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

[senzen]

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.

 

This made me chuckle, I did think "oh dear I've regressed" when I took a look at my stash of inks: such purty colours!

[drv1913]

For me, the use of fountain pens (and dip pens) and inks is another manifestation of my desire to always choose the option that represents high quality in form and function in the most elegant way.

[Tas]

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.

😮 you mind reader!!

And you put it so beautifully.

[praxim]

Makes writing much more enjoyable.

 

Nicer designs, with the nib too a feature.

 

I enjoy repairing them, both for the small engineering and the satisfaction of having it work again.

 

Functional design variety, as well as the aesthetic variety already mentioned.

 

Colour variety (inks).

 

Encourages writing.

 

Unlike many collection hobbies, they are functionally useful; everywhere.

 

Small enough to indulge without renting a warehouse.

 

And...

 

because I can.

Edited December 26, 2018 by praxim

[LizEF]

you mind reader!!

And you put it so beautifully.

 

Thanks, Tas. It's like we're long lost siblings separated by an ocean of blue-black.

[Charles Rice]

For me it changes a chore into a pleasure.

 

Should I try to analize it? No!

[jar]

The "fountain pen experience" is a fantasy; I cannot even image there being a "fountain pen experience" just as I cannot imagine there being a seeing experience or hearing experience or breathing experience or any other utterly normal everyday part of life.

[ardene]

Wonderful first post. I have tried various other means of writing and I always come back to fountain pens. I also enjoy the nib’s reflecting either natural or electric light. Writing with a fountain pen somehow feels deeply personal for me; the experience is satisfyingly relaxing. Fountain pens essentially are invitations for me to take some distance from the demands of the day and to rearrange in my head what’s happening; in effect FPs help me figure out courses of action.

[Namo]

Efficiency. The only way I put on hours of writing day after day without any trouble.

 

The unique pleasure that writing with a FP produces is a very welcome addition, to the point that sometimes it's the perspective that I will use a pen I love that convinces me to get up one or two hours earlier in the morning, or to let go of the easy watching TV series in the evening, so can have some writing done.

[Tas]

 

Thanks, Tas. It's like we're long lost siblings separated by an ocean of blue-black.

[ParkerDuofold]

Hi Taylor,

 

Great post!

 

For me, it's kind of an "all the above"... or this...

 

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

 

Be well and enjoy life.

 

 

- Anthony

[mana]

As a user... the pleasure writing effortlessly and the very personal experience of using a well designed and built fountain pen with a nib and ink that suits my mood to craft things in my image/imagination/hand...

There is also the act of writing itself, both allowing and at times forcing myself to focus on that one thing and one thing alone. It is an act of creation, and that in itself can be a sacred and cleansing thing not unlike meditation. Cleanup of the ol' attic, brushing away of the cobwebs of the mind, bringing order, clarity and focus to things. A form of therapy if you will.

'Tis all a very personal thing, both the thoughts penned but also the form of the penning, a chosen nib laying a chosen ink on to a chosen paper and my hand, my handwriting all forming a visual expression of my thoughts, and an indelible and permanent record of those words sans the destruction of the medium itself, if need be. A single, personal copy that is shared by only myself if I so want. I like that.

Yes yes, it is not the most efficient nor expedient way of writing especially for anything long form but it can ultimately be the more fulfilling way compared to just banging away at a keyboard, the text written being editable and malleable at all times, the process of giving form to thoughts in part offloaded to a computer.

Handwriting forces one to concentrate and give conscious order and form to thoughts. It forces one construct and create not just the structure of a single sentence at a time but of larger constructs of thought and of whole passages* before putting the pen to the paper. Instead of reactive it is proactive and that is a thing that we all seem to need more in this day and age of instant digital communication and gratification.

 

Also, as a designer and aesthete it is about the appreciation of the craftsmanship, engineering & design, both the visual and aesthetic side of it (aka. the form) and also the functional aspects of it all, how well a pen works as an ink delivery system, ergonomics etc.

* If one doesn't do automated writing that is...

Edited January 4, 2019 by mana

[vicpen123]

There is a "fountain pen experience" but it is very subtle and may not be readily apparent.

 

It occurs when a fountain pen attracts an empathetic and loving hand so that it can share its performance.

 

How many times have you looked at a fountain pen and immediately felt the urge to write something, anything?

 

That's empathy and it is as much an experience for the pen as it is for the user.

 

Fountain pens have feelings too!

[Mech-for-i]

nothing sentimental or romantic about the choice, just happen that this old guy here learn and practice penmanship in junior school ( compulsory in case you want to know ) and we use brush, dip pen, and fountain pen .. its just the pen I used since .. that's all .. I would not deny this person got interested sometime in the latte years when working to find out there's much to the fountain pen, but it all start just because its in the school curriculum

Edited January 4, 2019 by Mech-for-i

[A Smug Dill]

To me, the fountain pen experience is uniquely about 'carving' or 'scratching' (no negative connotation intended) out crisp permanent marks on the page in the course of writing something by my hand, with visual and kinaesthetic feedback.

 

Ink marks made with ballpoint, rollerballs and felt-tip pens do not have the crispness, and so do not offer me pleasure in seeing the results on the page. Brush pens could (even though my user technique will let me down there) be used to make strokes with crisp edges, but lack the kinaesthetic feedback I enjoy. Pencils offer both, but the marks are not permanent. Dip pens are the closest, but the ongoing requirement to dip the pen in the inkwell every few strokes breaks the flow. Fountain pens are, therefore, currently the singular 'solution'.

 

(That's why I have nothing but distaste for broad nibs or even Medium nibs, and 'flex' nibs that produce swells on downstrokes but fail to quickly bounce back to Extra Fine line widths by the end of the stroke are of no real use to me.)

 

Everything else is just playing. The use of other instruments can offer the range of colours (and more), lay down shimmering/glitter ink, and so on. I can just as easily obsess about clothes, or watches, or jewellery, or cameras, and spend thousands upon thousands geeking out on such and admiring the beauty of the material objects I acquire.

[Chmara]

Two words describe my initial response to the question, "frustratingly therapeutic."

 

I re-involved myself with fountain pens some 15 months ago after an approximately 70 year hiatus with only semi-literate looking scrawls serving as a signature rather than using an X on loan and other official papers. As a college student using (in that era) still smearing ballpoints to occasionally print what I could not type whilst note taking and such. In the military the advent of electronic typewriters allowed me the speed to pass through tests and work as a writer/journalist which, upon leaving, became my preferred and practiced profession through retirement.

 

I am a left handed person -- and in grammar school, training on pointed (cheap) pens, I either smeared or spattered ever time I tried cursive. When they tried to switch my hands, I started to stutter -- and then was allowed to print -- which after the splatter-smeared enforced multi-grade practice - became mixed with script and printed letterforms forms were that almost indecipherable. I cleverly (not) throughout that those messy word lists illegibility submitted in school allowed me to pass more spelling tests than the average.

 

The advent of computers and non-smear ballpoints helped through my life -- but allowed no growth of self worth or esteem as often exhibited by others signatures and florid letterforms. It was on my 76th birthday I decided to write with pen and ink again -- thinking that, in retirement, I would have time and discipline on my side to learn to become legible or even learn some calligraphy. I bought some pens and ink and discovered this forum. This forum has been of a major help in letting me keep my sanity -- if not a budget.

 

I learned how to choose a nib - something I did not know in my initial with my initial purchases a little over a year ago. I found different styles of writing. I learned that still today very few people understand or give a damn about the challenges of being left handed. It was Honeybadgers here that I found out how to work with flex and ink flow problems that still today plague real pen users. I learned the difference between good writing pens and pretty pens -- and the slow progress of engineering and research that goes into the improvement of products once generally accepted, but surpassed in popular sales by something cheaper and that produces a thin acceptable, non-smearing, readable set of lines for daily I-do-not-care work on junky paper. (Throw-away ball-points, rollerballs, plastic, felt and ceramic tips.)

 

I also learned that my own patience with the needed practice and drill to obtain what I want is spotty and undisciplined when it comes to writing. I am now learning how to regularly practice, care about writing and s slow down to feel the joy of writing clearly rather than rapidly. I have corrected the old scrawl enough that I had to go to our county recorder's office and change my signature cards so I could be identified at the polls when I signed in to vote.

 

On the hobby side of writing I am now thinking and trying ways to make it easier for left handers to work out how paper can sit on a surface for writin and for left handed underwriters to approach and use Spenserian and Copperplate for daily writing compensating either mechanically or motion-wise to avoid digging a pointed pen into paper on upstrokes. I am also wondering why no one has produced a calligraphic stroke system (particularly for Gothics and Blackletter) that easily define stroke directions and pen nib angles for lefties who refuse to turn their paper 90 degrees because either their brain cannot visualize sideways writing and make hands respond or, like me, are just obstinate.

.

I hope this long winded approach to exposing my journey (still underway) gives you an idea of the diversity of reasons folks use fountain pens. I hope it a touches a nerve, too, about the travails and challenges to left handers, long discounted and ignored by righties

Edited January 12, 2019 by Chmara

[peroride]

In my younger days, sensei admonished me for stepping over my bokuto.

 

I obeyed without question as courtesy and by tradition.

 

But in my mind, "Err... but it's just a wooden sword...?!"

 

His explanation: Actually it's an extension, worthy of respect. By stepping over, you're getting cut, symbolically. Don't get cut.

 

My real lesson: Can you pay attention, take care? What is life without it?

 

Without practice, writing with a fountain pen feels so natural, open to noodling or exquisite calligraphy.

 

What you make of it.

 

It is an extension, worthy of respect and careful consideration.

 

I am reminded of that day and practice.

 

And dang, they're so purdy and feels soooo goood!

[DrDebG]

Great post and excellent responses.

 

Years ago I got into fountain pens because they were different.

 

Now, it is an absolutely necessity. I have arthritis throughout my left (writing) hand. To even use a ballpoint or rollerball for more than one sentence is very painful. Fountain pens glide and don't need to be pushed.

 

As a scientist, I love finding exactly the right combinations of pen, ink and paper.

[Karmachanic]

It's groovy!

[sombrueil]

Because they are a lot more reliable than 00 Rapidographs!

I have loved the act of writing my whole life. Fountain pens are really the apotheosis of writing instruments. There isn't anything better. Add to that all the beauty and craftsmanship possible in the tool, the vast array of ink colors, the historical contexts . . . there's more layered richness in using them than can readily be told.