▼ April 26, 2024

Going down the fountain pen rabbit hole

Hi everyone. First, I want to say thank you very much for the follows and nice comments about my site! Reading them made me really happy when I opened my laptop today, it was a nice surprise! I'm still restricted to comment on other sites and reply to others because I'm still new but I will make sure to get back to them when the restriction is lifted after a week. ☺

Second, I read literaturegirl's comment about their recent interest in fountain pens and with a sitename inspired by a fountain pen ink, I thought it would be suitable my second post would be about the unexpected rabbit hole I fell down to last year. As always, I'm very much excited to talk about my interests and I hope this will be helpful or enjoyable to read.

At first, I was actually intimidated to give them a try because from an outsider perspective, my first impressions of fountain pens are expensive, fragile, high maintenance and the like. But looking back at it now, I realized the highest barrier to entry in the hobby is that intimidation itself because compared before, fountain pens have never been more accessible and affordable. If you look up 'fountain pen for beginners' in a search engine or even Youtube, you'll see a lot of guides and lists from experienced users.

Last December 2022, I did my year-end techo kaigi and wrote down what I want to do for my journal and planners next year. 2022 me was really feeling bad about leaving blank pages in my Hobonichi planner due to my difficulty to keep up with a routine/habit so I thought of changing what I write with to make things fresh and new, which would hopefully encourage me to journal more consistently... question mark?

I was unsure if it would be a success but I wrote it down anyway. It wasn't until March 2023 I bought my first fountain pen: Platinum Preppy in Fine nib. It wasn't even planned; my sister and I always visit the local stationery store whenever we go to the mall usually to look around but that day I found myself leaving the store with two Preppys in hand LOL I got one blue and of course, one pink. I was really excited to go home and try it out and when I did, I was actually in awe. Well, they weren't kidding when they said it's a wholly different experience compared to ballpoint or gel pens.

My collection isn't much compared to others but they're all pens I use regularly and am certain that will last me a long time. I'm pretty proud of the fact that I haven't bought a pen that didn't satisfy me so far, so I can confidently recommend the ones I have right now.

When you add something as intricate as fountain pens to a hobby as broad as stationery, it's definitely easy to get lost in the maze and it'll take a while to explore to find that sweet spot, or in this case, material or nib. As for me, I'm no expert but I have been a stationery enjoyer long enough to be particular about my non-negotiables, so that narrows down my choices.

After I finished a few cartridges of my trusty ol' Preppy, I was certain that I do enjoy fountain pens. I realized I was in it for the medium long haul. So I decided to go up one level and look for pens that are slightly pricier. Also, I was curious about how the feeling of writing with a different nib will change as I go up the price point.

As if on perfect timing, a local stationery shop was holding a big sale in celebration of the local FP community's anniversary. I got to buy it on a discount which means I can buy another one if I liked it (see, this is girl math ;D). And omg, the writing experience with TWSBI is definitely better, the nib is so smooth against paper I could barely notice any feedback if there was any.

I highly recommend this for long-form journaling due to its piston filler mechanism. It can hold a lot of ink and will last you a while so you won't most likely be interrupted while you're in the ~groove~ while writing. For beginners, this is a very good starting point and even experienced users also swear by this pen because of how much value you'll get for the price.

A little note about my Pastel Pink pen: I honestly thought I wouldn't be able to get one because it seemed that it was a limited edition color from 2019-ish(?). And it's a popular color so whenever I see a listing of it in the community marketplace, it's sold within minutes. But! Here's a trip from me: Don't hesitate to post that you're looking for a certain pen in your local FP community, you wouldn't lose anything by stating your interest but there's always a possibility of someone thinking of destashing their pens. It's a common practice in the hobby to sell their pens to make way for new ones.

If only I can tell 2022 me that you can buy a fountain pen for a price of a burger, I would. Jinhao 82 is a very, very affordable entry point for beginners; it's so cheap that my first purchase was three at once LOL It's a blatant knock-off of Sailor PGS but I can't blame the hype around it. The feature I like the most about this pen is it's highly customizable. Every part can be swapped out to a different color and you can also switch nibs easily.

This is my everyday carry pen whenever I travel because it's sturdy and cheap so I don't worry much if it's upside down in my bag or what (*￣▽￣)b

The quality is good, for the price. But still, a word of warning from me, the nibs can be a bit of a hit or miss. It's a bit inconsistent that sometimes you just have to pray to the fountain pen god that what you get writes smoothly. Manage your expectations accordingly. Don't go expecting buttery, smooth TWSBI nibs for a fraction of the price. But it still gets the job done nevertheless.

If you've been lurking around fountain pen communities, you have most likely heard about 'holy grails'. According to them, a holy grail pen is like the end game for enthusiasts, most often they're very rare or hard to acquire.

Mine is the Sailor x Hachimonjiya Kubozakura. I first saw it in an Instagram post of their collection of pastel fountain pens, and I have been in love with it ever since. For me, the pen perfectly captured the essence of cherry blossoms. The subtle shade of the resin body, the transparent finials, the sakura engraving on the nib, oh it's everything I ever wanted.

Sailor often collabs with other stores/artists and it's almost always limited editions. Of course I had a Totally Normal day of just hyperfixating on my research on how to get my hands on one. And I felt a bit sad when I reached my conclusion: they do restock on the bookstore's online shop once every year, but it sells out extremely fast within minutes. So at the end of that day, I have accepted that it is a grail pen after all, and who knows when will I have it in my pen tray.

That is... until this year's pen show in my country, I actually saw it being sold by one of the vendors in its original price. It was there! Right in front of my eyes! I couldn't believe it for a moment... then I brought out my wallet LOL It was even more beautiful at firsthand than I expected. I didn't know there were very subtle shimmer in the body, it was such a nice detail.

I'm indeed very lucky to be able to get my grail pen and it was funny realizing that my interest in other fountain pens gradually dissipated once I got my hand on my grail pen. As of writing, it is a well-loved pen, I use it everyday for my journaling. (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)

To end this longer-than-I-expected post (omg I talk too much), here are some lessons I learned that might be helpful to a beginner, also as a summary of what I've experienced so far.

One: joining the local fountain pen community has been a huge help to me, I highly recommend it. In my country, I joined the facebook group made by the same people who hosts our pen show. It felt good seeing posts from beginners like me asking questions about the hobby to big-time collectors showcasing their ~$2000 pen (yes, such things exist. insane, I know). The community I'm in are very welcoming and accomodating to the members, it doesn't matter how much your pen collection is.

Two: I did not give in to consumerism (crowd cheering in the background) There will always be new pens coming out regularly, I didn't feel any FOMO for the shiny new pen that everyone is getting. I was intentional with my purchases, which resulted to me regularly using my pens instead of having a big collection but most of them are stored only in their boxes. Collecting is a good thing of course, but keeping my collection to a minimum is more of a personal choice.

Three: ink samples are a great way to explore ink options. Fountain pen ink is a whole different story. It's funny how I haven't mentioned inks until now LOL I don't have a lot of pens but I do have a lot of ink samples. I recommend these when you're still starting out.

Four: I tried out everything that interested me. It's kind of contradicting with me saying I kept my stuff to a minimum but it's definitely possible to try out new things while avoiding haul/hoarding mentality. So far I have tried extra fine, fine, medium and fude nibs and I would like to try out broad or stub nibs in the future. Here's another tip from me: there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of stuff to experiment with, just be sure you follow your curiosity and not to try things out because you were influenced (ugh I hate how the word influence has sort of a negative connotation to it now). Personally, I find it is less likely for me to feel regret when I followed my curiosity, even when it didn't turn out as I expected.

This has been a very long entry but if you reached this part, thank you for reading! And also thank you to literaturegirl for asking about fountain pens. I'm looking forward to their collection ^_^ I had a lot of fun writing this post, sharing my excitement about something as mundane as a pen is always a good time.

As always, see you in the next entry ☺