Thanks guys. Now, to start building up a stable of inks!

I’m a big fan of the sample vials. I pretty well buy full jars of purples, maroons and oranges, but I like those vials.

I also have a notebook just for ink tests

My M200 is in hand.

Wow, have I missed fountain pens!

Even on simple legal pads and bulk copy paper, it writes smoothly. The Pelikan royal blue ink flows and dries quickly. It doesn't have the most character, but it is a nice, workhorse type color, if a little drab by other ink standards.


The m200 is a bit smallish, but feels nicely in hand when posted. The nib is stiff, but smooth. It's so lightweight! So long as I remember to use a light hand, the product is a consistent, smooth line that just glides over the paper.

In short, I'm very happy right now.

Special thanks go to Sidss1 who has been giving me loads of great pen advice via email. You've been a magnificent help, good sir!

ShneaSig- I have sent you an email with additional info. Glad you find my ramblings on fountain pens, ink and papers of interest.

One of my favorite blue inks is Aurora's blue. It is vivid, and has a hint of purple, without being too much for "serious" business.

I am now driving my secretaries crazy. They are used to me doing my own typing and corrections. Now that I'm handing them handwritten markups, they're probably going to mutiny by noon!

JHE - thanks for the tip. I like blues, so I suspect I'll have a drawer full of them shortly.

quote:

Originally posted by ShneaSIG:
I am now driving my secretaries crazy. They are used to me doing my own typing and corrections. Now that I'm handing them handwritten markups, they're probably going to mutiny by noon!

JHE - thanks for the tip. I like blues, so I suspect I'll have a drawer full of them shortly.

https://www.gouletpens.com/ink...ckages-by-color/c/58

The royal blue and blue-black sets have a lot of good ones.

Cool, Oz. Thanks!

Bay state blue is a nifty blue. So is organic studio nitrogen royal blue

I personally like the blues that are pretty dark and have a little green in them - e.g., Noodler's Bad Blue Heron.

Noodler's inks also tend to be really wet which encourages color variation - some of a stroke will have less ink, and be lighter, and some will have more ink, and be darker. Wetter nibs do this more than dryer nibs.

This sample is Noodler's Texas Bluebonnet, but I can't really tell the difference between it and Bad Blue Heron. Bad Blue Heron might have a tiny, tiny bit more green in it. (It was written with a Visconti with a very wet, italic-ground nib - the italic grind is the reason for the line width variation.)



(I mentioned Bad Blue Heron because my recollection is that Texas Bluebonnet was exclusive to a particular store in Houston and may not be available anymore.)

Thanks for the additional ink recommendations, guys. I'm surely going to be an ink junky. I've got an additional blue inbound - Pelikan Edelstein Topaz - and I ordered a green to play with, too: Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Green. I also have a bottle of Pelikan's 4001 Brilliant Black on hand, but I've yet to crack into it. For now, I'm still writing in Pelikan's 4001 Royal Blue, which is a perfect office ink. Plus, Sidss1 is generously mailing to me a bottle of Quink (will post a range report once it arrives!)!

And, I've gone coo-coo for Pelikan pens.

I love this m200 - and it's not going anywhere - but the larger size pens will be more comfortable in my hand. So, I have 3 m800 series pens heading my way - two with "fine" nibs and one with a "medium" nib.

I recieved a Pilot Metropolitan and some nice paper but have not yet had time to sit down and try it out. Hopefully in s few days. Thanks for the suggestion.

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:
I would think any high end pen made German, Swiss or Japanese. Will be expensive.

I've used Lamy ball point (German) for 30 years. Birthday gift from wife.

I had a Lamy ballpoint too. Finest ball point pen I have ever used. Let a resident borrow it one night to write a note and I have never seen it again. Bastard!!!


RMD

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
I recieved a Pilot Metropolitan and some nice paper but have not yet had time to sit down and try it out. Hopefully in s few days. Thanks for the suggestion.

The cartridge ink it comes with is decent ink, but the real fun is the custom choices

Just got a Lamy fountain pen from Amazon. This thing is a joy to write with.

Came with Lamy blue ink and I have Pelican royal blue here as well.

Now that you have had some time to play with some, which are you liking?

When I was young and before computers were around, I had a fountain pen. I thought it would be the classy way to write. But it was rather tedious and messy to use. Just like mechanical pencils over wood pencils, I find modern ballpoints (Pilot) my preferred writing utensil. Especially when FPs cost 100x or even 1000x+.

Is the attraction similar to classic cars? Is it something for penmanship artists?

Fountain pens take a little more care in your writing, but the modern ones are quite a bit better than the ones we had when we were kids. Of course, a $400 Pelikan ought to be better than a cheapy.

Maybe a little like a classic car. Or like classic car with a modern V-8 and transmission in it.

I would recommend a Pilot "Vanishing Point" for larger hands if one is going to be pocketing a fountain pen for daily use.

I have one with the XF nib and also a replacement 1.1mm stub nib.

A joy to write with using the Pilot ink, and the Noodler's inks I have.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
When I was young and before computers were around, I had a fountain pen. I thought it would be the classy way to write. But it was rather tedious and messy to use. Just like mechanical pencils over wood pencils, I find modern ballpoints (Pilot) my preferred writing utensil. Especially when FPs cost 100x or even 1000x+.

Is the attraction similar to classic cars? Is it something for penmanship artists?

When I was young I had a cheap plastic Schaefer (sp?) that came with cartridges. It fell by the wayside at some point and I’ve been using the pilot G2 as my goto for quite a while. After reading this thread I poked around a bit and ended up ordering a couple of Metropolitans and a box of blue cartridges. I got one medium nib and one italic nib. Put a black cartridge in the one with the medium nib and a blue cartridge in the pen with the italic nib. Tried the black and it was smooth and easy, but it pretty much indistinguishably from a fine point roller ball. The italic though, that is fun! And this just with a very inexpensive pen and cartridge. For something like 12 bucks the Metropolitan it comes with a black cartridge and a converter that allows one to use bottled ink. It has a metal body and looks and feels much better than the plastic Schaefer I used to have. The only downside is that it is a little lighter than I’d like.

I fear the Metro will end up being a gateway drug to better (and more expensive) pens. Oh well, one of the purposes is to help us find expensive hobbies, right?