One Pen One Month Challenge

[sandy101]

I'm planning on doing this again - with a Parker 51 now I've got the nib sorted. Just got to run the inks down on the other pens and then I'm ready to start.

Edited July 11, 2019 by sandy101

[sandy101]

Well, the month has gone by quickly. While I enjoyed using my blue M400 with the Stipula Dark Blue, it will be nice getting back to having a variety of inks and pens to choose from.

 

The M400 EF was a joy to use, of course, and I got more comments than I'm accustomed to, "What a beautiful pen!" being the most frequent. I only work 4 days (Wed - Sat) and don't write all that much but I topped the pen off on Wed and again on Fri so as not to run out (I normally have some free time to do sudokus on Fridays).

 

The Stipula is nicely behaved - fairly fast drying - and such a nice color, especially when it's just laid down on the copy paper we use, when you can see the gleam of the wetness before it's absorbed, yet still looks good when it's dried.

 

I did get sort of antsy towards the end; while I really only made some squiggles with the JIF with L'amant and the PaperMate with Take-sumi (refilled the cart in the JIF as a result), I flushed the Sport which had OS Nitrogen and refilled the cart using a 1/2 ink, 1/2 water mix, then did some squiggles over a few days just to check it (initial results seem good). The JIF with Pinkly has run dry, but I was going to move it to another JIF anyway and the M300 with Musk Green has run dry, also, so a flush there is in order, too.

 

All in all, a fun experience and might do it again in a couple years.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it and got something out of it. I remember getting antsy too - but I missed the inks more than I did other pens - which was unexpected.

 

I also had do adjust my grip again. Having spent a month using a relatively heavy pen, my hand found it a bit disconcerting to be holding a #3776 again.

[DrDebG]

Well, whether I wanted to or not, I just completed another one pen, one month challenge.

 

On June 30, my 87 year old mother fell ill. I quickly packed a bag, grabbed one of my Leonardo Momento Zero FPs and a pack of cartridges, and took the next plane out. I left my return open since I wasn't sure how long I would be gone. Once I arrived and had a couple of days to assess my mother's condition (her primary care physician wanted to put her on hospice), I called other family members and they made arrangements to come. My husband, with Cavaliers in tow, decided to drive up.

 

Before everyone arrived, I had a serious consultation with my mother's primary care physician and had the doctor run a few more blood tests. The tests revealed that my mother had an excessively high concentration of one of her heart medications. Her cardiologist received the results as well and immediately decreased the dosage and eventually took her off the medication entirely. Because of this, my mother's condition improved dramatically.

 

So, with other family members arriving, we had an extended family reunion, which was nice. But, as many people know, family reunions have their advantages and disadvantages. it was a fun time and challenging. But thankfully, Mom was doing well again . . . for now . . . and everyone was able to enjoy her company while she was at her best.

 

After being gone almost a month, on Monday, my husband and I drove the last family member to the airport, then started our two day drive home.

 

All during the month of July, I was limited to my Leonardo Momento Zero with fine nib and Montblanc Royal Blue cartridges. What a great combination. I fell in the love with the pen. I have owned the pen for several months and enjoyed writing with it, but I was really able to enjoy the subtleties of this pen. I love the weight, balance and overall feel, but quickly found that I do not like the step down behind the threads on the nib section. I hold the section fairly far back and the step down gets in my way. But other than this minor issue, the pen performed flawlessly. Once I finish this cartridge, the pen will get a well deserved cleaning and a "break" for a week or so.

[kealani]

"Only" 1 pen for a "whole month".

 

Are you sure it won't cause withdrawal symptoms?

 

j

[DrDebG]

"Only" 1 pen for a "whole month".

 

Are you sure it won't cause withdrawal symptoms?

 

j

 

 

I'm laughing because that is exactly how I feel before I start a one month challenge. "What am I going to do without this pen or that pen for a whole month!" But because this last month was a one pen, one month challenge - by accident - I didn't expect it to be and so I didn't really have any withdrawal.

 

I have found that it takes discipline to do this, but I really get to know my pen very well, and the pen gets to know me as well. I also learned what inks work well in the pen and which do not. This last month was the first time I did a one pen, one ink, one month challenge. And I learned so much about the ink as well and have a much better idea of how the ink will behave in other pens.

 

For me this was another good experience.

[sakshi__reddy]

Has anyone else started this challenge this year? I have been planning to do this for October, to coincide with Inktober. My currently inked pens are steadily dwindling, and I'm quite excited to begin this. I'm going with my Franklin Christoph 66 BCI eyedropper-ed with a yet unchosen ink. I'm thinking maybe MB Burgundy, but it's an ED so I'll be using the ink for a very, very long time and want to be quite sure about my choice.

 

1. Why have you chosen this pen?

This was the first 'fancy' pen I purchased, an immediate step up from my TWSBI Eco. I have always loved it dearly but it was quickly followed by other purchases as a dived deeper into the rabbit hole. So I never quite spent an extended time with it, and recently it hasn't seen much use. It's a practical and comfortable pen, and visually interesting enough that I hope it'll keep boredom at bay. The Masuyama nib is glorious, and I'm looking forward to spending quality time with it.

2. What do you hope to learn from using it it?

I want to figure out what it is that drives me to ink *so many* pens at a time. Colour? Variety? Aesthetics? What is it that I will miss the most? I use my pens to doodle, so I also want to see how (or if) limiting my pens affects my artistic interests. I also want to think about why it is that I actually keep buying pens, inspite of obviously not needing more. Not as a judgement call, but more as a self-awareness exercise.

3. What inks are you planning to use?

Thinking of MB Burgundy, but I am very conflicted.

4. Are there any problems or issues you think you might have?

Artsy challenges of going a whole month with only ONE colour. I suspect my pencils are going to start seeing a lot of use. Apart from this, I don't foresee anything major, except for the obvious test of will (must. not. ink).

5. What are you planning to purchase next?

I have a LE Sailor and an 823 in the mail, but don't have any other purchases planned.

[sandy101]

There is no need for you to use only one ink. Being able to change the inks is one of the features of a fountain pen - so you can change the ink should you wish to do so. The question is how useful this is on pens.

 

With piston/bladder fillers, once you've put the ink in, the chore of cleaning the pen to get a different ink/colour in can be a bit bothersome - so you may not wish to change inks as frequently as you might with a converter. One of the advantages of a converter is you can control the amount of ink you put in, so you can put a little in - and change inks more regularly should you choose.

 

You can use only one ink, if you choose - and the pen you choose might dictate that choice to some degree.

[A Smug Dill]

One of the advantages of a converter is you can control the amount of ink you put in, so you can put a little in - and change inks more regularly should you choose.

 

 

Surely you could do the same with a piston-filler pen? I mean, if you have 30.0ml of ink remaining in a bottle, what stops you from submerging the nib and drawing ink through the feed until only 29.7ml remains in the bottle, then withdraw the pen from the bottle, turn the pen upside down, and continue rotating the piston knob until it locks in normal position, if all you want is 0.3ml of ink in the pen?

 

This is without even going into the use of a syringe to fill a pen directly if the ink reservoir is accessible that way, irrespective of whether that reservoir is a converter, a sac or the space between the walls of the pen's barrel.

[sandy101]

If you want to spend your time doing that, knock yourself out. Whilst it is may be theoretically possible, I suspect users will find it rather tiresome. And no, I'm not unscrewing a fully functional piston pen for the sake of putting 0.3ml of ink into it with a syringe. It'll take longer to take the pen apart and put it back together again for the task to be worthwhile.

 

The main advantage of pistons, is that folk fill them and get up to weeks of daily, uninterrupted writing. Superb for novel writing - and business.

 

Cartridge/cartridge convertors tend to give you three days at most before you need a change. It's much easier to put in a quarter, or fifth of a convertor to write a letter, or a page or two or do a sketch.

[Karmachanic]

I, for one, do not find partially filling a piston pen the least bit burdensome. Takes no more time than partially filling a converter, as there is no need to remove the barrel.

[sansenri]

I've started the challenge at the beginning of this month with a Stipula Etruria Notte di San Lorenzo,

one of the more recent, cheaper versions of the Etruria, in resin, CC filler, to which however I have swapped the nib with a Stipula 14K M (the pen comes with a steel nib).

I'm taking advantage of the already raised questions adopted by others.

 

1. Why have you chosen this pen?

It started mostly by chance, I had bought this pen recently, filled it up with Diamine midnight, and took it to work.

As I started using it I noticed this combination (pen-nib-ink) works really well, so I just kept going, finished my first CC fill, filled it up again with same ink. Stipula Etruria has a particularly comfortable shape for me, so it is really a pen that I can use for long periods, and without knowing I am already beyond the third week of use.

2. What do you hope to learn from using it it?

I like changing pens, I like to use more than one a day, I like to write every day with a different one.

Doing this though I know that it's more difficult to really get to know well each pen, to deeply exploit its main advantages and really nail down the weak spots.

3. What inks are you planning to use?

Diamine midnight. For now it's the only ink I have used in it and it's working well.

During last week there was a while that lasted 1-2 days that I used the pen very seldom (I needed to focus on PC stuff...).

I found the ink had concentrated slightly and the pen showed some hard starting .

I took out the converter (that was 3/4 full), dipped it in a glass of water, drew up some, not quite to fill it completely, put it back in the pen, gave it a shake, primed the feed, and flow was back to nice and fluid.

4. Are there any problems or issues you think you might have?

none so far, besides the one mentioned above. The other back up pens in my pen holder are waiting there (a Visconti opera, an Omas Paragon, a Bexley OC 2016), nib up. Just out of curiosity I tested them now.

The Visconti Opera has dried up...however it must be said that it was filled much earlier than the Etruria, probably 2 months ago, and the converter is empty, it was probably almost empty long ago. Both the Omas and the Bexley wrote immediately without hesitation as soon as I put the nib to paper!

5. What are you planning to purchase next?

Now, this is a tough question, my list of wanted pens is unreasonably long, but since I have an opportunity the next pen will probably be a Stipula Novecento black.

[sakshi__reddy]

There is no need for you to use only one ink. Being able to change the inks is one of the features of a fountain pen - so you can change the ink should you wish to do so. The question is how useful this is on pens.

 

With piston/bladder fillers, once you've put the ink in, the chore of cleaning the pen to get a different ink/colour in can be a bit bothersome - so you may not wish to change inks as frequently as you might with a converter. One of the advantages of a converter is you can control the amount of ink you put in, so you can put a little in - and change inks more regularly should you choose.

 

You can use only one ink, if you choose - and the pen you choose might dictate that choice to some degree.

 

I know I am technically not restricted to one ink, but I do not like using my 66 with the converter, it ruins the aesthetics for me. So ED it is, and that means a large amount of ink...

 

Plus I can be very lazy with cleaning out and drying my pen in the evenings, so a larger capacity is just better overall.

[A Smug Dill]

One of the advantages of a converter is you can control the amount of ink you put in, so you can put a little in - and change inks more regularly should you choose.

If you want to spend your time doing that, knock yourself out. Whilst it is may be theoretically possible, I suspect users will find it rather tiresome.

It's not just theoretically possible, it's easily achievable as a practical outcome to most fountain pen users with little prerequisite training. Piston-fillers and eye-droppers do not place any technical constraints on how little ink one can put into a pen in that regard. I'm trying to dispel "limiting thoughts" and being an "enabler", by reducing the decision to personal choice of what is more important.

 

If a particular user feels that the effort of filling a pen — whether it's a piston-filler, eye-dropper or c/c-filled pen — is not worth the effort, then that's a struggle or dilemma that is internal to the user's psychology, and has nothing to do with what the extrinsic world (including the pens he/she has, and the technical designs of such) imposes on him/her such that his/her hands are tied and there is no individual choice to be made. If being able to change inks often without either flushing unused ink back into an ink bottle or down the drain is a priority, then for discussion purposes it ought not matter how that user feels about the effort required the first clause while complying with the second clause. We're not looking for perfect solutions that allow users to feel good in going with the "one pen one month challenge", just helping others see all the options (however "tiresome" or unpalatable) of coming to a compromise between different priorities.

 

So ED it is, and that means a large amount of ink...

There is not actual logical equivalence there. If you can drop 2ml of ink into an "ED" with an eye-dropper or syringe, then you can choose to drop only 0.2ml of the same ink into the barrel of that pen if that's what's important — control, including over one's emotional responses towards not filling the barrel of an "ED" pen to the fullest.

[sansenri]

seems a bit like looking for trouble 0,2 ml in an ED,

I know some EDs that never burp, but some do...

 

Anyway, I've been using the same ink in the pen, all way through so far. This particular period of time (just after summer holidays) at work is a bit less full of meetings (where I mostly take notes) and is more dedicated to setting up upcoming meetings in an expo I will attend end of next month, so short organizing notes mostly, and it's useful to use the same ink so my notes look tidy and readable.

 

I do often half fill converters, so I can finish the ink sooner and change ink...

When I do that though I usually also change the pen... It helps me rotate pens more frequently, which I like doing...

(not the scope here though)

[sakshi__reddy]

 

2. What do you hope to learn from using it it?

I like changing pens, I like to use more than one a day, I like to write every day with a different one.

 

Now that you're in the third week of using the same pen and ink, what do you find you miss most (if anything) about having lots of pens inked up?

 

 

 

There is not actual logical equivalence there. If you can drop 2ml of ink into an "ED" with an eye-dropper or syringe, then you can choose to drop only 0.2ml of the same ink into the barrel of that pen if that's what's important — control, including over one's emotional responses towards not filling the barrel of an "ED" pen to the fullest.

 

I believe this would be a simple case of differing priorities. You prize control, while I love the visual aesthetic of lots of ink in a frosted barrel. I am perfectly aware that I *can* put a measured amount of ink in the barrel, I simply choose not to.

[sansenri]

 

Now that you're in the third week of using the same pen and ink, what do you find you miss most (if anything) about having lots of pens inked up?

 

 

having more than one inked!

it's really hard...

not sure what it is, but I have developed a frenzy to pick up fountain pens... I suppose I'm not the only one here...

I have a few more inked actually, but I'm not using them at work, they're just back-ups...

(so hard to resist).

If anything happens during work time when I do need to have a pen ready, I will break the rule...and use another, but so far the pen-nib-ink choice has worked really well, and it's not been necessary.

At home I have a few more inked, admittedly I have doodled a little bit with them, but not written - e.g. I just got a new Lamy nib for my Wing Sung 3008, as I was mentioning in another thread, I was curious to try the nib so I filled it up, and found the new nib was misaligned, so I had to doodle more until I got it working well...

[sakshi__reddy]

...

I have developed a frenzy to pick up fountain pens... I suppose I'm not the only one here...

 

You're definitely not the only one Sansenri! I change pens very often too, and part of what I hope to learn from this is what exactly pushes me to do this. Good luck with the rest of your challenge, I hope you'll get back to us at the end with more results

[sakshi__reddy]

So I ended up writing my pens dry a week before I planned to. OPOM is officially on for me! I'll keep this going from today until the 25th of Oct. Ended up picking a nice barrel full of Sailor Tokiwa Matsu, and considering the Franklin Christoph's size, it should easily last me at least a week and a half. Let the temptation begin!

[sirgilbert357]

Ya'll are all nuts. I'm using all of my pens as much as I want! I use ALL of them in a single day sometimes!! Ha!! Of course, I only have 13, so....

[Intensity]

I used to use one pen a month routinely back when I used ballpoint pens or gel pens exclusively in my college years and for a while afterwards. Wasn't anything special to it--I just didn't care enough about my writing instrument to change. The major fun of using fountain pens now is the experience and some variety of inks and nibs/pens. As much as I can see that this is a fun exercise for some people, it's definitely not one that has any meaning for myself. I have about 20 fountain pens and plan on continuing having 3-5 inked up at a time with different inks for different purposes. Usually at least one with some form of Brown for my journal, one with blue-black for checks, signatures, and such, and the rest with whatever seems fun at the moment.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Intensity