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To celebrate the act of writing, here are photo reviews of two 'slim' pens (under 10 mm around at the grip). Notice that, with slip-on caps, 'threads' at the grip are not an issue, so the pens are equally smooth to hold. Also, though the pens may vary in size and shape, they are all about the same in girth, so the feeling of control as one grips the pen is about the same. Performance in this case it seems to me is in the nib itself. Both pens are aging beauties but are still manufactured (the Hastil) or available (the Fashion). The pangrams used are courtesy of Wits 'n Wisecracks: 251 Pangrams for Everyday Use by Millard Port, via Amazon Books. Enjoy this holiday excursion into thinness.

My signature was never exceptional but devolved over the years into illegible chicken scratch. In the past year or so, I've gotten it back to something neat and legible but nothing noteworthy. If any of you have nice penmanship and are so inclined, I'd love to see my name in signature (cursive) format to get some ideas on how I might adapt it to make it more distinctive and aesthetically pleasing. It needs to be a style/format that can be done without a flex nib and doesn't take a hour of calligraphy! Something pleasant yet functional. My name (aka the raw material for your artistic endeavor): Dylan J. Valliere. (With or without the middle initial is fine.) Thanks! Oh, and I've looked for an online tool with lots of cursive fonts to attempt this same feat by that means and have failed to find a suitable solution. If you know of one, I'd love to hear about it.

I just opened an on-line store for vintage (pre-1960's) European fountain pens that have been repaired/restored. After posting the site on several forums sites (including this one) I received several messages regarding writing samples (which I previously had not included on the site, I have since uploaded a sample for each pen). I was curious as to why people find this important. I did an experiment with my wife and her parents where my wife and I each wrote a sentence with different pens and asked her parents to pair the samples to the pen. They were unable to do so, being as the writing samples were very different. I was just wondering if people found these useful or if they helped people determine what pen they going to buy? Thanks for any feedback and looking forward to your thoughts!

I've goofed around a bit finding my own preferred method of keeping an ink journal -- something I never considered or had even heard of doing, before I discovered all the other fp nuts out there. here. And I've been reading back threads about ink journals, and getting some great ideas. My own efforts are pretty simple, unscientific and very personal. But earlier this year I got an idea for something else to do, and I now add this below the Q-tip swab sample at the bottom of each ink sample page. I have always admired the sentence-that-uses-every-letter samples I have read, but thought it would be fun to make up my own. I started out just aiming to use the whole alphabet - period - without aiming for the kind of brevity and elegance of the olde 'The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog' (or whatever it is). This has evolved to trying to create a sentence (or sometimes two) that either includes the name or color of the ink, or relates to it somehow. Does anyone else do this? I would love to read your efforts. I don't claim to be a great writer, and on occasion I stretch the syntax and coherence of the writing, but here are some favorites so far: Dark Conradian heart, why so vexed? Quiz! Beg! Cajole! Plead! Fame cometh. (Noodler's Heart of Darkness) "Zhivago!" cried lara, vexedly, "your theme fades so quickly. Beware Japan!" I admit, this is a stretch.....(Noodler's Zhivago) The zealous hunter dashed across the landscape, quickening his pace as he sighted his quarry: xenophobic jackanapes and wart-infested mice -- vermin! (Noodler's Hunter Green) Obviously I wasn't going for brevity on this one. Rose, buxom purveyor of questionable buzz-cuts, void to hijack all gifts. (Diamine Scarlet) and one of my favorite but least relevant efforts: The zesty yogurt anxiously awaited granolification, kindly queuing with bread, jam and a plate of vittles. (Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses) I would love to hear other good alphabet inclusive quotes ......