It’s Friday, it’s been one of those weeks and my brain is kind of fried. So even though I was going to talk about something story related, you probably don’t need a rambling, guaranteed to make zero sense post, so let us instead talk about something easier. That takes us to a happy place.
Like fountain pens. Which I am a fan of. Because writing with one is nicer and there are a gajillion coloured inks to choose from which is pleasing (plus you get colour and line variation, also pleasing), not to mention a gajillion kinds of fountain pen to covet. Here are some of my faves.
From left to right (or bottom to top maybe, I don’t know, my brain is fried like a said):
Karas Kustoms Ink in black and copper (aka the steampunk pen). This is the most expensive pen I currently own. It’s also the heaviest pen I currently own (because it’s made out of an aluminium block with a copper section). So not for writing for hours with but it is lovely to write with, super sturdy and always seems to start easily. One day I’ll get one of their all aluminium ones as well. When the USD exchange rate stops making me cry. Fine nib. I like fine nibs.
Kaweco Ice Sport in blue (because it’s me). This is a great little pen. With the cap on, it’s teeny to carry around, it has so far (cross fingers) never leaked on me on an airplane, it’s light and very nice to write with. I tend to keep this one in my crumpler bag and tote it around with me and use it at the day job etc. I have one of these in solid pink as well. Because, well, who doesn’t need a cute tiny pink fountain pen?
Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pop in turquoise (because turquoise and dots and well, that makes me happy). My most recent acquisition. Pilot metropolitans are cheap (well, in the US they are cheap aka $15-20, here I’ve seen them for $35 ish or up to $60. Don’t pay $60, even with crappy exchange rate and postage, US is likely to be cheaper). They usually come in black, silver or gold (maybe there is a dark purple and a white?) and I have a silver one that I use for sketching (Fine nib which is more like extra fine compared to my others) but I couldn’t resist the turquoise. The Retro Pop are a special edition with lots of pretty colours but turquoise had to be mine.
Lamy Safari in blue. A Lamy Safari is the first fountain pen I bought myself. Because they’re not expensive (the store I’ve linked to is the cheapest I’ve found in Aus, I think), the nibs are swappable, they are easy to find here in Oz and I didn’t know if I was going to like using a fountain pen. I think I had a Parker fountain pen once before this that I got as a pressie but it tended to leak and I didn’t know anything about them so didn’t know how to fix it. But this Safari was the pen I bought when I decided to try again. It might even be this actual pen (I have two blue ones because at some point the gremlins in my house hid one and I had to buy another and then, of course, the original showed up). These are very comfortable, light, write very nicely and come in pretty colours. I own four. Um, no, I lie, I own five because I bought a backup in the limited edition coral colour from last year or the year before because I love the colour and the coral one is the one I use in my sketching kit so it’s quite likely I’ll lose it at some point. So two blue, a pink and two coral. I use the fine nib for writing and extra fine for sketching. I talked about sketching pens over here. Pro tip, if you want to buy a replacement nib or different nib to try, head to ebay (or the guys I linked to). For some reason most Aussie retailers want to charge you $30 for a new nib that costs like $7 US or something. Cray cray.
The other pens I regularly use and like are a Lamy Joy (see the sketching pens post) and the Pilot Petit1 (not pictured because I keep all mine at the day job…they’re cheerful and nice to write with but pretty cheap so I won’t cry if they go walkabout. And they are refillable. They’re also tiny, though comfy when the cap is posted (well, if you’re a guy with big hands, they’re probably too small for you but I don’t have small hands and I write happily with them). I get them from JetPens but am guessing eBay would also yield some. I’ve gotten the refills from eBay. My fave colour is the Clear Blue. Because it’s really more aqua/turquoise…are you sensing a theme. But I have a green and a purple (I think) as well.
Sadly, the pens I want to try next are starting to get more expensive. I need the exchange rate to improve or to have something to celebrate. But hey, it’s good to have goals.
