Your Fountain Pens In Five Years Time

[oregano]

Out of all my pens, I enjoy Pelikans the most, and Aurora when i’m in the mood. There are about four or five past editions of Pelikans that are on my wishlist (from the city series, ruby red, Toledo), but quite expensive now. I have enough pens that I actually can’t use them all at the same time, so I have hesitated to buy more, and suspect I will venture into collector territory in the next five years if I continue to add more pens to my collection. Nonetheless, chances are if I buy more pens, it will be a Pelikan! I am still excited to see what they come up with next.

[chravagni]

My daughter is almost 5 year old, and is already looking for the moments in which I'm less aware or more tired for trying my fountain pens. She already owns her own Pelikano Griffix and Pelikano Twist, but clearly my blingy M-somethings are fancier for her.

 

I'll imagine, in five year she will own quite a number of my pens. I hope I'll still have some 😃 but I'm not sure.

 

Edited for typos.

Edited February 7, 2019 by chravagni

[Nurmister]

progressed to be much more sophisticated as time has past. Progressing from $4.00 school pens such as Sheaffer's and Parker's bought at Ben Franklin's 5 and dime stores to art stores finally finding office supply stores offerings. But it wasn't until I landed in biggest cities than the farming community I grew up in to big cities I was stationed at once I entered the military. It wasn't until the early 90's when I found my very first dedicated FOUNTAIN PEN SHOP in a Chicago mall. It's all been down hill or up hill, which ever way one views it!

 

But never fear I'M TOTALLY HOOKED! My newest is the Blue m120 new reproduction model I'm over joyed/thrilled with it and Levengers Cobalt Blue ink to make a fantastic pairing!

 

Gosh, that journey itself sounds priceless. Enjoy your pens in good health now that you have more time -- don't know if I'll be as alive and kicking about fountain pens when I'm grey!

[Nurmister]

My daughter is almost 5 year old, and is already looking for the moments in which I'm less aware or more tired for trying my fountain pens. She already owns her own Pelikano Griffix and Pelikano Twist, but clearly my blingy M-somethings are fancier for her.

 

I'll imagine, in five year she will own quite a number of my pens. I hope I'll still have some but I'm not sure.

 

Edited for typos.

 

Sounds like a good way to develop her finer motor skills. I only started with fountain pens in 2012, but learned cursive in third grade (with pencils and old-school slide projectors). Would have loved to learn it with ink, as Germans do.

[7is]

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Hmmm, is the question/thread specifically about my collection of Pelikan pens and/or relationship with Pelikan as a brand in five years' time, or more general across brands (and countries of origin)?

 

 

I admit that I started this thread in the Pelikan forum by mistake. It meant to be more general.

 

Thank you all for the replies!

 

Ages ago, fountain pens for me were just tools. Over the last five years they have become a fascinating hobby, which allowed me to try something new beyond my old Heros, Vectors, Rialtos and nonbranded supermarket finds. However, I'm settling again, using 3 or 4 pens exclusively for months. My Pelikan 100 has been with me for over three years. Apart from some 400s, no other pen seems to meet so closely my practical and aesthetic needs.

 

Despite enjoying long reads on history of and culture surrounding fountain pens, fixing or adjusting an odd find, they are becoming again just tools.

 

I'm still thinking about one more replacement, maybe CONID or a new more intriguing incarnation of the M101n, but in five years time I suppose I will be using just one or two pens to cover most situations. I don't feel I need more anymore.

 

I started this thread because I wonder how our relationship with a fountain pen evolves and whether we can predict what it will look like in the future.

Edited March 7, 2019 by 7is

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

I don't yet think of fountain pens as a hobby. I've written with one since I was a teen. It's just another pen - a pen that feels comfortable and doesn't need replacing every few weeks (I write a lot).

 

For the last few decades, I just had two pens and one bottle of ink. (Cross and a Waterman) I usually keep both pens inked and with me so I don't have to stop writing if I run out of ink partway through a page.

 

This winter is the first I heard about using a fountain pen as a hobby. What happened is my local stationary store stopped selling ink. When I looked on Amazon, I discovered that there were different brands of ink and things grew from there. Now I own... gosh, maybe 5 bottles of ink and I'm experimenting with some affordable different styles of fountain pens to figure out what I like (there are different styles of pens too - this is great news). I also bought a new fountain pen (from the Ferris Wheel Press Kickstarter - and I love it!) and retired my first pen until I can find a new nib for it. So I'm still at two main pens.

 

Five years from now I can see myself with four main pens (two for home and two for my handbag) and two or three cheaper ones for colour ink for editing documents. I can see myself with two favourite inks and a collection of a dozen or more bottles of ink.

 

Before I get there, I suspect I'll go through a phase where I buy lots of ink samples to find the one that fits my style best of all. I don't know if I can truly get into it as a hobby though. To me, a pen is a way to write. I can't stand biros or any of the modern pens I've tried. A fountain pen is by far the easiest pen for me to use. It's a bit like typewriters. You can only easily use one at a time, but one can never have too many typewriters pens.

Edited March 7, 2019 by the-smell-of-dust-after-rain

[sargetalon]

Can you imagine which of your pens may still be in use or rotation in five years time? What may be like your relation with fountain pens in general in the future? What is it like now? Is it likely to change or evolve significantly? A bigger or more defined collection or just a few selected pens you may fall in love with on your way? I hope you don't mind me asking.

 

 

I think that I will continue to use all of my growing collection as I do now. My use of fountain pens is casual and not every day presents an opportunity. I don't see that changing much in the future one way or another. I anticipate that my collection will continue to grow and continue to focus on Pelikan for the foreseeable future. Too many favorites to pick just a few.