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What Is The "fountain Pen Experience" Like For You?


TaylorJ

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For some of us, it's the agency over our writing experience, the fine-tuning of finding the right pen, right ink, right paper - the customization of the writing experience, the ability to NOT settle for that ballpoint you found in the office that skips and lumps up the ink but is "good enough for taking notes."

 

For others, it's tinkering and enjoying the elegant engineering of an efficient system that can be maintained long-term - the ultimate economical option for writing, that is still beautiful and indulgent.

 

For a good number of us it's something to collect, something to be interested in, something to learn about, something to share with others. A hobby that works its way into our daily life, and that connects us with a worldwide community of like-minded people.

 

For a few, it's part of a broader interest in creative anachronism, or history itself, or recreating analog experiences. My mom, similarly, is very interested in ham radio and Morse code, and while she is perfectly capable of e-mailing, she enjoys the feeling of something analog.

 

For a section of us, it's about beauty, either enjoying the incredible variety and artistry of pens themselves, deriving enjoyment from the gorgeous inks, and/or using the pens to create more art of a more 2D variety. Or we want to improve our handwriting and find that a fountain pen, especially a stub, soft, or flex nib, makes beautiful handwriting almost come naturally.

 

And for some fountain pen users, it just makes sense. We want to save the planet, or we just write a TON, or we are very into the "buy it for life" thing, and it's more logical in the end, more economical, ergonomical, and ecologically responsible, to use fountain pens instead of throwing out yet another ballpoint every few weeks (days? hours? Some of us are writers by trade and do pages and pages a day of handwriting!).

 

And for nearly all of us, the Fountain Pen Experience is some combination of some or all of these - or more.

 

I just wanted to hear from others...what is the Fountain Pen Experience to you? What's it like? Get creative if you want. I guess this probably sounds like an old and tired topic, "why do you use fountain pens??", but really what I'm getting at is: What is the bigger experience for you around the pens? Not just reasons and justifications, but how does the fp world contribute to your life experience?

 

I hope this all makes sense...it's only 7am here and I have had too much coffee already. ;) Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

 

-Taylor

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. (Winston Churchill)

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I just love writing with fountain pens. And that is all. I just have no expalanation as to why.

 

By the way it is about 1800 hrs here.

Khan M. Ilyas

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1. See if I could improve my handwriting, which was illegible and painful.

2. Find a tool to express my ideas better, computers and phones are not very good for this and are a source of distractions.

 

Achieve this by using a medium that gets out of the way of ideas, so comfortable, reliable pen / ink / paper combinations. When I was at school my thoughts seemed to go way faster than my handwriting, which was very frustrating.

 

3. Unexpected bonus: ogle at beautiful inks. Does require an additional medium: sunny day! Doesn't hurt that some of my pens are also good looking.

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."

 

B. Russell

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Taylor, your original post summarizes so many of the key reasons for most of us. Nicely written. As for me, I fall in the camps of non-digital analog escape, beauty, calligraphy connections in human history, innovation and engineering, the discernment of distinctions between artifacts, and connections to people worldwide.

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1. See if I could improve my handwriting, which was illegible and painful.

 

 

 

3. Unexpected bonus: ogle at beautiful inks. Does require an additional medium: sunny day! Doesn't hurt that some of my pens are also good looking.

I couldn't read my own printing, and the death grip hurt to write with a ball point.

 

I can now read my scribbling, It no longer hurts to write....of course I went to 'forefinger up' to get rid of tripod death grip& and deadly kung fu thumb pinch.

 

No more hand fatigue, and can scribble for hours and not having to stop after 15-20 minutes to shake one's hand out and 'rest'.

 

The Golden Age of (crayons) Inks. :D :bunny01: :happyberet:

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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Resistance to change. I want to say "hold this fleeting moment" of the earlier time for reasons of my own. I like some of the pens of the time, especially that first Parker 51.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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Very well written topic!

 

Why a fountain pen, and not something else? Well, let me mention just one reason:

 

Writing with a desktop or laptop has many obvious practical advantages. But this tool will always remain a cold thing outside of you; it will never be warmed by the warmth of your body, it will never become a part of your physical self.

 

Writing with a ballpoint pen is already a much more "personal" experience: the ballpoint becomes a part of your hand, and the text lines it produces are somehow an expression of your physical self. But: a ballpoint remains an everyman's friend. Anyone, whatever the characteristics of his (her) hand, grip, handwriting etc. can write easily with any ballpoint. In this respect, the relationship one can have with a ballpoint remains inevitably superficial.

 

But not anyone can write easily and comfortably with any fountain pen, like not every human being can easily associate with any other human being. A fountain pen has its own character, that you have to respect and that somehow has to correspond to yours. The results can be excellent, if the relationship is excellent; otherwise, they will inevitably remain mediocre. In this sense, writing with a fountain pen is an experience that can't be matched by any other way of writing.

Italix Captain's Commission F – Italix Parson's Essential F – Kaweco Dia2 EF – Pilot Custom 74 SF – Sailor 1911 Simply Black F – TWSBI Classic EF – Rotring Altro F

 

“As for the qualities of which you may know, ‘These qualities lead to dispassion, not to passion; to being unfettered, not to being fettered; to shedding, not to accumulating; to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement; to contentment, not to discontent; to seclusion, not to entanglement; to aroused persistence, not to laziness; to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome’: You may definitely hold, ‘This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher’s instruction.’”

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The Golden Age of (crayons) Inks. :D :bunny01: :happyberet:

Very nicely said, Bo Bo! :lol:

 

Inks are a big driver for me now, so I buy many inexpensive pens to use them in.

 

Ever since I was a kid, I have loved stationery products. My favorite aisle of the store was always the "school supply" one, as I called it. When I was 12 I saw the Pilot Varsity on the shelf and begged my mom to buy me one, and I was hooked! I used them for years, and had no idea that there were any other fountain pens than the Varsity and the Sonnets at Barnes and Noble that were well outside what I could afford. :lol:

 

Then, a few years ago, in office hours, my math professor was using a matte black Vanishing Point. I had to have one! I was shocked that a pen could cost $150 and that I was willing to pay it, but I had just gotten a financial aid refund and decided that it would help me in class. And did it ever! Best pen for taking notes! :D

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I was always "artsy" even as a kid. At one point I had what had been my grandfather's pen (some pen/pencil combo) although I couldn't figure out how to make it work, and thought the leads were supposed to go in where the lever was.... And when I graduated from high school I asked for a set of Rapid-o-graphs.

Got back into this about a decade or so ago when I bought a book called The Artist's Way, which is a creativity course. One of the thing you do is keep what's call a morning pages journal (I refer to it as "my daily core dump") and in order to get into the habit I bought a "nice" journal and a "nice" pen (a cheapie Parker Reflex cartridge pen). A couple of pens later I had "upgraded" to a Parker Vector. Then about 7 years ago I accidentally left the pen and the then-current journal at my in-laws' house and didn't get them back for a month (by which point I found that I had trouble writing entries with just a ballpoint -- it didn't "feel' right. But that was all I was using a fountain pen for. Until I got the pen back, I went looking for a replacement, and in the process found the Goulet Pens website and discovered there was more to life than Quink Permanent Blue cartridges B). I also found my way here, and joined up to see the reviews of the different inks. And of course that was my fall down the rabbit hole (7 years ago I had never heard of Parker 51s -- now I have 10 of them, including one that is Plum (the rarest color). I got seduced by "ooh shiny" of inks and pens (and for the latter that could mean the color, the fill system, the "oh, I liked X I should get one in another color/another nib width"). I find myself justifying ink purchases: "Oh ink A is *just* enough different from ink B it's worth it to have both...."

And now I'm using fountain pens for pretty much everything (I do still use Uniballs for one type of artwork because it's easier and I'm using crappy printer paper). I still do the journaling, but I'm also signing checks, making to-do and shopping lists, some drawing. I've even started writing poetry for the first time since college (I've done NaPoWriMo the last 3 years, and have tried my hand at fiction. I go to my local pen club meetings every month and geek with likeminded people about pens and inks (there was one time a few months ago when some guy who was IIRC a psychologist came over to our table(s) to see what was going on and there was a lot of "Try this! Is this pen a good size for your hand? Do you like that color ink?" :D (We may have overwhelmed the poor guy.). I've been to a few pen shows and skulk around antiques malls and estate sales (I drank the vintage pen Kool-Aid big-time :rolleyes:). My Christmas present this year was a grey Pilot Decimo. And I keep trying to coax my husband over to the Dark Side.... B)

I've also discovered that there are more people using them than I had realized (including a bunch of people who are *not* "collectors" -- a number of them do calligraphy, but a friend of mine who is a tech writer uses hers for work because they're more comfortable. And a couple of months ago I went to an estate sale (the pens were gone before I got in the door -- and I got there at 7:02 AM :angry:). But while walking back to my car I decided to see who had been driving up the street in front of me (stickers for my *other* hobby on the bumper) -- and it turned out it was an old friend -- who had grown up using fountain pens (she said her mom still had an old Esterbrook lying around, and was showing me some cheap Chinese pen she'd gotten on some website -- she also laughed about always having one with the checkbook and driving her ex-husband crazy because he couldn't write with it...).

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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I think my experience could be boiled down into one word: pleasure.

 

I love watching the little puddle of ink under the nib, then watching the ink dry - the glossy shine while it's wet, the shading or sheen as it dries. I love the feel of the nib - and how each nib has its own feel and sound, how each paper has its own feel - and the ink changes its appearance with the paper as well as the nib. I love the feel of the paper under my hand.

 

I look for excuses to write, just to enjoy the pleasure of not using a death grip, of the pen gliding along with only a light hand, or the nib flexing as I apply pressure on the downstroke and release on the upstroke, or some nibs giving a sturdy nail-like feel, while others provide a pleasant "cushion" as I write. The variety of how each different section feels, the different weights of the pens - some light as a feather, others with a pleasant bit of "heft" to them.

 

Even just looking at a pen gives pleasure: how some pens are pure beauty to gaze upon (London Fog) while others offer a more mechanical interest (TWSBI Eco & Go, Wing Sung 601, Vanishing Point), some show such attention to detail, and others look so strange (Pilot Penmanship - aka "the rocket pen") or whimsical (Kakuno) that you just smile whenever you pick it up.

 

I love the satisfaction of finishing a fill, and then selecting a different pen, getting a good fill, and writing with a new nib and ink - whether it's an ink new to me, or the umpteenth use of something I liked enough to buy a bottle.

 

The variety of pleasures afforded by different combinations of pen, ink, and paper means the experience is both new and familiar - an exploration that never gets dull.

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Let's not forget eccentricity. I've always been a bit odd.

 

Partly it's due to the feel of writing, which has to do not only with nib smoothness, but with the angles at which one holds the pen.

 

Partly it's the look of the ink once it's on the paper. Ballpoint inks just look so drab and dull once you're used even to a decent gel pen / rollerball. And fountain pens kick it up a notch, with many more available inks. Although to be fair, I've settled in on about five favorites, and three of them are blue.

 

Partly it's the technical interest of fountain pens. Not that ballpoints aren't remarkable inventions in their own way, but there is more that interests me with fountain pens. That calls for a lengthy essay, though, which I don't care to write at the moment.

 

Partly it's esthetic. There is a beauty to a fountain pen, even cheap ones, which is not captured by our more usual writing instruments. The most striking examples, for me, are seen in vintage pens from the 1950s or earlier, but even a cheap modern fountain pen has "it" to a certain extent.

 

But that's another long essay, and I'm headed out for Christmas dinner with some friends. Merry Christmas, all!

"So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do."

 

- Benjamin Franklin

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I think for me it's the touch of analog in a digital world. I did have a fountain pen as a kid but came back to fp's about ten years ago. Somehow it's been a part of who I am.

 

Merry Christmas everybody!

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I never particularly enjoyed writing with anything else. Once I picked up an inexpensive Sheaffer in my teens, I've known fountain pens are special. When I could afford a nice pen, I began writing mostly with a fountain pen. When I was fortunate to have several, I began writing exclusively with fountain pens. Now, with a good collection, I have a pen and an ink for every mood, and style of writing. I enjoy reading about them, searching for them, deciding on which pen and ink to use, looking at them, and most of all, using them. I love the feel of the pen in my hand, the nib and ink gliding across the page, the look of my writing, and the frequent compliments on my pens and writing from people in my office and at court. Using my vintage Pelikans, I enjoy wondering about the owners and users of my pens from the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

 

Fountain pen use is a complete experience, engaging the senses, the intellect, the emotions, and probably a little of the spiritual. Try getting all of that from a ball point, a pencil, or anything else. I prepare lots of documents on my Apple computers. I love all my Apple products. But, my drafts, and editing with fountain pens are highlights.

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Very well written topic!

 

Why a fountain pen, and not something else? Well, let me mention just one reason:

 

Writing with a desktop or laptop has many obvious practical advantages. But this tool will always remain a cold thing outside of you; it will never be warmed by the warmth of your body, it will never become a part of your physical self.

 

Writing with a ballpoint pen is already a much more "personal" experience: the ballpoint becomes a part of your hand, and the text lines it produces are somehow an expression of your physical self. But: a ballpoint remains an everyman's friend. Anyone, whatever the characteristics of his (her) hand, grip, handwriting etc. can write easily with any ballpoint. In this respect, the relationship one can have with a ballpoint remains inevitably superficial.

 

But not anyone can write easily and comfortably with any fountain pen, like not every human being can easily associate with any other human being. A fountain pen has its own character, that you have to respect and that somehow has to correspond to yours. The results can be excellent, if the relationship is excellent; otherwise, they will inevitably remain mediocre. In this sense, writing with a fountain pen is an experience that can't be matched by any other way of writing.

 

+1 Very well said.

 

I actually do love the way my Tikky Ballpoints write with Schmidt Easyflow9000's (inexpensive but wonderful), which besides my parker jotter (with an easyflow9000) are the only non-fountain pen pens I'll subscribe to,

 

BUT

 

Right now my fountain pen of choice takes the writing experience beyond such hybrid ballpoints to a validating level acknowledging the work I do whether it be obligatory, personal, or creative.

 

I had originally explored FP's to ease hand fatigue with writing, which they do if you find a comfortable one and I have found such.

 

But I wasn't expecting to develop such a connection with a writing instrument (especially with a descent fountain pen), with rituals of care, the smell of the ink (I use Kiwa-Guro), learning the unique feel of the pen that gives back in organic engagement what I put in with finesse and respect for the way it works, its sweet spot, and gaining an experience that becomes not only effortless beyond any other writing experience, and not only a pleasurable one, but an experience that dignifies the practice of handwriting especially in such a technologically drive time.

 

I can never be without a fountain pen again.

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Nostalgia.

 

The pleasure of writing (both the physical sensation and capturing thoughts in handwritten text).

 

The pleasure of experimentation with pens, inks, paper, nibs... (you can take the man out of science, but you can't take the science out of the man).

 

The deep appreciation of design, construction and aesthetics of a pen, how those come together and why some pens are so much more than the sum of their parts. I can look at my Visconti van Gogh 'Pollard Willows' all day, it's so beautiful. I can shake my head in bewilderment how Platinum can make a pen as good as the Preppy for $4. I can marvel at the design and technology of my old Sheaffer PFM-III snorkel filler while never understanding how that particular pen makes my handwriting look _so_ much better than any other pen I've ever held in my hand.

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Being a FP enthusiast...It is an evolving phenomena. At first it was the pen, then the ink, now just the writing it self.

 

Your writing should be as colorful as the ink you use. Your writing in letter forms and it's content is to you as colourful as the life your live.

 

Naaaa..Just kidding ..No poet in me at all...

 

I just love using the FP, not just FP. The gold nibs is a must...Either a xfp with flex or cursive italic, and sometimes in between too.

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For me its a connection to history. With fountain pens dating back into the 1800s, and nibbed dip pens dating farther back than that, its hard not feel connected to that history. In addition my first introduction to fountain pens was sitting with my grandfather as he went through a box of mementos from his time in WW2. He showed me the requisite trophies of war, a set of German pilots wings, and a flag that Luftwaffe pilots kept in their planes (he was anti-aircraft in Pattons army) Then he came to the leather wallets that served as his own personal record of the places in Europe he had been to as part of the campaign.

 

It seems though that amongst all the personal things, and the items that obviously brought back conflicting memories, he came across the pens that kept those impromptu travel journals on the leather wallets. I dont remember today what kind of pens they were, but the sight of the gold nibs, and the look on my grandfathers face, gave me the impression that these were not just another writing utensil, but something inherently special.

 

Those pens are lost somewhere in the confusion of my grandmother moving, and both of them passing, but their impact drew me into a passion for fountain pens. Every time I open the cap on one of my pens, whether vintage or new, I feel a connection not only to my grandfather, but the broader stroke of history that relied on a nib, and a liquid ink to record history, preserve knowledge and communicate.

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Excellent summary of why we write with fountain pens, Taylor J. (OP).

 

I am a vintage pen restoration nut. I love to restore -- sometimes literally from pieces -- old fountain pens and to get to know their history.

 

Furthermore, I also sketch with them. I have always liked to sketch, but I'm not good with pencil, fountain pens gave me the ultimate challenge that keeps me sketching, namely, you can't erase ink :)

Edited by penwash

- Will
Restored Pens and Sketches on Instagram @redeempens

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Hi,

 

I'm a slow, deliberate writer; always was. And I love "talking to the paper," as a friend who would often come across my ramblings would say.

 

Since I was a kid, I hated pencils. It wasn't enough that I was slow, I had to stop to sharpen them constantly, because I like a fine, well defined line, not to mention that graphite has a tendency to break (at least in my hands). My teachers frowned on a second-grader writing with a ball-point but, as my mom always told me, I could get away with murder as long as my grades were in the A's.

 

Ball-points were my salvation, and then, later on, I discovered the oh so wonderful smoothness of rollerballs and got hooked on that for a bit.

 

My father accumulated pens. He didn't collect, but he had quite a few, and among his prized possessions were a Parker 180 B/X, a Parker 45 M, and a Pelikan M (400? Still have it, but have no idea of what it is). When I was 21 I wanted to experiment a bit and felt quite at home with the 180. It was a mix of the softness I got from a mechanical pencil (which I enjoy to this day), and the fact that I find writing with them more controlled/controllable than with a rollerball. I got hooked right then.

 

I used the 180 until I grew tired of its Broad line and then swung in the opposite direction, searching high and low for an EF Safari.

 

Nowadays, the 5% of the times that I'm not using a fountain pen, I'm gripping either a 0.5 mechanical pencil with a soft 2B lead, or a Pilot Precise V7 (or whatever similar I can grab). I've gotten so unaccustomed to having to press down to write that I can't stand ball-points anymore.

 

alex

---------------------------------------------------------

We use our phones more than our pens.....

and the world is a worse place for it. - markh

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