Basically title. Me personally a friend had one and I figured it’d be fun. I got a £4 black forest (or something) from AliExpress and it’s been utterly fantastic.
Basically title. Me personally a friend had one and I figured it’d be fun. I got a £4 black forest (or something) from AliExpress and it’s been utterly fantastic.
Are fountain pens only for people with nice hand writing?
Not at all! But using a fountain pen may have the side effect of wanting to improve your handwriting.
I would say that getting calligraphy gear and spending countless hours studying letter shapes has improved my handwriting much more than any fountain pen. One can be a gateway drug for the other, so there’s a pretty good chance getting into this hobby will result in having better handwriting. I started with absolutely awful handwriting, and now it’s slightly above average.
Having nice handwriting is as simple as being intentional. Buy a french ruled notebook and you’ll teach yourself to use it and your handwriting will improve. It’s as simple as that.
Seconding what leclownfou said. I never really cared about my hand writing until I was using fountain pens. It really makes you want to improve your penmanship.
It’s really not as hard as it sounds, I was able to teach myself cursive in a few days, and it’s been generally touted by people who look at it as the nicest handwriting they’ve seen
Definitely not! With a fountain pen, you don’t have to press as hard when you write, so it’s easier on your fingers and hand (as long as the pen fits your hand and grip style decently). So, it can be an ergonomic boon. It can also be more environmentally sound, as you can refill a cartridge many times from a recyclable glass bottle of ink (instead of throwing away and entire pen each time the ink runs out). Also, it just feels nice to write with a nicely working fountain pen. Much nicer than with a ballpoint.
I have no idea how fountain pens work, do they have an upkeep? Like do you have to clean them every time you use them?
If you’d like to experiment with no commitment, look for a Pilot Varsity or Pilot V Pen. They are sealed disposable fountain pens.
There is some minimal upkeep. It depends strongly on what types of ink you use. If you use a very dependable brand like Parker/Lamy/Pilot, and only use that brand of ink, then the most you need to do is flush out old ink with water sometimes. This is not always required, but can avoid an odd stage where you’ve just switched to a new color of ink, and your handwriting slowly fades from the old color to the new color (some of us enjoy this, and some do not). The other time you might need to rinse is if you don’t use the pen for a long time, and the old ink dries out in the pen. The crusty dry old ink can clog your pen.
You should rinse out a brand new pen before first use, to avoid any traces of oils from manufacture messing with your ink as well.
However, a lot of the fun is the vast array of colors in the ink spectrum. If you are filling a pen from bottles of ink, always read reviews of that brand and specific ink color. You can usually find out if an ink is prone to issues or best in a certain type of pen or nib before you buy.