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Post by stompie on Aug 20, 2018 11:59:11 GMT
Stompie, please tell me where you get your manuscript pens so cheaply! I got them at the Range here in Portsmouth. On Saturday I bought a dip pen, Manuscript, with 5 Italic nibs, a tin and a holder for £5.99, also from The Range. If you are in the USA and want these, Walmart sell them cheaply as well, Manuscript Beginner Calligraphy Set $5.66.
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Post by filpot on Aug 20, 2018 14:44:00 GMT
I got them at the Range here in Portsmouth. On Saturday I bought a dip pen, Manuscript, with 5 Italic nibs, a tin and a holder for £5.99, also from The Range. If you are in the USA and want these, Walmart sell them cheaply as well, Manuscript Beginner Calligraphy Set $5.66. Oooooooh! I've just been hopping around The Range's website. And they deliver to France!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel a Christmas list coming on......... Thanks for that!
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Post by alcyone on Aug 21, 2018 14:51:12 GMT
Forgive my ignorance because I’m still learning, but will it clog them permanently? Or is it something that can be cleaned out? I’m not opposed to a bit of hard work, but I guess I’d like to know what I’m in for. Some people will say glitter inks do not permanently clog pens... but I had to reluctantly throw out a Preppy after multiple attempts failed to remove the clog. That's why I suggested the Jinhao. I think the model number is 599 but I'm not sure. I bought a multi-pack.The Preppy has that sort of inaccessible and comb-like feed -- I have no trouble believing it would get easily clogged.
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Post by alcyone on Aug 21, 2018 14:58:44 GMT
One thing to think about might be ebonite feed pens. Not that the ebonite itself is friendlier, but they tend to be cut in a chunkier way so that they are less likely to clog. Also, the nib and feed tend to come out easily if you want to completely clean them. As I write this I am picturing the indian pens from Fountain Pen Revolution: fprevolutionusa.com . You could email Kevin there and ask him which have the ebonite feeds. The other reason to buy those is they have a lot of inexpensive nib options. I'd probably look for a converter or eyedropper filler if you think you'll need to clean them a lot. I will say that I have gotten more broken or messed up pens from there than anywhere else, but they've replaced them every time. The ECO suggested earlier is a great budget pen though, and while it's a piston filler, isn't impossible to clean.
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Post by schnacks on Aug 21, 2018 16:10:25 GMT
I concur that the TWSBI Eco is a great starter pen. TWSBI have just released an even cheaper pen called the GO which has a spring-fill mechanism. If you want to use glittery ink, you *must* use a fat nib - like a 1.1 stub or a broad nib. IMHO you just don't get the best use of inks with shimmer unless you are making a fat line. If you are up for spending a little more, I highly recommend the TWSBI Vac pens (around $70). They have a super cool vacuum filling mechanism and therefore no converter/piston to mess around with cleaning. All of the TWSBIs seem to come with some stuff to make cleaning/maintenance easier - a little wrench and some silicone grease. But TBH I haven't found any pen particularly hard to clean. Goulet Pens has some excellent videos on cleaning. And my final bit of advice is (something I learned here) be sure to remove the nib from the pen and clean it (potato method, or Dawn, or toothpaste) before using for the first time. This was a game changer for me, and none of the pen sites told me about it!!! Good luck, let us know what you get and how you get on with it! I'd be happy to send you some more ink samples too. PS Also recommend using one of those bulb syringe things to clean pens.
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Post by katiel on Aug 21, 2018 19:24:42 GMT
Ummmm, guys, I may have accidentally bought my first fountain pen today... First of all, thank you all SO MUCH, for your recommendations and advice. I’ve been checking out each pen as you guys have written about them. This has been fun (no pressure or stress) knowing that I can pick any one of these pens and be happy with the purchase. So if you want to hear the story of my fall from grace (lol), here it is: Soooo...I had pretty much decided to start with the TWISBI Eco. I had it all picked out (in pink!) and just sitting in my Amazon shopping cart, waiting there for me to finally decide to pull the trigger and jump into this aspect of the hobby with both feet (*cough* falling down the rabbit hole *cough*). I thought, after I got that one, if I liked it, I might also get a Pilot Retro Pop one, because those were the ones I had been looking at a couple months ago. I decided maybe I’d get one of those too, and have 2 pens - do glitter ink in one and a regular ink in the other so that I can “grab and go” if I want to take fun ink with me somewhere. (I know, I’m already sliding down the slippery slope). But I couldn’t decide on which color retro pop one I wanted. Then, I remembered my grocery store had the ballpoint retro pop pens a while back, so I figured I’d go look in person and see which color looked best in real life.... So we went to the store this morning, and took a trip down the pen aisle. And yep, they still had the retro pop pens, but now, they ALSO had the fountain pen version. Oh...they were pretty...so pretty... My sons and I decided we liked the purple one best (but green was a close second). Then my sons tried to convince me that I *needed* to buy it, like now, right then and there. We *had* to bring it home and try it. I admit, I probably was not as resistant to the idea as I should have been. So, much to my surprise, I came home with a fountain pen! Ah! I felt so unprepared! I had planned to do sooooo much more research on fountain pens, and even on stuff like how they worked and came apart and stuff, before I actually bought one! So I cleared my afternoon, and spent a couple hours watching Goulet Pen’s Fountain Pen 101 videos. I feel slightly competent now. So I got brave and opened my new pen. I got it all set up (it even came with a handy black cartridge) and gave it a try. Ohhhhh, it writes soooo smooth. I had no idea! I mean, I’ve heard people talk about how smooth fountain pens write, but hearing and feeling are apparently two very different things. It was like...silky? I think I maybe sort of fell a little bit in love. How many am I allowed to have? I’m doomed. So doomed. Haha! Thanks again everyone, for all your help.
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Post by schnacks on Aug 21, 2018 20:05:40 GMT
Ummmm, guys, I may have accidentally bought my first fountain pen today... Ohhhhh, it writes soooo smooth. I had no idea! I mean, I’ve heard people talk about how smooth fountain pens write, but hearing and feeling are apparently two very different things. It was like...silky? I think I maybe sort of fell a little bit in love. How many am I allowed to have? I’m doomed. So doomed. Haha! Thanks again everyone, for all your help. So. Very. Doomed!
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Post by katiel on Aug 22, 2018 22:41:28 GMT
Indeed. I ordered my pink TWSBI today. Errr...well...I may have ordered two.
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Post by blessed on Aug 27, 2018 16:12:58 GMT
And so it begins... Have fun!
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Post by katiel on Aug 27, 2018 21:19:58 GMT
Oooooo! My TWSBI's arrived! They took like all of two seconds to ink up (YAY!). These are the first pens I've been able to use my own ink in. I put Diamine Cerise in the extra fine, and J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor in the Medium. Wow does the Emerald of Chivor look cool! The dip pen never did it justice, at all. Since this was my reason for buying a fountain pen, and it showed of f the shimmer satisfyingly well, I'm considering this endeavor a success. Now...to find an excuse for all the other pens I bought... [img alt=" " src=" "]
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Post by MKB on Sept 2, 2018 17:44:53 GMT
Hate to say this, but did you see the new transparent blue ones coming out?
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Post by katiel on Sept 2, 2018 18:21:53 GMT
I actually did! I’ve been debating if I like the transparent or not. I found a shop in the UK that sells the regular blue ones and I’ve been contemplating that, too. So many decisions! But I definitely plan to get another Eco or two (or three? Who knows...)
I got my two new Lamy’s this weekend! They were really nice! I think would probably have absolutely loved them if I hadn’t tried the TWSBIs first. The Eco’s are my favorite by a pretty wide margin, but the Lamy’s are both a close second.
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Post by distractedmom on Sept 20, 2018 13:25:23 GMT
Oh, katiel, I am laughing over this thread. I am so impressed with your restraint. I'm sitting here in Illinois thinking, "I'm in a crappy mood today. Maybe I should buy a pen." I have recently fallen in love with the Platinum Plaisir. I get the M nib, but I know your penmanship is a wee bit smaller than mine. I haven't tried a F nib, but the M writes so well. They are lightweight and come in fun colors.
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Post by penguy on Oct 11, 2018 2:03:58 GMT
Congratulations!!! You may find yourself obsessed. My first pen was a Namiki Falcon that I wanted for sketching. About seven years later I own over 100 pens, mostly vintage. Indirectly fountain pens brought me here....I had to justify my obsession and what better way than to write letters! You may want to see if there is a pen club near you. Enjoy !!!!!!!
Regarding Herbin Emerald of Chivor, it is a beautiful ink, but you might want to shake the pen a bit if it has been sitting a while. The gold particles have a tendency to settle out and if you want to see them you will want to get them suspended in the ink before you start writing. Also, after you have used up a fill flush with clear water a couple times to clear the ink channel, then refill.
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Post by katiel on Oct 11, 2018 6:41:56 GMT
Thanks! I’m loving it, and still use my pens every day. You’re the second person to suggest finding a pen club to me. How does one go about finding one? It sounds like maybe it could be interesting, and maybe a good way for me to learn more, since I’m still kind of new to this. Wow! 100 pens in 7 years is impressive. I think I’m up to 8. Mostly TWISBI Eco’s (and 2 are Eco-T’s, I *really* love those) since various family members totally spoiled me for my birthday this year. Also, thanks for the tips on the glitter inks. I’ve been using the Emerald of Chivor a lot, and I think I’ve perfected the write/resuspend time ratio now. That ink is pretty stunning. I’m a sucker for shimmer inks.
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