8 Feb 2014

First fountain pen / Writing setup

Lamy Safari / EF nib / Lamy blue ink







Pencast from my new Lamy Safari

6 comments:

  1. Nice handwriting, as usual, Nick. And that's a very pleasant shade of blue, too.

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    1. Thanks. :) It is a nice blue but I enhanced it a little for the pencast because it has a washed-out look, as many fountain inks do. I'm going to be looking for a more saturated one.

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  2. You have nice handwriting Nick. The pen and ink combination are great. I too found that using a fountain pen is much nicer than any ball -- gel roller or otherwise -- pen. I find less friction allows smoother and longer writing. Good notebooks and paper can be hard to find, but I have a bound journal and a few other notebooks that are fine with any nib and ink. Surprisingly the dollar or less black and white cover composition books that often sell for a few cents before school work good with Waterman Blue and a medium to e.f. nib.

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    1. I'm already almost halfway through this notebook and looking for replacements. I have a small Rhodia pad I use for testing inks and writing little notes, and I do prefer that paper to this stuff. The only problem is it's expensive.

      In my experience I found those composition books to have annoying bindings that won't lay flat. (important for me)

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  3. I found a couple of reams of sugarcane-and-bamboo paper and had the local office store chop them and bind them into tablets for me. It's nice paper, and doesn't really bleed through. Best of all, it's cheap. I have a weakness for the orange pads, too, but not the budget.

    The Lamy blue cart I have is a little light for my tastes, too. Luckily (?) I have several of them to get through, but for a general scribbling pen, it's good enough. I prefer darker blues, and lean towards using blue-blacks as my main color. Sheaffer Skrip in blue-black is my current go-to ink, though I picked up a bottle of Waterman formerly-Florida-Blue now-Something-Else-I-Can't-Recall blue. It's a little thin, if I remember right, but it also shades (leaves dark patches when my hand slows down.) It's an effect I like, like writing in watercolors.

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    1. I actually bought 6 pads of sugarcane paper at Office Depot today and I'm going to review it soon. The paper is smoother and nicer than the normal small legal pads (is that what they're called?), yet cheaper -and- fountain pen compatible. How great is that? I'll have to look out for reams of it.

      I'd recommend buying ink samples. You can get 2 or 3ml for about $1.25 and it's a great way to try different ones out. I won't name companies, but there are at least 3 I'm aware of that sell them.

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