Hello Pen Friends!

I’ve surprised even myself at the changes in what, how, and how to organize what I want to collect. My fountain pen drawers have gone from color grouping, to brand grouping, to grouping inked or non-inked pens. And more. Not long ago I decided to ink virtually all of my pens, as I don’t want to bother with rotating pens in & out of use. This was an eye opener. (I have close to 100 pens.) My go-to pens became more apparent–and these weren’t always my most treasured for various reasons.  What constitutes a go-to pen, for me?

• Starts immediately, even after non-use for a reasonable time, i.e., at least a few weeks.
• Doesn’t skip or miss at the beginning of a stroke, or miss strokes in a certain direction.
• Must not leak into the cap and onto the section.
• Ink must not turn dark in the pen quickly, i.e., in a few days (preferably not within several weeks!)
• Must show the ink I want to use it with to its best advantage–not too light or too dark to begin with.
• Pens with pointed nibs must write with a fine enough line to suit me.
• Ink flow must not be so fast that I have to write faster to keep up with it & destroy how my handwriting looks.  (Usually, a flow this fast means a wet writer–which I won’t keep anyway–as a lefty overwriter that has an issue with smearing.)

How will/has this affected my ideas on pen collecting & organizing?  Yes, I’ll keep some that are  favorites for one reason or another but that may only be inked “once in a blue moon” (favs for looks, sentimental reasons, etc.)  These will be stored separately. Some pens will be traded or sold. I’ll be buying fewer pens, and those I buy will mostly be brands that I know I do well with.

As to ink, I like to use 11-12 general colors. I used to think it would be nice to have various brands of at least 3 or 4 of each for variety. But I began to feel that I was swimming in ink! So this, too, has changed for me.

For awhile, all of these changes in direction seemed slightly disturbing, but upon reflection, I guess this is part of what keeps the hobby interesting.

 

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