Jump to content

Latest Victim Of The Ink Fingered Plague


malachite

Recommended Posts

Greetings all,

 

I've been lurking here for about a month, but since I find myself wanting to participate more, an introduction seems in order.

 

My tale is no doubt a common one. Grew up obsessed with paper, pens, and markers, used a cheap Sheaffer No Nonsense in high school, wrote everything in Peacock Blue, Emerald, or Magenta, then was seduced by rollerballs, gel pens, and razor points. Like many, I moved to doing most of my writing with a keyboard and screen, though I still kept pens and notebooks around and always carried them with me. Over the last couple of years, I became dissatisfied with composing on a computer so I went back to writing in longhand, at least to jump start the process. The problem was, it wasn't fun anymore, and since writing is a huge part of my life, this was unacceptable.

 

I needed something to make writing fun again, and while chatting with a friend in Lyon, she described how school kids there all used fountain pens, how French paper had a different ruling, and how nice Clairefontaine notebooks were, and I got bit by the bug again. I went online to see if I could find the pens and papers she talked about, stumbled onto the Goulet Pen Company website, and was immediately sucked into the fountain pen vortex.

 

That was about 2 months ago. I started with one box for all my fountain pen stuff, now I have three (mainly due to my ink obsession). I've tried some of the cheaper and beginner level pens and am now eyeing vintage pens, more flex nibs, and some of the next-level pens.

 

My favorite part of finding the fountain pen community, though, has been discovering how many people love and obsess over the same things I do, that the written word and cursive handwriting is not dead, and that there are still people on the internet who care about spelling. Better yet, the writing experience is fun once more instead of frustrating.

 

Right now, my pen "collection" is a few Jinhao 599s and a 301, a Lamy Vista, a Safari, and an Al-Star (which is back at Lamy customer service right now due to a stuck feed), a Pilot Metro, and a Noodler's Ahab. My Vista is probably my go-to pen because it's the most comfortable, but I love playing with the Noodler's flex nib, and I'm really fond of a couple of the Jinhaos. Oddly, the Safari is my least favorite; I think it's because I don't like the way the matte finish feels. At the moment, my greatest fountain pen quandary is whether to spend my fountain pen allowance on more Al-Stars to match inks I already have, or look for a vintage Esterbrook and some extra nibs to see they are as fun as their fans say, or save up my pennies for a higher end pen with a 14K nib like a Pilot Decimo or Falcon or a Platinum Maki-e. Or just blow it all on more inks and notebooks and paper from Goulet.

 

I suspect I will need a side job in my future just to support my new hobby.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 11
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • PAKMAN

    1

  • Sasha Royale

    1

  • Wahl

    1

  • OCArt

    1

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Hello and welcome to FPN.

Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous  Who taught by the pen

Taught man that which he knew not (96/3-5)

Snailmail3.png Snail Mail 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello and welcome from Indiana!

Please visit my store A&D Penworx.

Brands we carry: Benu Pen, Conklin, Kaweco, Monteverde, TWSBI - Diamine, J Herbin, KWZ- Clairefontaine, Field Notes, Rhodia, Whitelines

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! Glad to have you as a member!!

PAKMAN

minibanner.gif                                    Vanness-world-final.png.c1b120b90855ce70a8fd70dd342ebc00.png

                         My Favorite Pen Restorer                                             My Favorite Pen Store

                                                                                                                                Vanness Pens - Selling Online!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to our little corner of the universe from a pen user in San Diego. I'm sure you will enjoy your time here

...............................................................

We Are Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome !

 

The LAMY Vista is just a clear Safari. Barring catastrophic destruction, either should last for generations. If you can't learn to love the matte Safari, perhaps you can sell it and buy a collection interchangeable nibs for your Vista. Or keep it. You might learn to love it.

 

Esterbrooks are dangerous and the Esterbrook people are seductive. They spoke so well of the colors and three neat sizes that I tried one. Eighteen Esterbrooks later, my wife says I am not allowed to "play" with the Esterbrook people . . . . . . ENNEEEEE-MORE !

 

Write with joy.

Auf freiem Grund mit freiem Volke stehn.
Zum Augenblicke dürft ich sagen:
Verweile doch, du bist so schön !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello and welcome to the addiction.

"You want to be a writer, don't know how or when? Find a quiet place, use a humble pen." ---Paul Simon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...