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Keetron posted:They got what? Neil Gaiman uses fountain pens, I assume it's his brand of choice and at some point that caused a run on their pens?
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Nov 11, 2023 20:10
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| # ? May 24, 2024 07:16 |
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The New York Times ran a story on them which caused a run: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/fashion/fountain-pens-birmingham-pen-company-pittsburgh.html
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Nov 11, 2023 20:15
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LionArcher posted:https://imgur.com/a/xX172oZ Looks like maybe an Edison? Or some similar boutique pen maker
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Nov 11, 2023 20:31
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LionArcher posted:https://imgur.com/a/xX172oZ It's an Esterbrook Camden from their premium Northern Lights collection. I think the acrylic is called Purple Alaska. What's cool about these pens is they have a matching colored nib.
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Nov 11, 2023 22:12
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Keetron posted:They got what? DurianGray posted:Neil Gaiman uses fountain pens, I assume it's his brand of choice and at some point that caused a run on their pens? Close - it isn't his brand of choice, but he tweeted that he was ordering some inks from them a few months ago and I think that brought them some more attention than they had had.
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Nov 11, 2023 23:44
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Chip McFuck posted:It's an Esterbrook Camden from their premium Northern Lights collection. I think the acrylic is called Purple Alaska. What's cool about these pens is they have a matching colored nib. those look great! thanks for the heads up. Ugh. Now I want a pilot 823, several Sailor's, and one of those... sigh.
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Nov 12, 2023 00:54
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Rand Brittain posted:Huh, neither Jetpens nor Goulet carries that one. I wonder what determines which inks they have in their store? I don't know anything about how each dealer determines what to carry, but I suspect that because Tokyo Blue Denim was a limited edition, Goulet and JetPens may have just sold out their stock, especially since they both have plenty of other Robert Oster inks. But there are a lot of great online shopping options besides JetPens and Goulet: VanNess is one of the best, especially for ink. Pen Boutique, Pen Chalet, Anderson Pens, Dromgoole's, and Goldspot all have their charms as well. And for European pens and ink, Cult Pens in the UK rocks, along with Appelboom et al. A quick google shows that both Pen Boutique and Goldspot have Tokyo Blue Denim in stock. (Disclaimer: I have no monetary affliation with any of these merchants.) Hello Fountain Pen Goons! I've spent all too much money with every one of these dealers *taps thread title*, so let me introduce myself and my personal pen and ink obsessions: My personal favorite fountain pens are Pelikans with wide BB, IB, or OB nibs; I love their M400s (got my first one in 1992 or so) and their vintage torpedos. I also love almost any soft music / stub / italic nibs, especially 1.1 to 1.5 mm. Besides my Pelikans, I have Sailors, Pilots, Franklin-Christophs, Esterbrooks, Lamys, TWSBIs, one Nakaya (desk pen in kuro-tamenuri), and a few random others. I've had a couple of Platinum pens, but I don't like their nibs, so I've sold them. I also have some very cheap pens, mostly jinhao sharks and 992s; they are fun and really inexpensive (especially via aliexpress or even ebay) with surprisingly smooth nibs, especially for such fine nibs. You do get a bad nib now and then, but I buy extras. I also buy extra "calligraphy" nibs (1.1 to 2.5 mm), which are really sweet and soft, especially for steel nibs. I'm a college professor and love to give away these fountain pens to my students (and because they are cheap, I can afford to do so). As for ink, well, let's just say I have nearly 300 bottles (different colors, of course), plus hundreds of samples and some cartridges. (I've given plenty of ink away to my students as well.) I also have "some" good-for-fountain-pens paper: Tomoe River, Clairfontaine, Maruman are among my favorites. Hope that was not too long: I've been lurking at SA for many many years, but this is my first post. I've posted on Fountain Pen Network (as mamajones, Jones being my late cat), which I highly recommend as a resource. I'm happy to answer any questions that I can, share some ink (if that is allowed), and/or show off some of my beauties.
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Nov 12, 2023 02:20
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darthzoidberg posted:
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Nov 12, 2023 02:44
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CK07 posted:Birmingham has absolutely killer sales (which is how I wound up with 4 100ml bottles and 2 50ml bottles that I will never in my life get through) and their ink has been well-behaved for me thus far. I haven't tinkered around with their ink-mixing scheme, though I really love the idea of it. Seems like an...honest thing to offer, if that makes sense. As a Pennsylvanian I love their naming trend. And they seemed like genuinely nice guys when I had a shipping question around the time they got Gaiman'd. I don't know if they have any secret Nathan-Tardif-style QAnon views or anything, but so far I'm very happy with my purchases from them. Ha, I totally forgot about the Gaiman connection. I think that might have been where I first heard of them, come to think about it. And I love their naming, too, and their colors -- that Pressed Glass ink looks almost exactly like the color of a Hemingray glass insulator in Aqua. Probably going to drop some cash their way and find out if I like it as much as I think I would. Also, I hadn't heard of Vintergron before and they look pretty interesting. That Pripyat looks a lot like a green-grey Korean ink I found somewhere that has a kind of faint blush to it when it sheens high enough.
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Nov 12, 2023 03:42
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All the Pilot talk over the past week made me buy a Custom 743 and a Heritage 912, both in black with soft Medium nibs. Takes only a month from japan to get here.
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Nov 12, 2023 14:20
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darthzoidberg posted:I'm happy to answer any questions that I can, share some ink (if that is allowed), and/or show off some of my beauties. I'd be happy to look at inks! I haven't bought any in ages, been thinking about whether I should get this years inkvent calendar 
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Nov 12, 2023 18:03
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Xun posted:I'd be happy to look at inks! I haven't bought any in ages, been thinking about whether I should get this years inkvent calendar I bought the calendar and am halfway through it - I don't celebrate Christmas but my birthday is mid-Nov so I'm just counting down to that instead. If you have questions I'm happy to answer! It's my first one so I can't strictly compare it to previous years, but I am hoping to get something that wows me as much as the Polar Glow sample I got in a random pack earlier this year.
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Nov 12, 2023 21:04
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Keetron posted:Wanted to chime in on the Pilot conversation: I can see the Custom 823 being a "last pen" and that is why I was considering getting another one with an SM nib, the S being an indicator for more of a brush feel and that sounds amazing and I am not sure why I didnt order the custom heritage I got last month with that already. I have a SM from a 743 in my 823, probably my favorite of their #15 nibs. I support this endeavor.
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Nov 12, 2023 22:47
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CK07 posted:I bought the calendar and am halfway through it - I don't celebrate Christmas but my birthday is mid-Nov so I'm just counting down to that instead. If you have questions I'm happy to answer! It's my first one so I can't strictly compare it to previous years, but I am hoping to get something that wows me as much as the Polar Glow sample I got in a random pack earlier this year. Have you figured out what the star bright inks actually are? I am pretty curious about what it refers to but I also don't want direct spoilers in case I do end up getting that box. How do you feel about it so far?
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Nov 13, 2023 04:08
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The Electronaut posted:I have a SM from a 743 in my 823, probably my favorite of their #15 nibs. I support this endeavor. Ah, the 823 does not have all the nib options! that explained why I could not find one with an SM nib. Good thing my impulse purchase of the month was a 743 and a 912 both with SM nib, good to know I can swap it into my 823 if I get sick of the CON-70.
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Nov 13, 2023 11:25
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Keetron posted:Ah, the 823 does not have all the nib options! that explained why I could not find one with an SM nib. Pen Sachi does sell pre-swapped 823s as a FYI. If they get them from Pilot with non-standard 823 option nibs already done or if they swap them themselves, I don’t know.
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Nov 13, 2023 22:43
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Xun posted:Have you figured out what the star bright inks actually are? I am pretty curious about what it refers to but I also don't want direct spoilers in case I do end up getting that box. How do you feel about it so far? I'm not entirely sure what the "star bright" designation means, though I actually just thought of a test to try out tomorrow and I'll let you know what I learn. So far I'm really enjoying it, tons of fun to sit down and swatch a new ink every day. There are some really nice colors, including two shimmery blues that I really like. If that sounds tedious rather than fun to you, if getting a new teeny bottle of ink every day doesn't sound like it would give you a little boost of joy, then it's probably not for you. Related question - how the gently caress are you supposed to use shimmer inks such that the glitter bits stay distributed? Loaded into a pen via cart or converter, they'll all sink towards the nib during use, which means by the time you're a third through the charge you'll be out of glitter. I didn't think that it was a good idea to constantly be shaking my pen vertically to keep the ink all mixed up. Using a dip pen you have to re-close the bottle, shake it, and re-open it every time you want to dip. So...thoughts? I now have some really great shimmer inks I want to show off.
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Nov 16, 2023 04:55
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CK07 posted:Related question - how the gently caress are you supposed to use shimmer inks such that the glitter bits stay distributed? Loaded into a pen via cart or converter, they'll all sink towards the nib during use, which means by the time you're a third through the charge you'll be out of glitter. I didn't think that it was a good idea to constantly be shaking my pen vertically to keep the ink all mixed up. Using a dip pen you have to re-close the bottle, shake it, and re-open it every time you want to dip. So...thoughts? I now have some really great shimmer inks I want to show off. Sometimes it feels like shimmer inks are really for dip and calligraphy pens.
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Nov 16, 2023 16:24
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CK07 posted:
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Nov 16, 2023 16:46
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I've got a vision of you doing sick baton tricks with your pen mid sentence. Just sending that thing into the sky seeing how close you can get to the drop ceiling while light sparkles across the demonstrator barrel. Then catching it and writing as if you didn't get straight 10s from the judges.
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Nov 16, 2023 17:23
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Keetron posted:This really sums up why I have only one shimmer ink and I only use it in a very wet B Opus 88 and flush it when the writing is done. I have a TWSBI Diamond that I keep shimmer ink in. It's been surprisingly fine. I ignored it for a year when I moved; it started right up and the lines it made were shimmery.
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Nov 16, 2023 18:09
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Okay, my blacklight test with the Star Bright ink did not pan out. But as a result, I realized that I've opened 18 days of this calendar as of this morning, and there has only been one Star Bright ink revealed so far. That said: it's easily my favorite of the bunch I've seen, assessed after completely forgetting Star Bright was a thing. It's hard to describe what's different about it but I'll try, with spoiler bars for the pure. It's a shimmer situation, but the metallic aspect seems to have distributed more like a thin paste throughout the ink, rather than individual specks. I haven't actually, like, pipetted some ink out to inspect the liquid closely or anything. It just has a denser, more fluid-feeling glimmer on the page when it's dry. It's a subtle effect to compare with regular shimmer - I'm not bothering with a picture because I don't think it would be meamingfully illustrative of the difference. For my fellow compulsive counters, organizers, and categorizers, here is the count of inks by category as of day 18: 6 standard 4 Shimmer 2 Scented 6 Chameleon 1 Star Bright I'm not unhappy with this purchase at all, even if it isn't necessarily the most cost-efficient means of acquiring a bunch of Diamine inks. It takes out the overwhelm and decision-making, but I still trust that someone put more thought into it than grabbing a random handful of vials from the sample bins.
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Nov 16, 2023 18:58
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Safety Dance posted:gently caress this is dangerous knowledge for me right now. I need to ignore my open ebay browser tabs. Oops uh oh I clicked some buttons and a package from Japan arrived today  It's a Fermo, not a Vanishing Point. Still retractable, but a twist mechanism instead of a click. The body is supposed to be dark green, but it's a very dark green.
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Nov 21, 2023 19:58
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That's interesting - what's the difference to the Vanishing Point LS?
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Nov 21, 2023 20:07
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gschmidl posted:That's interesting - what's the difference to the Vanishing Point LS?  From what I've read, the Fermo is only available in Japan. I think it's also a bit cheaper than the LS, I think
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Nov 22, 2023 00:04
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My 823 came in today! Now to fill it up with Iroshizuku Shin-Kai and do some writing.
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Nov 22, 2023 01:50
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gschmidl posted:That's interesting - what's the difference to the Vanishing Point LS? The Fermo is a slim version of the Vanishing Point with a twist mechanism instead of using a nock (the clicking mechanism) like on a regular VP. The LS is the same as a regular full-size VP that extends the nib with a nock, but it has a clutch near the nock that you release and rotates itself to retract the nib. The selling point (at least according to Pilot) is that you can retract the nib in a meeting silently without clicking the pen a second time. So they're really two very different mechanisms.
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Nov 22, 2023 04:01
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Safety Dance posted:From what I've read, the Fermo is only available in Japan. I think it's also a bit cheaper than the LS, I think Chip McFuck posted:The Fermo is a slim version of the Vanishing Point with a twist mechanism instead of using a nock (the clicking mechanism) like on a regular VP. Oh, that's right, you do press the LS to extend, it's just so silent it's barely audible (but you can also rotate it open). It's not like I don't have one.  Thanks!
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Nov 22, 2023 08:29
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Doctor Hospital posted:My 823 came in today! I love everything in this post, it is a very good post. Came to tell the world that I changed my mind on the Pelikan M200 Classic, while I first thought it was too course to my taste, after using it a bit and moving to different paper (from Tomoe river 54gsm to Cosmo Air Light 75gsm), it is actually really nice to use.
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Nov 22, 2023 10:14
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New pen day, I got a Majohn C4 in fine and the Wancher PuChiCo in extra fine, enjoying the hell out of both. 
Megabound fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Nov 22, 2023 |
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Nov 22, 2023 21:10
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Goddamnit I'm never working on a loving Carene again. What a pain in the rear end of a nib to try and fix. Also I bought another Delta.
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Nov 23, 2023 02:27
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grack posted:Goddamnit I'm never working on a loving Carene again. What a pain in the rear end of a nib to try and fix.  quote:Also I bought another Delta. 
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Nov 23, 2023 02:56
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New pen day, but we're taking a step back. Lamy Vista Black in Broad and the motherfucking Jinhao Shark Pen. I was pretty surprised at how smooth the shark pen feels considering it's an Extra Fine. Also, I put Emeraude de Chivor in the Vista.  e: I don't know how this is possible considering they are functionally the same pen but the Vista writes so much nicer than the Safari it is unreal. Doctor Hospital fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Nov 26, 2023 |
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Nov 26, 2023 00:05
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I thought the Vista was a Safari, just a clear one?
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Nov 27, 2023 05:07
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That's the thing, it is. Yet somehow it just feels better to write with. Probably just in my head.
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Nov 27, 2023 15:28
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Doctor Hospital posted:That's the thing, it is. Yet somehow it just feels better to write with. your head is not a good place to put a pen... https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balpenaffaire sorry, only Dutch...
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Nov 27, 2023 16:26
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Might just be bad quality control on the nib of your safari?
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Nov 27, 2023 22:49
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KingColliwog posted:Might just be bad quality control on the nib of your safari? This would track with my general experience with Lamy, their nibs are pretty hit or miss, especially on the Safaris, it seems
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Nov 27, 2023 23:20
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Love the form factor of the Traveler Company's brass fountain pen, but ink dries up too fast. Use it or lose it I guess.
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Nov 29, 2023 13:07
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Any recs for restored Vacumatics other than Ebay and Etsy? The FPN "mall" seems to be just a retail storefront, not sure if there are other decent pen buy/sell/trade communities, groups, sites, etc. Or alternatively if there's normal cartridge/converter stacked tube celluloid pens that look like the Vacs and aren't $800+ Viscontis, I'd love to get some recs.
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Dec 14, 2023 20:45
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