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Okay, so I just bought a Jinhao 159 that came with a Goulet # 6 two-tone "M" nib and my plans are to use it for personal correspondence. Choices: Edelstein AVENTURINE Diamine POPPY RED Montblanc TOFFEE BROWN Waterman INTENSE BLACK I was thinking about Aventurine but a LONG letter in green sounds a bit much. OTOH, green is my favorite color and I like this one......but I STILL come back to it being overkill. Poppy Red is interesting because it is not that clownish or teacher's red, but it's STILL red. Hmmmmmmm MB toffee puts down a nice wet line and I like the color. The first pen I loaded it with had some issues, so I wonder if this may not be the way to go? W. Intense Black is another option, but black is black, right? I do have some Kon-Peki left, but a little of that goes a long way and I just emptied a pen with it. FINALLY, DA "Sherlock Holmes," but it seems pretty innocuous to me. Is the Green and/or RED too much of one thing or too little of another? Help a budding FP-lover out, will ya?

Dear fountain pen experts and amateurs alike, I was hoping someone might be able to help me figure out why my new pen skips and perhaps even find a cure for it. A few days ago, my brand new Pelikan M400 White Tortoise arrived in the mail. It looked gorgeous, and I was excited to fill it up with some Waterman Intense Black. I did so, and unfortunately, the pen skipped quite a bit. I thought the problem might be that the ink that I used came from a bottle that I opened a long time ago (about a year and a half ago), and so I emptied out the pen and inked it up again with the the same type of ink (Waterman Intense Black), but from a newer bottle (opened only about three months ago). The pen skipped less, but still enough to bother me. So yesterday evening, I emptied the pen again, meticulously flushed it three times (first with clean water, then with soapy water, then again with clean water), and inked it up again (still with Waterman Intense Black). Performance drastically improved, there was hardly any skipping. It still worked beautifully this morning, and then again this afternoon. But then an hour ago, it started skipping again! There's plenty of ink left (it's more than half-full, as can be seen through the translucent barrel), so it's not that. I also know that skipping can sometimes be due to a baby bottom. Unfortunately, I don't have a loupe (I ordered one, but it hasn't arrived yet), so I can't check. However, I used the pen fairly extensively for 24 hours with no trouble, which makes me think it's unlikely that the problem is caused by a baby bottom. Essentially, I have no idea why my pen might perform beautifully for 24 hours, and then suddenly go back to its old ways. Is it bothered by the full moon or something?? Any and all ideas are welcome.