Fun Things To Do With Fountain Pens

[Greebe]

I was curious as to what other fellow fountain pen users do with their pens for fun. Typically I write in a journal, sent letters, create design drawings, and mess around with ink and paper combinations.

 

What other things do you guys and gals do for fun with your FP's?

 

Greebe

[watch_art]

Besides drawing, I make fountain pens. Lots of fun. I have more fun giving them away than I do collecting them.

[tomgartin]

I'll make up any excuse to use my pen, but it gets a lot of mileage with school notes (I absorb information much better by writing than typing btw) as well as writing manuscripts for a book I've been working on. I think I write at least 10 pages on an average day, sometimes up to 40 if it's a busy day. Gotta love that my pen allows me to be free from the hand cramps I got when using bic pens.

[Greebe]

Besides drawing, I make fountain pens. Lots of fun. I have more fun giving them away than I do collecting them.

 

I am the owner of a machine shop and this has been one of the things on my wish list as far as fun projects go. Usually there is no time for this type of thing as there is customer work to get done. It is hard to want to go to the shop on a day off and do "work" even if it is for fun such as making a few pens. I have been working on a few designs and have the CNC lathes to mass produce the parts of the pens, so it is something that I plan on putting some time into when things are slow.

 

Greebe

[Greebe]

I'll make up any excuse to use my pen, but it gets a lot of mileage with school notes (I absorb information much better by writing than typing btw) as well as writing manuscripts for a book I've been working on. I think I write at least 10 pages on an average day, sometimes up to 40 if it's a busy day. Gotta love that my pen allows me to be free from the hand cramps I got when using bic pens.

 

Haha.. I do the same thing and make excuses to use my pens. Glad I am not the only one that does that. I used my FP's for all my note taking last fall when I was taking some engineering classes. I didn't go back this semester because I have a business to run and the university was an hour and a half away, so the 3 hours driving a day made things hard.

 

A friend of mine who is a writer with several books published, has talked about writing every day for at least an hour. She was mentoring me for a while, but I have always had a hard time keep at it every day. Do you write 10+ pages a day just on your book, or in total with everything you mentioned.

 

Thanks

Greebe

[Pierce]

I wish I was back at united with a twsbi 540 because I wouldn't be able to afford a 149.

 

Having said that the biggest fun use is sitting in a cafe practicing letter forms.

 

Pierce

[tomgartin]

I'll make up any excuse to use my pen, but it gets a lot of mileage with school notes (I absorb information much better by writing than typing btw) as well as writing manuscripts for a book I've been working on. I think I write at least 10 pages on an average day, sometimes up to 40 if it's a busy day. Gotta love that my pen allows me to be free from the hand cramps I got when using bic pens.

 

Haha.. I do the same thing and make excuses to use my pens. Glad I am not the only one that does that. I used my FP's for all my note taking last fall when I was taking some engineering classes. I didn't go back this semester because I have a business to run and the university was an hour and a half away, so the 3 hours driving a day made things hard.

 

A friend of mine who is a writer with several books published, has talked about writing every day for at least an hour. She was mentoring me for a while, but I have always had a hard time keep at it every day. Do you write 10+ pages a day just on your book, or in total with everything you mentioned.

 

Thanks

Greebe

 

Sometimes it's all I can do to write one page each day, but when I have a chance I try to spend at least an hour on it. That might mean anywhere from 6-10 pages, depending on how good the espresso is. The key is spending enough time focusing on the material that everything else just kind of fades away, and getting a hand cramp just as you get to that point of entrance into the text really handicaps the writing process.

I'm in grad school right now so I'm taking copious notes every time I turn around. 10 pages is usually just from one day of lectures.

[inkstainedruth]

Journaling, shopping/to do lists, writing checks, the Sunday crossword and sudoku....

Haven't tried doing any drawing much yet -- I'm really out of practice, although when I was in college I did a lot of pen and ink drawings, both with a dip pen and Higgins India ink and with various size Rapidographs (didn't know when I got those that they were supposed to be for drafting/ruling.... :roflmho:)

Thinking about maybe writing a novel. I have a few scenes worked out in my head and actually tried typing some of them into a file on my laptop, but it's just not jelling somehow (not sure I have figured out all the different sections tie together into a cohesive whole yet). And they keep getting mixed up with scenes from a completely different piece of fiction that also isn't cohesive yet....

Basically, I'm trying to reach for a fountain pen whenever (for the most part) I have to do any sort of writing. Still using a lead holder for drawings that will be inked with a roller ball, but the rest of the paperwork is now being filled out with an FP....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[andybiotic]

Squirting ink?

[inkstainedruth]

Squirting ink?

 

You mean on *purpose*?

I did it by accident the other day -- it wasn't pretty (and it was an IG ink to boot....)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[stevlight]

I illustrate children's books with them.

[watch_art]

Those rapidographs are great for drawing. One of my college profs was invited by Koh I Noor to show them what else can be done with these pens besides drafting, and he wrote this book soon afterwords.

http://www.simmonsart.com/

 

And his book:

http://www.simmonsart.com/book.html

[alexander_k]

How about cleaning them? Or repairing them? Loads of fun and a good alternative for a life.

[Moondust]

At present I look at them. I'm amazed how this last pen I got is so simple and so beautiful.

[Lorna Reed]

I cuddle them! (sort of) :embarrassed_smile: When I am sitting relaxing in the evening, watching TV, I will pick up one of my pens and just sit admiring it, turning it around in my hands, stroking it, looking at the nib. Sometimes with a notebook, doodling, sketching or writing shopping lists, but usually just loving the pen.

The men in white coats are collecting me tomorrow!

[Pierce]

I cuddle them! (sort of) :embarrassed_smile: When I am sitting relaxing in the evening, watching TV, I will pick up one of my pens and just sit admiring it, turning it around in my hands, stroking it, looking at the nib. Sometimes with a notebook, doodling, sketching or writing shopping lists, but usually just loving the pen.

The men in white coats are collecting me tomorrow!

 

We are talking about a pen right...?

 

Well my "expensive" pens stay beside my bed because instead of reading at night thats typically the only quiet time I get to use them.

 

Work sucks with poor paper and evil multipart forms...

[ethernautrix]

I wave my Nakaya Desk Pen around and *ting!* people with it, spreading the magic!

[Arasazi]

Often when I'm watching tv I write down what people say, just random sentences from the program. Sometimes I end up with a summary of a soccer match, other times just sentences from different programs that don't make sense at all.

[orangepenguin]

If I need to write something down, I do it with a fountain pen.

 

On a daily basis that could mean ten pages of work notes in addition to forms for work - around 8 a day. Snips of conversations overheard, especially little old ladies on the bus. I have to keep notes of telephone conversations - my job depends on me doing so. I write letters to friends too, also notes to family, my children and my friends.

 

Then there's a diary. I write in that every day - the good, the bad and the downright ugly; all of it goes in. If I can leave it on the page, it doesn't clutter my head so that's what I do.

[mboschm]

Draw, write whatever comes to my mind, brainstorm with myself in my faithful "paranoia notebook".