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Hey guys, my name is Alex and I’m brand spankin’ new to calligraphy. As in just-started-yesterday new to calligraphy. Anyway, I’m hoping to be able to give you guys some details as to my situation and current supplies and maybe get some recommendations as to how to improve my experience. I asked for a beginner’s calligraphy set for Christmas, and this is what I received: http://www.amazon.com/Sheaffer-Calligraphy-Maxi-SH-73404/dp/B000MFHVM8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419800919&sr=8-1&keywords=beginner+calligraphy+set It came with 3 nibs (1.1mm, 1.5mm, and 2.0mm) and a bunch of different colored “Skrip” ink cartridges. It seems like a good start, but I’m having a bit of trouble with it. I read that as a rule of thumb, a calligraphy pen should be held so that the nib is at a 45 degree angle, so that’s what I’ve been doing, however, a lot of the time my pen will stop writing halfway through a stroke. It’s like the ink flow just cuts off for some reason. In addition to this, regardless of whether I move the pen to make a thin line or a thick line, it seems to bleed into roughly the same width. My thin and thick lines are hardly distinguishable, even when I move the pen straight down vs. straight across. I’m really enjoying starting out on this and I was hoping for some advice! I’m thinking about buying a new pen or two. I was hoping to start off with a fountain because I’ve read that they’re better for beginners (don’t hesitate to let me know if this is false). Anyway, I’m looking for a decent quality fountain pen that I can either refill or buy more cartridges for. I’d like something that either comes with multiple nibs or allows me to buy different nibs so that I can experiment. I’m looking to spend about 15-20 dollars for something decent, but if this is unrealistic, feel free to tell me I also feel like it’s worth noting that I’ve tried practicing on both standard printer paper and a type of cardstock and experienced the same lack of distinction between my line widths with all 3 nibs. If you all have any recommendations on some affordable paper to practice with, that would also be great!

hi fpgeeks! i just want to know who is in australia and love fountain pens and please share your views eg. where you get your pens (knowing australia doesnt have much pen shops) and which blogs do read and yea.. just anything