Hi there!

[Ashenden]

Longtime lurker but first post. Hoping to become more active in the near future! 

 

A bit about me, collection of about 150 pens and 300+ inks, love Pilot pens and that's the majority of my collection, but the rest of it is across many brands. Went to my first pen show a year and a half ago. Off and on journaler; getting into calligraphy and doing OK with that. 

 

Hope to meet and chat with some of you!

—r

[singlechange]

Your collection of 150 pens and 300 plus inks is really something.  Not many here can claim this I bet.  When you have some time, we love photographs.  So let's see a few of your favorite writers and inks.  Nice to have you on this wonderful forum for resource in all things fountain pens.  Welcome.

[OCArt]

[inkstainedruth]

Greetings from Pittsburgh, PA!  

What got you interested in pens to begin with?  For me, I trying to do a creativity course in a book called The Artist's Way.  Besides doing the "think outside the box" exercises in each week's chapter, you keep what's called a "morning pages journal" where when you get up every morning, the first thing you do is write three pages (whatever goes into your head goes down on the page); then you put the book aside and go about the rest of your day.  I hadn't kept a diary or journal since I was in high school, so in order to get back in the habit I decided to buy a "nice" journal and "nice" pen.  In retrospect, the paper wasn't good, and the pen was a cheap Parker Reflex with a rubberized grip; and when the rubber started to disintegrate, I got a second one, but the same thing happened.  And couldn't get a third one.  So went online and found a place near me that at the time was an authorized Parker dealer, and got a Vector.  But then a couple of years later left the pen and the then current journal at my in-laws' house in CT one January.  And by then I was so used to using the pen for morning pages, using another pen till I got the pen and current volume back just didn't have the same "feel" to it.  So in the process of trying to get a temporary replacement (especially since I still had cartridges) I found my way to the Goulet Pens website, and also to FPN.

Now I tell people I have somewhere between "too many" pens and "not enough".   My husband, OTOH, tells people that the pens were just the gateway to the ink collection....

I generally tell new folks to click on the "new content" button when they log in, to get a good range of topics.  And to check out the pinned Index to the Ink Reviews.  But I also warn them that they've found themselves amongst evil enablers, who will happily help them spend their discretionary budget on pens, inks, paper, desk accessories, repair tools, pen shows, and ephemera....  

Have fun here -- and remember: the only dumb questions are the ones that don't get asked....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[northstar]

Hello and welcome to FPN.

[PAKMAN]

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! So glad to have you as a member!!

[Duffy]

[Ashenden]

18 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

But I also warn them that they've found themselves amongst evil enablers, who will happily help them spend their discretionary budget on pens, inks, paper, desk accessories, repair tools, pen shows, and ephemera....  

LOL... I'm probably the worst enabler there is. 

 

I've used fountain pens all my life, but off and on. I'm somewhat old, so that's been quite a few years now.

 

I had a Shaeffer No Nonsense in high school and college which I unfortunately lost somehow after I graduated. My daughter got me back into the hobby in a more serious way what, around a decade and a half ago (?) when she and I visited a local fountain pen store where I bought a Parker. Over the subsequent years I bought quite a few pens while Massdrop was doing bulk buys, which is where I got most of my Pilot Metros and a few nice Pelikan pens. I've purchased a half-dozen to a dozen or so pens per year since. My collection includes several Namiki (one Yukari) pens; several Sailor, Esterbrook, Pelikan, and Diplomats; maybe a dozen Platinums; most current models of Pilot (including 24 Parallels alone and 10 Preras, both of which I use for calligraphy); a Nahvalur, a Schon Dsgn, a couple of Kawecos, couple of Lamys, and a couple dozen one-off pens from other different brands. I'm more a modern pen collector than vintage, but there are a few select vintage pens I'm looking to acquire as time and money allow. I did find a NIB Shaeffer No Nonsense on Ebay that I bought two years ago as a bit of nostalgia for that first lost fountain pen that really got me started on this hobby. It's the wrong color, but it still reminds me of way back when.

 

I stocked up an entire drawer of Tomoe River paper when it was discontinued. I am in my third year of buying Diamine Inkvent... I almost bought the Colorverse advent too but had to skip due to other things I wanted to spend money on—I'm an amateur astronomer and I'm socking away money for a new telescope to add to my telescope collection. (and with 300 bottles of ink already, do I need it? but boy, it was tempting. And I still may change my mind).

 

I did go to my first pen show in Chicago a year and a half ago. I'm thinking about going to the CA pen show in 2025 but it depends on how much time I have. I've signed up for three Pelikan Hubs but could only make one due to timing, but this year's Hub group is thinking about doing a meetup in December, so that's good. I'm hoping to meet some new people here and make some pen-minded friends.

 

 

 

[Ashenden]

18 hours ago, singlechange said:

Your collection of 150 pens and 300 plus inks is really something.  Not many here can claim this I bet.  When you have some time, we love photographs.  So let's see a few of your favorite writers and inks.  Nice to have you on this wonderful forum for resource in all things fountain pens.  Welcome.

 

 

Okay, for starters, here's two trays of 14 trays of pen storage (some I keep in pen rolls), which is just part of my Pilot collection. There's also about a dozen+ Metros, 24 Parallels, and 10 Preras. I do tend to collect multiples of pens I like, esp the Parallels and Preras, so I can have multiple pens inked up with different colors at the same time (for calligraphy and artwork), and also to have different nib sizes as I tend to vary between what nib I like at any given time. 

[Mechanical]

19 hours ago, Raji said:

collection of about 150 pens and 300+ inks

What can I say… you’re clearly doing this right.  Welcome!

[AmandaW]

Thankyou for the eye candy. Or not. What is the pretty pink pen second from the right of the top row...

 

[Ashenden]

36 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

Thankyou for the eye candy. Or not. What is the pretty pink pen second from the right of the top row...

 

That’s a Pilot Grance. I bought mine directly from Japan although they are starting to be marketed in the US now. They also come in a blue and some other colors. There are versions with gold nibs and some with steel. These two are 14k. The finish is slightly iridescent and really pretty.

[inkstainedruth]

I just checked to see what these are like.  Goulet Pens now has them in five different colors.  I'm tempted by a couple of the colors (and while not lightweight they're with the range that would be comfortable for me to use) -- but they're also NOT exactly cheap, either.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Ashenden]

8 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

I just checked to see what these are like.  Goulet Pens now has them in five different colors.  I'm tempted by a couple of the colors (and while not lightweight they're with the range that would be comfortable for me to use) -- but they're also NOT exactly cheap, either.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

They are much cheaper if you order them direct from Japan. There is a reliable seller on Ebay that I use, penpen-avenue, and they are around $100 for the 14k. I'm looking actually to get a blue one in fine nib as I already have a medium and medium fine. It is a smallish pen I think best suited for small hands or people that like slimmer pens.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the heads up.

I've only gotten one pen from Japan via eBay, but again, it was a seller with 100% positive feedback.  There was a bit of communication issues (in that the seller's command of English wasn't great and my Japanese is basically confined to "Hai" and "konichiwa" (I think that's how that's spelled in Western script).  The seller warned me that normally shipping via economy airmail to the US was 10-14 days -- but might be longer, since I was ordering the pen the day before Thanksgiving, and while sitting in my sister-in-law's apartment in NYC at the time).  And it took...  11.  Eleven days from somewhere in Japan to get to my house.  I was able to track the package through Japan Post until it got stateside; it was in and out of US Customs in the NYC area in a matter of hours, and THEN was able to track the package through USPS until it was out for delivery (and then in the afternoon, the mailman was knocking at my door because I had to sign for the package).  EXCELLENT experience with the seller (who did NOT lose a smattering of the 100% positive feedback ratings already had).  If that seller had anything else I wanted, and for a reasonable price?  I wouldn't HESITATE to hit the buy button (sadly, I looked recently and the seller didn't seem to be on eBay anymore).  I got what I wanted, and for less than the US distributor markup, and five years later Pilot USA FINALLY started carrying Pilot Decimos in Light Grey -- their loss (shrug).  I guess Pilot realized that their "marketing decision" to NOT carry that color in the US was a poor one....  But (like the woman on the buckboard in an ad on TV from the late 1970s for Levis 501s in women's sizes said): "YOU'RE YEARS TOO LATE!"

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Ashenden]

33 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

The seller warned me that normally shipping via economy airmail to the US was 10-14 days -- but might be longer, since I was ordering the pen the day before Thanksgiving, and while sitting in my sister-in-law's apartment in NYC at the time).  And it took...  11.  Eleven days from somewhere in Japan to get to my house.  I was able to track the package through Japan Post until it got stateside; it was in and out of US Customs in the NYC area in a matter of hours, and THEN was able to track the package through USPS until it was out for delivery (and then in the afternoon, the mailman was knocking at my door because I had to sign for the package).

 

This is consistent with the delivery times I've had with Japanese sellers. I've purchased 6 pens from the Ebay seller I mentioned, and one directly from a random stationery store in Japan (the Custom 74 Oesthe Kai Benifuji limited edition on the top right in my photo) that I ordered by direct email communication. That transaction also went flawlessly, but I felt good about it from the beginning because they had been recommended to me by a friend who has dealt with them before.

[inkstainedruth]

The seller I bought the Light Grey Decimo from?  A few years ago I was at a pen show and went over to say hi to Pierre Miller of Desiderata Pens at his table (when he first got started, I was one of the people who got to play-test the stuff he was making, and had had a couple of phone calls from him discussing what I'd liked and didn't like, then got to meet him when he had a table at DCSS the last time I went (before the show moved to a new site).  Then went over to say hi to him at another show (I think it was OPS that fall).  Another customer was saying that he didn't know what eBay sellers were good and which ones weren't.  And Pierre said "I've found a good seller in Japan!"  And I said, "Yeah, me too!" and then discovered that Pierre and I were talking about the SAME seller! 

Of course, for eBay, I've ALSO learned (the hard way) to read the reviews if a vendor does NOT have 100% positive feedback -- after getting stiffed by a seller with literally tens of thousands of transactions over the years but NOT 100% positive ratings.   I was totally PO'd and filed a dispute -- which was adjudicated in my behalf in a matter of HOURS.  I got my money back AND got to keep the pens (NOT, BTW, the "set" that the seller advertised, and NOT including the converter as listed for the FP).  But was NOT allowed to provide feedback as a result!   So now wondering how many OTHER people that same seller stiffed over the years and if disputes were filed and as a result the buyers were NOT allowed to provide feedback....

Of course, a couple of years ago, I got stiffed by a seller who DID have 100% positive feedback (I got my money back but I'm now wondering if the seller didn't have the pen in question at ALL -- or just got a better offer from someone else).  And eBay was again going, "You can't provide feedback on a cancelled transaction...."   And *I* said, basically. "Yeah?  Hold my beer!!!!" and did it anyway....  I heard about the cancelled transaction from PayPal BEFORE I'd heard from eBay -- OR the seller, for that matter....  (It was a "BiN" or "Make an Offer" so I did and the seller accepted it and then reneged....  And the thing that PO'd me the MOST?  That seller had 100% positive ratings AND was the only seller in the US who had the pen listed....  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Ashenden]

There's always an element of uncertainty when dealing with online retailers. I'm like you, they pretty much better have 100% ratings. If it's less than that, I read the negative reviews to find out why (some buyers are just... Karens, I guess). 

 

I've only had one transaction go wrong. I got the pen I ordered, but the seller had misrepresented the condition as Like New, when it in fact looked like it had been used and not gently—scratches everywhere, one so deep that I at first thought it was a crack. I happened to be on vacation when the pen was delivered so didn't open it for several days after receipt. When I sent the seller the pictures of the scratches (they were quite obvious), he accused me in the public reply system of having used the pen and done the damage to it myself. I have a 100% positive rating on Ebay and take pride in being honest in my dealings. It was quite offensive. I didn't feel bad at all about dinging him in reviews for it. 

[inkstainedruth]

7 minutes ago, Raji said:

There's always an element of uncertainty when dealing with online retailers. I'm like you, they pretty much better have 100% ratings. If it's less than that, I read the negative reviews to find out why (some buyers are just... Karens, I guess). 

Oh I totally understand (my mom was once sent flowers for being "the lady who screamed" -- of course the flowers were actually sent from old friends of hers, but still).  And she's the one who taught me that if you have a problem with a business, don't even BOTHER with the BBB (unless the business had huge numbers of complaints, she'd be told "Oh, they're members in good standing" -- which I take to be a euphemism for "They pay their dues in full and on time"); nowadays?  They're more likely to say, "They're not affiliated with the BBB" (meaning, "We can't do ANYTHING about them...").  OTOH, contacting the state AG's Consumer Division?  That's a list businesses do NOT want to be on!  I got tired of getting strung along by a time share company (they had a booth at the Pittsburgh Home Show and you could win a trip to Florida or the Caribbean and we figured that it would mostly be sitting in a conference room getting blathered at about how wonderful timeshares are, but we might be able to stick our feet in the water at some point).  Only after something like a year and a half of calls where I was told "You're still in the running...." I got tired of the BS and told them to stop calling me.  And then when they did ANYWAY?  Went straight online to the PA AG's website.  And sometime after that?  I got a notice in the mail that something had to be signed for at the post office.  And when I went, it was from the PA AG's office and I was in a panic -- thinking "Did we somehow screw up on our state income taxes?"  But nope -- it was $100 reward for ratting the company out for violation of the PA DNC list!  (My mom was probably elbowing some angel in the ribs going, "See that!  That's MY kid!  Trained her right, didn't I?")

But please don't use that horrible dismissive term around me.  I have several friends with that name and I find it REALLY offensive (and even more so when there doesn't seem to be a "male" equivalent...).  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Zookie]

Welcome to the forum !