A while back I read a post from UK Fountain Pens where he talked about his list of “forever inks”, which is inspired by a post on Fountain Pen Network asking “if you had to rebuild your ink collection from scratch, what would your initial selections be?”. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this since reading his blog …
Paper is one of those thing that many people don’t find very exciting. In the world of fountain pens, pens and inks usually make the headlines and get all of the press. It takes a lot for a new paper to get people excited. Recently though, a paper that many people hadn’t heard of before started getting a lot of …
Writing letters can be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding ways to use a fountain pen. It gives you a chance to choose a pen, ink and paper that highlights your personal preferences and write something that someone else gets to enjoy. The first time you sit down to write to someone new can be a little daunting, though. …
If you’ve ever tried to photograph your fountain pen nib using a macro lens, you’re probably aware of how frustrating it can be trying to get everything in focus. It seems like no matter what you do, a small part of the nib is in focus, while a big part of the nib is out of focus. Unfortunately, due to …
One of the biggest questions many people who are somewhat new to fountain pens have is what is the difference between an expensive fountain pen and an inexpensive fountain pen? It is really worth spending hundreds or even thousands more on a pen? In this post I want to talk about some of the more significant differences between expensive and …
Fountain pen users know that there is an overwhelming selection of notebooks and paper options available, but what happens when you want to write a letter? So many of our favorite papers are available bound into books and very few of us want to cut pages out of a notebook just to write a letter. If you look at notepads, …
I’ve always heard that it’s dangerous to mix fountain pen inks. Some people have had the experience of mixing inks, only to have solids, or a precipitate form, which can potentially clog a fountain pen. I am usually very careful about completely cleaning out my pen before using a new ink. The main reason for this is that I don’t …
Have you ever noticed that writing on some sizes of line spacing feels too cramped for your handwriting, while writing on others feels perfect? Have you ever paid attention to which works the best for you? Well I have noticed that some spacings feel better than others, but have never really paid attention to which I prefer… until now! I …
It’s no secret that there are thousands of different colors of ink available to fountain pen users these days. Many of us carefully choose the color of ink we use, passing on one color for another that is slightly different but, to our eyes, perfect. How often do you take the color of the paper you write on into consideration? …
Many people who collect fountain pens sometimes have trouble using them as often as they would like. If you are not a student or in a profession that requires you to write very often, you might struggle to use your pens at all! In this series of articles I want to make some suggestions that should help you use your …