Hello from Canton, Ohio!

[WatermanPens]

Hello! Happy to be here, I'm relatively new to the hobby as a whole and am excited to learn and expand my knowledge of the hobby. 

[inkstainedruth]

Greetings from Pittsburgh!  

How did you get started, and what pens do you currently have/use?  I started with a couple of cheapie Parker Reflex pens (I was ONLY using them for journaling, as part of reading The Artist's Way (a creativity course).  I hadn't kept a diary or journal since high school, so (to get back into the habit) decided to buy a "nice" journal and a "nice" pen (in retrospect neither were...  -- the paper was pretty atrocious and the rubber on the section grip disintigrated on both pens, one after the other.  When I went to buy a 3rd one, Staples no longer carried them (I'd already had issues with finding cartridges that had Quink Permanent Blue ink -- I didn't know about converters back then).  Ended up buying a Parker Vector at an old time stationers' Downtown and felt SOOO extravagant -- I'd paid NINE DOLLARS for a pen (little did I know.... ).  And wasn't sure at first I'd like the fine nib (the Reflexes had mediums) -- until I realized how much further a cartridge lasted.

Then, about 13 years ago, I accidentally left the pen and the then current journal volume and the bag they were in at my in-laws' house in Connecticut and didn't get them back for a month.  And by that point, NOT using a fountain pen for "morning pages" just felt weird -- both physically and emotionally.  In the process of finding (temporary) replacements, I eventually found the Goulet Pens website and also found my way here and was just amazed -- not the least of which being that you could get other colors of ink besides, blue, blue-black and black....  

I generally suggest that new people on FPN click on the "new content" button when they log in, to get a good overview of a range of topics (you can adjust how much/often it refreshes).  And to check out the pinned Index to the Ink Reviews (I'm convinced we live in the Golden Age of Ink -- there seem to be new companies popping up all over the globe every time I turn around!) -- some of the old images were lost to the "Great Photobucket Hijack from a few years ago, but some of the members here have been trying to resurrect them whenever possible. 

But I ALSO warn new folks that they have found themselves amongst a den of enablers, who will HAPPILY help them spend their discretionary budget on pens, inks, paper, desk accessories, repair tools, storage, pen shows, and ephemera (my husband tells people that the pens were just the gateway to the "real" collection -- the inks...  but he likes the used Vanishing Point I bought and gave to him (once I got myself the smaller sized Decimo and swapped out the nib assemblies between them because he preferred an EF nib); now, if I could JUST get him to find the Lamy Safari he wanted me to get him a couple of years ago -- so I can have my blue Sheaffer Snorkel with an EF nib BACK! 

Have fun here, and remember -- the only dumb questions are the ones which don't get asked.  I'm constantly amazed at the breadth and depth of knowledge to be found here (and not JUST pen-related at that!) and humbled by the generosity of the FPN community in the sharing of that knowledge.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[OCArt]

[PAKMAN]

Welcome to FPN!

[cherylmarie]

Hello from the Cleveland suburbs!   I'm originally from the Canton area too. My obsession is WW2-era American pens, but I have collected a nice variety of fountain pens in the last decade.

I'm glad you found FPN, it's the first site I discovered when I found an old fountain pen in my late mother-in-law's belongings.  There's a wealth of information here and I'm sure you'll find all the information you desire!

[Wahl]

[RedPie]

Welcome to TRF, a great place!

[Penguincollector]

  Hello and welcome! Just be warned, we’re a bunch of enablers. Here’s some eye candy for a Waterman lover:

  Black Sea Caréne  purchased from @fireant

 

My lil’ Waterman’s 52 1/2V  red ripple ring top

[inkstainedruth]

Oh that 52-1/2V red ripple sure is pretty!  I've got a 52-1/2 V that's chased BHR, that is more of a grey brown color, and while it's a lovely writer, it pales in comparison to yours for looks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth