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Write Away
Nov. 15th, 2021 06:55 amI just realized I don't really have "writing," "drawing," or "fountain pen" icons.
This weekend I found myself down a rabbit hole - small independent fountain pen makers. I almost sent a lot of money to a fellow in Arkansas. (If you like that sort of thing, look up Troy Breeding of Country Made Pens.) Then I had a few realizations while I was on my morning run.
Most handmade pens use some sort of ink converter. That means you get a bottle of ink, stick the nib in, and fill the pen that way. I have only ever used fountain pens that take cartridges. So I have no way of knowing if I'll find this burdensome or not, and could potentially get stuck with an expensive, beautiful, useless pen.
On the other hand, I had a set of Rapidograph pens that required cleaning between refills. Heaven help you if you skipped the cleaning. So while that was annoying, it wasn't that bad, though I sometimes did let several run dry before having a cleaning day. The larger nibs often had to have a soak in a jar of cleaning solution, no matter how quickly you got to them.
Bearing all that in mind I bought a converter for my Lamy Safari and a bottle of ink. But I can also see where the real financial danger is for me, now. Inks. Dozens and dozens of glittering glass bottles of different colors, shimmering, translucent colors. I NEED THEM ALL GIVE THEM TO MEEEEEE
*ahem* Sorry. Since I'm a fan of off-blacks I picked Noodler's "El Lawrence" as my first bottle, a deep green-black that is also warm-looking, named after a certain British war hero of the Arabian Campaign. Not that that influenced my decision, either. A lot of folks on Reddit are smitten with that company's "Bay State Blue," which is an excellent royal blue. I also looked at Diamine inks, and I'm tempted to get some shimmering ones, though for the everyday writing I do, it seems a little over the top. Although I could see using them for a dip pen. I used to like drawing with dip pens.
On an unrelated topic, I'm reading a biography of Henry Thoreau and I didn't know he had narcolepsy. It ran on his mother's side of the family. He apparently had numerous health problems throughout his life, and a lot of his writing about strength, health, and robustness is a way of dealing with how annoyed he was at his own poor health.
This weekend I found myself down a rabbit hole - small independent fountain pen makers. I almost sent a lot of money to a fellow in Arkansas. (If you like that sort of thing, look up Troy Breeding of Country Made Pens.) Then I had a few realizations while I was on my morning run.
Most handmade pens use some sort of ink converter. That means you get a bottle of ink, stick the nib in, and fill the pen that way. I have only ever used fountain pens that take cartridges. So I have no way of knowing if I'll find this burdensome or not, and could potentially get stuck with an expensive, beautiful, useless pen.
On the other hand, I had a set of Rapidograph pens that required cleaning between refills. Heaven help you if you skipped the cleaning. So while that was annoying, it wasn't that bad, though I sometimes did let several run dry before having a cleaning day. The larger nibs often had to have a soak in a jar of cleaning solution, no matter how quickly you got to them.
Bearing all that in mind I bought a converter for my Lamy Safari and a bottle of ink. But I can also see where the real financial danger is for me, now. Inks. Dozens and dozens of glittering glass bottles of different colors, shimmering, translucent colors. I NEED THEM ALL GIVE THEM TO MEEEEEE
*ahem* Sorry. Since I'm a fan of off-blacks I picked Noodler's "El Lawrence" as my first bottle, a deep green-black that is also warm-looking, named after a certain British war hero of the Arabian Campaign. Not that that influenced my decision, either. A lot of folks on Reddit are smitten with that company's "Bay State Blue," which is an excellent royal blue. I also looked at Diamine inks, and I'm tempted to get some shimmering ones, though for the everyday writing I do, it seems a little over the top. Although I could see using them for a dip pen. I used to like drawing with dip pens.
On an unrelated topic, I'm reading a biography of Henry Thoreau and I didn't know he had narcolepsy. It ran on his mother's side of the family. He apparently had numerous health problems throughout his life, and a lot of his writing about strength, health, and robustness is a way of dealing with how annoyed he was at his own poor health.
