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I was discussing pens this afternoon with my fiancée, and she was quite taken with the colour of the 2016 Lamy Safari. It got me thinking that she has even more need for a reliable writer than I do given her job (she works in tertiary education), and when we got to discussing fountain pens she confessed that she has never used one before. I was wondering what brands and models FPN would recommend for a first time FP user at around and under $100 US? As low maintenance as possible, and cartridges over converters with a decent array of colours available. As a geek she's not afraid to tinker when required, but I'm guessing she would much rather not have to mess about with filling from an ink bottle, especially with two cats who like to get underfoot. The kind of pen that would be forgiving of being carried in a pocket or accidentally dropped (cap on) once in a while. Design is also an important aspect. She likes some modern designs, but she absolutely loves art nouveau, flowing organic curves, bold colours, that kind of thing. I would straight up recommend the Safari or Al Star, but I'm wondering if anyone has any other suggestions.

I've bought a lot of Noodler's inks since I've gotten into fountain pens, and since then I've found they are not to my liking with how much cleaning I have to do each time I change colors. Even thought I absolutely love Bad Blue Heron and Walnut, they tend to stain my converters and a simple flush is never enough to clean out my pens. I have Rohrer and Klingner Salix and Scabiosa, but haven't become enamored with those, even though they flush out so well. I thought Diamine might be nice but then Sargasso Sea took some effort to clean out of my pen. Hematite Rouge did the same, but I'll use it because of how beautiful it is. But I want inks that are easier to clean up. I like vibrant inks, but i don't want the hassle! Can I have my cake and eat it too? What are some good saturated inks that aren't difficult?

Hello, Over the past few months I've been desperately trying to find a suitable blue(ish) ink for my Cedar Blue "51" Vacumatic with a fine nib...The thing is that I don't particularly like/use fine nibs (it's my only fine nib besides the Konrad flex nib), but this one writes more towards a medium than an extra-fine, is pleasantly wet, and was my college graduation gift (couldn't part with it in a million years)... so I use it for cursive writing (I usually write in print). I've tried a large variety of blue inks (oh yes, forgot to mention...blue isn't really my favorite ink color), starting with Waterman Florida Blue (too pale), Pelikan Blue-Black (too grey when it comes out of a fine nib), Pelikan Turquoise (pale and had some bleedthrough), Pelikan Edelstein Topaz (beautiful color but takes quite some time to rinse it out of a "51" Vacumatic), even Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher for a very short while (I like the color and saturation in the fine nib...but I can't keep it for too long in a vintage pen). So now, after trying some blue inks, some turquoise inks, I want to try a Blue-Black/dark blue ink. I've listed 3 particular inks in the poll and now I would like to know your personal opinion on the matter...what kind of blue(ish) ink could surprise a person that doesn't like blue inks As a side note, you may wonder why I don't just abandon my quest for THE blue ink and go for the greens, the browns, the purples...since I don't particularly like blue. Well...let's say I want to give blue a second chance before I give up completely. Cheers!

I would like to be more adventurous in the ink colour which I use. Violet in a lilac tone, is my favourite colour and I'd love to find a water-resistant ink in that colour. However, it must be low maintenance. I'm lazy and don't clean my fps regularly and sometimes leave pens inked up for a couple of weeks because I don't know which I'll want to use next. So no iron-gall or pigmented inks please, as my pens don't get the attention such inks require. Ink easily found in the UK, or on UK websites would make obtaining the inks less expensive. The reason that I would like the ink to be water-resistant is that I use fountain pens for writing in my journal, and I'm clumsy, so very likely to spill something on what I've written. Still being able to read the writing after a wetting is important. Thanks so much for any help.