So many inks, so few pens

[Skydiver]

I broke my rule of no more than three pens inked up at a time. In for a penny, in for a pound. I don't have enough pens with nib varieties to give a particular ink a full workout. Should I grab a bunch of Preppy's and Jinhoa's to get a range of nibs? Or do I just make a giant spreadsheet with what looks like a game rotation schedule so that a particular ink gets a chance to be in a particular pen and nib combination?

 

[A Smug Dill]

54 minutes ago, Skydiver said:

Should I grab a bunch of Preppy's and Jinhoa's to get a range of nibs?

 

But what range could you get out of those?

 

Platinum Preppy: 02, 03, and 05 nibs

Jinhao: hooded EF (or ‘financial’) and ‘art’ (or ‘bent’, or ‘fude’) nibs; Lamy Z50-style (or ‘aeroplane’) 03, EF, and F nibs; number 26 (i.e. 26mm total length) open EF, F, M, and ‘art’ nibs; number 35 nibs (of which I'm not sure which nib widths and types exist)

 

Aren't you better off getting a Lamy pen (other than the Lamy 2000), and then a bunch of different Z50 nibs — EF, F, M, B, A, LH, 1.1, 1.5, 1.9, Hanzi — to swap onto it as you please? Never mind that each standalone nib (being bare pieces of metal) will cost more than a Platinum Preppy or Jinhao 82.

[Skydiver]

Great suggestion! I think inking just one pen and easily swapping the nibs will pay for itself. 

[Skydiver]

Probably just need two additional pens to cover the Japanese EF and F.

[A Smug Dill]

8 hours ago, Skydiver said:

Probably just need two additional pens to cover the Japanese EF and F.

 

Can't go too wrong with Pilot Kakuno for those nib widths, and they're relatively cheap, as long as you don't mind the poor cap seal effectiveness.

[Skydiver]

Should be good enough for testing purposes since my envisioned goal is just to see how an ink looks like across multiple widths. I plan to clean out the pen relatively quickly.

[DrPlush]

You should do whatever brings you the most joy. Personally, I think trying every ink in every nib combo and tracking inks in a spreadsheet both sound miserable. I just use whichever ink I feel like using in whichever pen I feel like using, which I bought over time because I wanted them (and didn’t have something substantially similar). I have a wide variety of nibs because I do enjoy a wide variety and I feel like using different ones at various times, but I don’t think it is in any way necessary to have a certain variety of nibs for the sake of it. Who cares if I never find out what RO Cosmic Swirl looks like in an UEF — I already know it’s a delight to use in the European B I have it in.

 

That said, I also think the more familiar you get with ink properties, the more you can predict how an ink will behave in different widths without actually trying it, based on the swatch or using it in a broader pen. Cosmic Swirl shades but not incredibly so, so I can make a reasonable prediction that in a fine nib it’ll be a fairly flat mid-tone purple. The TWSBI inks are flat in swatches and boring in the pen I tried them in, so I can predict they’ll be flat and I won’t like them no matter the nib. That sort of familiarity just takes time. So, I guess I can’t really relate to either why it’s necessary to try an ink in every width, but if that’s what brings you the most joy then 🤷‍♀️.

 

Personally, I find it more useful to keep an ink log where I write down what ink I’ve put in whatever pen, so in the long-term I can usually (but not always) see an idea of inks look like in a variety of pens. Some people do this by having a notebook with a page dedicated to each ink so they can see different nibs with the same ink all together, but I just do it chronologically.

[Lithium466]

9 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Can't go too wrong with Pilot Kakuno for those nib widths, and they're relatively cheap, as long as you don't mind the poor cap seal effectiveness.

Despite its lack of inner cap, I find my 78G+ excellent in that regard. Not sure, but I think they share the same nibs.

Might be harder to get compared to a Kakuno though.

[welch]

A warning: Bobo Olson will be along soon to remind you to dest every pen and ink on a different paper. "The writing experience is nib + ink + paper", he often says. And he's right. A particular pen and ink will look and feel great, but on a different paper it won't...

[A Smug Dill]

14 hours ago, DrPlush said:

Personally, I think trying every ink in every nib combo and tracking inks in a spreadsheet both sound miserable.

 

It would be miserable to/for me, too, if I was being psychologically compelled by completionism, including coverage of what I have no interest in actually using, e.g. Oblique and Broad nibs; and even more so if I was yielding to (self-inflicted, or peer) pressure to publish or “share” a complete overview (or review, or report) on an ink as an information resource or reference material, as opposed to merely trying to “complete” my personal knowledge or experience of something.

 

But carefully planning, and tracking something by spreadsheet, in itself is not a chore if it's part of an enjoyable aspect of a hobby.

[inkstainedruth]

15 hours ago, DrPlush said:

Personally, I find it more useful to keep an ink log where I write down what ink I’ve put in whatever pen, so in the long-term I can usually (but not always) see an idea of inks look like in a variety of pens. Some people do this by having a notebook with a page dedicated to each ink so they can see different nibs with the same ink all together, but I just do it chronologically.

I tried to keep one a few years ago where I had a page dedicated for each pen, to keep track of which inks worked well (or not) in that specific pen.  But then I kept buying more pens and more inks.  

When I test inks (which I'm also SERIOUSLY behind on) I will sometimes list other pens I've used a particular ink in, and also list other inks (and the pen they were in) as comparisons.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Skydiver]

So far, I've also been trying to track chronologically of what inks have been in which pen (and the nib for that pen). It's my "inked pens" log section in my notebook where I try to keep track of what inks is in which pen, and when the pen was inked or last cleaned.

 

I like that idea of doing a page dedicated to an ink and writing samples.

 

Part of what is making me want to actively test multiple nibs is my other thread where I was noting that the same ink on the same paper but out of different pens (and corresponding nibs), the ink color was coming out different. And yes, Bobo Olsen commented on that thread about the fountain pen trifecta. 🙂

 

Perhaps the fun is in the discovery at the time when a combination of pen, ink, and paper come together rather than a systematic mapping of a periodic table of the combinations.

 

[Waltz For Zizi]

So many pens, so few inks (but I don't want more inks either), but I do want more pens.

[Skydiver]

Lol! To quote Brian Goulet from a recent Pencast: "Quantity is its form of Quality."

[SLinkster]

2 hours ago, Skydiver said:

Lol! To quote Brian Goulet from a recent Pencast: "Quantity is its form of Quality."

 

In my primary avocation/hobby we have a lot of S.E.X. - Stash Enhancement Experiences. And if we've been S.E.X.ing it up for any period of time (say, more than five years) we potentially achieve S.A.B.L.E. - Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy. This applies to both equipment and consumables. 

 

Sadly this condition has bled into my auxiliary hobbies.

 

So many expensive items to dispose of in the will... 

[Bo Bo Olson]

You should have bought a 100 sheet box or a ream of good to better papers, with every three inks you bought. In that is the waxed smooth dance floor your nib and ink tango on.

 

Do divide your ink out into vivid boring monotone saturated inks, two toned shading inks and those having sheen. Now, what do you want those inks to do.

 

How big a width spectrum do you have? EF, F, M, B, or BB?

Each will make an ink seem different and often onthe same paper. A different paper will be different, some more others less.

 

Do you have any semi-flex nibbed pens.....that is NOT a flex nib but a flair nib. Natural line variation with out you having to do anything but write normally. Normal pressure at the wider section of a letter will make that wider.

Vintage semi-flex is normally too wet for most shading inks.

 

Do you want the ink to give you line variation, shading, and or sheen. What nib on what paper will do that best?

Let me know next year.

 

I did it all wrong, lots of pens (Pen of the Week in the Mail Club) , then chased inks, and finally wised up to get some good to better papers.

 

I chase the nib.....if one alternates stub and CI in nail nibs, there are some 35 different width and flex nibs one can get. I think I have 30...or was that 45? And I still got 30 different width and flex nibs, often doubled.

 

[Skydiver]

Getting to step back from this and think about my goals some more: My main nibs of interest are Japanese EF, Japanese F, European EF, European F for everyday use because of my handwriting size. I play with the 1.1m stub occasionally. The other widths in between don't really interest me, yet.

 

I said "yet", because I am in the process of changing my signature. I don't have a dedicated signature only pen yet because I'm leaving open the possibility that the new signature I settle on would look better with a M, B, or stub.

 

Off topic: Balancing having a name with at least 16 letters, and trying to transition from a ineligible scribble, but still fit in the small areas for signatures in forms, and not spend half a day signing papers for a house closing is tough. Maybe Prince had the right idea about changing names. 🙂 The lawyers made me redo signatures for one house closing because my regular signature was inlegible. They made me do my second grade cursive scrawls so that my name could be read despite my protests that is not my regular signature.

 

Back on topic: I found a small cache of my paper collection from many many years ago. I now plan on expanding it some more.

[Penguincollector]

On 10/12/2023 at 11:16 AM, SLinkster said:

 

In my primary avocation/hobby we have a lot of S.E.X. - Stash Enhancement Experiences. And if we've been S.E.X.ing it up for any period of time (say, more than five years) we potentially achieve S.A.B.L.E. - Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy. This applies to both equipment and consumables. 

 

Sadly this condition has bled into my auxiliary hobbies.

 

So many expensive items to dispose of in the will... 

 
  My husband is a guitar player/collector; they suffer from Gear Aquisition Syndrome, which definitely spreads to other hobbies and members of the household. 

[Doc Dan]

47 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

 
  My husband is a guitar player/collector; they suffer from Gear Aquisition Syndrome, which definitely spreads to other hobbies and members of the household. 

Lovely cockatiel. They make the best and most loving pets.

 

It is not only guitar players. Wet shavers have acquisition syndrome, too. For me it was straight razors, but now someone got me into fountain pens and they are a lot worse and more expensive!

[Doc Dan]

I'm thinking of buying an el cheapo TWSBI Go or a Pilot Metropolitan that is quick to fill and easier to clean so I can try out new inks. What do you all think of my plan?