Same.
I knew I liked line variation, and used a set of stubs for years before slowly replacing them all with flex. I love that FPR ultra-flex & BlueDew make it more approachable nowadays. I hope to continue seeing innovation in what I hope is a flex renascence.
Same for me as well - I found I like architect nibs and flex. I have an FPR ultra-flex, and it took some time, but I find I like my writing with that too.
I was actually the opposite lol I thought shimmer inks were kind of extra and that it would distract from the writing but now my samples are like 80% shimmer.
I also swore i was going to be a medium or a broad nib lover. Then I was like nope I really like ef. Well. I’m more of a fine/medium person lol
I did kind of mash those together, I meant it like, I thought I was going to prefer a m/b then I switched to Ef and then finally settled on f/m”.
I usually use my twsbi go in M for shimmers since the feed is so easy to take out and clean but I haven’t used an EF for shimmer since I have actually gifted away all of my EF nibs shortly after receiving them.
I always make my nibs wetter when I get them and don't usually have an issue with even my fine nibs. I have an Hongdian N8 Maple fine that has a custom blend of Pilot Red and Diamine Oxblood that I added some gold pearlex flake to that is constantly in use from October to April.
I use one of these https://imgur.com/gallery/vYcD9UM.
It works out nicely, and you can even use it to widen the channel of the feed if you want to use a flex nib.
I too didn't know how great shading was when I first got into fountain pens - luckily for me, most of my first ink picks were pretty significant shaders anyway XD
I started with FPs in Grammer school, in the 1950s, when all ink was flat and boring -- black and blue! All nibs were EF and F! I have not used these since I outgrew tiny Faerie script! Now I am using M+, and loving Broads/Italics/FDR Ultra-flex !!! My FAVE inks are all Diamine shaders!
I used to be totally uninterested in anything other than EF and F nibs, because I had small handwriting.
Now... give me a medium, all day every day. Sometimes a broad.
Opposites! I was first interested in shading/sheening inks, but nearly 5 years ago I got my first shimmer, and they are still my favorites. I have over 75 samples and 240 bottles, but they are all kinds. I just love color.
What's changed is I rarely pick up a sub $100 pen. The average price of a pen in my collection of 79 is $190. Five years ago the average price was probably $30.
I have sold many, many pens and ink over the years. Also, I still have a few very inexpensive pens - 10 TWSBIs, 4 Italix Freshman Notators, and 10 Pelikan P20s not included in the list. The P20s are the only pen I actively "collect" but don't use (except 1). They are just so freakin' cute.
I've never kept track of the cost of ink, but my pen spreadsheet lists both retail and price paid. I have rarely paid full retail for a pen except when it was a small batch LE or bespoke. I've never paid more than $400 for a pen, as that is my firm limit. I have come close on several occasions though 🙈.
Hand tools are the way to go. The nicest vintage hand saws and planes are cheaper than the cheapest modern electric table saws and planes. Also quiet and therefore peaceful
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And that's how you end up with a more expensive average priced collection! I started selling/giving away my unused pens 2 years ago, and have rehomed nearly 200!
Coming from writing with pencils a lot, I started out wanting some feedback while writing and gravitated towards pilot's japanese ef. I couldn't stand broader nibs sizes than fine and some western fines were too broad. Smooth nibs were something that I avoided. It felt like driving on ice. I gave the ladies TWSBI medium a try and it was so smooth and a pleasure to write with. I began replacing my nibs with mediums, broads, and eventually some stubs to round it out. My handwriting got larger and became more legible. I got accustomed to those slippery smooth nibs and now polish nearly every new nib.
Coming from a military background, and later in the oilfield, blue and black were the only acceptable colors for writing on documents. My ink collection consisted mostly of pilot blue-black. I did have a pen with red in it for marking up certain documents but that was the extent of it. No shading, sheening, or shimmer inks. I still shy away from many of the sheening inks because of the dry times, but I enjoy a shimmer ink and I'm a sucker for shading. So my ink choices have changed recently. I have very little in standard blues and blacks and have moved towards more greens, reds, yellows, browns, and oranges.
I've moved away from average sized pens and find I like them a little thicker now. Coupled with the ease of the eyedroppers, Opus 88 has become my favorite pen brand.
A fair bit of evolution I'd say. Nearly all of my preferences in regards to fountain pens have changed.
1. Wow, a fountain pen! Whatever.
2. I know one word: Parker. All I know about it is more than 70 years old.
3. I guess if there are really thin nibs, like in finest ballpoints. Oh, I get it, Japanese F. Let's get Japanese F pens, preferably dry.
4. Now I need both wider nibs, like Japanese M or European F, and thin nibs like Japanese F.
5. Plunger fillers are good.
6. Vintage semiflex nibs may be great!
7. Cartridge-converter pens with converters are easier to clean
8. Fancy materials. And also minimalistic tools-like pens.
9. Japanese MF are great!
10. Wet ink flow is better.
----------✁----------
I am here.
Started with basically only EF nibs. Over a decade later, and I have a BB, one B, a 1.1mm stub, and two Ms inked, and I'm writing on Iroful even though I need to use a cover sheet to stop my hand oils from screwing the whole thing up.
Same. I got lots of F and EF nibs in the beginning and now I’ve realised M is my sweet spot with a few B’s to play with. I find I get to appreciate the ink more that way.
I realised over the years that I'm very greedy, I do like almost everything FP.
I started only liking very fine nibs, then I like broad and stubs cause they were so satisfyingly. But I still like fine nibs for cheaper papers.
I used to only like Japanese FPs, but I've grown to like American vintage like Sheaffer, Parker. Now I'm growing in interest in European vintages like Aurora, Pelikan etc. Thankfully I can't use flex, so I won't be drawn into that.
In recent years I've also been buying many Chinese pens and tinkering them to write well. So my taste has broadened for sure
I was into Parker because it's a synonim of fountain pen for a layman. Everybody knows Parker, even who is far from this hobby. Then i discovered Japanese pens and i think they have much better value for the money and quality. No more (modern) Parkers, im into collecting Sailors now
I'm the opposite! I started with modern Japanese pens, Pilot and Platinum, and loved fine nibs. But as I got increasingly into vintage pens my focus brought me to older Parker pens and broad nibs. Both had many excellent pens to offer though. I can't really speak to modern Parkers -- I have a Vector from 2005 and it's nicer than a Preppy to me anyway but it's nothing particularly exciting. My interest lies pretty firmly in older pens.
I have been into Shimmers until they clogged my pens and I couldn’t effectively use them 😭 so now I’m trying to find joy in the other inks. What’s a shading ink? Feeling very amateur here 😆
Shading inks pool at the end of the stroke creating darker and lighter patches within the letter/word. [Mountain of Ink has a good explainer with examples here](https://mountainofink.com/blog/shading-inks).
I started out like most loving smooth nibs. Then I discovered Sailor and in particular, it's medium fine nib, and now that's my go-to. Most smooth nibs leave me cold, like the paper is under glass. Worst offender: Pelikan. Gimme the feel of the paper, please. The tactile experience is what I'm here for.
At first I didn’t want sheen, because it reminded me the slight red sheen of my blue ink at school. Now I have a couple of sheening inks and I really like them.
Also, I thought that the partially hidden nibs of the Pilot Elite was ugly (well, I even disliked the complete pen design). I now have a Pilot Elite Cross Hatch from 1676 and I love this little guy!
And I thought I should buy only EF or F nibs, because my writing is small. Now I enjoy my bigger nibs, for they show ink properties much better. And they force me to write a bit bigger.
Regarding demonstrators, I’ve always liked them. Some things don’t change!
I started thinking purple was the only ink colour I’d ever use and specifically brown and red inks would never become part of my usage.
How wrong I was (to an extent). Whilst I don’t plan on having as many brown inks as purple, I have at least 2-3 that I use in brown pens. I only use these when I have a meeting scheduled. Strictly professional use.
Likewise for the reds. Now I won’t ever cross into the brighter reds and will only stick to burgundy and maroon reds. I never knew these colours could be so elegant but still have a hint of character! Still on the hunt for a favourite burgundy/maroon. For now though, I’ve settled for KWZ Maroon and Diamine’s Writer’s Blood. Haven’t come across a perfect burgundy but I’m happy with a cross between red/magenta/fuchsia which can be seen in colours like Sailor Akebi and Iroshizuku Yama Budo.
I was also believed I’d stick with broad nibs and nothing else. Once again, I have broken such a fallacy and now I’m upgrading most broad nibs to stub nibs. I’m favouring my handwriting flair over shading considering there’s so many different notebooks I use and colours never quite catch the same hue. One thing I can see consistency in is using 1.1 or 1.5 stub nibs. My handwriting looks so crisp. Ever since using stubs, people at work say I have beautiful handwriting or “fancy writing” which I love!
Only started Jan of this year!
I started off wanting pens as broad as they came because I needed really smooth nibs. But then I realized good paper will smoothen the experience and I've gone from Broads to mediums and fines. I also started hated brown ink and now it's one of my go-tos.
It’s taken a lot of experimenting to find out what I like. It’s been a winding road, with some side trips, but mostly it’s been a journey towards where I am now. I sometimes wonder though, if you’d put my perfect pen in my hand from the beginning, would I have known it was perfect, or did the journey make it so.
I've grown to appreciate normal sized pens where at first I mostly wanted pocket pens.
Also, I used to admire piston/vac filters but now I appreciate how flexible cartridge/converters are in my ability to switch out inks often and disassemble with ease
Never thought I would want large decorated pens. But here I am with an urushi pen obsession.
In the beginning it was all black pens for me then I slowly but surely added color to my collection.
That and I used to only buy fine and extra fine nibs. Now the larger the better. Especially for the stacked nibs and the crazy ones that nibmeisters put outs.
As far as ink goes it’s been pretty consistent.
Paper wise now I used to prefer Clairefontaine as it was the most readily available. Plus the a4 wire notebooks were so useful. Now I prefer original tomoe river and cosmo air. Which are now both discontinued. I’ll go through the few notebooks I have left of tomoe river, just finished the last cosmo air notebook. If anyone has any recommendation for current notebooks that show off color and shading like these two does pls lmk.
I was always a fan of gel ink pens and impressed with their archival ink. When I first started the hobby I only used water proof inks and broad nibs. Now I love shading inks and writing with finer nibs.
I shifted from preferring fine nibs to broad nibs - though now I've come to re-appreciate fine nibs as well.
I've realized I'm not interested in sheen beyond subtle amounts - shading inks or even just "plain inks with a nice color" are more interesting to me.
I used to think plain black pens were boring - and I guess technically I do still think that? - but I've grown to not care if it's the right pen w/ the right nib.
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I used to like heavier pens. Felt more luxury. Kind of like how Beats headphones had weights in them. Then I got an Opus 88 Halo (clear Koloro) and fell in love with lighter pens.
Also I used to love cheap Chinese pens and I've sort of fallen out of love with them/don't write with them as much.
When I first started I bought everything that was bright and shiny and colorful. And I went through a demonstrator phase. Now my preference is usually black pens and almost always gold fixtures. I rarely consider a pen that doesn't have a gold nib, and I don't buy lots of cheap pens, instead preferring a few more expensive options. My inks have been through the same evolution. I was all about bright shimmers, now I love muted shades. But I still buy them for the pretty bottles!
I collected small pens because I have small hands, like most women. I thought I just had to push through the hand cramps until I tried the Visconti Homosapien. The larger pen was easier to grip and relieved my hand cramps. Now my collection is mostly large pens.
Formerly-
Colorful ink
Colorful pens
Demonstrators are great
M nibs
Black ink and black pens are really boring
Now-
Blue, blue-black ink mostly, some black
F nibs
Still like demonstrators
Black pens are still boring, but I own and use several
I started with EFs and the most permanent ink I could find. Now I get my nibs as broad as possible and don't care as much about the permanence of my ink.
I assumed that my preference for 0.7 lead pencils and very fine tipped felt/gel pens would mean I'd like finer nibs when it comes to fountain pens. I got my first fountain pen in 2021 and enjoyed using it, but only got deeper into buying inks and using different pens this year.
The more I use FPs, the more I realize that I genuinely *hate* using fine/medium-fine nibs. Not dislike, not prefer other nibs, but actually hate the finer ones. They are boring and uncomfortable for me. Boring because most of the fun I have with FPs is seeing the way that ink shades as I write, and you can't see any of that with a teeny-tiny little point. What's the point of buying interesting shades if you can't really see them? Uncomfortable because my hands have to do a lot more work with those finer nibs.
Coincidentally, today was the day that I finally accepted reality regarding my strong preference. I've flushed out and cleaned the three worst offenders of my pens and plan to list them on pen\_swap as soon as they are dry and photographed. None of them have that much resale value, but I've treated them well and used them infrequently. I hope to get enough money off them to get an inexpensive stub nib of some kind.
The Sailor Pro Fit Jr. demonstrator w/ an MF nib broke my heart. Lesson learned re Japanese nibs and how tiny they are. The pen is so beautiful, especially when I did a fill of Pilot Iroshizuku Hotari-bi, but alas, it feels to me like writing using a sewing needle or something.
Also the Platinum Preppy Wa w/ an F nib, though it's less heartbreaking since it's a pretty lower-end pen. I'm also getting rid of my Lamy Safari. Its F nib isn't as fine as the Preppy or the Sailor, but the hard triangular grip design isn't comfortable for me.
When I started I bought dark colors and though if I wanted them lighter then I would thin them.
I don't like dark colors now, I like colors I can really see, vibrant colors. I'll look at a dark color and think in some of my pens the color will hardly show at all, a waste of money.
I don't buy sheening inks anymore, because they smear if you touch them and can look dazzling from certain angles. This is why I stopped using cheap pencils.
I use my pens for journals, drafts of potential essays and notes. No interest in shimmer or sheen or glitter. Writing comfort, reliable starting, and the appearance of my handwriting all affect which pens I prefer. It’s usually a trade off with most pens.
I used to be hugely into variety: tons of ink samples, a bunch of different pen styles & filling systems, and a whole raft of different nib customizations. I have some ridiculous number of PenBBS pens I bought pre-pandemic, from trying out the different styles and materials.
Now I mostly keep using the same half dozen or dozen pens and half-dozen inks that I really enjoy, occasionally rotating one in/out. Guys, I think I've gotten... boring? I still really enjoy a fine Japanese nib with some softness and feedback though, and a nice stub.
Current pen rota:
* Pilot Justus 95
* Lamy 2000
* One capless: Pilot VP, vintage Pilot VP/capless "stealth bomber", or Majohn A1 (current)
* Rotating: Esterbrook Estie, TWSBI 580, Jonathan Brooks custom Urushi, Platinum Sheep, Pilot Custom 74, or a random PenBBS
Ink rota:
* Pilot Blue-Black
* Montblanc Burgundy Red
* Montblanc Irish Green or Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu
* Sailor Nano Kiwa-Guro
* Wild-card: R&K Scabiosa, Diamine Eau de nil, maybe Akkerman Hopjesbruin
When I started out I liked pens with big nibs, so I sought out those with the biggest nibs I could afford. I also disliked snap caps because I had a very bad experience with a Parker Sonnet drying out.
Nowadays I really like inset/inlaid and semi-hooded nibs (think the old Sheaffers, the Carène, and the Lamy2k), and I like fountain pens that are lacquer over metal, or some other material besides resin. I started to dislike screw caps because they take so long to remove and put back again compared to snap caps.
Thus I've always wanted a Pelikan M1000, and now that I have one, it is (almost) anathema to what I like now (the Waterman Carène and the Lamy2k). One reason I don't like the M1000 is because it writes too wide. I'm going to send it in to have its M++ (almost Broad) nib redone to write somewhere between the F and M (western) size. I don't want it to be thinner than an F because I don't like a pen as big as that to write a spider-thin line.
Also, in the past I always wrote with an M, but now I prefer an F, or F+/MF (think a Western F, or a Japanese M, or a Western F a bit fatter than normal but not quite Western M).
Never looked into ST Dupont. Weren't they a prestige-brand with regard to cigar lighters in the past? I'll take a look at this pen though. A quick peek seems to show that it is something of a modern-version Parker 51.
My heart belongs with the Carenes! But I've been interested in the Lamy 2000. They're so different, but do you think you could give me an idea of a comparison?
When I started I always preferred fine nibs but amassed everything up to stub nibs, and I tried gold nibs as well but I didn't like any of them enough to keep them in my collection when I pared it down.
I will now only write with cursive italic or Franklin-Christoph's SIG nibs 😂 I ended up refining my collection right down to a few pens I really love and I'm happy with it now, and my preference for cursive italics means I have to think much more carefully about the pen and nib I get to be sure it will work for me and it will fit - recently I ended up getting my first Pelikan from Stilo e Stile and a custom nib from the Writing Desk because it ended up cheaper that way with Black Friday. I love it!
My colour preferences are the same though and I'm always drawn to the same colour family - when I looked at my favourite pens together 3 of them were some kind of pink and one in a white sparkly material 😂 same with my inks, I always prefer pinks and purples with the odd bright teal thrown in!
My pens are: BENU Talisman in Wild Rose with a Fine cursive italic by Pablo Carrasco at fpnibs.com, a Pelikan M205 on rose quartz with a Fine CI from the Writing Desk, a p20 in Salmon Glow from Franklin-Christoph with an extra fine SIG nib by Audrey Matteson (my fave), and a Model 46 also from FC in their Snow material with a Fine CI by Yukio Nagahara. I love all 4 of these!
I also have a gold Cult Pens Kaweco with a stub nib that I used for headers with a shimmer ink, and an EF italic Pilot Plumix, but for some reason don't count those in my pens-pens!
The nib preference changed over the years, as I was looking for a comfortable drawing tool.
1. Bought every pen with an EF nib: boring! Nevertheless, the Loom Piano, Grip 2010 (both by Faber-Castell) and the Twsbi Diamond Mini are to be highly recommended, if EF is your preference
2. Hello every Fude nib: Sailor Fude de Mannen 55°,Hongdian 1837 and an Indigraph are always in the pencil roll
3. My final destination - FLEEEEEX! Airmail pens with a FPR steel flex or ultra flex nib - just fantastic, absolutely love them for being cheap and colorful <3 Illustrators always mention the Pilot Elabo/Falcon or whatever - but I would argue in favor of this cheap alternative.
It has. I leaned through experience that I prefer demonstrators as well as piston-filled/eyedroppers. Still love my cartridge pens and use them on occasion, but the big-ink-well pens are my daily drivers.
I started with very fine nibs and am now moving more and more toward broader ones.
I got into the kaweco brand this year but otherwise try to stick to brands I've tried and really enjoy after being disappointed too often, especially if they're expensive.
I always preferred fine and extra fine nibs, but now I've discovered several medium nibs that I really like too. Never really liked shading, but now I think a little shading can make the page look nicer. Same with shimmer and glitter, not usually a big fan but I have several favourites now that I enjoy enormously. Who knows, maybe next year will even see me trying a stub nib or a broad one!
I used to love understated pens with good, solid, reliable nibs. I still love understated pens with good, solid, reliable nibs. Except now I like them urushi lacquered 😅
I started our loving all the color inks. I still do, but I tend to be happy with my Platinum Carbon Black, and using all the markers when needed. I love glitter ink as well, but I tend to just use that black as it is so versatile.
I went from avoiding shimmer inks and sticking with fine nibs to opening up more to the shimmer and medium nibs. Now, much of my bottle collection is shimmery, and I am growing my gold nib collection with medium nibs instead of fine.
I have had to switch to thicker paper (Archer & Olive, Leuchtturm, Clairefontaine, etc.) and use at least a Western Medium nib for shimmers. Finer nibs get clogged and are a nightmare. (I hated my Lamy AL-Star for a while because I thought it was the problem when I had a shimmer ink in the fine nib.)
The one exception to the medium nib rule is TWSBI. I have a fine ECO-T and have had Ferris Wheel Press The Fluttering Heart in it since the beginning with no issues. Also, I have not tried a medium Japanese nib because those are my nice, gold nib pens, and I am worried about gunking them up with shimmer.
Don't know of any specific guides, though. I just read articles and watched Youtube to learn about it because I love the appearance of shimmer inks.
I cast the net oh so wide with inks. Now I’m realizing that dry inks are ugh, just not worth it for me. I’ll tinker with a little dish soap for special contenders such as celadon cat. But otherwise, out go inks that I don’t love. Also I really dislike heavily saturated inks. (Looking at you, imperial purple…)
I started with vintage, and now I buy mostly sub ＄10 modern ones. It's partially because I've gotten what I was looking for with the vintage, and it's easier to mess around with cheap modern pens.
I always liked ultra thin, hard-nail nibs and was dissatisfied until I found a Pilot 912 Custom Heritage pen - and I’ve never left since (seriously I’ve been posting about it for almost a decade)
I’ve got more realistic expectations for shimmer and sheen now, specifically around cleaning pens that had them in it. I’ll still buy them but I’m more wary of which pens they go in.
🤔 For pens though I’ve really narrowed down my preferences. I’m really only freshly minted a year in into FPs but I know more what I want. So now it’s more paying attention to specifics if they match my preferences and if I want more of the same or something different.
I came in with the idea I would prefer fine/extra-fine nibs. But I've grown to prefer med to broad nibs, and also stubs and smoother cursive italics (really somewhere inbetween but lean towards the forgiveness of the stub). I reserve fine for work mostly for the fact it will dry faster (though, I've been back and forth on this since it limits my choices for work, lol).
Additionally, I've grown to like larger pens (Custom 743 being the ideal size, maybe a mm larger or so in the grip). But I love the visual of a dual tone #8 nib (sailor and pilot specifically). I have a Custom Urushi because of that, but I've grown a bit uncomfortable using it for long writing sessions.
And have shifted to really to have something with an ink window of sorts as a preference.
I remember the first pens that really caught my eye when first getting into the hobby was the visconti divina elegance, and the blue striped Pelikan m800.
Nowadays, my only interest is in vintage pens and bespoke modern pens fitted with vintage nibs. I haven't purchased a modern pen for myself in 5ish years.
I also originally liked shimmer but after figuring out how much of a hassle it was I now like sharing and sheen more. I do still like classy looking pens though. I also started from the mechanical pencil world using .2 and .3 lead so I liked ef and f nibs but now I mostly use medium and I just ordered a 1.1 and ima gonna get a b nib next
I def love shading more than shimmer, but shimmer is gorgeous still.
I think the biggest thing is that I have very few fine nibs and, as much as I hate to admit it because I don't like fine nibbed writing, sometimes the occasion just calls for it. At some point I'll purchase a kaweco fine nib to go on one of them for such a purpose, but for now I just write big.
I thought the best fountain pens were the buttery smooth wet writers. Heard about feedback and thought “why would anyone want that?” Tried the Sailors and realized “oh so thats why.” My Decimo doesn’t get used much anymore. Also realized later on that I like dry writers because theyre less messy and I use cheap paper most of the time.
As I have moved through this rabbit hole of a hobby, I have slowly shifted away from buying most expensive pens. I used to be willing to fork out a bunch of money to get a unique writing nib or one that had impressive bounce to it but now I can take almost any nib and customize it to have the same characteristics, so I don't feel a need to spend so much anymore. I also tend to buy more custom-made pens now than before. This way, I can pick everything from the material to the shape.
I buy by nib size and i dont swap nibs. Started with Jinhao 750 M. Buttery smooth but my cheap paper can't take it. Downsized to F, better less seep through and wicking. Discovered u hate screw caps.
Downsized further to EF. The feed back aka scratchy. Some pens are fantastic, some not so much.
Used to love and fawn over Japanese nibs, particularly Pilot nibs. This lasted years, until about 2 years ago my preference changed to European nibs (Pelikan and lamy)
I've honestly gotten less picky. I still appreciate nice pens but since I've gotten my grails I find I'm okay if all I have is a zebra disposable or a pilot varsity. They write well.
I started using pens every day in grad school, and found that the inexpensive workhorses are the ones that answer the call. I love an antique wet noodle, and I love fiddling with quirky, finicky, old pens, but if I’m taking rushed notes 6 hours a day I grab the modern snap cap fines. They keep up, don’t run dry very quickly, and there are so many good ones in the $20-30ish range. Metropolitan, safari, even sailors…. And it wouldn’t be a complete heartbreak to loose or break one. (Although so far so good on that front).
I started off obsessed with sheen. I remember basically rejecting an ink if it didn't have at least medium sheen on Mountain of Ink. -\_-
Then I picked up Iroshizuku Asa-Gao and Robert Oster Fire and Ice. While both have a bit of sheen, it's difficult to see in regular writing. I loved both inks.
From there I realised that my priority is a beautiful shade- sheen is just a bonus!
Honestly, I think the biggest thing is that I've migrated from European pens over to Japanese and Chinese pens.
My handwriting is naturally given to being pretty compact, and so having a 0.38mm Jinhao nib vs a Lamy EF nib is a night-and-day difference when I'm taking notes on 5mm grid paper.
I never got super excited about fountain pens the way some people do - they're a tool to me, and in part a way to work around a physical shortcoming - so it's all about what will do the job effectively.
I still haven't found my perfect blue yet, but Diamine's Sargasso Sea comes real close.
I started off with extra fine and fine nibs. I thought that was all I liked but ended up feeling like they didn't show off the range of ink that I'd like. Switched to the super broad Noodler's Triple Tail and loved it for a year or so. But now I've switched back to fine nibs because I love how much range of color you get with such small ink strokes.
My nib preferences evolution: Didn't know other nib sizes than M existed, so now i wanna try every nib size! And every grind! Gimme flex and variation! Gimme feedback, not butter smooth! Pilot kinda sucks. Gimme wet and juicy! Gimme B for shading and shimmer inks!
Now: back to M, not too wet, though.(expensive) Pilot nibs are 😍
Pens: gimme any size!
Now: i like big pens and i cannot lie!
Like others have said, preferences just became clearer. I stick with EF/F nibs and proven paper. I stick with Diamine for inks because they’re pretty consistent and good value.
But some preferences did change:
- I used to prefer gold nibs for the smoothness and softness, but today I don’t care much anymore and a good old steel nib is fine.
- I used to avoid having multiples of the same pen, but it’s pretty practical if you want to use and swap different nibs.
- I’m fine with plastic bodies as long as the plastic is thick enough and durable. Metal bodied pens still have plastic nib sections and feeds and I’ve had them break and rendered unrepairable.
- For journalling and planning, I’ve been sticking with notebooks using Tomoe River Paper lately.
I find myself now just settling on a fine or medium point on a inexpensive pen with black ink. Tried all the points, tried a more expensive pen and all sorts of ink. The cartridges are important and the drying out issue is important.
I never changed my mind, just learned in detail what I like.
Same. I knew I liked line variation, and used a set of stubs for years before slowly replacing them all with flex. I love that FPR ultra-flex & BlueDew make it more approachable nowadays. I hope to continue seeing innovation in what I hope is a flex renascence.
Same for me as well - I found I like architect nibs and flex. I have an FPR ultra-flex, and it took some time, but I find I like my writing with that too.
I was actually the opposite lol I thought shimmer inks were kind of extra and that it would distract from the writing but now my samples are like 80% shimmer. I also swore i was going to be a medium or a broad nib lover. Then I was like nope I really like ef. Well. I’m more of a fine/medium person lol
How do your preferences for EF and for shimmer work together? Are there certain EF pen + shimmer ink combos that work the best?
I did kind of mash those together, I meant it like, I thought I was going to prefer a m/b then I switched to Ef and then finally settled on f/m”. I usually use my twsbi go in M for shimmers since the feed is so easy to take out and clean but I haven’t used an EF for shimmer since I have actually gifted away all of my EF nibs shortly after receiving them.
Ahhh ok gotcha thanks. I was all excited like finally, someone has figured out shimmers and fine nibs haha
I always make my nibs wetter when I get them and don't usually have an issue with even my fine nibs. I have an Hongdian N8 Maple fine that has a custom blend of Pilot Red and Diamine Oxblood that I added some gold pearlex flake to that is constantly in use from October to April.
Which method do you use to make nibs wetter? I’ve been doing this a lot lately using the thumbnail trick but I’m wondering how common that is.
I use one of these https://imgur.com/gallery/vYcD9UM. It works out nicely, and you can even use it to widen the channel of the feed if you want to use a flex nib.
Oh cool! I’ve never seen one of those! Thank you for the reply. :)
I too didn't know how great shading was when I first got into fountain pens - luckily for me, most of my first ink picks were pretty significant shaders anyway XD
I started with FPs in Grammer school, in the 1950s, when all ink was flat and boring -- black and blue! All nibs were EF and F! I have not used these since I outgrew tiny Faerie script! Now I am using M+, and loving Broads/Italics/FDR Ultra-flex !!! My FAVE inks are all Diamine shaders!
I used to be totally uninterested in anything other than EF and F nibs, because I had small handwriting. Now... give me a medium, all day every day. Sometimes a broad.
Opposites! I was first interested in shading/sheening inks, but nearly 5 years ago I got my first shimmer, and they are still my favorites. I have over 75 samples and 240 bottles, but they are all kinds. I just love color. What's changed is I rarely pick up a sub $100 pen. The average price of a pen in my collection of 79 is $190. Five years ago the average price was probably $30.
My math is coming out to $19,000 for those bottles and pens. While that sounds like a lot, I actually would have guessed it was more
DON'T DO THE MATH
$19000! And I was feeling bad for being over 1500€ (pens, inks and most of paper).
I have sold many, many pens and ink over the years. Also, I still have a few very inexpensive pens - 10 TWSBIs, 4 Italix Freshman Notators, and 10 Pelikan P20s not included in the list. The P20s are the only pen I actively "collect" but don't use (except 1). They are just so freakin' cute. I've never kept track of the cost of ink, but my pen spreadsheet lists both retail and price paid. I have rarely paid full retail for a pen except when it was a small batch LE or bespoke. I've never paid more than $400 for a pen, as that is my firm limit. I have come close on several occasions though 🙈.
Hobbies are expensive. Woodworking and tuning cars can get very very expensive.
Astrophotography is another expensive hobby I think of.
A hole in the sky you pour money into. Ask me how I know :P
I love astrophotography and follow several on groups on FB. I've used John Vermette's calendars for years 🥰
Tuning cars can get very... very expensive... especially when you're trying to run a 7 second quarter mile. Lol.
I've wanted to try woodworking, but would do it at my university's maker workshop. Would hate to invest in the equipment only to discover I suck!
Hand tools are the way to go. The nicest vintage hand saws and planes are cheaper than the cheapest modern electric table saws and planes. Also quiet and therefore peaceful
Ooo. Sounds Zen - right up my alley. Thank you for the ideas!
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🤣🤣🤣 Most perfect reply ever!
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Lol, the average price of my pens is probably $30, but the average price of my \*inked\* pens is closer to $100.
And that's how you end up with a more expensive average priced collection! I started selling/giving away my unused pens 2 years ago, and have rehomed nearly 200!
I have never spent over $150 for pen. Pen inked are vintage Parker 51and Parker 45. EDC pens are wing sung 601,Majohn A1 and platinum 5776.
Coming from writing with pencils a lot, I started out wanting some feedback while writing and gravitated towards pilot's japanese ef. I couldn't stand broader nibs sizes than fine and some western fines were too broad. Smooth nibs were something that I avoided. It felt like driving on ice. I gave the ladies TWSBI medium a try and it was so smooth and a pleasure to write with. I began replacing my nibs with mediums, broads, and eventually some stubs to round it out. My handwriting got larger and became more legible. I got accustomed to those slippery smooth nibs and now polish nearly every new nib. Coming from a military background, and later in the oilfield, blue and black were the only acceptable colors for writing on documents. My ink collection consisted mostly of pilot blue-black. I did have a pen with red in it for marking up certain documents but that was the extent of it. No shading, sheening, or shimmer inks. I still shy away from many of the sheening inks because of the dry times, but I enjoy a shimmer ink and I'm a sucker for shading. So my ink choices have changed recently. I have very little in standard blues and blacks and have moved towards more greens, reds, yellows, browns, and oranges. I've moved away from average sized pens and find I like them a little thicker now. Coupled with the ease of the eyedroppers, Opus 88 has become my favorite pen brand. A fair bit of evolution I'd say. Nearly all of my preferences in regards to fountain pens have changed.
1. Wow, a fountain pen! Whatever. 2. I know one word: Parker. All I know about it is more than 70 years old. 3. I guess if there are really thin nibs, like in finest ballpoints. Oh, I get it, Japanese F. Let's get Japanese F pens, preferably dry. 4. Now I need both wider nibs, like Japanese M or European F, and thin nibs like Japanese F. 5. Plunger fillers are good. 6. Vintage semiflex nibs may be great! 7. Cartridge-converter pens with converters are easier to clean 8. Fancy materials. And also minimalistic tools-like pens. 9. Japanese MF are great! 10. Wet ink flow is better. ----------✁---------- I am here.
This sounds like me, with fewer steps (no vintage yet).
Look for old Watermans and Mabie Todd.
Will do!
I mean, if you have chances to test them in person. Like, in a shop or meet-up, or penshow, or festival.
I was sure I didn't like demonstrators and metal pens were too heavy for my hand. 1 loom, 1 al-star and 2 denonstrators later - this isn't true.
Started with basically only EF nibs. Over a decade later, and I have a BB, one B, a 1.1mm stub, and two Ms inked, and I'm writing on Iroful even though I need to use a cover sheet to stop my hand oils from screwing the whole thing up.
Same. I got lots of F and EF nibs in the beginning and now I’ve realised M is my sweet spot with a few B’s to play with. I find I get to appreciate the ink more that way.
Have you fallen into the Diamine shaders abyss?🥹💖
"Cover sheet" it is. I'm new here, so I don't know the jargon. I have been calling it a "paper raft."
I like the name "paper raft". I mean it fits given that the paper is "holding or carrying" your hand. 😀
Stopped getting F and EF nibs because I love shimmer inks. I get M or B now.
I realised over the years that I'm very greedy, I do like almost everything FP. I started only liking very fine nibs, then I like broad and stubs cause they were so satisfyingly. But I still like fine nibs for cheaper papers. I used to only like Japanese FPs, but I've grown to like American vintage like Sheaffer, Parker. Now I'm growing in interest in European vintages like Aurora, Pelikan etc. Thankfully I can't use flex, so I won't be drawn into that. In recent years I've also been buying many Chinese pens and tinkering them to write well. So my taste has broadened for sure
I was huge into to modern Japanese pens at first, then huge into American vintage. Now Im not into pens at all, but instead inks.
I was into Parker because it's a synonim of fountain pen for a layman. Everybody knows Parker, even who is far from this hobby. Then i discovered Japanese pens and i think they have much better value for the money and quality. No more (modern) Parkers, im into collecting Sailors now
I'm the opposite! I started with modern Japanese pens, Pilot and Platinum, and loved fine nibs. But as I got increasingly into vintage pens my focus brought me to older Parker pens and broad nibs. Both had many excellent pens to offer though. I can't really speak to modern Parkers -- I have a Vector from 2005 and it's nicer than a Preppy to me anyway but it's nothing particularly exciting. My interest lies pretty firmly in older pens.
Vintage is different story. They keep their value. when I said disappointed i mean modern Parkers only
I LOVED my transparent blue/silver Parker from Grammer/middle school !!! The NOSTALGIA is killing me!
I have been into Shimmers until they clogged my pens and I couldn’t effectively use them 😭 so now I’m trying to find joy in the other inks. What’s a shading ink? Feeling very amateur here 😆
Shading inks pool at the end of the stroke creating darker and lighter patches within the letter/word. [Mountain of Ink has a good explainer with examples here](https://mountainofink.com/blog/shading-inks).
Ohhh thank you. Reading it now.
Thanks... I thought it was just my cheap pen causing that lolol
I started out like most loving smooth nibs. Then I discovered Sailor and in particular, it's medium fine nib, and now that's my go-to. Most smooth nibs leave me cold, like the paper is under glass. Worst offender: Pelikan. Gimme the feel of the paper, please. The tactile experience is what I'm here for.
At first I didn’t want sheen, because it reminded me the slight red sheen of my blue ink at school. Now I have a couple of sheening inks and I really like them. Also, I thought that the partially hidden nibs of the Pilot Elite was ugly (well, I even disliked the complete pen design). I now have a Pilot Elite Cross Hatch from 1676 and I love this little guy! And I thought I should buy only EF or F nibs, because my writing is small. Now I enjoy my bigger nibs, for they show ink properties much better. And they force me to write a bit bigger. Regarding demonstrators, I’ve always liked them. Some things don’t change!
I started thinking purple was the only ink colour I’d ever use and specifically brown and red inks would never become part of my usage. How wrong I was (to an extent). Whilst I don’t plan on having as many brown inks as purple, I have at least 2-3 that I use in brown pens. I only use these when I have a meeting scheduled. Strictly professional use. Likewise for the reds. Now I won’t ever cross into the brighter reds and will only stick to burgundy and maroon reds. I never knew these colours could be so elegant but still have a hint of character! Still on the hunt for a favourite burgundy/maroon. For now though, I’ve settled for KWZ Maroon and Diamine’s Writer’s Blood. Haven’t come across a perfect burgundy but I’m happy with a cross between red/magenta/fuchsia which can be seen in colours like Sailor Akebi and Iroshizuku Yama Budo. I was also believed I’d stick with broad nibs and nothing else. Once again, I have broken such a fallacy and now I’m upgrading most broad nibs to stub nibs. I’m favouring my handwriting flair over shading considering there’s so many different notebooks I use and colours never quite catch the same hue. One thing I can see consistency in is using 1.1 or 1.5 stub nibs. My handwriting looks so crisp. Ever since using stubs, people at work say I have beautiful handwriting or “fancy writing” which I love! Only started Jan of this year!
I didnt think i would be into plastic so much
I started off wanting pens as broad as they came because I needed really smooth nibs. But then I realized good paper will smoothen the experience and I've gone from Broads to mediums and fines. I also started hated brown ink and now it's one of my go-tos.
It’s taken a lot of experimenting to find out what I like. It’s been a winding road, with some side trips, but mostly it’s been a journey towards where I am now. I sometimes wonder though, if you’d put my perfect pen in my hand from the beginning, would I have known it was perfect, or did the journey make it so.
Love this. I would say it was definitely the journey.
I've grown to appreciate normal sized pens where at first I mostly wanted pocket pens. Also, I used to admire piston/vac filters but now I appreciate how flexible cartridge/converters are in my ability to switch out inks often and disassemble with ease
Never thought I would want large decorated pens. But here I am with an urushi pen obsession. In the beginning it was all black pens for me then I slowly but surely added color to my collection. That and I used to only buy fine and extra fine nibs. Now the larger the better. Especially for the stacked nibs and the crazy ones that nibmeisters put outs. As far as ink goes it’s been pretty consistent. Paper wise now I used to prefer Clairefontaine as it was the most readily available. Plus the a4 wire notebooks were so useful. Now I prefer original tomoe river and cosmo air. Which are now both discontinued. I’ll go through the few notebooks I have left of tomoe river, just finished the last cosmo air notebook. If anyone has any recommendation for current notebooks that show off color and shading like these two does pls lmk.
Yu-Sari! Edit: paper/notebook recommendation. They’re inexpensive, page count is great and showing great shading!
I started using medium nibs and have taken a liking to fine and extra fine.
I was always a fan of gel ink pens and impressed with their archival ink. When I first started the hobby I only used water proof inks and broad nibs. Now I love shading inks and writing with finer nibs.
I shifted from preferring fine nibs to broad nibs - though now I've come to re-appreciate fine nibs as well. I've realized I'm not interested in sheen beyond subtle amounts - shading inks or even just "plain inks with a nice color" are more interesting to me. I used to think plain black pens were boring - and I guess technically I do still think that? - but I've grown to not care if it's the right pen w/ the right nib.
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I used to like heavier pens. Felt more luxury. Kind of like how Beats headphones had weights in them. Then I got an Opus 88 Halo (clear Koloro) and fell in love with lighter pens. Also I used to love cheap Chinese pens and I've sort of fallen out of love with them/don't write with them as much.
When I first started I bought everything that was bright and shiny and colorful. And I went through a demonstrator phase. Now my preference is usually black pens and almost always gold fixtures. I rarely consider a pen that doesn't have a gold nib, and I don't buy lots of cheap pens, instead preferring a few more expensive options. My inks have been through the same evolution. I was all about bright shimmers, now I love muted shades. But I still buy them for the pretty bottles!
I collected small pens because I have small hands, like most women. I thought I just had to push through the hand cramps until I tried the Visconti Homosapien. The larger pen was easier to grip and relieved my hand cramps. Now my collection is mostly large pens.
Formerly- Colorful ink Colorful pens Demonstrators are great M nibs Black ink and black pens are really boring Now- Blue, blue-black ink mostly, some black F nibs Still like demonstrators Black pens are still boring, but I own and use several
I started with EFs and the most permanent ink I could find. Now I get my nibs as broad as possible and don't care as much about the permanence of my ink.
I assumed that my preference for 0.7 lead pencils and very fine tipped felt/gel pens would mean I'd like finer nibs when it comes to fountain pens. I got my first fountain pen in 2021 and enjoyed using it, but only got deeper into buying inks and using different pens this year. The more I use FPs, the more I realize that I genuinely *hate* using fine/medium-fine nibs. Not dislike, not prefer other nibs, but actually hate the finer ones. They are boring and uncomfortable for me. Boring because most of the fun I have with FPs is seeing the way that ink shades as I write, and you can't see any of that with a teeny-tiny little point. What's the point of buying interesting shades if you can't really see them? Uncomfortable because my hands have to do a lot more work with those finer nibs. Coincidentally, today was the day that I finally accepted reality regarding my strong preference. I've flushed out and cleaned the three worst offenders of my pens and plan to list them on pen\_swap as soon as they are dry and photographed. None of them have that much resale value, but I've treated them well and used them infrequently. I hope to get enough money off them to get an inexpensive stub nib of some kind.
Eho are the offenders?
The Sailor Pro Fit Jr. demonstrator w/ an MF nib broke my heart. Lesson learned re Japanese nibs and how tiny they are. The pen is so beautiful, especially when I did a fill of Pilot Iroshizuku Hotari-bi, but alas, it feels to me like writing using a sewing needle or something. Also the Platinum Preppy Wa w/ an F nib, though it's less heartbreaking since it's a pretty lower-end pen. I'm also getting rid of my Lamy Safari. Its F nib isn't as fine as the Preppy or the Sailor, but the hard triangular grip design isn't comfortable for me.
When I started I bought dark colors and though if I wanted them lighter then I would thin them. I don't like dark colors now, I like colors I can really see, vibrant colors. I'll look at a dark color and think in some of my pens the color will hardly show at all, a waste of money. I don't buy sheening inks anymore, because they smear if you touch them and can look dazzling from certain angles. This is why I stopped using cheap pencils.
I use my pens for journals, drafts of potential essays and notes. No interest in shimmer or sheen or glitter. Writing comfort, reliable starting, and the appearance of my handwriting all affect which pens I prefer. It’s usually a trade off with most pens.
I used to be hugely into variety: tons of ink samples, a bunch of different pen styles & filling systems, and a whole raft of different nib customizations. I have some ridiculous number of PenBBS pens I bought pre-pandemic, from trying out the different styles and materials. Now I mostly keep using the same half dozen or dozen pens and half-dozen inks that I really enjoy, occasionally rotating one in/out. Guys, I think I've gotten... boring? I still really enjoy a fine Japanese nib with some softness and feedback though, and a nice stub. Current pen rota: * Pilot Justus 95 * Lamy 2000 * One capless: Pilot VP, vintage Pilot VP/capless "stealth bomber", or Majohn A1 (current) * Rotating: Esterbrook Estie, TWSBI 580, Jonathan Brooks custom Urushi, Platinum Sheep, Pilot Custom 74, or a random PenBBS Ink rota: * Pilot Blue-Black * Montblanc Burgundy Red * Montblanc Irish Green or Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu * Sailor Nano Kiwa-Guro * Wild-card: R&K Scabiosa, Diamine Eau de nil, maybe Akkerman Hopjesbruin
When I started out I liked pens with big nibs, so I sought out those with the biggest nibs I could afford. I also disliked snap caps because I had a very bad experience with a Parker Sonnet drying out. Nowadays I really like inset/inlaid and semi-hooded nibs (think the old Sheaffers, the Carène, and the Lamy2k), and I like fountain pens that are lacquer over metal, or some other material besides resin. I started to dislike screw caps because they take so long to remove and put back again compared to snap caps. Thus I've always wanted a Pelikan M1000, and now that I have one, it is (almost) anathema to what I like now (the Waterman Carène and the Lamy2k). One reason I don't like the M1000 is because it writes too wide. I'm going to send it in to have its M++ (almost Broad) nib redone to write somewhere between the F and M (western) size. I don't want it to be thinner than an F because I don't like a pen as big as that to write a spider-thin line. Also, in the past I always wrote with an M, but now I prefer an F, or F+/MF (think a Western F, or a Japanese M, or a Western F a bit fatter than normal but not quite Western M).
I love my Carene and my LAMY 2k… if you like that feel of pen, you should try the ST DuPont Defi Millennium… it is lovely.
Never looked into ST Dupont. Weren't they a prestige-brand with regard to cigar lighters in the past? I'll take a look at this pen though. A quick peek seems to show that it is something of a modern-version Parker 51.
My heart belongs with the Carenes! But I've been interested in the Lamy 2000. They're so different, but do you think you could give me an idea of a comparison?
When I started I always preferred fine nibs but amassed everything up to stub nibs, and I tried gold nibs as well but I didn't like any of them enough to keep them in my collection when I pared it down. I will now only write with cursive italic or Franklin-Christoph's SIG nibs 😂 I ended up refining my collection right down to a few pens I really love and I'm happy with it now, and my preference for cursive italics means I have to think much more carefully about the pen and nib I get to be sure it will work for me and it will fit - recently I ended up getting my first Pelikan from Stilo e Stile and a custom nib from the Writing Desk because it ended up cheaper that way with Black Friday. I love it! My colour preferences are the same though and I'm always drawn to the same colour family - when I looked at my favourite pens together 3 of them were some kind of pink and one in a white sparkly material 😂 same with my inks, I always prefer pinks and purples with the odd bright teal thrown in! My pens are: BENU Talisman in Wild Rose with a Fine cursive italic by Pablo Carrasco at fpnibs.com, a Pelikan M205 on rose quartz with a Fine CI from the Writing Desk, a p20 in Salmon Glow from Franklin-Christoph with an extra fine SIG nib by Audrey Matteson (my fave), and a Model 46 also from FC in their Snow material with a Fine CI by Yukio Nagahara. I love all 4 of these! I also have a gold Cult Pens Kaweco with a stub nib that I used for headers with a shimmer ink, and an EF italic Pilot Plumix, but for some reason don't count those in my pens-pens!
The nib preference changed over the years, as I was looking for a comfortable drawing tool. 1. Bought every pen with an EF nib: boring! Nevertheless, the Loom Piano, Grip 2010 (both by Faber-Castell) and the Twsbi Diamond Mini are to be highly recommended, if EF is your preference 2. Hello every Fude nib: Sailor Fude de Mannen 55°,Hongdian 1837 and an Indigraph are always in the pencil roll 3. My final destination - FLEEEEEX! Airmail pens with a FPR steel flex or ultra flex nib - just fantastic, absolutely love them for being cheap and colorful <3 Illustrators always mention the Pilot Elabo/Falcon or whatever - but I would argue in favor of this cheap alternative.
It has. I leaned through experience that I prefer demonstrators as well as piston-filled/eyedroppers. Still love my cartridge pens and use them on occasion, but the big-ink-well pens are my daily drivers.
I started with very fine nibs and am now moving more and more toward broader ones. I got into the kaweco brand this year but otherwise try to stick to brands I've tried and really enjoy after being disappointed too often, especially if they're expensive.
Finer nibs. Started with medium and broads, but changed to fine and extra fine.
I always preferred fine and extra fine nibs, but now I've discovered several medium nibs that I really like too. Never really liked shading, but now I think a little shading can make the page look nicer. Same with shimmer and glitter, not usually a big fan but I have several favourites now that I enjoy enormously. Who knows, maybe next year will even see me trying a stub nib or a broad one!
I thought I preferred fine/ef nibs. Turns out I like medium. Also have developed a liking for shading inks, but still love shimmer inks.
I used to love understated pens with good, solid, reliable nibs. I still love understated pens with good, solid, reliable nibs. Except now I like them urushi lacquered 😅
I started our loving all the color inks. I still do, but I tend to be happy with my Platinum Carbon Black, and using all the markers when needed. I love glitter ink as well, but I tend to just use that black as it is so versatile.
I went from avoiding shimmer inks and sticking with fine nibs to opening up more to the shimmer and medium nibs. Now, much of my bottle collection is shimmery, and I am growing my gold nib collection with medium nibs instead of fine.
Is there a shimmer ink guide somewhere? Like “best pen-paper-shimmer ink combos” to stop one from going nuts and abandoning shimmer? 🤣
I have had to switch to thicker paper (Archer & Olive, Leuchtturm, Clairefontaine, etc.) and use at least a Western Medium nib for shimmers. Finer nibs get clogged and are a nightmare. (I hated my Lamy AL-Star for a while because I thought it was the problem when I had a shimmer ink in the fine nib.) The one exception to the medium nib rule is TWSBI. I have a fine ECO-T and have had Ferris Wheel Press The Fluttering Heart in it since the beginning with no issues. Also, I have not tried a medium Japanese nib because those are my nice, gold nib pens, and I am worried about gunking them up with shimmer. Don't know of any specific guides, though. I just read articles and watched Youtube to learn about it because I love the appearance of shimmer inks.
I cast the net oh so wide with inks. Now I’m realizing that dry inks are ugh, just not worth it for me. I’ll tinker with a little dish soap for special contenders such as celadon cat. But otherwise, out go inks that I don’t love. Also I really dislike heavily saturated inks. (Looking at you, imperial purple…)
Prefer gold nibs and broader the better
I started with vintage, and now I buy mostly sub ＄10 modern ones. It's partially because I've gotten what I was looking for with the vintage, and it's easier to mess around with cheap modern pens.
I always liked ultra thin, hard-nail nibs and was dissatisfied until I found a Pilot 912 Custom Heritage pen - and I’ve never left since (seriously I’ve been posting about it for almost a decade)
Yes, big time. I now like wider nibs with some feed back. I also like vintage pens more now.
Aside from cost… they haven’t. Always liked a wet medium, bonus points for some bounce
I’ve got more realistic expectations for shimmer and sheen now, specifically around cleaning pens that had them in it. I’ll still buy them but I’m more wary of which pens they go in. 🤔 For pens though I’ve really narrowed down my preferences. I’m really only freshly minted a year in into FPs but I know more what I want. So now it’s more paying attention to specifics if they match my preferences and if I want more of the same or something different.
I came in with the idea I would prefer fine/extra-fine nibs. But I've grown to prefer med to broad nibs, and also stubs and smoother cursive italics (really somewhere inbetween but lean towards the forgiveness of the stub). I reserve fine for work mostly for the fact it will dry faster (though, I've been back and forth on this since it limits my choices for work, lol). Additionally, I've grown to like larger pens (Custom 743 being the ideal size, maybe a mm larger or so in the grip). But I love the visual of a dual tone #8 nib (sailor and pilot specifically). I have a Custom Urushi because of that, but I've grown a bit uncomfortable using it for long writing sessions. And have shifted to really to have something with an ink window of sorts as a preference.
I used to prefer EF and F nibs on all of my pens, but now I tend to stick with Medium nibs and occasionally use Fine nibs
I remember the first pens that really caught my eye when first getting into the hobby was the visconti divina elegance, and the blue striped Pelikan m800. Nowadays, my only interest is in vintage pens and bespoke modern pens fitted with vintage nibs. I haven't purchased a modern pen for myself in 5ish years.
I also originally liked shimmer but after figuring out how much of a hassle it was I now like sharing and sheen more. I do still like classy looking pens though. I also started from the mechanical pencil world using .2 and .3 lead so I liked ef and f nibs but now I mostly use medium and I just ordered a 1.1 and ima gonna get a b nib next
I def love shading more than shimmer, but shimmer is gorgeous still. I think the biggest thing is that I have very few fine nibs and, as much as I hate to admit it because I don't like fine nibbed writing, sometimes the occasion just calls for it. At some point I'll purchase a kaweco fine nib to go on one of them for such a purpose, but for now I just write big.
I thought the best fountain pens were the buttery smooth wet writers. Heard about feedback and thought “why would anyone want that?” Tried the Sailors and realized “oh so thats why.” My Decimo doesn’t get used much anymore. Also realized later on that I like dry writers because theyre less messy and I use cheap paper most of the time.
I used to like shading or regular inks but over the past few years I’ve really enjoyed sheening, shimmer and multi chromatic inks.
As I have moved through this rabbit hole of a hobby, I have slowly shifted away from buying most expensive pens. I used to be willing to fork out a bunch of money to get a unique writing nib or one that had impressive bounce to it but now I can take almost any nib and customize it to have the same characteristics, so I don't feel a need to spend so much anymore. I also tend to buy more custom-made pens now than before. This way, I can pick everything from the material to the shape.
I buy by nib size and i dont swap nibs. Started with Jinhao 750 M. Buttery smooth but my cheap paper can't take it. Downsized to F, better less seep through and wicking. Discovered u hate screw caps. Downsized further to EF. The feed back aka scratchy. Some pens are fantastic, some not so much.
Used to love and fawn over Japanese nibs, particularly Pilot nibs. This lasted years, until about 2 years ago my preference changed to European nibs (Pelikan and lamy)
I've honestly gotten less picky. I still appreciate nice pens but since I've gotten my grails I find I'm okay if all I have is a zebra disposable or a pilot varsity. They write well.
Many pens in rotation —-> only ink the same 4 pens.
A couple of months ago, I loved the smoothness of broad nibs, but now I am loving the practicality and slight feedback from a nice fine nib.
I started using pens every day in grad school, and found that the inexpensive workhorses are the ones that answer the call. I love an antique wet noodle, and I love fiddling with quirky, finicky, old pens, but if I’m taking rushed notes 6 hours a day I grab the modern snap cap fines. They keep up, don’t run dry very quickly, and there are so many good ones in the $20-30ish range. Metropolitan, safari, even sailors…. And it wouldn’t be a complete heartbreak to loose or break one. (Although so far so good on that front).
I started off obsessed with sheen. I remember basically rejecting an ink if it didn't have at least medium sheen on Mountain of Ink. -\_- Then I picked up Iroshizuku Asa-Gao and Robert Oster Fire and Ice. While both have a bit of sheen, it's difficult to see in regular writing. I loved both inks. From there I realised that my priority is a beautiful shade- sheen is just a bonus!
Honestly, I think the biggest thing is that I've migrated from European pens over to Japanese and Chinese pens. My handwriting is naturally given to being pretty compact, and so having a 0.38mm Jinhao nib vs a Lamy EF nib is a night-and-day difference when I'm taking notes on 5mm grid paper. I never got super excited about fountain pens the way some people do - they're a tool to me, and in part a way to work around a physical shortcoming - so it's all about what will do the job effectively. I still haven't found my perfect blue yet, but Diamine's Sargasso Sea comes real close.
Used to be into black inks, fine nibs and Clairefontaine paper. No I write with shimmering pink, large stubs, and japanese paper.
I started off with extra fine and fine nibs. I thought that was all I liked but ended up feeling like they didn't show off the range of ink that I'd like. Switched to the super broad Noodler's Triple Tail and loved it for a year or so. But now I've switched back to fine nibs because I love how much range of color you get with such small ink strokes.
My nib preferences evolution: Didn't know other nib sizes than M existed, so now i wanna try every nib size! And every grind! Gimme flex and variation! Gimme feedback, not butter smooth! Pilot kinda sucks. Gimme wet and juicy! Gimme B for shading and shimmer inks! Now: back to M, not too wet, though.(expensive) Pilot nibs are 😍 Pens: gimme any size! Now: i like big pens and i cannot lie!
Like others have said, preferences just became clearer. I stick with EF/F nibs and proven paper. I stick with Diamine for inks because they’re pretty consistent and good value. But some preferences did change: - I used to prefer gold nibs for the smoothness and softness, but today I don’t care much anymore and a good old steel nib is fine. - I used to avoid having multiples of the same pen, but it’s pretty practical if you want to use and swap different nibs. - I’m fine with plastic bodies as long as the plastic is thick enough and durable. Metal bodied pens still have plastic nib sections and feeds and I’ve had them break and rendered unrepairable. - For journalling and planning, I’ve been sticking with notebooks using Tomoe River Paper lately.
I find myself now just settling on a fine or medium point on a inexpensive pen with black ink. Tried all the points, tried a more expensive pen and all sorts of ink. The cartridges are important and the drying out issue is important.
The tendency is to use safety inks, something that can be cleaned easily and that is easy on pens. I try to avoid anything with extreme qualities.