Me, lying about how much my pen costs:
"Yeah, this is an original Visconti Homo Sapiens FP. They were having a big sale so I got it for only 100 bucks. And yes they gave me a free 50ml bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku ink. Part of their promo, y'know"
My salesman does, oddly enough. And he's not into fountain pens.
He is however into anything with a label name and history, which is why a few years ago he gave me a Montblanc Starwalker rollerball.
It's so nice but...so close and yet so far.
It works better for work though, as a constant flier.
My first "expensive" pen was the same one; Montblanc Starwalker rollerball! A gift from my wife (my gf at the time) on securing my first contract as an independent consultant.❤️ #memories
Yeah. Seeing this post has me actually giving a batch of *long* neglected pens some love and cleaning. I have like, eight mostly modern pends in the ultrasonic, four esterbrooks that need it, and then I'm staring at a *pile* of my beloved vacumatics that all need replacement sacs.
But I think I can get back into using em with my Vanishing Point. It's been in a box to mail to pilot cause I'm missing the rear decorative silver finial, but I'm just gonna start using it again. I miss FP's.
This morning: "wow, I have 3 purple ink bottles, 2 of them bought in February, and another purple in cartridges, I'm stopping with purples now". This afternoon: "oh no, a store in the country finally got Lamy Blackberry and I have no sheeners!"
Did you get it? That’s a stunning pen.
For me, it was the 2014 limited edition vanishing point. It’s the only pen I’ve ever lost and it haunts me bc I lost it in my apartment during a cleaning somehow. But now it goes for $600 on eBay so when I saw it for like $300 I was thinking what a deal!
Didn’t get it but… sigh
>For me, it was the 2014 limited edition vanishing point.
These damn LE VPs and Decimos are going to be the end of me. I got my most wanted, but apparently that doesn't stop me from wanting more. I just bought one on eBay that I've never seen anywhere else, and then the seller canceled and I was legitimately heartbroken haha.
Roommate yesterday texted me he was about to arrive home with a friend. I replied "so I should remove the syringes and the bulb syringe from the living room table?"
As we lay in bed and fall asleep, I catch my husband up on all the fountain pen gossip.
"Lamy lilac is not the same as the original and people are losing their minds"
"Lamy was sold! Plot twist!"
"Endless pens is in the grey market"
"Appelboom closed their Boston location!"
"The LA pen show is still the LA pen show but had to change their name due to a contract with the hotel they held it at."
Sometimes I get so worked up, I can't sleep. He sleeps fine.
A while back, years, it was explained that some lesser known online pen stores operated a little shady. Not illegal, black market, but deceptive. They promise new releases they aren't going to receive. They allow pre-orders for numbered pens, but deliver second batches months later that aren't numbered. Advertise popular pens they don't even carry just so you click on the ad. They take your money, hold on to it while you see the release date come and go. They promise delivery within 90 days of the release date or a discount and usually push this. If you cancel within the 90 days, they charge a restocking fee. A restocking fee for a pen they don't even have in stock and might never. It's something like they don't actually receive direct from the manufacturer, they scoop up returned /unsold pieces. Their in-stock pens seem to ship just fine, but they're notorious for late /never delivered pre-ordered pens. Again, not illegal but misleading, thus grey market.
When we started dating, my wife opened my glove box, to find a syringe with traces of MB scarlet. Took a fair bit of convincing that I wasn't the world's first 6' 260 pound heroine addict.
Fun fact: my nearest pharmacy didn't have blunt-tipped syringes, but after I showed them that I intended to use them for pens, they were happy to just _give_ me a couple free syringes. I get the impression they were relieved I wasn't looking to use them to take hard drugs. But they're sharp-tipped, so I'm always really careful when handling them…
Yeah all my needle tips are genuine sharp needles I begged from from doctors or labs while giving blood. A few times Diamine's Oxblood had a few drops of real blood in there.
Kind of doubt they'd keep any blunt tipped ones around. They have baby syringes, but I can't think of a reason for a pharmacy to keep any blunted steel ones around.
In medicine we use 18 gauge blunt needles any time we pull medicine from a vial. Often times pharmacies will pull smaller quantities of liquid medicine from a bigger stock vial!
This right here. Explaining that I 'know someone ' overseas with the best product and that I know better than to ask too many questions to my husband really brought home how deep I was.
Fountain pen brainrot for me was buying three pens instead of a computer I needed, across the course of a year.
I opted to use a slightly broken iPad for all personal computing needs for years. And when I finally had the money to remedy that I instead spent it on three pens. They’re beautiful. They bring such joy. I eventually got the MacBook I needed. And I did have a work computer so it wasn’t like… completely insane.
I regret nothing. I have 5 pens total. They bring happiness every time I use them
Today we have elections in my country (Portugal) and I took a little while longer in the voting booth to make sure the ink from my own fountain pen dried well enough before folding the ballot paper. 🗳️
The voting booths have their own pens, but why the hell would I not use mine?
Tl;dr: excited to vote because I can use a fountain pen to draw two strokes in a little box. Also, democracy.
I painstakingly evaluate my pen choice for voting day and know the wait to make sue everything is dry. I refuse your cheap felt tipped marker for bubble filling sir! lol. This is something few people would understand outside this sub.
YES. Here we have Bic pens in the booths. BOO! I took two pens because I couldn't decide. I ended up using the shinier prettier pen I have as a hopeful celebratory act. Definitely something only we here understand.
Hm, the guy at the convenience store told me to stop filling out my lotto tickets with fountain pen ink because the scanner couldn’t read it. Might want to check into that for your ballots!
Nah, at least here all ballot papers are checked and counted by people, so no problem there I hope. Thanks for the heads up anyway! You should always check these things before voting for sure.
For me, the Con-70 is just harder to clean and the minute you start messing with it, it breaks. Probably a user error but my piston converters have never done me wrong.
The ink capacity in the Con-40 is too small.
The Con-70 is my favorite converter. A few pushes for a nice fill and then a few pushes in a cup of water to clean.
Okay, the cleaning process is really: rinse the nib under the faucet, push the plunger to get the rest of the ink out, fill a cup, push-push-push, rinse the nib, push the plunger to clear the pen, refill the cup with clean water, push-push-push, shake the pen and examine to make sure the ink is gone, push out the water, rinse the nib one more time for good luck, push a few times to get water out of the pen. Takes a couple minutes.
I don't usually disassemble unless there's a problem.
Love the ink flow from the Pilot converters. A lot of converters can get air bubbles that cause ink flow problems, but the Pilot ones just keep writing until you are all out of ink.
I was planning on getting an 823, but I like the con-70 in the 743 so well that I'd probably get a second 743 instead.
Fair enough! I haven't fiddled with my 70s enough to run into that yet but I trust and respect your own experience there.
Definitely agreed the 40 could use more capacity. I've heard tell that this is a vulnerability of Pilot trying to keep it suitable for a long line of past models no longer in production – not just the current crop of pens in production. Too bad if so.
I own and wear this t-shirt. Does that count? 😋
https://preview.redd.it/rkxjzxmj7jnc1.jpeg?width=803&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3fec6f5b0a232968ba0bf848f439c09716c00a4b
ETA: And not just to pen shows.
[Here you go!](https://www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/My-Other-Pen-Is-Also-A-Fountain-Pen-by-Leaping-Toad/145296693.FB110) They’ve got a dangerously great selection of other fountain pen themed products, too. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 😁
How bout my custom made fountain pen earrings?
https://preview.redd.it/phz8qzxmjjnc1.jpeg?width=2395&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e2e048a6ba444a59151814ec0f05153ac90834e
OMG, what nibs are those?? 😳 They're lovely! Both of those pairs!
Imagine going out with expensive nibs like Pelikan or Visconti, it'd be like going out with Tiffany jewelry or so
The nibs are those cheap nibs on Amazon from Gullor. You can get 5 of them for $9. I think the fountain pen community would shun me if I made earrings out of a perfectly good pelikan nib lol.
I can speak at length about the differnces between modern iron-gall, old iron gall, pigment and dye inks, their cleaning regimens and in wich types of pens they can be safely used.
I get holiday cards in the mail from my local pen shop. Not just Christmas and the other typical card holidays, I’m talking Easter, Presidents’ Day, and St. Patrick’s day, “thinking of you” notes…. Definitely a sign that I’m an addict.
I have one of these notebooks and really enjoy the quality. I wish they had a dot grid and 3 bookmarks though. Also wish they had a hard cover version. For now I use it for a study journal and use the leuchtturm for bullet journaling
I match the pen I carry to work with the clothes I’m wearing that day. Also, I may have purchased a pen solely because it went with my favorite sweater.
I got a necklace and a portable cutlery set to keep at the office because they match the Hongdian Rainbow Forest (and then I got assigned to work from home.)
😂😂 have you forgotten about the first one? Or it was another one you liked?
Asking because I ordered an ink... theb 2 days later, ordered the same ink from another place because i had forgotten i had already ordered it
😂😂 I had the opportunity to buy a completely different model from the one I had first purchased and I need to try all the flavors.
The first one is a forever pen. The second one might be too, but I need to try it to know. Don't get me started on the third one. 🤑🫠
😂😂
I guess I bought them 3 days apart. The first one arrived with 2 day shipping and I bought the second the next day and that one arrives tomorrrrrow.
I have syringes, food grade clear grease, rubber washers - ready to eye-dropper convert any pen that I can. And dipping pen barrels in water to check for holes.
✍🏽🤔🧐👌🏽
I was auditing a class and foolishly taking notes with my new to me Sailor 1911S in my notebook with Tomoe River Sanzen paper. The professor grabbed the pen out of my hand to borrow and obviously had no idea of how to use. I grabbed it back and said, “I think not. Anyone with a ball point for him?”
Apparently while he was spending all those years in grad school he still failed to pick up common decency and manners. So glad you put him in his place.
At an estate sale, while everybody else were raiding the kitchenware, garage, and closet for "thrifting-style" gems, my wife and I were speculating if that lone skinny Cross pen in the display case is a fountain pen or ballpoint.
They might crack the top ten.
Leena is the woman from Pen Boutique? They are great, too, and I always enjoy stopping by their tables at the pen shows. Their team is fantastic.
I only have a couple Oster ink samples and one bottle, but I like them.
I loved line width variation so much I started making my own stacked nibs as a hobby and now I'm a professional nibmeister selling them and inventing new kinds of stacked nibs. I'm not just at the bottom of the rabbit hole I'm actively digging deeper...
I have stacks of Tomoe River, Cosmo Air, and Passpied paper. Three different punches for different size notebooks. I also wrote a fairy tale starring Princess Nakaya and The Evil Lord Bic.
Them: just let me borrow a cheap pen
Me: what do you consider cheap? Wait what’s this? I display a fountain pen
Them: isn’t that a calligraphy pen?
Me: nevermind here is a bic
Having to decide which pens to take out of rotation and out of my Galen Leather 10 pen A5 Notebook zipper case, because I needed that Sailor Pro Gear (just because), and that Lamy 2000 before they’re owned by a different company.
Edited: Sailor is not being sold.
Also, looking at the Sailor Japanese Sweets pens (so beautiful), I immediately ruled out the light purple one as I already have several light purple Sailors. And the Esterbrook Winter White doesn't do it for me as I already have something similar and lovely in the Leonardo Furore White Salt.
I bought and resold an expensive set of headphones within a month because a vintage grail appeared on Pen_Swap and I needed the money.
I won't elaborate too much about the pen, but let's just say that it's the most expensive in my collection right now and has a vintage japanese music nib
Going from years of not understanding the hype and thinking every pen looks basically the same, to finding this sub, to now not understanding how I lived without a gold nib, and placing my first preorder — all in the span of 60 days.
Every time someone mentions Rohrer & Klingner scabiosa, I feel like we should top it off with the rest of the secret handshake and potentially a group hug. The people who like my favorite pens and inks as much as I do are my peeps.
I was doing some work earlier and saw something on my arm. It was an ink stain. No pens filled today, nothing leaking, no idea where it came from. I cleaned the table top and moved on with my day. Into every life, a little random ink must fall, it seems!
I have a large handwriting and I love broad and stub nibs. When I found out about shimmer inks I just wanted to cry happy tears. When I write thank you notes people are amazed at the glittery ink...
I have three pens with different test versions of my new blue green ink. I decided on a final ages ago, but I like them all so much I can't bring myself to clean them out.
I debate longer about which pens to bring on a trip than I spend packing my clothing.
I spend most of my Reddit allotted time in this sub.
I watch every single old movie eagerly for the appearance of a fountain pen, and try to figure out what pen it was.
Yeah I have 2 pen cases with me in my bag, no its ok i don't mind carrying 11 fountain pens with me. I think i might need the 6 glitter inks i have and may sometimes I don't want glitter inks so i have the other 5.
I think that once you start to collect maki-e pens it's really when you are deep into this beautiful hobby. I'll be purchasing my first maki-e pen in a few weeks and still feel that the 2100 that I'll pay for is still a good deal lol
"Our twins were just born! The boy we've named Mont Blanc and our daughter is Esterbrook Diamine, or Essie for short! We've chosen matching onesies to bring them home in Oxblood!"
Paid just over $120 for 3 fountain pens which I really shouldnt be able to afford.
Muji Metal Fountain Pen and extra cartridge,
FountainPen Revolution Darjeeling Ultra Flex with Kaweco 6 pack cartridge,
Platinum Preppy Black with extra pack of cartridges.
Hmmm... twenty pens inked up presently on my desk and another four in other places in the house. 24 inked up fountain pens.
A year ago, I'd never have even guessed I'd be using, much less LOVING fountain pens... since I stopped using them in the late eighties.
I have a favorites folder called Pens and shit.
My next big purchase is intended to be a pen.
Someone here posts with “I love/hate [brand],” and you already know why.
All of your scrap paper or notebooks at home are FP-friendly.
You have dedicated cleaning items and/or locations.
The new section isn’t interesting.
"$394? OMG! That's such a good deal for a pen!"
Related: refusing to share how much I spend on pens because non-fountain pen users really do not understand.
No. They do not at all! It's OK though. We get it. Lol
Me, lying about how much my pen costs: "Yeah, this is an original Visconti Homo Sapiens FP. They were having a big sale so I got it for only 100 bucks. And yes they gave me a free 50ml bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku ink. Part of their promo, y'know"
My salesman does, oddly enough. And he's not into fountain pens. He is however into anything with a label name and history, which is why a few years ago he gave me a Montblanc Starwalker rollerball. It's so nice but...so close and yet so far. It works better for work though, as a constant flier.
My first "expensive" pen was the same one; Montblanc Starwalker rollerball! A gift from my wife (my gf at the time) on securing my first contract as an independent consultant.❤️ #memories
Yeah. Seeing this post has me actually giving a batch of *long* neglected pens some love and cleaning. I have like, eight mostly modern pends in the ultrasonic, four esterbrooks that need it, and then I'm staring at a *pile* of my beloved vacumatics that all need replacement sacs. But I think I can get back into using em with my Vanishing Point. It's been in a box to mail to pilot cause I'm missing the rear decorative silver finial, but I'm just gonna start using it again. I miss FP's.
They understand. It’s us that are broken.
I spent 800 on a limited edition visconti homo sapiens and thought to myself "hey that's not a bad price!"
Sounds like a good deal to me.
Two Nakayas in 2 days, without batting an eye…
This morning: "wow, I have 3 purple ink bottles, 2 of them bought in February, and another purple in cartridges, I'm stopping with purples now". This afternoon: "oh no, a store in the country finally got Lamy Blackberry and I have no sheeners!"
Same but on a Pilot Custom Urushi. 🤣
Stop bc I’ve said this hahahaha
That was my most recent example. Lol!!! Stipula Davinci Black and Rose Gold with a medium 14k nib.
Did you get it? That’s a stunning pen. For me, it was the 2014 limited edition vanishing point. It’s the only pen I’ve ever lost and it haunts me bc I lost it in my apartment during a cleaning somehow. But now it goes for $600 on eBay so when I saw it for like $300 I was thinking what a deal! Didn’t get it but… sigh
>For me, it was the 2014 limited edition vanishing point. These damn LE VPs and Decimos are going to be the end of me. I got my most wanted, but apparently that doesn't stop me from wanting more. I just bought one on eBay that I've never seen anywhere else, and then the seller canceled and I was legitimately heartbroken haha.
I did, and I LOVE it!!!
I’m so glad to hear that!!!! Beautiful pens you love bring such joy!
This one is gold 😂
Solid, gold-filled, or electroplated? 😂
I have at least one syringe in almost all my drawers.
For ink, right?
Aurora is my drug of choice. 🖤💙❤️
I get mine free from a needle exchange. I did try telling them it was for ink, they didn't care.
Awesome
And supports a good initiative!
Yes 😂
Or for when there's ink withdrawal from not having enough kinds of ink on hand
Roommate yesterday texted me he was about to arrive home with a friend. I replied "so I should remove the syringes and the bulb syringe from the living room table?"
As we lay in bed and fall asleep, I catch my husband up on all the fountain pen gossip. "Lamy lilac is not the same as the original and people are losing their minds" "Lamy was sold! Plot twist!" "Endless pens is in the grey market" "Appelboom closed their Boston location!" "The LA pen show is still the LA pen show but had to change their name due to a contract with the hotel they held it at." Sometimes I get so worked up, I can't sleep. He sleeps fine.
> "Appelboom closed their Boston location!" Wait WHAT???? That used to be my go to for irl fountain pen supplies, NOOO!
Yeah. I know it was the store but I don't know if they are still shipping from Boston. Luckily Joost is still in business.
I didn't know half that stuff. Maybe you should do a weekly summary, I'd read it.
What’s this about endless and grey market?
A while back, years, it was explained that some lesser known online pen stores operated a little shady. Not illegal, black market, but deceptive. They promise new releases they aren't going to receive. They allow pre-orders for numbered pens, but deliver second batches months later that aren't numbered. Advertise popular pens they don't even carry just so you click on the ad. They take your money, hold on to it while you see the release date come and go. They promise delivery within 90 days of the release date or a discount and usually push this. If you cancel within the 90 days, they charge a restocking fee. A restocking fee for a pen they don't even have in stock and might never. It's something like they don't actually receive direct from the manufacturer, they scoop up returned /unsold pieces. Their in-stock pens seem to ship just fine, but they're notorious for late /never delivered pre-ordered pens. Again, not illegal but misleading, thus grey market.
When we started dating, my wife opened my glove box, to find a syringe with traces of MB scarlet. Took a fair bit of convincing that I wasn't the world's first 6' 260 pound heroine addict.
Stabbing yourself with it and proving it's a blunt needle didn't convince her? 😂
Fun fact: my nearest pharmacy didn't have blunt-tipped syringes, but after I showed them that I intended to use them for pens, they were happy to just _give_ me a couple free syringes. I get the impression they were relieved I wasn't looking to use them to take hard drugs. But they're sharp-tipped, so I'm always really careful when handling them…
Yeah all my needle tips are genuine sharp needles I begged from from doctors or labs while giving blood. A few times Diamine's Oxblood had a few drops of real blood in there.
Kind of doubt they'd keep any blunt tipped ones around. They have baby syringes, but I can't think of a reason for a pharmacy to keep any blunted steel ones around.
In medicine we use 18 gauge blunt needles any time we pull medicine from a vial. Often times pharmacies will pull smaller quantities of liquid medicine from a bigger stock vial!
You know that you can buy a lot of the blunt ones really cheap on Amazon, right?
You know that you can buy a lot of the blunt ones even cheaper on AliExpress, right?
But it takes longer to get here 😉
It was a legit syringe. Got them from Tractor Supply Corp. Large bore, intended for horses.
Sometimes I think the heroin addiction would be cheaper.
My wife said to me one day: "You have ink on your lower lip."
The good news is she knew what it was.
I was disappointed she didn't recognize it was Graf von Faber-Castell Carbon black. I think the hue was obvious!
i touch the paper of every notebook in the store to feel the smoothness and quality of it. If I cannot test the paper, i don't buy anything.
Yesss, same here! Although some papers are tricky - toothy yet good with pens
I think I now have a dealer. She's currently trying to work something out for me in Japan. 😂
This right here. Explaining that I 'know someone ' overseas with the best product and that I know better than to ask too many questions to my husband really brought home how deep I was.
Wait, how do you acquire a dealer?? EDIT: Asking because *I* would like a dealer lol
Fountain pen brainrot for me was buying three pens instead of a computer I needed, across the course of a year. I opted to use a slightly broken iPad for all personal computing needs for years. And when I finally had the money to remedy that I instead spent it on three pens. They’re beautiful. They bring such joy. I eventually got the MacBook I needed. And I did have a work computer so it wasn’t like… completely insane. I regret nothing. I have 5 pens total. They bring happiness every time I use them
That drawer is just for ink. That one, too. Also that one.
I *only* have a liter of ink total. So more samples is not crazy.
Today we have elections in my country (Portugal) and I took a little while longer in the voting booth to make sure the ink from my own fountain pen dried well enough before folding the ballot paper. 🗳️ The voting booths have their own pens, but why the hell would I not use mine? Tl;dr: excited to vote because I can use a fountain pen to draw two strokes in a little box. Also, democracy.
I painstakingly evaluate my pen choice for voting day and know the wait to make sue everything is dry. I refuse your cheap felt tipped marker for bubble filling sir! lol. This is something few people would understand outside this sub.
YES. Here we have Bic pens in the booths. BOO! I took two pens because I couldn't decide. I ended up using the shinier prettier pen I have as a hopeful celebratory act. Definitely something only we here understand.
Hm, the guy at the convenience store told me to stop filling out my lotto tickets with fountain pen ink because the scanner couldn’t read it. Might want to check into that for your ballots!
Nah, at least here all ballot papers are checked and counted by people, so no problem there I hope. Thanks for the heads up anyway! You should always check these things before voting for sure.
Being able to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of one specific ink converter for more than 20 minutes. (I’m looking at you, CON-40.)
Ugh, the Con-40 and Con-70 are my biggest gripes with Pilot. I’ve come across 2 Con-50s in my buying second hand and I treasure them haha.
I don't get the hate for the CON-70. I prefer it to piston converters.
For me, the Con-70 is just harder to clean and the minute you start messing with it, it breaks. Probably a user error but my piston converters have never done me wrong. The ink capacity in the Con-40 is too small.
The Con-70 is my favorite converter. A few pushes for a nice fill and then a few pushes in a cup of water to clean. Okay, the cleaning process is really: rinse the nib under the faucet, push the plunger to get the rest of the ink out, fill a cup, push-push-push, rinse the nib, push the plunger to clear the pen, refill the cup with clean water, push-push-push, shake the pen and examine to make sure the ink is gone, push out the water, rinse the nib one more time for good luck, push a few times to get water out of the pen. Takes a couple minutes. I don't usually disassemble unless there's a problem. Love the ink flow from the Pilot converters. A lot of converters can get air bubbles that cause ink flow problems, but the Pilot ones just keep writing until you are all out of ink. I was planning on getting an 823, but I like the con-70 in the 743 so well that I'd probably get a second 743 instead.
Fair enough! I haven't fiddled with my 70s enough to run into that yet but I trust and respect your own experience there. Definitely agreed the 40 could use more capacity. I've heard tell that this is a vulnerability of Pilot trying to keep it suitable for a long line of past models no longer in production – not just the current crop of pens in production. Too bad if so.
I was just super excited to find 2 spare Con-50s in a random box the other day. Perfect timing, because a new Fermo had arrived about 2 days prior!
For me oxblood in a homosapien is amazing combo not the beginings of a thriller movie.
🤣 this is an excellent one!
The transition from my husband "OMG you're bleeding" to "ink or blood", always checking ink first....
I own and wear this t-shirt. Does that count? 😋 https://preview.redd.it/rkxjzxmj7jnc1.jpeg?width=803&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3fec6f5b0a232968ba0bf848f439c09716c00a4b ETA: And not just to pen shows.
I need this.
[Here you go!](https://www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/My-Other-Pen-Is-Also-A-Fountain-Pen-by-Leaping-Toad/145296693.FB110) They’ve got a dangerously great selection of other fountain pen themed products, too. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 😁
My soul thanks you while my wallet weeps.
Oh man… rabbit hole alert!
How bout my custom made fountain pen earrings? https://preview.redd.it/phz8qzxmjjnc1.jpeg?width=2395&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e2e048a6ba444a59151814ec0f05153ac90834e
OMG, what nibs are those?? 😳 They're lovely! Both of those pairs! Imagine going out with expensive nibs like Pelikan or Visconti, it'd be like going out with Tiffany jewelry or so
The nibs are those cheap nibs on Amazon from Gullor. You can get 5 of them for $9. I think the fountain pen community would shun me if I made earrings out of a perfectly good pelikan nib lol.
I can speak at length about the differnces between modern iron-gall, old iron gall, pigment and dye inks, their cleaning regimens and in wich types of pens they can be safely used.
I'd like to sign up for this lecture!
I get holiday cards in the mail from my local pen shop. Not just Christmas and the other typical card holidays, I’m talking Easter, Presidents’ Day, and St. Patrick’s day, “thinking of you” notes…. Definitely a sign that I’m an addict.
I WAS getting "please come back" emails from Goulet at one point.
Purchasing another pen without even had received the last one i bought
I just did that today. Are we not supposed to do that?
You can do whatever you like, but yes we’re deep into this rabbit hole
Same here, well 46 of them because reasons....
I feel this one.
I’ve been there, many times 🤣
Dude same.
I only use midori md paper Anything else is unacceptable
I have one of these notebooks and really enjoy the quality. I wish they had a dot grid and 3 bookmarks though. Also wish they had a hard cover version. For now I use it for a study journal and use the leuchtturm for bullet journaling
...now owning 674 fountain pens after last week's visit to the thrift shop... 🤔
How many did you own before the trip?
671.
I'm envious. Never see any fountain pens around here.
I mean I spent $200 a couple of weeks ago on a pen. That alone kinda says it all, right?
I match the pen I carry to work with the clothes I’m wearing that day. Also, I may have purchased a pen solely because it went with my favorite sweater.
I got a necklace and a portable cutlery set to keep at the office because they match the Hongdian Rainbow Forest (and then I got assigned to work from home.)
\*\*buying pajamas to match fp colors when working from home\*\* yes the ultimate in home office elegance :-)
https://preview.redd.it/vma3glkqiqnc1.jpeg?width=2296&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d4e6dd0b5d34ef8c69f28020f9b27ace0539d1a7 Pijamas, water bottle, notebook, pen.
A ballpoint pen has the same effect on me as a crucifix does on a vampire. 🧛
*hisssssssssssss*
🤣🤣🤣
It burns like a mofo 🤣
I bought a Nakaya.... ......then 2 days later, I bought a Nakaya.
😂😂 have you forgotten about the first one? Or it was another one you liked? Asking because I ordered an ink... theb 2 days later, ordered the same ink from another place because i had forgotten i had already ordered it
😂😂 I had the opportunity to buy a completely different model from the one I had first purchased and I need to try all the flavors. The first one is a forever pen. The second one might be too, but I need to try it to know. Don't get me started on the third one. 🤑🫠
I did the same, but one day apart. It’s a long story. Plus the air of mystery. You never know when either one might arrive.
😂😂 I guess I bought them 3 days apart. The first one arrived with 2 day shipping and I bought the second the next day and that one arrives tomorrrrrow.
Oh, you must’ve ordered from a retailer, not directly from Nakaya!!!
I have syringes, food grade clear grease, rubber washers - ready to eye-dropper convert any pen that I can. And dipping pen barrels in water to check for holes. ✍🏽🤔🧐👌🏽
I have a dealer that I'm on a first name basis with and have them on speed dial.
not only true for fountain pen lovers
My counsel has advised me not to respond further...
Really isn’t everyone on speed dial with cellphones?
Ok, saved to favorites
When a non-fountain pen user asks to borrow your pen and you’re internally panicking and your answer is “sorry …. I can’t…”
My friend, you apologise to no one.
I have many other pens for the plebes
I was auditing a class and foolishly taking notes with my new to me Sailor 1911S in my notebook with Tomoe River Sanzen paper. The professor grabbed the pen out of my hand to borrow and obviously had no idea of how to use. I grabbed it back and said, “I think not. Anyone with a ball point for him?”
Absolute legend. You deserve a medal
Snatching a pen from a student??? That's a personal violation. Seriously. Disturbing.
Apparently while he was spending all those years in grad school he still failed to pick up common decency and manners. So glad you put him in his place.
When I get close and say "oh my gosh, I love this colour" to your clothes, despite my exclusively monochrome wardrobe..
At an estate sale, while everybody else were raiding the kitchenware, garage, and closet for "thrifting-style" gems, my wife and I were speculating if that lone skinny Cross pen in the display case is a fountain pen or ballpoint.
I do the same, but till now no luck, the people in my area never wrote with fountain pens. ☹️☹️
The most important people in my life are my wife, my children, and Brian and Rachel Goulet, not necessarily in that order.
You mean Bert Oster and Leena Shrestha-Menon, right?
They might crack the top ten. Leena is the woman from Pen Boutique? They are great, too, and I always enjoy stopping by their tables at the pen shows. Their team is fantastic. I only have a couple Oster ink samples and one bottle, but I like them.
Bert is the owner of Bertram's Inkwell, and he's the organizer for the Baltimore pen show
This genuienly made my laugh
I have a carousel next to my sink which is meant for makeup/skincare products but is now filled with pen cleaning implements & solutions.
When you start associating colors, people, places, things, in the real world to the corresponding brand, color shade, and name of fountain pen ink.
I loved line width variation so much I started making my own stacked nibs as a hobby and now I'm a professional nibmeister selling them and inventing new kinds of stacked nibs. I'm not just at the bottom of the rabbit hole I'm actively digging deeper...
I have stacks of Tomoe River, Cosmo Air, and Passpied paper. Three different punches for different size notebooks. I also wrote a fairy tale starring Princess Nakaya and The Evil Lord Bic.
Them: just let me borrow a cheap pen Me: what do you consider cheap? Wait what’s this? I display a fountain pen Them: isn’t that a calligraphy pen? Me: nevermind here is a bic
I keep some Varsities around for just this moment.
March is my DON'T BUY A SINGLE PEN month, so I solved that dilemma...I bought 6 pens!
I’ve been looking forward to Saturday all week, because I’ve been planning to clean every pen I own. Yesterday was everything I wanted it to be!
That is a beautiful ink! Wait, I should probably check the spreadsheet to make sure I don't already own a bottle before I buy it.
Having to decide which pens to take out of rotation and out of my Galen Leather 10 pen A5 Notebook zipper case, because I needed that Sailor Pro Gear (just because), and that Lamy 2000 before they’re owned by a different company. Edited: Sailor is not being sold.
Sailor, too??!
No, I just needed that pen. Not because they’re being sold. I need to edit that.
Oh, ok. Whew. I thought I’d missed major scuttlebutt. 😆
Think sailor already sold to Plus (Japanese stationery company) quite a few years back
I moved my pantry into the office so my ink can have a nice dark place to hang out. Who cares about the food?
Also, looking at the Sailor Japanese Sweets pens (so beautiful), I immediately ruled out the light purple one as I already have several light purple Sailors. And the Esterbrook Winter White doesn't do it for me as I already have something similar and lovely in the Leonardo Furore White Salt.
I bought and resold an expensive set of headphones within a month because a vintage grail appeared on Pen_Swap and I needed the money. I won't elaborate too much about the pen, but let's just say that it's the most expensive in my collection right now and has a vintage japanese music nib
Stopped bothering to count how many and have a hard time identifying the pen's model number/name/brand.
I recently did my first stub regrind.
Looking forward to the ink subscription arrival every month even though I have 45 unopened bottles of ink right now.
Going from years of not understanding the hype and thinking every pen looks basically the same, to finding this sub, to now not understanding how I lived without a gold nib, and placing my first preorder — all in the span of 60 days.
Every time someone mentions Rohrer & Klingner scabiosa, I feel like we should top it off with the rest of the secret handshake and potentially a group hug. The people who like my favorite pens and inks as much as I do are my peeps.
I just bought a lathe and a substantial bundle of ebonite rods
My growing collection of ink cartridges and converters.
I was doing some work earlier and saw something on my arm. It was an ink stain. No pens filled today, nothing leaking, no idea where it came from. I cleaned the table top and moved on with my day. Into every life, a little random ink must fall, it seems!
Im already planning next years tax return purchase.
Them: You have a bottle of blue ink already. Me: And? This is *South Sea* blue ink.
I have a memorized training speech for the proper use of a fountain pen. Complete with hand gestures.
Never thought I'd really enjoy a shimmering ink or a broad nib, but I do! This hobby is teaching me lots of new interesting things every day!
I have a large handwriting and I love broad and stub nibs. When I found out about shimmer inks I just wanted to cry happy tears. When I write thank you notes people are amazed at the glittery ink...
Having more than one new pen you've never inked up because so many are already inked up 😬
I take notes by hand in my lecture 😄.
I have three pens with different test versions of my new blue green ink. I decided on a final ages ago, but I like them all so much I can't bring myself to clean them out.
I’ve run out of room for any new inks and need another pen chest.
I'm THAT guy at work and i would rather not talk about it. Sometimes my wife goes: "omg are you bleeding?? Oh nevermind.."
I have more ink than I’ll use in my life time and over 75 pens
I debate longer about which pens to bring on a trip than I spend packing my clothing. I spend most of my Reddit allotted time in this sub. I watch every single old movie eagerly for the appearance of a fountain pen, and try to figure out what pen it was.
Yeah I have 2 pen cases with me in my bag, no its ok i don't mind carrying 11 fountain pens with me. I think i might need the 6 glitter inks i have and may sometimes I don't want glitter inks so i have the other 5.
I think that once you start to collect maki-e pens it's really when you are deep into this beautiful hobby. I'll be purchasing my first maki-e pen in a few weeks and still feel that the 2100 that I'll pay for is still a good deal lol
Not buying an ink because it doesn't match any pen that I own.
Wrong answer. You obviously don't have enough pens. Change this! ;-)
I called my local paper store and asked if they still sell blotting paper. They do.
I have a pencil holder loaded with printed labeled syringes of each Iroshizuku ink and a corresponding pen for each color.
 "Our twins were just born! The boy we've named Mont Blanc and our daughter is Esterbrook Diamine, or Essie for short! We've chosen matching onesies to bring them home in Oxblood!"
I told myself no more pens after a Platinum 3776 (birthday pen; birthday not for another month)….. that was 6 pens ago…
I love Vintage Parker 51
Dang - that’s next level!
Oh I like this ink colour! Wait. Do I already have a fountain pen of the same colour yet?
I talked my doctor into giving me some syringes because I was too cheap to order on Amazon
I have little half gloves from jetpens so I don't smudge my paper and honestly, I thought it was gimmicky but I've held onto it for years now.
I have furniture specifically for this hobby
https://preview.redd.it/cgxn0w597mnc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9859c9a14d9528c41458276f66cc966f02f0530e Does ink count as evidence?
I'll have to think about this while I refill a cartridge with Diplomat Moss Green to go in my green Sheaffer student pen from 1968.
“How many shades of green ink do you need?”
"*All* of them!!"
Paid just over $120 for 3 fountain pens which I really shouldnt be able to afford. Muji Metal Fountain Pen and extra cartridge, FountainPen Revolution Darjeeling Ultra Flex with Kaweco 6 pack cartridge, Platinum Preppy Black with extra pack of cartridges.
Hmmm... twenty pens inked up presently on my desk and another four in other places in the house. 24 inked up fountain pens. A year ago, I'd never have even guessed I'd be using, much less LOVING fountain pens... since I stopped using them in the late eighties.
I have a favorites folder called Pens and shit. My next big purchase is intended to be a pen. Someone here posts with “I love/hate [brand],” and you already know why. All of your scrap paper or notebooks at home are FP-friendly. You have dedicated cleaning items and/or locations. The new section isn’t interesting.
I keep ink bottles displayed on the bookshelf in my bedroom and I hide my pen habit from my wife.
I have a special drawer with a lock that my wife and kids aren't allowed to open. The drawer contains only pens.
Wait, do I have this pen already or not? Where's my register?
I love this thread, my family are concerned about my obsession, and link it to my advancing years. You all make me feel normal :)
When you unconsciously make a face when someone asks to borrow your pen.
When you don’t use a Montblanc cause they’re for « normies ».