Cheers From Houston, Texas

[jessjordan1]

Cheers from Houston, Texas! I'm glad to be here and I hope you can all teach me a thing or two (or a million!).

 

I'm very new to the fountain pen world. I picked up calligraphy last year and was hooked. Calligraphy led to hoarding inks and now, fountain pens!

 

My first order from Goulet Pens arrived today. I have used LAMY rollerballs for years and decided to pick up one of the petrol fine-nibbed fountain pens. I filled a converter with J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor and must say, I'm in love! I also ordered a Noodler's Ahab with the flex nib to have something like a calligraphy dip.

 

As I dive in deeper, I'm seeing all of the beautiful pens from other companies. I think I would like to get a Monteverde Invicia in black chrome next and maybe a LAMY Al-Star, but I want to see how I do with the two I have now. I'm open to suggestions for next purchases, though!

 

Any tips for beginners?

[OCArt]

Welcome to our little corner of the universe from a pen user in San Diego.

[mitto]

Greetings and welcome to FPN.

[Henricum_Tropen]

Hello and welcome to FPN, from Cape Town, South Africa.

[jar]

Welcome home. Pull up a stump and set a spell. Best tip, head over to Rice Blvd and Dromgooles.

[ThomasB]

Hello and welcome from Baton Rouge, Louisiana...Enjoy your time here

[AAAndrew]

Welcome! Love the enthusiasm, it's very familiar.

 

My main tip for beginners is to use the pens you have, figure out what you like and don't like, before buying lots and lots of pens. It's very tempting, and there are so many to choose from!

 

If you're interested in trying out flex, and you like calligraphy, my strongest recommendation is to try out some dip pens first. They're much cheaper than (good) flexible fountain pens, and give you and idea whether you like that kind of writing or not. IAMPETH's web site has a ton of great calligraphy info. John Neal Books or Paper Ink Arts are two well-respected web-retailers of modern nibs and all the supplies you'd need. They'd be happy to get you set up with a beginning set of stuff, just contact them. (I'm very fond of powdered walnut ink for practice, it's soooo much cheaper and works wonderfully)

 

For broad nib calligraphy (italic, black letter, etc...) the Pilot Parallel pens are superb, and a lot of fun. The ink they use is also quite amazing.

 

And speaking of ink, try to get samples whenever possible of an ink you think you might like. They're a great way to determine if an ink is just what you want, or something you could easily live without. It's so easy to accumulate a ton of full ink bottles you'll never use. "Hey, it's only $10, $20" is a slippery slope.

 

Good luck, welcome and any questions about pointed pen dip nibs, I'm happy to drone on and on help.

[Sasha Royale]

Welcome, JessJordan !

 

Ask anything ! The membership is generous with its experience. I often learn from the questions of new members, and from the discussions that follow.

 

The Texans of Houston are teaching us about courage and character, this year. I am pleased to be welcoming you.

 

Did your package from Goulet Pens include a Tootsie Roll Pop ?

[PAKMAN]

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! Glad to have you as a member!!

[PenChalet]

Welcome to the Fountain Pen Network! We're glad to have you with us!

Our tip would be to do some research here on FPN. Check out the Fountian & Dip Pens -First Stop section and if you can't find anything you're curious about, ask away. There are many, many, people who are willing to help!

[inkstainedruth]

Greetings from Pittsburgh!

I generally recommend that new people click on the "View New Content" button when they log in, to get a good overview of a lot of topics. Don't do what I did when I started, which was to read the Parker Forum. In its entirety.... 5-1/2 years ago it was 175 PAGES of threads.... It's bigger now.

Also, have a look at the pinned Index to the Ink Reviews Forum (I had no idea how many different brands and colors were out there, having spent several years before that using Quink Permanent Blue cartridges and nothing else.

Safaris are good starter pens if you can deal with the triangular grip (I didn't think I could until someone sent me a cheap Chinese knockoff). But if you have rollerballs you know what the grip is like. They're well made and pretty rugged (I have one of the Dark Lilac ones they made last year and I love it, even though I also have some way more expensive pens. My understanding is that the nibs are pretty easy to change on Safaris, and various width Italic nibs are available.

I don't have an Ahab, but I have several Konrads, which I believe use the same nibs. They're semi-flex at best, so the suggestion of trying dip pens first is a good one. Once you get some experience with them under your belt, you may want to have a look at something like the Desiderata Pens, which use dip pen nibs, although they are a lot more expensive than a Safari (I have one that's a prototype, and while I found the Zebra G nib on it to be scratchy and it tore most paper I used, replacement nibs are only a couple of bucks).

Oh, you should know we are all shameless enablers here, and will gladly help you spend your discretionary budget on pens, inks, paper, repair tools, etc. (And just wait till you find the vintage pen rabbit hole.... )

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[AAAndrew]

Greetings from Pittsburgh!

...

Oh, you should know we are all shameless enablers here, and will gladly help you spend your discretionary budget on pens, inks, paper, repair tools, etc. (And just wait till you find the vintage pen rabbit hole.... )

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Amen!

[Carrau]

Welcome aboard, from Charleston, SC. I have a couple of Lamy Safaris and AlStars, as well as some more expensive pens, but I still enjoy the Lamy products. One of the advantages of using the Lamy's as a newbie, is that the nibs are easily changed out, allowing you to try different nibs without buying a new pen each time ( I've attached a link to a YouTube vid on how to do this, courtesy of Goulet Pens, and it really is as easy as Brian Goulet makes it seem). There are other inexpensive pens that you can also buy nibs for inexpensively, such as Jinhao, so Lamy is not the only pen that has this option. As a newbie, you might look at the Reference Pages on a website called Richard's Pens: it has a wealth of info about the basics of fountain pens, their use and care, and it will help you avoid making some mistakes. A couple of other websites with useful information for newbies include PenChalet, Jetpens and the Goulet Pen Company. Goulet has made quite a few videos available on their website and on YouTube, which are helpful with some procedures related to FP use. Bear in mind that how your writing appears on the page is a complex interplay of pen, paper, nib, ink, and handwriting, so be patient as you experiment with these variables. Enjoy, and good luck.

Mike

[JWil]

Welcome from Santa Rosa, CA

[Chrissy]

Hello and welcome to FPN. ​

[fjoly79]

welcome to FPN and I hope you will find as I did as many resources and pleasure sharing your experiences using pens, inks and paper!

[DaveT]

Hello and welcome from Indiana!

[akrohn2010]

Hello and welcome! Nothing beats seeing pens in person but if you're looking for something new, some great beginner pens besides Lamy are: Nemosine Singularity, Jinhao x450/x750/992, Pilot Metro, TWSBI Eco. All are $30 or less and relatively reliable ways to try different pen styles, nibs, etc.

 

Good luck!

~AK