#i have two extra fine nibs a fine nib a broad nib and i have a medium nib coming

[starlit-warren]

I love how I go "okay I have this much money left in my budget for this month" and then TWSBI drops a new color of their eco pen

matcha green. . . for $35.50. . .

[goldentemplariumcrow]

hi! which kind of pen do you think it’s the most comfortable to write with, fountain pens or rollerballs? i’m still learning about pens and i tried googling the differences between them but some websites say that fountain pens are more comfortable and others say that they’re basically the same thing, but rollerballs are more practical. also, do you think fountain pens are a lot of work? i heard someone saying that fountain pens are not worth it because the ink doesn’t even last a week and it leaks and you have to buy the right kind of paper and stuff like that… i’m still curious about fountain pens though, and i wanted to hear your opinion about it! :) thanks in advance!

Heyo, my fellow stationery lover! 🥰💕🖋🖊

It's so nice of you to ask about this, and I totally understand how it all sounds confusing depending on who and where you take your information from. I, myself, had a long run over the years to learn the differences and what works best with my writing style.

So, I'll start retroactively and sort of correct your friend there, because fountain pens and rollerball pens both need good paper to give their best performance. However, as a beginner I'd tell you to work with what you have, which means adequating your chosen pen nib to the paper you have at your immediate disposal.

As an example: I started writing on printer paper and normal everyday notebooks (those you buy in bulk from dollar store to be more precise). Sure, I didn't have the luxury of writing on both sides of the pages, because both fountain pens and rollerballs are usually heavy on the dispense of their inks in this kind of paper, but it taught me about size and flow.

Tip/Nib Size:

Fountain pens work on the range of Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, Double Broad and Stub (stubs often go from 1.0 to 3.0 size, the bigger the number the larger it'll be, they're usually associated with Goth Style calligraphy). The stub nib is also known as the italic nib, it writes thin on the horizontal and diagonals, but when doing a vertical, downward stroke, it becomes thick. (You can see some different nib sizes on the image bellow)

Rollerball pens work on a range of 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.8, 1.0, 1.5, and 1.9 tips, with the easiest tips to find going from 0.3 to 0.8. And their tips will always be just simple round ones with not much variation in terms of colors. (I'm sorry for not having a photo to explain this one, but my rollerball has given up on me this Monday morning and ran the last of its drops of ink 😂 I need to get a new one)

Flow:

Fountain pens and rollerballs work in kind of the same manner in terms of dispensing their ink, they work through capilary mechanisms and gravity. You have to have them down in contact with the paper to make the ink go down to the tip/nib in order to make it work.

The flow usually derives from the kind of ink that are being dispensed and the kind of nib/tip on your pen. The bigger the nib/tip size the more ink will be dispensed on the paper and so the faster you'll need to fill the fountain pen back or buy a new rollerball/refill your rollerball.

About fountain pens not being worth it...

That's a common misconception, because in today's world a lot of people prefer to exchange customization for practicality.

Fountain pens require a little bit of maintainance, because most aren't disposable, the biggest number of them, even the cheapest ones, are meant to last if you don't simply throw it in your bag and have the bag be benchpressed by a rollertruck or be in the way of an explosion (et me tell you, I've yet to find an every day hurdle that can break a Lamy Safari PBS body and stainless steel nib @-@ it scratches and fades, but doesn't break, and I have this baby for around 10 years now, it faced two college degrees with me). A fact that becomes more evident when you see the fact that most brands design converters for their pens.

Most fountain pens can be customized to your liking, from the nib, to the feeder (the part that brings the ink from the cartridge/reservoir/converter) to the nib, to the body, to the ink you write with. They become a sort of statement of your style.

From top to bottom:

- Majohn Moonman C1 (10USD) (can be used with a converter, but I prefer to fill the body with ink for maximum capacity, around 5ml)

- Lamy Safari (20-30USD)

- Wing Sung 3008 (5USD) (built in piston sucks the ink into the pen for maximum capacity, around 2.5ml)

- Pilot Kakuno (15USD) (with Con-70 converter, around 1.7ml)

- Jinhao Centurion (10USD)

- Jinhao 9019 Dadao (10USD) (biggest converter I've ever seen, carrying up to 3ml of ink)

- Jinhao 82 (3USD)

- Tramol T100 (4USD) (full body holds 2ml)

A comparison between the nibs of the Jinhao 9019 Dadao, Jinhao 82 and Majohn Moonman C1. As you can see, I have the heartbit limited edition fine nib on the Dadao, while the 82 has a dual color nib and the Majohn has a long and slightly narrower nib. These are all customizations.

As you can see, there are fountain pens for all styles, likings and price ranges. From the thicc ones with double and triple Cs (I'm looking at you, Dadao) to the more minimalist and sturdy ones, like the Lamy Safari, which is a model that's been around in the market since the 80s and, if you want to be even more conservative, there's always the Pilot 78G and 78G+ that's been around since 1991; if you're one to love traveling, it's hard to go wrong the brass body Traveler's one too.

About the ink not lasting, spillages and all that jazz...

When you buy a fountain pen, they usually come with an ink cartridge, which in my experince last around 2 weeks with me writing daily for 8 hours a day (for my daytime job). However, that depends on the size of the cartridge, smaller ones won't last as long, but they're often the ones you can find more easily on your local stores, since this makes for a bigger compatibility between pen and cartridge due to the thickness of certain barrels (some brands have their own style of cartridges, like Parker and Pilot).

Personally I remedy this by simply having a bottle of Noodler's Ink (this one of the link even comes with a nice beginner friendly pen in the package) on the side and a make-up siringe to suck all the ink from the bottle to the cartridge that comes with the pen. It's much more enviromentally friendly than the rollerballs that usually aren't refillable.

The whole spillage happens because of mishandling. I personally only had one single episode when I was a newbie and brought a fountain pen on an airplane, the pressure change made the ink go kaboom in the pen, but my cap held up well and all I had to do was wash it once I landed. I know some people who are heavy handed also have ink spillage accidents, but again, that's due to mishandling, as fountain pens don't require pressure to get the ink writing on the paper. And, of course, like any liquid, if you shake it hard enough, it will, eventually, spill everywhere in one way or another, but that is a risk that also exists on rollerballs.

Which one is better: Fountain Pens or Rollerball Pens?

I can't emphazise enough that this is an opinion and I enjoy most writing instruments, for each has their very own beauty.

Personally, see fountain pens as a long-time commitment while the rollerballs are more of a shortterm "save me in a pinch" type of pen.

Fountain pens often help correct writing vices that cause harm to the hands and wrists, they train you to slow down for a moment to mind your grip and angle, and in exchange give you the beautiful experience of premium writing with an instrument that's all your own, if not by nib and body, by ink, because every single fountain pen lover has their very own favorite (if not beloved) shade. They give you a freedom that other pens don't usually give in terms of color, you can even like a simple everyday blue, but you can choose from a Pilot Kon-peki to a Waterman Inspire Blue, and don't get me started on the inks that change shade once they dry out or that have metalic shimmer mixed in their composition.

Rollerballs will save me if I don't have my fountain pen with me (I carry a Lamy Safari everywhere I go) and need to jolt down some quick notes, but not write for a long while. They don't feel so good, because my angle of writing (near 45°).

In summary: I wrote this post defending the fountain pens, because I know the discourse of them being obsolete and inpractical that's everywhere, but I see both rollerballs and fountain pens as excellent writing instruments that deserve equal space in our lives, pen pouches and pencil cases 🥰💕🖋🖊

I hope this helps you a little, my fellow writing friend.

Happy writing!

[daftpatience]

Hiya!! I’m sorry if anyone’s asked you this before, if you don’t wanna answer that’s totally fine!

I was looking at getting myself a good fountain pen for some drawing, you seem like a pro about this stuff so I figured I should ask for your two cents on it! Do you have any good fountain pen recommendations that won’t break the bank? Sorry if this is a silly question. I love your art btw! Keep up the great work :•)

ooh i do i do!!

i personally like fine nibs for drawing and medium to broad nibs for writing - most fountain pen brands offer extra fine through broad nibs so you've got lots of options!

Platinum Preppy and Jinhao are my first choices for good affordable pens - since jinhao is technically a copycat brand (that happens to have surprisingly nice feeling nibs) you can find them in all sorts of styles too - they have ones that look like sailors, lamys, twsbis, etc. i wouldn't compare them to those nicer brands but they're fun if you want a decent feeling, pretty looking pen on the cheaper side!

the jinhao shark is one of their originals and very popular+well liked <3 you can get a pack of 12 for $25 cad which is awesom

[rustybutterknife]

lollipop and golden !! (ik u like fountain pens so...take this an excuse to ramble abt them)

Lollipop: favorite makeup products?

My colourpop palettes! Their little palettes with like 9 shades (I think they’re about $12-$15 each? I got mine on sale for $9 each tho >:)c) are SOOO fucking good!! They’re pigmented as hell, blend smoothly, and they’re super soft! Also they attach by a magnet so if a shade pops out, you can easily just pop it back on! The palettes I have are their “baby got peach” and their “strawberry shake” palettes! I use them for most of my looks (especially the strawberry shake palette, it has such a pretty red shade…) and I love it so much >:) I have a couple photos of my most recent makeup look (but they’re on my… other blog. Feel free to ask for the user if you’re 18+, they’re cute photos)

Golden: favorite stationary product?

SCREAMING AND CRYING AND THROWING UP THANK YOU FOR INDULGING MY SPECIAL INTEREST

Okay so fountain pens are pretty neat! They usually come in 4 types of nibs. Extra fine, fine, medium, and broad. I’m personally a fan of fine/extra fine nibs because I just like the way they look! However finer nibs tend to be more scratchy in terms of writing :( speaking of writing!! The ink in fountain pens comes out a lot more easily than most people expect! They’re a pain in the ass to get clean depending on how you get the ink into the pen. Most fountain pens these days come with ink cartridges, which just pop right In! They also usually come with an empty cartridge looking thing that has a twist lever on it, those are called pistons! Those are a bit more messy than ink cartridges, because it involves dipping the nib of the pen into the ink and drawing the ink into the chamber! There’s also a kind where you can squeeze the sides of the chamber that the ink goes into, very similarly filled to the piston fountain pens. They’re also fairly easy to clean, just fill up a cup with a drop or two of dish soap and let it soak, maybe shaking/swirling it around to get some of the dried bits unstuck.

I had an ex give me a fountain pen that belonged to it’s dad, I still have the pen. We don’t talk anymore, but I appreciate it giving me the pen.

I also had another ex break one of my $50 fountain pens so uh. That wasn’t fun.

[hereisleo]

blue day & roomie privileges

w/ j.wy & reader

g/ roommate!au, friendship, comfort

a.n/ another word vomit because i need to get things off my chest, i’m alright now

t.w/ none

21:55. The black numbers on the digital clock stared blankly from your desk while you lay on your bed. There were deep aches in your shoulders and unsettling bone sinking fatigue in your body. Even your heart was tired. You rubbed your chest gently as if trying to soothe a toddler.

It wasn’t necessarily a bad day. A bleak blueness that you usually didn’t mind suddenly bothered you. Maybe it was the culmination of sleeping through the alarms in the morning and getting to work late because of unwarranted nausea. How dare your body betrayed you. You took care of it haphazardly, a dose of painkiller on an empty stomach because there was simply no time to eat and you needed to be functional within half an hour. Not recommended. The snappish attitude settled in as the day progressed and so did a world of burdens on your shoulders. You disliked the manager at the workplace and yet you still smiled as if you were the best actor of the century, still debating whether you should still work or take a break. At the very least your fellow colleagues were the most loyal and caring bunch, always having each other’s backs. Maybe it was the botched line work of your tattoo and the orange marker stain still on your skin. You made your peace with it. You knew what you were getting into by asking a traditional artist to do fine line works. You were asking a broad nib to write like they were an extra-fine nib. Life was never perfect. You knew it well.

A knock on your door brought you out of your woeful reverie. Your sweet and loud roommate, Jeong Wooyoung. He shuffled into your room with hair damp from the shower and in his comfiest pyjamas. He was worried, you could tell from his shaky eyes and the way he rigidly sat on the edge of your bed. He chewed his bottom lip and cleared his throat, voice touching the sombre air, “Are you alright? I saw you checking your temperature in the living room earlier.” Ah, right. 36.8-degree celsius. Normal for you. It was fatigue and nausea and the harsh truth of needing to take care of yourself better. “I’m alright, thanks, Woo.” He pursed his lips, hand bunching the blanket into his hold. He was unsatisfied with the answer. Wooyoung nodded, “You should sleep early.”

However, he didn’t leave, he stayed seated on your bed. He wouldn’t be able to sleep until he knew you were actually fine. “Talk to me. What happened?” Bless this man’s heart. The mental capacity he was willing to extend to listen about your day even though you didn’t ask how his day was. Wooyoung made himself comfortable on your bed, an arm looping around your shoulders, he brought you closer to lean against him and he listened to the tales of your blue Friday. From the tautness in your shoulders, the irritation festering in your chest, the poor line work on your arm to the anxiousness you couldn’t shake off. All you wanted and needed to hear, Wooyoung said to you, “Yah, you worked hard today. Tomorrow is always a new day.” He also added his two cents, “But, you need to go back to the parlour to fix that messed up line. You paid for it and it’s on you for a lifetime.” Regrets were always easy to acquire and hard to lose. Your lips tugged into a slight smile, “I made my peace with it. Reminded me that life is never perfect.” He clicked his tongue, “You’re a regular there, you keep their economy afloat! Go back.” You couldn’t win against him, he would pester you until you caved so you acquiesced.

Contrary to popular belief that Wooyoung was only loud and playful, behind closed doors and one-on-one, the serious trait he carried appeared to the surface and so did the silence. Unless he was in the shower or had his headset on to yell at his friends for dying on whatever games they were playing. “Let’s wash your newest addition and I’ll make you dinner,” he beckoned you out of bed. “You’ll feel better.” You didn’t want to leave yet but his glare and pitched nagging of ‘hurry up’ made your feet kiss the cold floor. You washed the ugly orange marker stain off and the fresh wound and you splashed your face. Wooyoung was right, it did make you feel better.

The kimchi fried rice warmed your stomach. You were grateful for the added chilli paste, you didn’t realise how angry and stressed you had been, your taste buds couldn’t register the spiciness. Since when Wooyoung was such a good cook? You finally asked Wooyoung about his day, letting him talk and talk. The time on the microwave spelt 23:56. Screw sleeping early, you would rather stay up and let Wooyoung distract you. The pain in your shoulders lingered but it was a minor inconvenience. “Woo,” you mumbled and he hummed in response, “Can I have a hug?” He looked at you as if he was offended. He slid down the stool next to yours and cocooned you into a tight embrace, it was almost hard to breathe. “Roomie privileges, no need to ask. Did you not read the fine print or something?”

Sure it was a bleak blue day but you were grateful for the friend in your life. Wooyoung who was loud and quiet, playful and serious. Wooyoung who had an invisible list of ‘roomie privileges’ which included his hugs, cooking, emotional and mental capacity to listen to your bottled up problems. Wooyoung who reminded you tomorrow was always a new day and a clean slate. The day began again. 02:37.

[chris-in-eugene]

@harmofud​

I hope you don’t mind me hopping onto this, but just wanted to give you a little more info. 70gsm is a good start, but isn’t 100% reliable for finding a good fountain pen paper.

Tomoe River paper is a  wonderful paper for fountain pens, and is available from many outlets like JetPens, Goulet Pens, and others.  You can just search for the paper name and find places that has it.  It can take a moment or two for fountain pen ink to dry on it, but it has limited feathering (ink spreading side to side) and bleed through (ink showing through the back side of the paper).

If you have to use cheap paper, or just want to try it out, it is best to use (F) Fine or (EF) Extra Fine nibs.  The F and EF nibs will put down thin lines, which means less ink to feather or bleed through.  So you will need to use a dark ink like Black or Navy, so it will show up well.

For Tomoe River paper, you can use (M) Medium nibs, and experiment with more vibrant inks like purples, copper, light green, you name it.  The thicker lines will show up vibrant, but not very dark, inks better.  You can use (B) Broad nibs too, but it might be a little thick for someone just getting into fountain pens to use.

I hope this helps.

I have two questions for you that are slightly related, like a cousin twice-removed:

A) What kind of paper did you use for your fountain pen? I've got a notebook that I write in, and I'm concerned about switching over to fountain pens because it's a fairly cheap notebook with thin paper. It would suck to write down an entire page and then realize that the previous page is unreadable now. To clarify, I use a gel pen right now and it still bleeds through fairly easily.

B) In your opinion, would reading a book out loud online in a non-permanent format (like a live stream) count as copyright infringement to you? I am NOT asking for permission to read any of your works on stream nor am I asking for legal advice. I just want to know what you think as a published author. Would you consider it an infringement on your property?

If you've already answered these questions before, my bad.

You need paper that is upwards of 70gsm in thickness in your notebook.

And as far as I'm concerned, no it doesn't.

[idoctorducki-blog1]

I'm getting a new pen

I already have two, the Namiki (Medium) and the homosapiens (Fine). But, I really would like to get a Pelikan, I've been rather stuck between 800, and the 805. Up until now, I decided that I prefer the palladium trimming over the gold. There was lots of choices that I liked, for example: the blue and black, the pinstripe, the green and black, the burnt orange, etc. At first, I was deadset on the burnt orange, because I wanted a pen with character - as you can probably tell, I don't like the usual "You can get any colour you like, so long as it's black", so the fact this choice was something that looked unique and less of the basic template of fountain pens. But, when I actually saw it in person, I had to admit that the orange was too much. I'm still contemplating between the pinstripe and the blue/black, because blue is one of my favourite colours and the pinstripes is full of these wonderful shades and it looks cool. I have learnt that the nibs are quite broad for a Western brand, so I may go with an extra-fine. I can also get a lot of ink (almost £100 worth) to mess around with. I would like to begin to use more "noodler's ink" because they have rather great properties that are quite remarkable, and I could stock up on diamine ink too, which I can't get enough of, maybe even experiment a little too. I'm very excited.

[studyforwhatmatters]

uhh...when you spell the wrong “stationery” but are too lazy to redo the title...

Thinking about ordering some thinner pens (0.38 mm), but I thought I would go through some of the pens that I already have before I drop that extra moolah $$. And I figured that I could just share with you guys what’s in my pencil case/provide handwriting samples/review some of my favorites in the process haha :P if you have any recommendations/insight on 0.38 mm vs 0.5 mm pens please shoot them my way!

Firstly, I recently discovered #crayligraphy and decided to try it out for my title with some old crayola broad markers I had laying around the house, so please excuse the beginner struggles lol. Maybe I was so focused on the strokes that I spelled the wrong word LOL

The Pilot Precise V5 RT 0.5 mm replaced the Uniball Roller Stick Micro as my daily driver during my freshman year of college. It’s really smooth and pretty inky so when I write quickly I don’t have to put a ton of pressure which is nice. But it also produces a pretty thick line (imo) even though it’s supposed to be 0.5 mm. ALSO as a result of its inkiness and how often I use them, they run out pretty quickly :( sometimes I go through one in a week depending on how much I’m writing. The Uniball is more scratchy and lines don’t come out as consistently, but I still keep one in my pencil pouch for when I need finer lines.

Another one of my favorites is the Uniball Jetstream Color Series Ballpoint 0.5 mm. This is such a great pen! I love it so much that I only use it for special occasions lol. I want to save itttt haha. But yeah it writes super well. It’s really smooth and really thin even though its supposed to be 0.5 mm, which I don’t mind. It’s not super inky at all either which is a plus.

A ball point pen that I surprisingly fell in love with is the BIC Clic Stic Retractable Ballpoint Pen. (This one is actually a freebie from my school’s writing center so it doesn’t EXACTLY say the name of the pen on the barrel, but it looks like the Clic Stic and it has the BIC logo on it so that’s my best guess lol.) It writes so smoothly and it’s also a really nice blue color. It also gives you that thinning out at the end – idk how to describe it...like a flick? a tail? LOL But I really like that. I feel like it’s something you can’t really achieve with a thinner tip – or it’s too thin to be noticeable. My handwriting also tends to be rounder/happier-looking when I use this pen which I don’t mind. It skips occasionally, but it’s not super noticeable imo. BUT at my school’s writing center, the plastic barrels (not the ink itself) come in two colors – burgundy and gold. The burgundy one works like a charm, but the gold one tends to skip a lot more/ink is not consistent and the blue color is more faint. So, I’m not sure if it’s an older batch or if they changed the ink formula, but I’ll just stick to stealing the burgundy ones when I go keke

Two other ballpoint pens that I carry around are the standard BIC Round Stic and the Papermate Eagle Ballpoint. I do prefer the Eagle over the Round Stic though. The ink flows a lot better – smoother, more consistent/less skips, stronger black color, and I don’t usually have to scribble on another piece of paper to get it going.

I bought the BIC Atlantis Exact Ballpoint for my ochem lab notebook but I ended up not using it LOL I guess it was too thin for my taste? Or I’m just too used to thicker ballpoint pens. I still use it occasionally though. (It works really well on skin if you like to draw on yourself like me lul) It makes smooth, thin lines. Definitely smoother than the Round Stic and Eagle. When writing, the nib feels really hard though and the lines are not always super consistent.

Staples Strata 0.5 mm. The needle tips are insanely inky. The flow is actually ridiculous. One time I was super tired in class and I let my pen tip rest on the paper and it made a huge ink splotch. *cries* RIP notes. I got these years ago (without testing them tsktsk) because they were really cheap. I got both the conical and needle tips in black, along with conical tips in different colors. The conical ones aren’t too bad. They have pretty hard tips, write well on printer paper, and you don’t have to put a ton of pressure because it’s so inky, but on certain papers, the ink tends to feather and appears a lot thicker than 0.5 mm (see picture - i crey). I mainly use the colored conical tip pens which are actually great. They don’t seem as inky and don’t feather as much imo. I think I finished the black needle tips because I write really quickly in class and the fact that they don’t require a lot of pressure to write make them a great class notetaking tool.

The other colored pens I have in my pencil case are the Papermate Flair Ultra Fine 0.5 mm. I don’t use these pens for daily writing – they are more for highlighting important terms/headers. The nib doesn’t really appeal to me. Depending on how you hold it, there’s a lot of line variation. It’s also a little scratchy – you can hear the friction between the pen and paper when you write.

The Uniball Signo 207 Gel Pen 0.7 mm is also a pretty common classic. Forgot how well it writes until I did this stationery test haha. Inky pen, bold lines, & smooth writing. Overall a pretty good pen. I don’t use it a ton because the lines come out a little too thick for my liking. And sometimes when you use a little more pressure, you kind of “push” the ink to the outline of the letter...idk if that makes sense. But the inside of the letter becomes lighter while the sides become darker. lol sorry I can’t explain that very clearly. 

My main mechanical pencil of choice is the Pentel Graph Gear 600 0.5 mm. What I really love about this is that it has fantastic weight. I really don’t like super light pencils – I feel like they’ll just fly out of my hand lol. And with lighter pencils, I feel that you have to put a lot more pressure to get a strong mark. A heavier pencil body kind of does half the work for you haha. 

Another special occasion writing instrument: Pilot Uni Alpha-Gel Slim 0.5 mm. I think the lead really makes this pencil lol. I still have the original lead inside, which is super soft and easy to write with even though it has a lighter body. Really comfy grip too.

I also don’t use the Pilot G2 Roller Ball Pen 0.38 mm a lot. Maybe because I’m not used to thinner lines? But the G2 in this size is also a little scratchy. It does come in handy when I’m in the mood for something a little finer. My handwriting also becomes a little narrower and more “flick-y” when I write with a smaller tip – not sure if I like that or not haha (see the BIC Clic Stic handwriting for comparison). I also borrowed my sister’s MUJI Gel Pen 0.38 mm to try it out. Not too bad actually. Pretty smooth and very gel like haha if that makes any sense. Also has a smooth barrel so there’s not much grip.

wow...that was a lot longer than I expected lol. But I’m thinking of getting some thinner pens (especially as a daily driver) so if you have any recommendations please send them over! Or if you have any insight on 0.38 mm vs 0.5 mm pens please share ^^