store. I'm a user not a collector. I also mostly draw with my FPs so it is more about the nib and line then the look although weight and size are very important to me. Of course having the "disease" "fountainpenobsessitus" I have bought and do look at and lust after pens i know are not going to work for me.

Human nature. I'm sure that there were some qualities that you liked about, or which attracted you to, the VP. We're acquisitive creatures. It's part of what made us successful and evolution has selected these tendencies over time. Said tendencies are not without a down side. But then maybe it's not a down side after all. Maybe it just helps us to keep doing new things, or buying new things.


Yeah, we each have to figure out how to prioritize stuff. We all do it all the time, of course. But a part of having a hobby is letting go a bit and I think that's why we go a little wild sometimes in buying pens and ink, as well as stationery and accessories.


Only very slightly these days. Part of what sort of protects me is that I find a lot of what others think of as beautiful, in fountain pens, to be sort of ugly. But then some of those sorts of pens can grown on me. But I'm pretty grounded in the functional end of all of this stuff.


I'd have to say no.


Of course! I've been resisting that urge for quite a while though. I prefer broad nibbed fountain pens, but some medium nibs are all right. I also have a small "budget" for this stuff so I can't afford to waste money. But there are a plethora of very cheap, and interesting looking, fountain pens around that have fine or XF nibs! Drives me nuts! I want them but I know that I will not be satisfied with them and so I have to pass on them. I've been getting better at this in the past couple of years, I must say. I am avoiding buying anything that I know I will never use.


I don't think so. Even in the purely "using" category there are these other considerations and temptations. I don't think it's "collecting" to have bought something that I can't use or find not pleasant to use. I always buy for use, that some of the fountain pens I've bought are never going to be used after their first tryout is a use problem, not a different categorization of what I'm doing or trying to do.

So, yeah, I share your angst - most frequently when looking at the pens for sale here on FPN.