Hello! New to Pen Forums.

August 20

Hello,

I'm Diane and I have been a pen/paper/stationery lover ever since I was a wee tot. That was many decades ago. In 2012, I got my first fountain pen and since then, I understand people who have a hobby they truly love. You know the people, the ones who will be with their hobby even if everyone else turned their noses up at it. If pens and paper, are ever banned, I will dig a cave to hide in and play my day away. When my friends and I go on hikes, they think of essentials like first aid kits, compasses, food, water, and fire-building materials. I bring pens and paper. Granted, they are not going to save me in...well, wait a minute, I could leave a trail of notes, someone would find us. Note to self: Use Platinum Carbon Black in hiking pens so the ink won't run.

Yeah, you get the idea. You all understand the pen infatuation.

Have a fabulously inky day,

Diane

August 20

Hi and a warm welcome from The UK

August 20

Greetings from Pittsburgh! :W2FPN:

I'll admit that when you said you took pens and paper on hikes, I had assumed that you'd be using them for drawing.... :rolleyes:

I found my way here after starting The Artist's Way creativity course a number of years ago. One of the things you do is to keep what's called a morning pages journal (you get in the morning and write three pages -- whatever comes into your head goes down on the page, and then you go about the rest of your day. And since I hadn't kept a journal or diary since maybe high school, I wanted to get a "good" journal and a "good" pen to get back into the habit. In retrospect, the early journals were pretty but had horrible paper. And after a while, the rubber grip on the pen I bought (a Parker Reflex) started to disintegrate. So I got another one and the same thing happened to that pen (and I was also having trouble finding cartridges of Quink Permanent Blue at that point as well. So I went online and found an old-time stationers' Downtown that (at the time) was an authorized Parker dealer, and bought a Parker Vector. And felt SOOOO extravagant -- spending NINE BUCKS just on a pen! (Little did I know....) Then one winter I left the pen and the then current journal at my in-laws' in Connecticut, and didn't get them back for a month. And by then, doing MP with a BP just didn't have the same "feel" to it. So went online to get a replacement -- and in the process found my way here, and have been ensconced ever since....

I generally suggest that new people click on the "New Content" button when they log in, to get a good overview of a range of topics (you can adjust how much/often it refreshes). And to check out the pinned Index to the Ink Reviews (even though a lot of old images were lost in the Great Photobucket Hijack a few years ago), because I'm convinced we live in the Golden Age of Ink (with new companies popping up all over the globe).

But I also warn them that they have come amongst a band of evil enablers, who will be more than happy to help them spend their discretionary budget on pens, inks, paper, desk accessories, repair tools, pen shows, and ephemera (I fell down the vintage pen rabbit hole; okay, more like I dived in headfirst... :rolleyes: ).

Have fun here, and remember -- the only stupid questions are the ones that don't get asked. I'm constantly amazed by the breadth and depth of knowledge here -- and not ONLY pen-related stuff; and humbled by the generosity of the people on FPN in sharing that knowledge.

So, what pen(s) do you currently use? I've mostly been using a vintage Parker 61 today that I picked up at an estate sale over the past weekend (no idea what the ink in it is, but it took several days of flushing with distilled water to get the ink reconstituted); and -- for paying some bills this morning -- a Noodler's Charlie eyedropper with Noodler's Heart of Darkness (a fairly fast drying black ink that is also pretty waterproof. (Of course, my husband will tell you that the pens were just the gateway to the "real" collection -- the inks! -- but I've coaxed him over to the dark side with a Pilot Vanishing Point I found used in a place a couple of counties up, and he's also now borrowing a Sheaffer Snorkel so he can use a different color ink (because he's lost/misplaced the Lamy Safari he wanted me to get him a year or so back...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

August 20

7 hours ago, DianeJ said:

When my friends and I go on hikes, they think of essentials like first aid kits, compasses, food, water, and fire-building materials. I bring pens and paper.

Welcome!!! Hiking trips have given me some of my most interesting journal entries. For me, it's mostly about being away from the usual routine of emails, phones, and such. There's so much time to observe and think.

6 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I found my way here after starting The Artist's Way creativity course a number of years ago.

I wanted to get a "good" journal and a "good" pen to get back into the habit.

@inkstainedruth I read The Artist's Way and found the morning pages to be really helpful. After getting in the habit, all sorts of oddness tumbled out of my mental attic. Also loved your story of getting into pens and ink!

August 20

One of these days I'm going to take another stab at actually going through the entire course. I made the mistake of starting it when the chapter about going back through pages to find "insights" was over Thanksgiving up at my mother-in-law's and trying to do that in the middle of a living room full of my husband's family (his mom, a good number of his siblings, and the spouses and their kids).

Of course, I'd also have to figure out where in the house the book ended up.... Although I think I know where the book I was using for the weekly exercises is, after having it sit in a desk drawer for several years....

A decade or so ago I got the top service award for the organization my husband and I belong to. As part of that, there's a sort of reception where people come in and talk to you about what being at that level entails (and the expectations thereof). We commissioned a couple of handmade books from a friend who did a lot of calligraphy and other sorts of arts -- one for people to sign with suggestions and well wishes and such; and one (although I thought a clipboard would have worked just as well) for people to get on the waiting list to come in to talk to me. Unbeknownst to me, my husband commissioned a third, larger book as a gift. We had my friend do the work because I knew that I could talk to her about "FP friendly" paper (we'd had a couple of chats about pens over the years -- ironically I'd known her a long time before we got to be friends, because for years she ran the organization's NYC area chapter, but didn't get to be friends until she moved to southwestern PA after her apartment building in Queens went condominium. The third, larger book, sat in a desk drawer for several years while I figured out what to do with it. Then my friend died suddenly and I eventually was able to buy a pen of hers (a Cross Solo with a fine nib) from the estate sale -- once I figured out what converter to get for it, of course -- the following spring. And then realized that using third, larger, journal for doing the course would be a PERFECT way to remember her.

So maybe next year sometime I will dig out the course book -- and the largest journal she made -- again and try to do the course again.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

August 20

August 20

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! So glad to have you as a member!!

August 20

Hi Mark from Yorkshire!

Hi Inkstanedruth!

Oh if I could draw, that would be awesome. My drawing abilities are not great. No one wants to be my Pictionary partner, LOL. I can't go anywhere without pens, papers, or books. I get really antsy if I leave my purse at home. I live in fear of not having writing or reading material should my truck break down on the side of the road and I have to wait a few hours for a tow. And yes, I do bring pens and paper hiking solely to write. And again, what if I break my ankle and have to wait three hours for help? Clearly, I have no survival skills, LOL.

I have The Artist's Way, I've employed it a few times, but I tend to skip the chapter that says "No reading" that's just harsh. I should work through that again. I used to do the morning pages and now I'm missing them.

I love how the story of how you progressed with fountain pens. I so want to try a Sheaffer Snorkler. The only vintage pen I have is a 1936 Parker Parkette with a 14k #2 Weidlich nib. It's a dream. The ink capacity is super small though. And there were a few nuances that I had to learn. Thankfully, pen people have taken the time to explain things to me. Such a great community.

I'll go visit those pages you've recommended. And I gave my husband a Platinum Preppy and he loves it. He doesn't really care about pens as much as I do, so I'm shocked he took to it so quickly. I'll get him yet, LOL.

3 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

So, what pen(s) do you currently use?

My pens rotate frequently. It all depends on the mood and the need. I just some bespoke pens that I'm really enjoying right now. And I have a Lanbitou 3062 which was a cheap pen, but it's just a workhorse and the nib is surprisingly fabulous. Smooth with feedback. My Cross Townsend, it was my Dad's, his work gave him the pen back in the 90's. And I'm loving DeAtrementis Document Fog Gray (Grey?) ink right now.

It's nice to meet you and thank you again, for all the tips!

4 hours ago, Mechanical said:

being away from the usual routine of emails, phones, and such

HI Mechanical!

I agree, it's nice to get away. I love getting deep into the woods, I wish I could bottle the scent of woods after a good rain when the sun is beginning to dry it up.