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Hi everyone, Great to be part of this community. I am pretty new to fountain pens but my obsessive nature means I have already bought a whole bunch of low cost fountain pens to explore. I really would like to find people to write too so that I can enjoy using these amazing pens. I love to travel and my favourite location is New England in the USA although I have been very fortunate and travelled to many countries. My pen habit started when I was given a Mont Blanc Meisterstuck as an award where I worked, it was a slow burn because the Pen was very scratchy but I persevered and recently it suddenly became very smooth to write with and that was the flame that lit the blue touch paper! Looking forward to taking part and hoping to find out how to do some serious Snail Mail Malc

I'm looking to find Fountain Pen users in the Central Illinois Area. It's not always convenient to travel to Chicago Land, St. Louis, Mo, or Indianapolis, IN to meet other pen lovers and fans. I know there are folks out there who use and collect fountain pens, I've either met or talked with at other events. My focus on collecting and using has been all over the various brands of pens from the US, and around the world, however the last few years I have focus'd primarily on using rather than collecting. I'm seeking others who are interested in sharing their loving interest in this medium of communication. Either on a personal correspondence (penpals) or in the possibility of forming a group to meet either on a regular basis or on a mutually agreed upon schedule to fit everyone's favor. My most recent collecting has been focus'd on Pelikan pens. I am aware of a group called Central Illinois Pen Club that had at one time been meeting in Champaign/Urbana. My personal interest would be more towards a group that would meet in places on a rotating basis giving every one the opportunity to have a meeting in their area so the travel time and expense is shared by the entire group. All meetings to be in public areas unless otherwise agreed upon. If you are interested in something along these lines, let's give it a go, at least to discuss the possibilities. Or any other feasible opportunities mutually agreed upon. There are also various types of "Chat-rooms" available for meetings.

One of the things I love about tangible written correspondence is how slow it is. Writing, waiting, and getting to know someone over time. I tend to not include internet blogs, websites, or handles that lead to more of 'me' or my interests. I mean, otherwise just be an online mouse-pal. Social media is the opposite. It gives you buckets of information all at once, and visuals galore. There is no waiting or learning about someone gradually. FB, leads to Twitter, to Instagram, to Pinterest, and on and on. Handles lead to Google searches and before you know it, in 15 minutes you make snappy judgements without putting any of the effort that writing letters over times takes. Don't get me wrong, it has its uses and benefits. There ARE things I want to look up quickly to make judgement calls on. But when it comes to signing on to correspond via letter, I tend not to ask my correspondents for online info and I don't give any either. I prefer to know someone on a more real level instead of an online persona, and vise versa. Many people can be good friends despite the things they believe/have/do that are different from us. To know all those up front causes us to draw back. Human nature. So I don't want others or myself to be tempted to do that prematurely. Does anyone else keep their paper and virtual friendships separate for this reason?

Hello all, I often print postage labels for small packages from the US Postal Service website and as I was perusing the area where you can purchase stamps, I came upon this very nice-looking souvenir sheet called "Classics Forever". It's a sheet of six stamps commemorating US postage and "in appreciation of stamp collectors and philatelists everywhere". They feature Washington, Franklin and Lincoln in various styles as based on postage from the mid-19th century. They are very handsome stamps. The mediocre cellphone pics just don't do them justice. What really strikes me is that they are printed with the intaglio method as with the originals (and as with paper currency). It's a method not often used with your regular run-of-the-press stamps: a metal plate is engraved with an image. It is inked up and then wiped clean. This leaves ink only inside the grooves of the line. Paper is then pressed hard against the plate and the ink from the grooves is transferred to it. The method produces a fine line and a slightly textured surface as with freshly printed money. The overall effect is elegant. Artistic. They make your letters look particularly classy and old-timey. (Especially when used on C6 envelopes like those made by Clairefontaine.) You can just about see the raised surfaces on the stamps as the light reflects off of it in the following detail. Interestingly, in the last picture, you can see further evidence of the intaglio method as one peels off the stamps to see the underlying backing. It seems that the whole sheet - stamps, backing and all - were printed in this manner as reflected light reveals the embossed effect. Despite their premium look and feel, and worthiness of discerning collectors (IMHO), these six stamps are priced at the going rate (US$ 0.49 each as I write this). They are "forever" stamps and can be used as 1st-class postage despite any future fluctuations in rates. One does have to order it from the website and pay for delivery, however. It doesn't seem to be available at Post Offices, very unfortunately. Was this topic the first ever stamp review on the FPN? Regards, Rich I have no affiliation with the USPS. I have purchased these stamps as would have anyone else. (In fact, I bought two sheets: one to use and one to just keep wrapped up and perhaps frame one day!) Neither was I compensated in any way.

Hi im looking for penpals and hope you could help me I hate to admit it but I have no friends due to my health for yrs now and recently been thinking about this and thought pen Palling would be a good idea to start from. I don't know if you can PM me or Skype me if you would like to write to me. But thank you for reading this I'm 28 I love my partner of 10 yrs and our son 8 yrs and is autistic which is why I'm happy for kids and teens to write to us too. So I'm not looking for love or anything like that just friends. I'm currently learning Calligraphy for an out for my health as i have sever Fibromyalgia and chronic pain in my hips but enough about that I love Fountain pens (and would love to learn more on them), Tattoos, Tigers, Silver Jewellery, Photography, most Art and Art Nuvo, Music is a must even though im hard of hearing in both ears i just look at it as an excuse to turn the volume up lol I cant wait to read from other people who love the same things i do see you soon I'm happy to receive letters ect . . . From all over the world from any age race and disability BUT must write in English though and can write as regularly as they like But I don't have fancy stationary yet and hope that doesn't bother you to much I'm also a bad speller due to dyslexia but its getting better, I spell how it sounds not what I think it should be if that makes sense

Hi fellow FPNers, Here's the thing. I have a few penpals around the world, including some of the lovely guys and gals on here. However, in the last few months I have received 3 letters from people who are not members here, and who are not connected to me in any other obvious way. So three overseas letters arrive: from Russia, Malaysia and Brazil. One from a girl and the other two from guys. A couple of concerns come to mind. I don't know who these people are, and I don't know how exactly they got my name and address. Also, there is the perceived danger of scams in unsolicited mail, particularly (and sterotypically perhaps) assocaited with Russia. One of the guys seemed like a fairly typical penpalling type. With the other guy I sensed a seeking for some kind of venture partner. Could be just my suspicion meter running the red zone. And the Russian one had quite a lot of personal information (about them) they I wouldn't have thought was a good idea to put into an introductory letter. I could write back, I guess, but I wanted to ask as I am sure there are many here who have experienced this and have advice to render. So what would you do? And what do you think I should do?