Greetings and salutations from California

May 22, 2022

Hello friends, I have come to check joining this site off of my To Do list.

On the net I go by Nix, so you can call me that--and I use gender-neutral pronouns, preferably xe/xem or they/them. I hail from west coast USA and I miss old-internet-style forums, so FPN was a lovely find for me. I tend to do an excessive amount of research when getting new things, and detailed searches to determine the best pen/ink for marginalia in cheap paperbacks led me repeatedly here, and I decided I had to join in on the enthusiasm.

Started using fountain pens one for the vibes and two because I like to write longform, but I have small handwriting and my hand will cramp and ache. When I looked into how to use pens in a less strenuous way, fountain pens were one of the options suggested, and I became enamored with the idea and set out to acquire some. Honestly, I probably should have predicted the interest, given that I spent a great deal of my childhood collecting turkey feathers and carving them for use as quills, and carrying around dip nib pens with pigment ink from Aaron Brothers rather than just using fineliners for my (bleep) art in adolescence.

I'm still honing my precise preferences and routine, but I so far own a Pilot Falcon/Elabo, Pilot Metropolitan, Lamy Safari, Lamy Joy, Jinhao Shark, some calligraphy Speedballs, a couple no-name cheaper pens from random stores, a Pilot Penmanship, Kaweco Skyline Sport... I think that's it right now. I primarily started with cartridges and am now branching out into cartridge converters so I can experiment with inks. I've only dallied somewhat with FP-friendly papers as well, though I've found so far that Rhodia notebooks appeal to me.

Anyway, delighted to be here; reach out if you like!

Obligatory attached handwriting pics in a few of my pens--