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My Fountain Pen Habit

Jump to: Sheaffer Pens • Other Pens • Project Pens • Ink List

(Note: I've split my pen lists and Ink List onto separate pages - wih so many images, it was taking too long to load, and getting too long to scroll though easily.)

So, why fountain pens?

I have been asked that many times, in particular on those off days, when a random mishap leaves me with inky fingers, inky papers... in short, an inky mess. Or when I have to stop, mid-page, and switch pens because I only *thought* I refilled my Opera, only to run out of ink mid lecture. Even in those moments, mutter as I may under my breath, I wouldn't trade my pens for a Bic for love nor money. But why? What's the attraction?

It's hard to quantify, especially if you yourself haven't caught the pen bug, but I can say some things about the lure of fountain pens. For one thing, there is an elegance to laying down ink with a fountain pen. It's part nostalgia, part the gleam of the nib, part pure fussy snobbery, I suppose. It's not even always about the beauty of the pen; some of my best writers are not showcase material. Some are, to be sure - the marbled gleam of vintage celluloid, the glint of gold trim, the warm glow of a fine 14K nib.

There's just something about the way I write with a fountain pen. My handwriting is smoother, more graceful, more elegant when I use a fountain pen. The nib (if it's a good one) glides over the paper, words flow, my hand doesn't get nearly as tired. As I have begun experimenting with different pens, broader nibs, more flexible nibs, I have found that some of my love of calligraphy has begun to creep into my daily writing. I like that. I get all sorts of compliments on my handwriting now that would make my gradeschool teachers think you were speaking of a different person altogether!

There's also something very meditative and grounding about the little ritual of filling a fountain pen, and of caring for them. Grabbing the nearest disposable doesn't seem to have the same gravitas that picking up a fountain pen does. And it's green; how many pens will you buy and throw away this year? How much cardboard and plastic packaging will go into the trash with them? Granted, at something upwards of 40 pens, I may have exceeded the idea of no waste, but still, none of them will end up in landfills. But in terms of my daily usage, I don't generate writing waste. I don't add plastic or packaging to landfills. I like that, too.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, you came here to see pens. The pen pages have been broken into my Sheaffer Pens, my Other Pens, and my Project Pens. Each pen is listed with my own (pretty darned good) photos, most with reviews or comments. I also have a page listing my fountain pen inks, each with scanned swatch and a short description. If you are a pen lover, enjoy! If not, I invite you to stay a while, and sample the addiction!

Jump to: Sheaffer Pens • Other Pens • Project Pens • Ink List

A Passion for Color: Inks

Vintage Ad for Sheaffer Skrip Ink (click to enlarge)

I have used fountain pens for several years, and for a long time I stuck with newer pens which could use cartridges. For a new pen user who is getting accustomed to using a fountain pen, I think cartridges are a terrific thing. However, cartridges are expensive; they are often not immune to evaporation, making for a thick, pen clogging sludge; the color selection is limited; and they significantly offset one of my favorite things about using fountain pens: the elimination of disposable waste, as I mentioned above.

In switching to using bottled inks full time, I have not only discovered the calming simplicity of filling a pen from a bottle, but I have opened a whole world of rich and seductive colors. Bottled inks not only provide a vast array of colors, but subtle nuances in color - this red has an orange cast, that a pink tone. This one shades to deep ruby, that one shades to a rusty brown. Some inks work better in certain pens, and give different results, almost seeming to be an altogether different color. The possibilities are endless, and open whole new ways of appreciating the individual characteristics of each writing instrument. I think it is with bottled inks that any pen, whether a modern converter-filler or a vintage lever-filler, expresses its true personality.

There is also a wide array of bottles, and sometimes, the gleaming glass bottles are treasures in themselves. Caran d'Ache's admittely impractical inkwell is nevertheless gorgrous, especially when full of some of their vivid jewel-like colors. The legendary Visconti champagne-glass style bottles are rapidly becoming much sought after treasures. Some, like Mont Blanc or vintage Skrip ink bottles, are collected for holding other inks because of their clever designs which make filling pens easier. And besides, inks, while not inexpensive, are still far less costly to collect than pens, giving the pen-addict a less budget breaking alternative to keep us going between pen purchases! My Ink List page catalogs the inks I currently own, with scanned swatches. There are some lovely ones, and there are some truly stunning ones.

Jump to: Sheaffer Pens • Other Pens • Project Pens • Ink List