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See what I did there with the topic title? (...might be time to cut back on the coffee...) Seriously though, anyone have advice on this? Im on a economical pen kick to figure out grip size/type before going all in on in on a high end pen. I tried my standard international converter, but its wobbly. If the pen gets jarred or if I drop it, Im pretty sure Ill make like a squid and ink everywhere. Are there other standard international converters? Am I missing something? Thanks!! N

Heya! Nice to meet you all I'm sort of new to fountain pens, I've been using them for maybe a year or so but was never really interested in them - I just used them. However after some life changes (Stopped gaming, it was a rather big addiction) I've started enjoying writing & pens a lot more. I've only ever had Lamy Safaris and I'm hoping to take a step up into the fountain pen world by acquiring a Kaweco AL Sport or something similar. I intend to work on my handwriting too, it's kinda bad at the moment - I'm still in secondary school so I have to have an utilitarian approach unfortunately. Although I do want to start up calligraphy (or just fancier writing) too soon. Apart from a developing interest in pens, I also enjoy cycling, hiking, running and rugby as well as computer programming. Here's my current pen as well as my attempt and neat handwriting http://i66.tinypic.com/epexwo.jpg Nice to be part of the community Thanks!

Hello everyone my name is Dave aka Spillproof. I'm a 43 year-old wildlife biologist living in the Monterey Bay (Seaside), Caifornia. I'm not married but I do have a 5 year old border collie/belgian malinois mix named Coyote that tries to keep me in line. I wanted to say "Thank You" to all the members and admin here at FPN. I've been lurking for a few months "reseraching" my first big-boy pen and finally committed to a purchase yesterday. There is a local B&M in Carmel named Bittner Joy of Fine Writing. The shop specializes in very high-end pens, the type I could never afford, but since the owner is a friend-of-a-friend I was invited to try them all. And I did ;-) It took me three visits but I can now say I've tried just about every dream pen, and I learned a TON in the process. One thing I learned is that I have champage taste and a Budweiser budget. My realistic budget was "around $250." I ended up buying a Visconti Opera Club LE "Purple Nights" with a Dreamtouch 24k/Palladium nib (medium). It was "on sale" for about half-off - how could I resist, right? While there I also picked up a couple of Rhodia pads and some Iroshizuku Amairo ink. Time to practice. So now that I actually have a "fancy" pen (not just my dads old "barely user grade" Parker51 that needs a new nib), I figure I had better join the ranks. Looking forward to "meeting" everyone. Thanks! Dave

My suitemate kind of got me interested into fountain pens about a month ago. So I caught the buying virus and after getting a few inks and some fountain pens in a month, I decided to spend my weekend mixing some inks together. I think my first try turned out decent right? I'd love to hear any tips and pointers for future mixing http://imgur.com/wsmXYKR (I posted it on Reddit first) So I took that picture on HDR mode on my Nexus 5, so it's probably not as accurate as a scan. But I can do some if people really want. I'm just interested to see if this color resembles anything? I'm not sure as I don't really have purple ink and I found this purple to be pretty satisfactory for me.

I am new to fountain pens and new to this forum. I bought my first fountain pen (Lamy Safari EF Graphite and love it) because; I prefer the 'old' ways of doing things more than the new. The zombie apocalypse is coming and I want to be prepared with ludditic styles of writing. I will die someday and I want there to be a record of my existence (yes I am THAT self interested). (need ink with permanence/fade resistance) It annoys my wife when I am snobbish about things like wine, coffee, food, man-purses, back-packs, etc.. and now pens.In anycase, researching ink is about to drive me crazy. I love my current ink 'Noodlers Burma Road Brown' but I found that it really has no permanence, which is a big deal to me. Does anyone have any recommendations for similar colors (I really like the browns/golden browns/sepia types) that will last a long, long time. I really am kinda hung up on archival. Ink doesn't have to be Noodlers. I like the look of that Herbin Cafe de iles but I can't seem to find if it archives/fade resistance. I hoping to learn from people who are even more snobby than myself.