Any Fountain Pen Writers?

[Kasimir he/him]

1 minute ago, Morningtide said:

No, not really. I was going to do some research before I bought it. Any recommendations?

What's your budget, and what sort of calligraphy do you do?

[Morningtide she/her]

1 minute ago, Kasimir said:

What's your budget, and what sort of calligraphy do you do?

Under 50$, preferably good quality for low price. I don't do anything specific, mostly fancy looking words surrounded by whatever frame I felt like doodling at the moment. 

[Kasimir he/him]

6 hours ago, Morningtide said:

Under 50$, preferably good quality for low price. I don't do anything specific, mostly fancy looking words surrounded by whatever frame I felt like doodling at the moment. 

Essentially, you want to be looking at pens like the Pilot Parallel, which aren't exactly fountain pens but are good for that purpose. Italic nibs and stub nibs are good for line variation—a Pilot 78G+ Broad nib would fall within your range and is cheap. Ditto for a TWSBI Eco 1.1mm Stub. Italic nibs are sharper and stubs more forgiving.

If you feel fancier, PenBBS now sells calligraphy nibs to be mounted on their pens. Each calligraphy nib has different properties so that needs more research than I can give you at this hour. Very value-for-money.

The one thing I want to caution you against is getting a flex nib pen. A number of sites sell modified Jinhaos with a Zebra flex nib (dip pen) at a 3x to 5x markup. You don't need that. At your price point, if you want a flex nib, you are better off looking at the steel flex nibs from Kanwrite—Noodlers has some good and affordable flex pens too but their nibs sometimes seem to require a gym membership so caveat emptor.

Edited March 6, 2022 by Kasimir

[Morningtide she/her]

15 hours ago, Kasimir said:

 

Thank you! That helps a lot

[noahenholm]

Brause Rose is my favourite nib. I'm just getting started with calligraphy, and these nibs are definitely a step up than the ones that came with the basic kit I purchased. It provides me with much finer control and more constant ink flow. Because the nibs are both flexible and forgiving, they are suitable with flexible calligraphy pens. 

[AquaRegia he/him]

Fountain pen question: is there any reason not to mix inks?  I'm thinking about custom-mixing a blue and a green ink from the same manufacturer.

[Kasimir he/him]

7 minutes ago, AquaRegia said:

Fountain pen question: is there any reason not to mix inks?  I'm thinking about custom-mixing a blue and a green ink from the same manufacturer.

May not interact well in your pen and may cause a disaster, e.g. gumming up your feed, especially if 'same manufacturer' is Noodlers. Standard advice if mixing is to let it sit in a sample vial for a week and then test it in a sacrificial pen. I have a Jinhao specifically for that purpose.

[AquaRegia he/him]

Unfortunately I only have the one pen so far.  The ink in question is Waterman.

Sounds like your advice would be to just buy their blue-green ink, rather than experiment?

[Kasimir he/him]

20 minutes ago, AquaRegia said:

Unfortunately I only have the one pen so far.  The ink in question is Waterman.

Sounds like your advice would be to just buy their blue-green ink, rather than experiment?

Not a big deal - Waterman inks tend to be less of a problem. I'd say do the sample vial thing, and then check it out after a week. If there's gunk, it's a no. If it looks fine (check with a stirrer/toothpick), then you should be good - ink up and have at it!

Noodlers' is the big one. Just as a statement of fact, Tardiff also warns some of his inks mix poorly so that one needs especial caution. Waterman tends to be gold standard so it should be okay, just let it sit for a week or at least a day or two to make sure there's no gunk.

[AquaRegia he/him]

I chickened out and just bought a bottle of Waterman Mysterious Blue.  But I also ordered a pen as a birthday present for my wife, so I'm sure we'll use up the Serenity Blue.  It's a bit too purple for my taste, and becomes noticeably more purple when dry.

[Cyclops]

I think I mentioned before that I wasn't as taken with the TWSBI Go as I thought I'd be.  Too much feedback for my liking.  So I have it to one of my congregants.  He really likes it.  So there's one fountain pen "convert," If you'll pardon the pun.  And I may have another one soon.  One of the ladies at church overheard us talking one Sunday after service, and said she'd like to try the FP experience to see if she might like it.  So I'm going to give, or at least loan, her my Pilot Varsity in .3 nib.

I bought a Pilot Kakuno in F nib, and I like it alright.  I kinda wish I had gone for the EF nib, but it'll do as is.  I also bought a bottle of Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher.  Looks good.  I'll be getting the other two "Bad" inks I don't have yet, Blue Heron and Green Gator.

As far as full-time writers are concerned, I keep gravitating back to my Metropolitans.  I have the Gray Houndstooth and Silver Python, both in F nib, so I have only 14 more styles to get.  May as well get one if each, right?  Several pens will most likely be re-homed.  I just don't really use them.

I read one time that author Joe Hill likes the Metropolitans, so I'll be in good company.

Okay, that's enough.

Edited March 19, 2022 by Cyclops

[Kasimir he/him]

7 hours ago, Cyclops said:

I read one time that author Joe Hill likes the Metropolitans, so I'll be in good company.

The Metropolitans are really good - I'm glad you found your favourite utility pen!

Pelikan M205s are where it's at for me. No matter what, I keep going back to them so I completely get it.

Good on you for spreading the fountain pen love!  

[Kasimir he/him]

Picked up a TWSBI Swipe just to test it out, and was surprised how much I enjoyed it

The spring-loaded converter system is fun to play around with, and I'm enjoying the Broad nib. Picked one up in Salmon as a fun reference to a Sanderson Elimination game I played at the beginning of this year  

Picture not mine as my phone camera isn't working right now but:

Spoiler

 

[Cyclops]

I think the next TWSBI I look into will be the Eco.  In EF, preferably. 

[Kasimir he/him]

14 minutes ago, Cyclops said:

I think the next TWSBI I look into will be the Eco.  In EF, preferably. 

The Eco is very good - reliable piston filler. You might definitely prefer EF, though they run to Western rather than Japanese sizing (this one you knew already I expect, given you have a TWSBI Go...)

[Cyclops]

1 hour ago, Kasimir said:

The Eco is very good - reliable piston filler. You might definitely prefer EF, though they run to Western rather than Japanese sizing (this one you knew already I expect, given you have a TWSBI Go...)

I HAD a Go.  I gave it to one of the men in my congregation.  It had too much feedback for my liking.  But he seems to like it just fine.

[AquaRegia he/him]

Here is my review of Waterman Mysterious Blue:  I like it, but it's not perfect.  It's not as green as I'd like, and it seems to "age" in the pen and become darker and purpler with time.  Here's some photos contrasting Waterman Serenity Blue (above) and Mysterious Blue (below).  The Mysterious is a deep teal blue when freshly refilled, but within days it writes a noticeably different color.

On the bright side, it is MUCH more smudge-resistant than the Serenity.

[Cyclops]

30 minutes ago, AquaRegia said:

Here is my review of Waterman Mysterious Blue:  I like it, but it's not perfect.  It's not as green as I'd like, and it seems to "age" in the pen and become darker and purpler with time.  Here's some photos contrasting Waterman Serenity Blue (above) and Mysterious Blue (below).  The Mysterious is a deep teal blue when freshly refilled, but within days it writes a noticeably different color.

On the bright side, it is MUCH more smudge-resistant than the Serenity.

My Diamine Wild Strawberry does that.  Not quite that fast, but it does turn a darker red that looks like congealed blood when it dries.  It's a nice bright red at first, and that's why I chose it for edits on sermons and manuscripts.

[Cyclops]

NPD/NID

Platinum Preppy in .2 EF nib, blue/black with extra carts of black and blue/black.  Early last year I had bought a 5-pc sampler from JetPens, and a Preppy in .3 F nib was one of them.  I like a Japanese Fine okay, but I much prefer the EF because I write so small.  I like it.

Also, not pens but pen-related, I have found that JOT brand composition notebooks are very FP-friendly, at least for the pens I've used in them.  Buck and a quarter at Dollar (and a quarter) Tree.  I've been using a few for writing and screenwriting tips and ideas, one for short film screenplays, and others for note-taking and writing, and will save my HP Premium32 for my manuscripts and letter writing.  There's some ghosting, but almost no bleeding.  I will be buying many more of these notebooks in the hopefully-near future.

[Kasimir he/him]

4 hours ago, Cyclops said:

Platinum Preppy in .2 EF nib, blue/black with extra carts of black and blue/black.  Early last year I had bought a 5-pc sampler from JetPens, and a Preppy in .3 F nib was one of them.  I like a Japanese Fine okay, but I much prefer the EF because I write so small.  I like it.

 

How's the preppy treating you? I really love how they perform for their price!

[Cyclops]

5 hours ago, Kasimir said:

How's the preppy treating you? I really love how they perform for their price!

I really like them.  They just might be my second-favorite FP, right behind my Pilot Metropolitans.  I think the Preppy does just as well as the Pilot Kakuno, but for about half the price.  Now I gotta get me a mahogany nib holder because my glass dpi pens write too big.

I also have 14 more Metropolitans to get in order to have the whole set.  But between new pens and theology books, I'll probably go broke soon.

[Cyclops]

As I mentioned last month, I did get more of the JOT notebooks.  I've also started using HP office20 paper for my pens.  It works well, better than most of the other papers I've tried.  Of course, HP Premium32 still beats it, but it also takes up a lot more space, and it has gotten up to almost $19 per ream.  That's why I'm using what I have sparingly.  In an FP group I'm in on either Flakebook or MeWe, someone mentioned Hammermill Premium Paper is really good for fountain pens.  But it jumped from $8.64 on Amazon to right at 11 dollars.  But Wally World has it for the $8.64 price, but 4 have to be purchased to get free shipping.  And none of the stores in our area carry it.  Otherwise, it would be cheaper to buy it from Amazon.  Oh, well.

[Cyclops]

Is this thread dead now?

[+Slowswift]

Not necessarily. Just not a lot of action lately.

[Kasimir he/him]

Been a bit busy/tired, mostly. Have a Sailor Medium coming in though, and I need to fix this Sailor Broad nib of mine

On 6/7/2022 at 10:33 PM, Cyclops said:

someone mentioned Hammermill Premium Paper is really good for fountain pens

I think some US-based r/fountainpens users talked about some budget sugarcane paper, but can't remember off the top of my head...