Phosphor [&]

@bazelgeuse-apologist

he/they

It's a horrible day on the Internet, and you are a lovely geuse.

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Phosphor [&]@bazelgeuse-apologist8/28/2024, 7:45 PM

anyway outside of the digital realm, here is our steadily growing fountain pen collection, in no particular order.

from left to right:

silver filigree pen with clear insides: Hongdian D1, inked with Diamine Writer's Blood, because it looks great with the demonstrator (clear insides so you can see the ink). used for writing curses and condemnations and also just whenever we want to write in blood
black pen with silver swoops: Picasso 901 (Amorous Feeling of Paris), inked with Pilot Iroshizuku Murasaki-shikibu. to be used when conjuring fantasy and deception alike - or, y'know, ourple.
black pen with gold-patterned cap: Picasso 902 Gentleman, inked with Diamine Candle Light. an ink for comfort, nostalgia, and agonizing homesickness for a place that doesn't exist. also a very pretty yellow
black pen with silver trim and subtle blue-green marks: Picasso 903 Sweden Green Flower King, inked with Pilot Iroshizuku Chiku-rin. plants c:
black cigar-shaped pen with silver clip: Pilot Metropolitan, inked with... the standard black Pilot ink. first pen! still a lovely writer
black plastic modern-looking pen: Lamy Safari with a 1.1 stub nib, inked with Diamine Polar Glow. writes what shouldn't be forgotten, for better or worse. it's also just Prettie.
gray dragon-embossed pen with gold trim: Jinhao 5000 Gray Dragon with a fude nib, inked with Pilot Iroshizuku Kiri-same. used to draw a variety of things! including ghosts.

I definitely have a fondness for Chinese pens - all of the ones we have wrote beautifully out of the box and look nice without breaking the bank. (most of the Expensive Luxury Pens I see on this side of the ocean are kinda mid tbh.) I haven't been able to verify this beyond going "yeah that tracks from what my relatives do" but apparently a big reason Chinese pens are much cheaper is that fountain pens are simply considered an everyday writing tool there, rather than the Luxury Goods they are in the US, and the government subsidizes their production. so it's not uncommon to be able to pick up a nice pen for like the equivalent of 6 USD, with pens in the 20ish USD area being considered mid-range. (meanwhile, I've seen "mid-range" in the US refer to 200 USD pens. baffling)

#fountain pens #I see people complain about "imitations" but if you make something for small dollars and then turn around and sell it for 5555 bucks I don't have very much pity tbh #from what I've gleaned the Big Dollar pens don't even write better much of the time #they're just Special! Limited Edition! Prestigious Brand! etc

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in reply to @bazelgeuse-apologist's post:

Cliff @CliffJameston8/28/2024, 7:57 PM

Ooh, I wasn't familiar with the Picasso pens, those are really nice looking! Especially the 903, those are gorgeous little accents. Does it post?

Phosphor [&]@bazelgeuse-apologist8/28/2024, 8:06 PM

Sure does! I don't tend to post, so I can't say how it feels for writing or how well it stays on in the long run, but it feels quite sturdy.

Cliff @CliffJameston8/28/2024, 8:09 PM

Ooh, I may end up picking one of those up then, that's real tempting. I'm one of those weirdos who always posts, so that ends up being a bit important.

Phosphor [&]@bazelgeuse-apologist8/28/2024, 8:13 PM

If you're looking for a shop recommendation, I got all of my Chinese pens from this seller on Etsy, who I found recommended in a Reddit thread. The pens ship all the way from China, so they take a while to arrive, but all of the ones I got wrote well out of the box. I've also heard that you can get Chinese fountain pens for cheaper on Aliexpress, but that quality control is kind of hit or miss.

Would be curious to hear how you find them, if you do end up picking them up! /r/fountainpens at least seems to like Picassos.

Cliff @CliffJameston8/28/2024, 8:23 PM

Oh fantastic! I definitely don't need more pens but boy, I sure am thinking about it now, lol. Good to know those have the r/fountainpens seal of approval though, they've got good taste.

Phosphor [&]@bazelgeuse-apologist8/28/2024, 8:26 PM

Yeah, I don't buy any pens without quickly searching the reddit for them tbh. Thank goodness for hobbyist forums!

secret to everybody @here-and-anon8/28/2024, 10:05 PM

So what exactly is the deal with fountain pens? What makes them so great? Are they refillable? (Asking as someone who uses ink for work enough that disposable pens feel... wasteful.)

Phosphor [&]@bazelgeuse-apologist8/28/2024, 10:23 PM

There's a few reasons people like them! A lot of people love to collect them because they're pretty and feel nice to handle. Most of them are refillable, yeah, though you'll need to double-check that they include a converter if they're cartridge-based. They also feel better to write with than ballpoints - you have to push down with ballpoints, especially cheap ones, but you just touch a fountain pen to paper and the ink flows. It's nice on our hands!

The main caveat is that fountain pens can be very fussy - they're higher-maintenance than a ballpoint. Some of them take some fiddling to get working, and occasionally you end up with a dud. Also, fountain pen ink doesn't always get along with cheap paper (lots of bleeding and feathering) or even get along with every pen. And of course, because the US considers them luxury items, a bunch of them are pricey.

There are some pretty good cheap pens out there, though. I think probably the cheapest that I've heard of that's generally well-recieved are the Jinhao Sharks, which you can find for less than 5 bucks online, ink not included.

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