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Greetings from Cyprus I came accross this forum where I have found fantastic information on all types and brands of fountain pens. My experience with fountain pens started during high school, throughout which I quite often used a Parket Jotter (i think) for note taking. However, after a significant pause from fountain pens throughout my university time, my interest in pens generally sparkled again. At the time though I started using ballpoints That was until i dared to buy for myself a MontBlanc Boheme (medium nib). The pen was striking, and I could not resist it. Although that small MontBlanc got stolen from me during a trip, I still think it is the best I owned. During the 3 years I owned it, I hardly used any other pen. Currently, I own Fountain Pens Pelikan M400 (fine nib) Montegrappa Parola (medium) Parker Latitude (fine i think) Parker Urban (fine) Platinum #3776 steel nib (medium) Cross Century II (fine nib) Cross Century II (broad nib) Cross ATX (fine nib) Sheaffer 100 (medium Nib) Lamy Vista (medium) Lamy Nexx (medium)Plus an assortment of Ballpoints and Rollerballs eating dust in a pen case. I will try soon to post a few handwritten reviews of these pens Inks I have used. Cross Blue and Black (I think both cross inks were made by Pelikan) Parker Quink Blue, Green, washable blue, blue-black and black Pelikan Edelstein Topaz, Sheaffer Skrip Blue

Dear Fellow Indian Members How many of you would be interested in group buy for inks?

I enjoy this forum for its diversity on why people participate and generally all points of view are accepted. Pens for vintage reasons, business aspects of why or why not an ink still exists, the elegance of the nib in the hand of an amateur or steady operator, and to me the interplay between paper>nib>feed>art/print/cursive>operators skill/hand and the pleasure achieved by that interplay are reasons to participate. While ink is not the most expensive part of the hobby (on a one-by-one basis) [not talking about those with armoires for their collection] finishing the final mls of the bottle express the same elements as when your mother told you to "finish the food on your plate" [a universal axiom and my family are Germanic]. A terrific ink bottle shape survey was conducted by AndreaDuni in 2007 https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/28435-ink-bottle-shapes/ and its results are fascinating as the conical reservoir of Lamy hidden cone, MB shoe, Skrip well, and +++ were well appreciated for their Maxwell house "good to the last drop" characteristics. I recently bought three empty vintage Skrip bottles (1-118ml and 2-59ml) just to put 4.5 oz. dregs from a popular pasta ink. The bottles on ebay, empty + shipping cost the same as a new bottle with a free pen. Yet, I had to have them for economy of - well I don't know. Then I found an unusual bottle on ebay from Germany. While labeled refill, I think it's for refilling and the "ing" didn't make the cut. It has a conical bottom in the upright position for normal filling. It also has cones in the front and back for tipped filling for the last drops! This MB refill bottle in plastic is the first I have seen on the WWW and found nowhere on FPN. First comment from me is: Plastic blow molding allows this shape and current plastic formulations are highly impermeable to staining and transpiration as well as cap design and seal. I have borrowed the images from the ebay listing and can replace them with my own when the bottle arrives if the image owner objects. I look forward to your comments. http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODAwWDEyMDA=/z/N9gAAOSwyQtV3clV/$_57.JPG http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODAwWDEyMDA=/z/CNkAAOSw3ydV3clV/$_57.JPG

Being new to inks, I'm looking for a blue or turquoise ink for everyday use in demonstrator pens. I'd like the writing to be dark enough to be usable for everyday writing (notes, grading) but apart from that the two things I'd like to have are transparency and shading. Noodler's Navajo Turquoise seems to be highly recommended, but I am wondering if people have other suggestions that I should compare or try out. I understand that transparent blues are somewhat harder to come by than reds. I've been really enjoying Noodler's Dragon Napalm and would love to have a blue/turquoise ink with similar characteristics (although DN doesn't shade much). Thanks.

I received the e-mail today; 100ml bottles that are on sale. They have a few other things in addition on sale (nibs, 100 ml bottled ink and XYZ (don't remember), I love their Chesterfield Mahogany for my brown pens.

Hi everyone. I just took posession of my new book on fountain pens, and would love to share with you. Alain VANDERAUWERA, is a swiss architect , and a talented artist. He lives and works at Yverdon-les-Bain, in Switzerland. He has a passion, though. Could you guess? Yes, you're right: fountain pens. He has started, long ago, a wonderful, and much complete, fountain pen collection which he exposes at the LIttle Fountain Pen Museaum he has opened. http://vanderauwera.org/category/stylo-plume-fountain-pen-musee/ He likes to write his journal, and make illustrations of all the pens he buys, or comes across. All his illustrations are fountain pen and ink made, as well as their colouring, using watercolour technic. This first volume, of several others to come (we, passionate ones, hope so), was released several days ago. It is a Limited Edition of 500 copies, all of which numbered and posessing an Authenticity Certificate signed by the author / artist The pages are loose cards (24), each with a fountain pen model drawn on it. You can keep the cards as a book, or you can frame them. The back of each page is blank - you can write about the pen drawn on it. The possibilities are endless, the book, a beauty. Its dimensions are 20cm x 12 cm - quite handy to carry around. Fountain pen lovers, if you are interested, you can contact Alain through his mail, and order your copy: vanderauwera@hispeed.ch http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/538/TWr5wf.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/661/CWz96n.jpg http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/538/IhY00D.jpg You can see his presentation on his site, too http://vanderauwera.org/2015/04/19/fountains-pen-volume-01-alain-vanderauwera/

Next Toronto Pens & Pints is on.... Friday MAY 15, 2015 Location: The Frog and Firkin http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/drink/smiley-face-making-cocktail.gif Time: 5:30PM on... The Frog: A Firkin Pub is located @ 4854 Yonge Street (& Sheppard)

Im a fan of the Parker 51, and have several. One, however, no mater which ink I use, always is a very 'wet' writer; it has a medium nib. I don't have this with the others, nothing about this one looks or feels different, and I have tried different inks, and papers, but don't know what the problem is....though a wet writer isn't a problem as such, this is just a little bit too much on the wet side for me. Grateful for any thoughts or suggestions Alex

Finally, through no pre planning, I have wonderfully just finished cleaning 5 of my 8 writing beauties. Getting them ready for the next fill. Next step is to decide which ink will fill each pen. JOY! Two others were already waiting for the rest and have already been cleaned. There is only my Lamy still inked. Literally, standing at my kitchen sink, transfer pipette between finger tips, sink stopper in place so nothing crucial from any pen drops down to the abyss. While blissfully I cleaned out remnant of residual ink from each pen, thought, "wonder what others consider their most wonderful aspect of enjoying pens, paper, ink, etc.?" Having several, this one is one for me right now. The pleasure of the first alphabet letter written, once I have filled a favorite fountain pen with new ink; flow of the ink onto perfect paper; sound, feel when I open a new off white, unlined, quasi glossy, fountain pen friendly journal; sheer giddiness, when I open a brand new ink bottle. Well, as you can read, these are ones off the edges of my hat brim. What is your moment? What a way to begin, continue a new week, huh? Enjoy it and sharing your perfect blissful moment.

I have decided to review some inks. These aren't necessarily in any particular order. This one is from the latest Diamine 150th Anniversary inks 1864 Blue-Black. It's quite a saturated blue-black shade compared with Waterman Mysterious Blue. To my eyes it seems to contain more black than some other blue-blacks I have seen. Water test on the review form shows this isn't a waterproof ink.Bearing in mind the paper I use is very smooth, and the nib was a medium, this ink took 15-16 secs to dryIt flows reasonably wet, and lubricates the nib OK I have used inks that have had better lubrication than this one.It is currently available in 40ml cake slice shaped glass bottles.Diamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.

So I bought a couple of Eames Notebooks, which are made by the UK printers Whitbread and Wilkinson. They're well-made and pretty, but ink reacts in this odd way with the paper: First of all, the pages are blue and lined in white. I think the pages may be completely covered with ink because when I write with certain pens, the line breaks up. But with certain OTHER pens - same ink, mind, the line is smooth. The width of the nib doesn't seem to be a factor. It's this mysterious, individual interaction of nib, ink and paper. Anyone wish to theorize?

Hello everybody, hope you are doing well, I'm quite new to this forum and to fountain pens in general. I'm a highschool student who recently got into fountain pens after my mother dug up a bunch of her old Pelikan pens (she lived in Germany) and I absolutely loved it, problem is that it bleeds on almost EVERY paper i try. I recently decided to get a higher quality one, since my mother told me that it was pen meant for young grade school, it was not extremely high quality. So I decided to pick up a Platinum Plaisir with a converter and was wondering if any of you experienced folks happen to know of a good ink which is an alternate color, as I have seen noodlers xfeather and bulletproof, but I don't really want to write in black all the time. For me black/blue inks get quite boring and i would prefer a nice green, teal color, or something like Noodler's Apache Sunset(the color on that one I really enjoy, just don't know how it bleeds and don't know if my teachers will enjoy reading my essays and homework in an orange hue ), overall the most important thing is that it doesn't bleed on cheap paper, and of slightly less value is that it doesn't feather too much. So in short, I'm looking for a way to circumvent my problem of inks that bleed on cheap paper, but also trying to fulfill the goal of having a nice, exciting ink. Also as a side note, if anyone knows of a better starter FP that is on the cheaper end that has a fine nib I'd be extremely glad to hear any recommendations Thanks in advance!

Massdrop Platinum "Mix Free" Ink Missing Kit being offered: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/platinum-ink-mixing-kit?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Massdrop%20-%20Master%20-%20Writing&utm_campaign=Writing%20Layer%203%20Product%20Announcement%202015-03-17&utm_content=A&mode=guest_open

Hey guys! I'm not sure whether anyone has ever brought this topic up before (if so, I'm sorry). I ordered J. Herbin inks in two batches, both from different retailers, and my local retailer sent me bottles with plastic caps on them whereas the one in the Netherlands sent ones with metal caps (and they had stickers on the back with serial numbers, the ones from my local retailer didn't). So I was wondering whether J. Herbin made this change (a few years back maybe? because I suspect the ones I got locally are old stock). Thank you in advance

Recently, I kind of went a little overboard inks. Coming to me soon, several inks, including several from Pilot Iroshizuku line. Well, I am a true red bottled ink lover to my heart. Other than mixing hues of red ink and filling up my favorite fountain pen, I am not really experienced in actually testing inks for use. Do you simply fill up one fountain pen and use ink until no longer in the fountain pen, then change to another color? Do you just put enough to slightly give you some sense of the ink, maybe write with it a couple of lines, then discard? How do you play when you have a new batch of more than one ink and want to simply play by using in one or more sittings different hues of newly acquired inks? All suggestions welcome, I know if I am feeling giddy now, won't know where to begin when inks arrive.

Having recently moved from central California to central Minnesota, we've discovered that we need to pay attention to things here that were never an issue there. Like inks and cold weather. We arrived in mid-August here, and most of our worldly possessions remain in unheated storage. There was just no room to bring much into our current temporary residence ("we're living in our kids' attic, why do you ask?") until my son-in-law and I (and several friends on occasion) finished the addition above the kitchen. Finally enough room to bring in some of my pens, inks and paper. What we hadn't considered was that our belongings had been subjected to somewhat lower temperatures than we were used to before. In this case, low- to mid-20s, a couple nights down around 0º or so. Here's what we discovered: - Most ink survived being frozen and thawed out just fine. Shaking the bottles briskly before using didn't hurt in a couple of cases. - A full bottle of Diamine Burnt Sienna shattered. Several boxes of various sorts got bathed in the ink as it thawed out. It didn't help that that happens to be one of my wife's very favorite inks. Note to self: if this happens in the future for some reason, inspect all ink bottles while still frozen hard, before any broken bottles can thaw out. Fortunately, all my inks were packed in a plastic storage bin, so the notebooks and other fp paper were not bathed in the flood. - Most ink in cartridges came through just fine. The only exceptions being a couple of Platinum cartridges that were very full; the ink expanded on freezing, popping the ball bearing out of the top of the cartridge. As the ink hadn't escaped the cartridges, mostly, I was able to press the ball bearing back into the top of the cartridges affected, and the two I've started using work just fine. Fortunately, none of my vintage or expensive pens were packed in the box with the ink and paper. I'm not very optimistic that old celluloid or styrene pen bodies would fare well in the cold.

Hello everyone! I'm new to the FP network (about 5 minutes ago) and am still learning the ropes of both the network and the fountain pen itself. I am a student in high school and just started using fountain pens this semester and am loving it. I own two Noodler's Ahabs and am looking to get something that will work better with cheap paper, as I cannot shell out money for Rodia, Clairefontaine and the like due to the fact that I take about 2-3 pages of notes a school day.I have been drawn to the TWSBI mini because of the modern design and because it seems to work well with cheap paper. Is this a good choice? If not what else? At the same time, I am looking for cheap paper that will bring out the best in my inks without feathering and such. Is Staplers Bagasse any good? And finally, if I do get the TWSBI mini, would Noodler's "Bad Blue Heron" be safe to use in it?

Vanness has a nice selection of NOS Sheaffer made in the USA and Bexley pens. Bexley Holiday Windows 2001 Edition retailed for $1995.00 normally priced at $1595.00 SPECIAL price of $1295.00 leading up to the DC Fountain pen Supershow. Have questions? call us at 502-353-2362 or email us at vanness1938@sbcglobal.net https://vanness1938.com/?q=writing-instrument-detail/FMB/BEHoliday2001WG

Hi, I read many reviews about Noodler's black saying that it is one of the darkness/blackest ink in the market. I don't know if my bottles have a problem, but I'm obtaining a very light black. I'm attaching a test comparing two bottles of Noodler's, Parker Quink and Montblanc. As you can see Parker is 10 times stronger that Noodler's. The text is written with a Pelikan M200 using the noodler's black bottle 1. Any idea what could be happening here? Kind regards, AM

Hi all! When I first tried out Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, I thought it was perfect in almost every single way except for one small thing - it would have been amazing if it was just slightly lighter. Then, I discovered Pilot Iroshizuku Ama-iro, which is a lot lighter and exhibits fantastic shading as well. However, on my journey to find the perfect turquoise ink I've noticed that there are many lookalikes, making my quest harder and harder. I've finally decided that I will order a bunch of samples and compare some of the most popular turquoise inks out there in one massive ink review, which will ultimately go up on my blog. However, I am not sure how many people will be interested in something like this. I've read a number of reviews that compare four or five different inks, but what I am planning now is significantly larger. Here are the inks I am thinking of reviewing. Feel free to let me know if A. you would be interested in something like this, and B. if you are, what ink(s) you would like me to review or remove from the list. I am thinking of keeping the list limited to inks that are in an affordable price range (I'm looking at you, Caran d'Ache) and regularly available (i.e. not limited edition). Also, (please let me know if you disagree/agree with this or not but) I am thinking of focusing on inks that exhibit notable shading. Inks: Caran d’Ache Hypnotic Turquoise Diamine Aqua Lagoon Diamine Aqua Blue Diamine Havasu Turquoise Diamine Mediterranean Blue Diamine Turquoise J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche Lamy Turquoise Montblanc Turquoise Noodler’s American Eel Turquoise Noodler’s Navajo Turquoise Organics Studio Copper Omas Turquoise Pelikan Turquoise Pilot Iroshizuku Ama-iro Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-jaku Sheaffer Turquoise Waterman Inspired Blue (previously South Sea Blue)

I had a bottle of Noodler, Rome Burning, sitting on my self which I had not touched for a while. Finally decided to put it in one of my pens but once i had the ink appeared to be very light. I then shook the bottle of ink and refilled the pen and found the ink returned to its original colour. Is this normal? Thanks.

Bought the new Sailor Jentle inks in a fit of spending last week. Not too into very dark colors so will probably not get the last 2 colors, Doyou and Miruai. Otherwise these are the new colors that replace the previous set. This is the first time I am doing this type of comparison. So excuse me if some of the observations are a little newbie-ish. _Tokiwa Matsu is probably my favorite. I love green inks, particularly ones that are yellow hued. _Some of the colors appear, look and behave differently on different pens. Eg Nioi Sumire looks distinctly purple on the broad pen, but is more blue on finer pens. _Oku-yama is my most sheening ink right now. Love the metallic green sheen over the burgundy brown color. _Sailor inks have a very interesting smell that is distinctive, even when you write.

Like most of us here, I do an awful lot of my purchasing on-line. Now that I think of it, few of my actual pen purchases have been made in person. Despite my being as big an advocate as anyone about the merits of trying out a pen in person! I've used quite a number of merchants, but a few really stand out in terms of their outstanding service and quality. I'm long overdue in giving them the recognition they deserve -- at least in my sometimes not so humble opinion! My top 5, listed alphabetically (I'd hate to admit relatively dollar volumes. I don't even want to think about that!): Richard Binder {www.richardspens.com}: I've not actually had any serious nib tuning done by Richard. I've bought a few pens as well as some nib units. I think Richard's prices on the pens/nib units are totally competitive, perhaps more so given that he actually confirms the nibs are in great shape before shipping. I've also been totally unhesitant to ask him questions and his opinion. Service has been quick, shipping fool-proof, and quality superb. Even when I email in questions I usually get a response the next day. Sometimes the same night if he's having a bout of insomnia similar to mine! Fahrney's {www.fahrneyspens.com}: Well, I live in Northern Virginia. So Fahrney's in DC is sort of the hometown B&M store. I have occasionally gone there in person -- especially when I really wanted to try a pen in person. This is particularly nice also because there is usually a technician on duty there who can add another dimension or viewpoint to the expected performance of a pen from a manufacturer. On line purchases are a breeze, and the phone based customer service folks have always been very accommodating. Deliveries are always fast -- hardly a surprise given my location, and everything is well packed. Fountain Pen Hospital {www.fountainpenhospital.com}: I've been a long-time lurker on their website, particularly the 'Back Room' page for previously owned non-vintage pens and the 'Vintage' pen page for -- well, you can guess. I can truthfully say I've never received a pen that failed to write out of the box. I have decided a couple of times that I didn't like what I received, and returns were no problem. Shipments from New York are fast, and packaging is great. I did have a chance this past summer to visit in person when I was in NY and met pretty much all of the people with whom I've spoken which was great. I won't suggest that you can't get many of these pens cheaper say on eBay. BUT every pen I get is in full working order, which I find valuable in itself. Goulet Pens {www.gouletpens.com}: Without question, the website is a fantastic resource in itself, with the steady release of videos by Brian discussing various pens. I've bought primarily inks, cases, and some nibs. Even during this past winter, with the horrid low temperatures, everything arrives safe and sound and prompt. But then anyone who browses FPN is well aware of the Goulet reputation for really sound packaging practice -- they must get a huge bulkrate on packaging materials. Special kudos for customer service: on a couple of occasions, I've either changed my order or ended up placing two orders right after each other; Goulet Customer Service have been outstanding at dealing with these changes and combining orders. I get everything from them within just a few days -- hardly a surprise, given they are also Virginia based! And the fact that Brian is a Hokie (Virginia Tech y'all) as is my son is I have to admit a bonus point... Peyton Street Pens {www.peytonstreetpens.com}: Teri Morris is well known here at FPN. I recently placed my first order with her when she sent out a post about NOS of Parker Falcolns. Wonderful service -- even when at the last minute I asked her if possible to change from a brown pen to a black one. Not only was she able to, but I received everything within just a few days. Huge surprise when I opened the box: she'd included a bonus of an Indian pen as a Thank You for the order. Both pens write beautifully straight out of the box. She and I were in close communication by email throughout. Here's an even bigger surprise: Peyton Street Pens have their own gift boxes for the pens which are in my opinion magnificent: company name in a beautiful silver font, box is finished in a sort of linen finish; instead of opening as your usual box does, it pulls open from the side like a drawer. I've only seen this before on expensive LE pens. Which highlights that pens purchased for gifts will come well packaged! Thanks Teri!There are of course some other merchants I've used and I really have no complaints against any of them. I've been fortunate that way. But these 5 are my tops and I wanted to share with all y'all!

While browsing eBay, I saw there are 50+ lots of various vintage inks for sale. - Grayling

I would like to buy bottled ink and I have checked in almost all online shops in Europe (and probably in USA too). The problem is, that the bottle costs around 12 EUR (16$) and the shipping, in most shops, between 12-14 EUR (16 to 19$) which I find too expensive. Even from a German shop that is almost around the corner they want to add those costs to the final price (it seems my current location is on a special "weird" list. I feel as if I lived somewhere far away, in Nepal, right next to Mount Everest). Would you pay such a high shipping fee in order to get bottled ink? I could get 2 bottles for this price if they were sold here (but they aren't). So I'm basically buying cartridges only. Another question is: is there any European shop similar to Goulet Pens? Any store that sells ink samples without charging 14 $ for shipping? I haven't found one, but I'm sure it exists (hopefully). Thanks in advance for the help.