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Enjoy The Use Of Pens More Than The Pens


akohtz

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Hi there. I'm not really a pen collector. I've found so far that the creative section of the forum is more engaging to me than the sections about the pens themselves. I guess I find it more interesting to see what people do with their pens.

 

Do others feel this way as well?

 

- Andrew

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Yes, so now there are two of us! :)

 

I like having elegant china teacups, because I drink a lot of tea and it's nice to have something you can appreciate if you use it regularly. But the tea itself is the most important thing.

 

I have, though, written with fountain pens since I stopped writing with crayons, so to me there's nothing at all special about them, and there's no particular reason to collect them rather than to collect stamps or beer mats. Yes, from time to time I get a craving for a few chunks of vintage Italian celluloid, but it's really excitement about ink, paper and their results that keep me here.

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Hiya Akohtz! Glad to see you here on FPN as well as VPP. Subramaniyam's posts are definitely ones you should look for- he does great work with his pens.

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I'm with you, being a user rather than a collector - there are many such here. Having said that, I do still appreciate the look and feel of a well made and designed pen!

Sincerely, beak.

 

God does not work in mysterious ways – he works in ways that are indistinguishable from his non-existence.

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I've a few 'implements' of note but really, it is what is done with any of them that far more important to me. Of course, that doesn't stop me buying the occasional 'addition' but the occasions are getting fewer. Thank goodness.

The Good Captain

"Meddler's 'Salamander' - almost as good as the real thing!"

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Writing was always the reason I used fountain pens until I inherited a few really good ones and caught the "restorer's virus". Before I built my hoard of vintage pens, I had no idea of the large variation that was available. Now the virus is gone and I am blessed with far more pens than I can write with. I would sell most of them, but I am too busy writing.

Can a calculator understand a cash register?

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I only have a handful - six currently and two on the way. But they all get used and are always inked up. Some get used more than others for a variety of reasons. I have fun with them. Journals, letters, notes, doodling, whatever. None are horribly expensive but all are nice.

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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I enjoy the aesthetics of a nice pen. However, my real passion is what I do with the pens. I write novels for fun and hope to someday publish one for profit. I am perfectly happy to write with a #2 pencil or a ballpoint. In fairness, the fountain pen and pencil are tied for comfort. The pen wins (just barely) because it doesn't smear. But, I love the smell of pencils as well.

 

If I didn't write novels, take notes, or otherwise write, I wouldn't care about fountain pens.

 

Am I allowed to say that on this forum?

Proud resident of the least visited state in the nation!

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Pens are tools -- beautiful, lovely tools. If I didn't write as much as I do (or as much as I expect to), I might have one beautiful pen (ball, roller, fountain, not sure which) for those occasions when a pen is handy. But I like pens. I like using them, and I like having a variety of beautiful pens (that I use and others that I keep out of sentimentality, because they are smaller than many other things that could be imbued with such emotional attachment).

_________________

etherX in To Miasto

Fleekair <--French accent.

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Currently I have nine fountain pens but not because I want to collect them. I enjoy changing ink colors throughout the day, and since I am lazing about flushing pens I keep them all inked with various colors. But I do love the look and feel of fountain pens. I also enjoy my glass dip pen--a thing of beauty in its own right.

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I go back and forth on this. Even the ones that I'm currently not able to use are in that category only because they need repairs, not because I'm a "c-worder". I like using (and trying) a lot of different colors of ink, so it makes sense to have a lot of different pens. I have both vintage and modern pens and the Noodler's pens and Parker Vectors probably see as much use as the 51s and Vacs.

That being said, I'll admit that I've done the "ooh, shiny..." on more than one occasion. I did a lot of that on Friday when I was at the Ohio Pen Show, but fortunately for my budget I kept getting sidetracked and not getting back to the table where I saw X -- or, in one case, getting back there too late and the pen was already sold (sorry, Perry -- you tried, and I was *really* tempted because it was just too cute a pen, but it just wasn't to be for me). Or what I saw was more than I could afford; there was a *lot* of that on Friday afternoon... (sigh).

I write in my daily journal, and do the Sunday crossword, and write shopping and packing lists, and pay bills with my pens (although I had a weird dream last night about being forced to use a ballpoint because that was all that was available...). And I've written some poetry (plus tried my hand at fiction -- something I probably would never have done with a ballpoint, and which wasn't really gelling when I tried doing it on the laptop). For some reason, it's easier to do creative writing with a FP -- maybe it's just the flow of the ink combined with the better ergonomics over those of a ballpoint (not to mention the aesthetics and general "coolness" factor).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Thanks for the replies. I just wanted to make sure that there were others like me.

 

I agree that I've seen a lot of shiny cool pens that I would like having, but the luster dissolves pretty quick. Then I figure my current pens write well enough anyway and I move on. Although ... cost does keep me away from many pens.

 

They're just tools to me. I bought a new pen today, but it was because it's a different kind of tool that I didn't already have. I picked up a crow quill dip pen and some black india ink. I'm want to try sketching with the india ink and then following over with watercolor.

 

Even though I'm not feeling the pen acquisition disorder, I hold nothing against the collectors who do.

 

- Andrew

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Wow...I am SO on the fence with this. There is a lot of 'Oooooo, shiiiinyyyy' in me yet. And I HAD to own a Montblanc. And some Sailors.

 

There is also a lot of 'Me like pen in hand, ink prettyyyyy,' too. I can sometimes get lost in doodling, or writing story notes, or doodling on my story notes.

 

The pens I find myself grabbing most are Safaris and Heros, especially the 616.

My latest ebook.   And not just for Halloween!
 

My other pen is a Montblanc.

 

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If I'm using one of my Lamys then the writing is probably the more import part of the process.

If I'm using my Pelikan 800 or Montegrappa then I'm probably enjoying the actual pen more than the writing.

Sometimes I could be enjoying them both.

 

Pens, watches, cars and clothes all serve a specific purpose but can also be enjoyed in their own right.

 

Dick D

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I'm a Noob and have not been bitten by the collector bug. I mostly enjoy the sensual experience of ink flowing onto paper, seeing the color slide out of the pen to a page at my own direction, whether smooth or rough. I was introduced to the Dilli pen from Fountain Pen Revolution and found them to write so well and at such a practical cost that they have become my gift of choice recently. That and a bottle of Baystate Blue.

 

Write on!

TarHeelQ

 

PS Does anyone know where Noodler's ink is actually manufactured? It would be fun to visit the production facility if tours were available.

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I'm a 'user', not a 'collector', but that doesn't stop me appreciating the quality of some of the more 'special' pens I use.

Happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting what you've got.

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  • 4 years later...

I'm a 'user', not a 'collector', but that doesn't stop me appreciating the quality of some of the more 'special' pens I use.

 

 

~ I'd never read this thread before.

What Nokin wrote above particularly resonates with me.

All of the comments bring out different aspects of this topic.

Tom K.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It doesn’t make sense to have pens and not write with them, so I avoid buying really precious ones. I do find it sad that it’s such a mess to sign a credit slip with a fountain pen.

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