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comment by edricarica
edricarica  ·  3447 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: I got my first proper fountain pen - a Pilot MR! What fountain pens do you have?

Good choice! I love Pilot pens. I usually have a few of these kakunos inked in different colours. At the moment they are filled with some inks from a J.Herbin scented sampler box. I was sharing the joy of cursive with my little niece.

I've had high-end pens over the years, but I always seem to come back to this one:

It's a Rotring ArtPen. I've been using it/ones like it on and off since primary school (when I thought the tapering was the height of elegance. I have since discovered reason and find it appalling, but it does balance the pen wonderfully. The tapered end can also be used for no end of things, from prodding coins out of car seats to poking the drawstrings back into hoodies.) This pen gets no love at all on the internets, though. I'm not sure why. The B nib is maybe overly wet, but I like fountain pens that way. I have weird spider hands and it's the only way I manage to avoid scratchy scribbliness. I use Clairefontaine notebooks, and they can handle absolute torrents of ink, so it works out OK.

Glad there's another fountain penner on here :) :)





kingmudsy  ·  3447 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hey! Does your Rotring ArtPen use cartridges or ink from a bottle? I've done my best to avoid cartridges (I'll admit, it's a little bit of a vanity thing. I think it's cool as hell to fill from a bottle!), but it seems like a reliable little every-day pen!

edricarica  ·  3447 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It depends which version of the pen you buy - some (the calligraphy sets, for example) come with this piston converter in the box. They're pretty easy to get separately, though.

I'm using standard cartridges in mine at the moment - I'm in the middle of moving house and all my stuff's in boxes. It's handy to be able to switch between the two.

I'm missing real inks, though - Especially because I'm in France, and even the tiny small-town newsagents (now I've realized how many fountain pen appreciators there are here I'm going to sneak a photo next time I go into one) stock J.Herbin and Lamy and Waterman and Clairefontaine paper and and and... so much temptation...

kingmudsy  ·  3446 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Oh my, I wouldn't be able to manage in that town. Can I ask where you're at, and where you came from? It sounds like it'd be an interesting story! And that looks like a standard international converter, if I'm not mistaken...I think I might already have one, in which case I'll be snatching up an art pen before too long :) We should really try to breathe some life into #fountainpens, I think it'd be cool to build up that community!