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Busting Out My Fountain Pen Again

Jul 29, 2019

I received a letter from a pen pal that I wrote to a long time ago. He is a prisoner serving a life sentence in the States. I stopped writing him when my parents found out I was writing such a person. When I moved out, I wrote him a quick card asking if he’d still want to write. A couple months went by and I figured that was a no. I knew he had recently got married (from prison, yes, I know, I know) and was content knowing that maybe he had gotten life together a bit more in there. Surprisingly, one day I opened my mailbox to see the tell-tale envelope with the red “Prison Generated Mail” stamped sitting there. I had forgotten how nice it was to receive a letter from someone.

This prompted me to want to pick up the pen again and start writing letters.

I always love to write letters with a fountain pen. Although I don’t have anything fancy like a flex pen, it still is beautiful writing with a fountain pen.

I had bought a Muji fountain pen in a Muji store in New York last year and used it quite a lot. However, the nib is really fine (as to be expected with Japanese pens, they love their fine nibs) and I figured I was in the market for another pen.

One day after work I hauled myself to REID’s, a local stationery store in Calgary. I have seen their LAMY Safari ads on bus stop benches all around the city and I came in pretty sure knowing I would come out with a LAMY Safari.

The woman who helped me pulled out a bunch of pens. I tried them all. The LAMY Safari just felt too big in my hand. I was immediately drawn to the Faber-Castell Neo Slim. It was on the pricier side but I loved the weight of it. My Muji fountain pen is a bit heavy compared to my first fountain pen (the Pilot Kakuno) and I preferred the heavier weight.

So I bought it.

I also bought some ink… Some.

At REID’s I bought Graf Von Faber-Castell Olive Green cartridges. I was going to buy a second set of cartridges but I foolishly told myself, “it’s alright, you only need one colour and this seems like a nice colour.” And it is a nice colour! I love the different tones in this one. But I was not satisfied with just one colour…

My Muji pen is pretty scratchy. I’m still not used to writing with it. The ink is pretty dry with this pen.

I bought the J. Herbin inks on an impulse. I was browsing around an art store and found a bunch of inks. The scented boxes were too pretty to pass up. I haven’t used the J. Herbin Scented Encre Rogue (Parfum Rose) just yet. I do, however, have the J. Herbin Violette Pensee in my Neo Slim right now.

A lot of people say that this is a pretty boring colour. True enough, the gradient isn’t super apparent with this one. But I love watching it dry. It comes out a lot more pinker when wet but then dries to this violet-purple. And it’s really wet on my Neo Slim which is great.

At the same art store I saw they were selling Platinum Preppy pens… So I bought one. In my defense, they’re super cheap! And I like the nip on it too. I got a 03 (fine) sized nib. I think fine is a good size. Medium would have been too much.

Lastly, I went to Madison + Page for the LAMY Rhodonite. The woman at the desk helped me pick the perfect shade of pink. I even bought a converter because she convinced me bottled ink is the way to go. She also personally recommended this ink and I am in love with it! I wish I could write in pink more, haha.

This is in my Stalogy 365 B6 notebook with my Muji fountain pen. This ink works much nicer with this pen than the Faber-Castell Olive Green. I do think pens that have a bigger nib are for me, though.

Anyway. That’s my update on the fountain pen front. I hope that I’ll be writing many, many, many letters with these fountain pens!