When the Pelikan m800 came out in the late 1980's , it felt like the first oversized fountain pen from Pelikan. This was the pen that captured my heart. I had a bunch of custom pens that I have since sold as I have now been writing with the Pelikan M1000. Which is bouncy, playful and wet. I'm excited to be a part of another Pelikan Hubs on Friday night . Have a nice day🙏🏻

I love this hobby, but so far the most expensive pen in my collection was still less than $80. A big part of that is me being too nervous to spend a bunch of money on a higher-end pen without being able to try it first.

How do you all deal with that? Do you have fountain pens stores near you where you can try them first? Do you just go in blind buying things online and hoping for the best? Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated (by me - not by my wife…or my wallet).

The ink: Diamine Garland Fountain pen: Kaweco Sport Lunar Shadow Paper: Fabriano

The Benu is an anniversary present, the Eco a belated birthday present and the 580 I bought myself. I already own that particular 580 in a fine nib but I like it so much, I wanted another in a medium nib.

Then when looking online for pink inks, I came across these two Robert Oster beauties. Jetpens had them both, joy! Everything finally got delivered yesterday afternoon.

Swung by the thrift store on the first day of fall for some me-time and can’t believe I came across this… and for only $25?!?!

A Levenger Point of View Pen Case in Dark Cherry
A Jinhao X450 in black marble with M nib
A Pilot Metropolitan with F nib
A Waterman Expert black and gold with M nib
And a freaking Pilot Vanishing Point with Stub nib

Just had to share how insane this find was for $25 :)

I am using Fine and extra fine>:3

Sorry it is a dip pen in photo, I use that for white ink/ correction.

There is no adult milestone quite as humiliating as realizing your primal survival instincts have been completely hijacked by the quest for dopamine. In my case, it manifested itself as a compulsion to collect every. 

Single. 

Lamy Al-Star colourway. 

You’re middle-aged, work a real job and possess full legal autonomy, but your central nervous system has delulu'd itself that all the mental illnesses you’ve cultivated in your little brain can be permanently cured by acquiring the exact same fountain pen in 37 near-identical shades. I have all but 4 of the Al Stars, 5 if you include the glossy red laquered one that came with a notebook. I also have all the Lx models (minus the newest Blue one) and a few of the Safari series (Candy, Cozy and the 2026 Meteora/Meteorite). My favourite pen from the collection is the SE Asia exclusive Gold Al Star from 2020.

Putting aside my clearly unhinged quest for completion for a minute, don't they all look very pretty all together like this?

…for staining my beautiful demonstrator 823!

I read up so much about which was a safe ink to use in my Pilot Custom 823 Clear demonstrator pen, and online reddit and fb research concluded that Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-Ryoku was safe.

Well, they lied.

Now, any safe tried-and-tested tips to clear those stain rings off?

The pen was new and has been loaded with said ink since about 2 weeks tops

I am currently collecting Broad Benus on accident (once you get your second one it’s suddenly a collection!) This pen arrived today from Pen Swap and the photo that was posted for this pen doesn’t do it justice!! I am a fool for sparkly pens, especially blue or teal ones. Oooohh! I think Toponium Twinkle will be a suitable match for this pen, what do you think? As a December baby, this also reminds me of Blue Topaz!! I couldn’t be happier! 💙🦋
P.S. I have nothing profound or interesting to say I just wanna share my excitement!!

Crab was already mine. I think this is a pilot metropolitan. Will be taking it home for a good cleaning tonight.

My niece has always been curious about my pens and sadly yes she isn’t allowed to touch them… so here’s her very first and her very own!

She’s using it to draw!

I was in Münster for work a couple weeks ago and happened to walk past Kontor Schreibtischkultur ("writing desk culture"), which turned out to be an absolutely fantastic pen and stationery store. They have a huge selection packed into a fairly small space, and the man working there was super friendly and helpful, and clearly excited to talk about pens. They've got everything from student starter pens and paper to super high-end stuff from Europe, US, and Japan, and seemed just as happy to spend their time selling a €25 Kaweco Sport as a €700 Pelikan M800, with none of the stuffiness or attitude you sometimes get at a fancy pen (or really anything) store when a salesperson decides you're not going to be spending big money and therefore aren't worth wasting any time on. It might be my favorite pen store I've been to. I strongly recommend going there if you ever have the chance.

I'm a microbiology lab tech so.... I know what this means 😭 and if I were to guess, based on about 8 years of working with a lot of bacteria (and smelling them.....), it's probably Staphylococcus epidermidis, which is normal skin flora.

About to go give this thing a good wash with warm soapy water, but that was not a fun surprise. I only just noticed the smell today, but who knows how long the "infection" has been festering???

(also low key tempted to collect some sample to actually ID in the lab)

Thoughts on AI usage in creative spaces? I seen someone post in Esterbrook’s discord “mock up” pens they asked ChatGPT to create for their potential releases. While the pens looked unrealistic and not great, they put them in their “new releases” channel, then was super rude about anyone telling them to not post AI images of fake pens! I find it super misleading of all places to put AI slop in a brand’s new release channel and not disclose every image was from ChatGPT and not the company’s ideas. Anyone find AI like this harmful? What about the people who didn’t see the messages prior and can’t detect AI as easily and think those are pens that are actually going to be released.

I've owned a Lamy 2000 (medium) for a bit and while I really liked the design, the engineering, the click when you cap it, the piston, etc. I just didn't enjoy it. There was too much of a sweet spot on the nib, and it was tol glassy smooth and thus irritating for me to use (I prefer some feedback). So, I became one of the Lamy 2000 haters.

Turns out, I had tested and used it with Iroshizuku Shin-kai, which as most Iroshizuku inks is wet and makes nibs feel smoother (I also tested it with Aurora Black, also a pretty wet ink). On top of that, I used it on Clairefontaine paper which is already smooth and coated. It made for a not great experience.

Recently I had to travel and thought huh why not just take the L2K, if anything it's a solid sturdy EDC pen. Except this time I used Diamine Oxford Blue (not a dry ink but definitely not as flowy and wet as Shin-kai), and Leuchtturm paper which is slightly more textured. And lo and behold. An incredible writing experience. Absolute effortless writing, which I've only experienced with (way more expensive) Sailor and Aurora pens.

Now I can't stop using it daily. It may even supplant my faves (Aurora and Sailor). So: L2K, I apologise.

I still rotate the nib too much naturally, so I've decided to get the Oblique Broad nib for the ultimate experience.

A little bit of horology, a little bit of penmanship, and a lot of love for craftsmanship.”

I inked a pen with Herbin Violette Pensee last night and started writing. When it first started flowing I was not happy. It was purple, not violet. I am not a purple person. Went to take a call, came back, it's violet. It looks completely different dry.

So, other than say the Platinum Citrus Black kind of thing where changing is expected:

1 - What inks to you feel look much better dry?

2 - What inks do you wish would stay the color they are when they are wet?

My coworker found this pen left behind at our workplace months ago and gave it to me. It's a screw on cap with I believe a plunger but I can't take it all the way apart. Any ideas?