(no subject)

[arliss]

Hi, I'm arliss, and I love fountain pens.

I used Sheaffer cartridge pens in school, and learned to refill the cartridges from a bottle of ink with a syringe--much cheaper than buying new cartridges all the time. Fountain pens can be messy, though, and I switched to ballpoints for everyday, and then to rollerballs and gelpoints when I needed a liquid ink, handwritten look for my work. And then my dad left me the Carmine Red Sheaffer Balance 500 with the two-tone 14kt Feathertouch fine nib that he had used since around 1939. It fit my hand, the nib responded to the way I write, and I found myself using the pen and loving the way it wrote. Seeing how much I enjoyed my dad's pen, my husband searched out the brown tortoise Pelikan 400 he'd been given as a high school graduation present, and asked if I'd like to have it. The pen hadn't been used in years, so I flushed it with tepid water till the water ran clear, then filled it with fresh ink. The14kt nib wrote beautifully on the first stroke. The pen was perfectly weighted and balanced for my hand, and the nib needed no adjustment to write perfectly. These were the first two of my pens, the ones that fired an interest and a passion that continues.

If anyone's interested, I'll describe some of my other pens, and how I came to have them.

(crossposted to my journal)

Comments

[rainbow]

I'm envious of your family pens; I often wish I'd started using fountain pens when my mother and grandparents were alive.

I'd love to read more about your pens.

Carys

[roadnotes]

I would enjoy reading more about your pens. I moved recently, and am in the process of organizing and culling my accumulation. (It's not organized enough to be a collection.)

[arliss]

We've been on the road with a Uhaul since Monday, and just arrived at the new house this evening. It will be a while before I find the inks, the journals, the camera, although I know where the pens are! In a few weeks, when we're settled, I'll get some photos up and do some 'splainin'.