I Find One Pen And One Ink To Be Liberating

[cellmatrix]

Over the years, I've used a lot of pens and almost all filling systems, and I've used a lot of inks. I've been down that rabbit hole of pen and ink acquisition that FPN leads you into but I'm happy to report I have emerged, unscathed and a bit wiser. I've decided that I really don't like filling a million pens with a million inks and maintaining and cleaning them. I also don't want to spend time thinking about that next pen and ink I've been 'needing' to get.

 

I've come to the conclusion that the best writing tool for me is one of the first pens I got - my old now scratched up matte black pilot VP and the ink I like the best is one of the first inks I used: pilot blue black.

 

I feel liberated, like Dorothy coming back home to Kansas....

 

Dorothy: Well, II think that ...if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?

Glinda: That's all it is!

 

I know this is corny sounding, but its been a long road to discovery for me to realize this.

 

Anyway, I've been enjoying using this VP exclusively for a long time now, and you get to the point that you become so familiar with it, it helps your writing. To go along with it, I bought a 350 ml stock bottle of pilot blue black ink (I got on Amazon for around $20) from which I refill empty cartridges. Its so simple, easy and ecological if you do it right. I guess I am a minimalist at heart. The fact that I don't expect to spend any money on pens or inks for many years also is nice.

 

I know many of you don't think one pen and one ink is really your cup of tea. And I can understand and respect your opinion on this, as I've been there too. However, if you are inclined to try this, I feel I would like to try to give back to the FPN community which I have so much enjoyed interacting with over the years. So here are a few practical tips I've learned

 

Things I've learned from using a VP pen and refilling cartridges and a big bottle of pilot blue black ink.

 

How to maintain and use the Stock bottle:

1) Keep the bottle in the original box and store at stable temp in the dark with the lid tight. Don't dip into it!

2) Instead, periodically decant ink from stock bottle into a smaller bottle, which you dip your pipette into to fill your carts.

 

How to best use the Pilot cartridges:

1) Their wide opening allows you to refill them with a cheap reusable plastic pipette (but you can also use a syringe).

2) Before the first refill, remove the internal plastic disc in the pilot cartridge with a paper clip or tweezers.

3) For VP users, the metal cartridge guard prolongs cartridge life.

4) If some ink in your cartridge evaporates, you can add a drop or two of water to it with your pipette.

5) Get a box of new pilot cartridges for when you go on the road.

6) For any cartridges you empty on the road, clean and put them back in the cart box for future refill use.

7) Pilot cartridges last many refills but once they die, place in the recycling bin.

 

Cheers,

 

CM

[Uncial]

I felt quite the opposite. Since primary school I used one fountain pen and one ink and then in 2001 I bought a second fountain pen and blue ink instead of black and its been a continuous slippery slope since. It's a slippery slope I've found, and continue to find, liberating.

[cellmatrix]

I felt quite the opposite. Since primary school I used one fountain pen and one ink and then in 2001 I bought a second fountain pen and blue ink instead of black and its been a continuous slippery slope since. It's a slippery slope I've found, and continue to find, liberating.

 

I would expect that most of the folks on this site think like you and I am just a tiny minority. But I think its great to all have different stories and diverse backgrounds. Thats one of the cool things about FPN.

[Bristol24]

How can you possibly survive with JUST ONE PEN? Don't get me wrong. I undertand. I often carry just a Parker 51 and use it 90% of the time for maybe three weeks running but then I get the urge. I mean it SCREAMS at me (...I might be a bit over the top but my guess is that most of you out there understand). I will concede that I have reduced the number of inked pens to just three because I am tired of forgetting about a pen having ink in it and then having the rude awakening together with the long, protracted cleaning session. I did quit smoking 39 years ago so I know I have the will power...but...could I get down to just one fountain pen? Do chickens have fur? Do cats like vacuum cleaners?

[A Smug Dill]

How can you possibly survive with JUST ONE PEN?

 

 

If people can communicate successfully, precisely and extensively using just one switch — by Morse code (as an example, but of course that isn't the only way) — then one could argue the "need" for a keyboard with a separate key switch for each letter of the alphabet and each digit isn't a real need at all for the purposes of communication, but then most users of digital communications and information services today (including proficient Morse coders) would probably freak out and suffer mental breakdown if the option to use a modern keyboard was taken away.

 

I'm sure it's possible to get by with just one pen and one ink, without compromising any of the content one intends to put down on paper. Meta-information (such as which text string constitutes a section heading, instead of being the first sentence in the body text) can be encoded or marked up visually other than by writing with a broader nib, or in a different colour, etc.

 

Personally I just wouldn't want to limit myself to that, and if I can only have one fountain pen to use for writing, then I'd consider the hobby completely destroyed for me.

[AmandaW]

I usually have 3 pens inked at one time - one on my desk to write with (which sits on the cute little stand), the other two are for drawing, one in each of two sketch kits of different sizes. Which three pens and inks at any time is part of the fun. When the ink in one of them is used up, the pen is cleaned and another from my slowly growing collection comes out to play. The choosing and ritual of filling has become one of life's little pleasures.

 

Any time I want I can, of course, get another out to play for a particular drawing or writing - it's not a strict rule.

 

[cellmatrix]

How can you possibly survive with JUST ONE PEN? Don't get me wrong. I undertand. I often carry just a Parker 51 and use it 90% of the time for maybe three weeks running but then I get the urge. I mean it SCREAMS at me (...I might be a bit over the top but my guess is that most of you out there understand). I will concede that I have reduced the number of inked pens to just three because I am tired of forgetting about a pen having ink in it and then having the rude awakening together with the long, protracted cleaning session. I did quit smoking 39 years ago so I know I have the will power...but...could I get down to just one fountain pen? Do chickens have fur? Do cats like vacuum cleaners?

 

I have a bunch of pens, some really nice ones. And I did not evolve just one day into using one pen. I realized I liked the VP best, but I went thru a transition period where I would occasionally ink one of my other pens, and after comparing side by side with the VP, and then saying no I liked the VP best. I did that for a few months, before just going full time with the VP. I went thu a similar transition period with the various inks I've used. At some point when I have the time, I will sell the other pens. And I will do it for a decent price here on FPN classifieds, so others can enjoy them.

[vicpen123]

+1. I have only had one ink (Quink Black) and never more than 2 pens inked - one for home/office use and one for shirt pocket when I go to meetings or work related events.

 

Both are c/c for ease, convenience and clean hands. As I don't write much any more, a single fill can last several weeks and any losses due to evaporation are minimised compared to more expensive cartridges.

 

This second pen is readily replaceable if it walks away so I don't worry about security.

 

The other 40+ pens are for my enjoyment, not for writing, as I appreciate their design, style and inventive execution.

[cellmatrix]

 

 

If people can communicate successfully, precisely and extensively using just one switch — by Morse code (as an example, but of course that isn't the only way) — then one could argue the "need" for a keyboard with a separate key switch for each letter of the alphabet and each digit isn't a real need at all for the purposes of communication, but then most users of digital communications and information services today (including proficient Morse coders) would probably freak out and suffer mental breakdown if the option to use a modern keyboard was taken away.

 

I'm sure it's possible to get by with just one pen and one ink, without compromising any of the content one intends to put down on paper. Meta-information (such as which text string constitutes a section heading, instead of being the first sentence in the body text) can be encoded or marked up visually other than by writing with a broader nib, or in a different colour, etc.

 

Personally I just wouldn't want to limit myself to that, and if I can only have one fountain pen to use for writing, then I'd consider the hobby completely destroyed for me.

Dill, I just want to say, I have enjoyed reading your posts here, and I am impressed with your thoughtfulness about the subjects you write on. Usually your ideas are very different in perspective than many people. Anyway, to your point above, I really don't feel by using one pen and one ink, that I've limited myself to a single form of expression.

 

Its true I have studied a lot of different types of writing styles. A lot of people on FPN have been my role models. G-Clef for example has been one. He is a beast with a pen and he is a true penman in his own right. Inkyfingers and Freddy are two others whom I have enjoyed following their writing styles.

 

I have some italic pens ranging from stub to formal italic and I have studied writing chancery italic using a reprint ofCataneo's work I found in a bookstore.

 

I have studied Spencerian and have flex pens ranging from dip pens, to vintage waterman's and I have drunk from the Greg Minuskin well several times including a spencerian modified Pilot 912 FA nib, and a spencerian modified pelikan 140 flex needlepoint.

 

I can write decent chancery italic and spencerian, with these pens but bottom line is that I feel that having the wide line variations are just not my style - these styles are too extroverted for my personality.

 

For that reason, I have taken to monoline business penmanship, and have devoted myself to trying to write this style well. I got a used 1903 copy of "modern business penmanship' by EC Mills from a bookstore and have practiced this hand extensively for some time to the point that I now enjoy writing with this style a lot. EC Mills is really my favorite role model when it comes to writing, and I think the way he forms his letters is so elegant. Part of the reason I like the VP, which is an EF, is because it lends itself really well to this style of writing. Here is an example:

 

As you can see, I still have a long way to go to make my monoline business penmanship look better, But even at this point, I am beginning to realize that you can convey a range of expression within a single writing style, pen and ink. When I write a letter, I want the recipient to be taken not by the color of my ink or the line variation of my pen but by the quality of my hand writing, and even more important, with what I have to say. I really feel I can express myself best with the style of writing, and this style of pen and ink.

 

So anyway, sorry for the long answer but I just wanted to make the point that in my opinion, one need not limit their expressivity even using one ink and one pen.

[cellmatrix]

I usually have 3 pens inked at one time - one on my desk to write with (which sits on the cute little stand), the other two are for drawing, one in each of two sketch kits of different sizes. Which three pens and inks at any time is part of the fun. When the ink in one of them is used up, the pen is cleaned and another from my slowly growing collection comes out to play. The choosing and ritual of filling has become one of life's little pleasures.

 

Any time I want I can, of course, get another out to play for a particular drawing or writing - it's not a strict rule.

 

 

If working with your pens is a relaxing ritual for you, thats great! I like my rituals too.

[cellmatrix]

+1. I have only had one ink (Quink Black) and never more than 2 pens inked - one for home/office use and one for shirt pocket when I go to meetings or work related events.

 

Both are c/c for ease, convenience and clean hands. As I don't write much any more, a single fill can last several weeks and any losses due to evaporation are minimised compared to more expensive cartridges.

 

This second pen is readily replaceable if it walks away so I don't worry about security.

 

The other 40+ pens are for my enjoyment, not for writing, as I appreciate their design, style and inventive execution.

 

hooray someone agrees with me! I did not expect this, thank you

[A Smug Dill]

Dill, I just want to say, I have enjoyed reading your posts here, and I am impressed with your thoughtfulness about the subjects you write on. Usually your ideas are very different in perspective than many people.

Thank you!

 

Anyway, to your point above, I really don't feel by using one pen and one ink, that I've limited myself to a single form of expression.

That wasn't quite what I meant.

 

So anyway, sorry for the long answer but I just wanted to make the point that in my opinion, one need not limit their expressivity even using one ink and one pen.

I agree with you. However, my interest in fountain pens (and inks, etc.) and what constitutes "the hobby" for me is neither the content of what I put down (cf. expression and expressivity) on paper with a writing instrument, nor (simply) handwriting with a fountain pen in a way that a pencil, ballpoint or rollerball pen could not support. Sometimes I write in Sailor Kujukuri Coast hamanasu ink just because I like and want to see that shade of carmine, and not because the meaning or the importance of the content of what I'm writing demands it. Sometimes I pick up my Delta Seawood pen and write with it simply because I want to feel the texture of that pen barrel as I put something down on paper, irrespective of what future value there is of such an action. They are neither the pen nor the ink I would choose if I'm going to be forever limited to the use of one pen and one ink.

[cellmatrix]

I agree with you. However, my interest in fountain pens (and inks, etc.) and what constitutes "the hobby" for me is neither the content of what I put down (cf. expression and expressivity) on paper with a writing instrument, nor (simply) handwriting with a fountain pen in a way that a pencil, ballpoint or rollerball pen could not support. Sometimes I write in Sailor Kujukuri Coast hamanasu ink just because I like and want to see that shade of carmine, and not because the meaning or the importance of the content of what I'm writing demands it. Sometimes I pick up my Delta Seawood pen and write with it simply because I want to feel the texture of that pen barrel as I put something down on paper, irrespective of what future value there is of such an action. They are neither the pen nor the ink I would choose if I'm going to be forever limited to the use of one pen and one ink.

 

Thanks for explaining further, now I get what you are saying. Its the sensory experience of visualizing different inks and the feel of different pens that you enjoy. I can relate to that. But for me, I look at a pen like a musical instrument. You begin to enjoy it once you develop some degree of facility and freedom with it. Some people can play many musical instruments and enjoy using them all- maybe that's like you. For me, I prefer seeing how much artistry I can get out of just one instrument. And even if you only play one instrument, be it saxophone, flute or ukulele, it can still be a fun hobby, right?

[loganrah]

I'd say this comes in degrees, it isn't all your pens inked or just one. I don't like having too many pens inked, mostly for the sorts of reasons you mention. That said, I like to keep 2 or 3 inked (6 at the moment, but that is unusual). Mostly for utilitarian reasons: Mostly using flex pens necessitates having one non-flex pen inked for various situations where flex pens aren't optimal. I like to have one permanent ink on the go at all times, but not usually in my main pen. I like to have two colours for work, so that I can use a contrast colour for titles, notes, and other things I'd like to stand out. All that said, I admire your self control, especially if you stick to not buying anything for a year or more!

[vicpen123]

 

hooray someone agrees with me! I did not expect this, thank you

Neither did I.

[Arkanabar]

I understand the appeal, Cellmatrix, as I find myself craving greater simplicity in my life. One man, one pen, one ink -- that was my dad, too, using a fine nib Parker "51" and Parker Permanent Black Quink (left-handed) for decades, through at least nine years of studying for his bachelor's degree, and probably as many in studying for his Master's. I still have that pen, and it still writes like a champ.

 

I am also sort-of in the mode of paring things down. I'm going to keep all five of my Pelikans, and my Pilot Prera (like you, refilling cartridges), and my Pilot Para//els, and probably my Himalayas and my Hero 616s, as I have use-cases for all of them. But many of the rest could go, and I wouldn't really miss them. I know I could get by with just three inked, and I usually do.

[vicpen123]

The difference with me is that if I pared down my pens to the bare minimum I would miss them all.

 

I see them as mini works of art - although not hanging on a wall they are just is significant to me laying in a drawer for my personal enjoyment when I need a lift.

 

Just because I am the only one who appreciates them doesn't mean that they are not precious.

 

Love them all.

[Inky.Fingers]

@CellMatrix I am

 

I totally agree with you. Platinum Carbon Black and Aurora Optima for me, an EDC.

 

On occasion, my MB WE for italic writing.

 

But I enjoy the most is BP. EC Mills would be proud to have a student as you. I am Ziller's BP student.

 

Don't sell yet. There's always coming back, what's old be new and new be old. It's a cycle of life.

 

Try this and you'll improve in leaps and bounds in your BP.

 

[TheDutchGuy]

Wonderful topic. It resonates with me. The beauty of the OP’s viewpoint (in my opinion at least) is that it directs the focus of the hobby away from the acquisition aspect and towards craft, in this case towards penmanship. I admire that.

 

I remember buying my first and only FP since childhood, because I walked by the shop window in my hometown and it called my name...

 

 

This was my only FP for quite some time and I used it for many hours, each day, every day. And I was totally happy with it. I enjoyed writing with it, I enjoyed looking at it, I enjoyed having it always with me. Still do. All that hasn’t changed, but I did get more pens.

 

With acquiring more pens, I started to branch out: improving my handwriting, learning new styles of writing, admiring the design, construction and performance of pens, learning about pen history, understanding how FP’s fundamentally work, and doing nib work ranging from basic smoothing to total re-grinds. That’s been a lot of fun, it still is, and it has turned into a wonderful hobby.

 

But yes, it is a rabbit hole. Compared to some other hobbies, fountain penning offers easy entrance and quick rewards. One mouse click and you’ve got a new pen or ink coming your way. Hobbies like learning to play a musical instrument, or getting good at a sport, require much more effort and offer much less initial reward. So it’s relatively easy to get sucked into this and it’s also easy to subconsciously emphasize the acquisition aspect of our hobby.

 

At the moment I’m happy with what this hobby brings me. It has taught me many things and gives me joy. My joy has also led to other people’s joy, because I’ve turned many people onto FP’s, have given away many pens, repaired other people’s pens, etc.

 

But at some point in the future, I can see myself going full-circle to just one or two nice pens, a bottle of ink and a stack of paper.

[como]

Hi Inky-Fingers, thank you for your post. I am quite intrigued by this exercise of making circles. I don't like to use ballpoints, but would it also work if I use extra fine or fine fountain pens? I think it's a great idea.

Try this and you'll improve in leaps and bounds in your BP.