This is the one I have saved, not sure if it was the one Ben linked or the one I saved on this site because I know my Mum likes purple.
Thanks a lot.
Cult Pens
Absolutely the best place to go.
@ndrw - some quick nuggets. Welcome to my Ted talk.
- You can either get āDemonstratorā pens or āCartridgeā pens - demonstrators have the clear chamber that allows you to see the ink. If you get a cartridge pen, you need to buy a converter to fill with non-cartridged ink. A demonstrator pen will hold more ink than a cartridge. Both are faffy to fill.
- On the Twsbi, they have a whole wide range - the ECOās come in at about Ā£30 and are super reliable but not super high end construction.
- (You can go higher end with things like Sailor / Pilot (vintage models) / LAMY etc, but a lot of that is really making the nib gold).
- Youāve got options in how fine the nibs are, and how thick the line on paper is, and different brands tend to have nibs that āflowā differently, higher end tends to be smoother, more controlled writing.
- TWSBI also do an āECO-Tā model, where the barrel of the pen is triangle shaped, which may help with grip vs the default round - meant to be more comfortable.
Edit to add: Lamy Safari or Kaweko Sport are also good alternatives for a more budget friendly / starter pen. Though I prefer the TWSBI
The main thing to get thinking about though, is what delicious and lovely inks you want to pair your pen with. Thereās an ink brand called Diamine which have hundreds of different colours. (whatās that you say @revels, you wanāt a Lavender ink to pair with your mumās present? No worries).
They have a whole range of glittery inks, lots of bright colours, and iridescent inks which glimmer with two colours under the right light. The one I use most often, is āDiamine Maureenā which iridesces blue to red.
But that said, if youāre feeling fancy, Pilot Iroshizuku are my all time favourite. itās like writing with, or on, butter. Itās a fancy looking bottle though, but honestly itās a dream to write with. They even have a lavender one @revelsā¦
Anyway. Thats enough pen chat for me today. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Donāt get me started on notebooks and paper quality.
I already had the link to that bottle saved too! tips hat
Oh also.
āInvisibleā UV Inks are a thing if you want to bring out your inner spy kids
Edit to add: Iām so glad the forum is back. Though for some reason my productivity has dropped this week?!
Thank you, thatās amazing! I donāt write too much, tends to just be Christmas and birthday cards and notes at work. As such not sure if one is justified as Iād be worried about ink drying in.
My other issue would be, I want one of the iridescent inks, but if I need to sign something I canāt. Two pens?
Also, whatās the best nib to go for? I suppose a medium one?
Purely down to personal preference - hereās a quick guide as to the thickness:
I tend to find with Medium I make more mess writing, so I prefer Fine, but depends on your handwriting.
To be honest, some of my pens have ink in them thatās not been used in months and they are fine. Occaisonally youād need to wash them out, but Iāve never had a problem.
A lot of the iridescent stuff also depends paper thickness / quality / absorbency. The iridescence is basically the best when the ink has dried really slowly on heavy paper - if youāre signing just ānormal stuffā it will not have the effect so strongly. But you should probably just get 2 pensā¦
Right now I have to go do some work,.
Definitely feeling that I should split this out to another topic dedicated to pens
Any objections?
Pens are definitely not part of Monzos connected accounts, although Iād have a hot coral pen if one was available
Weāve been merged!
I could watch people doing calligraphy all dayā¦
Apology not accepted! You will be forced to endure it here
I think if anything youāre just enabling me at this point.
What are your recommendations for ballpoint pens? I use Parker jotter pens normally but if you know something that writes as well I might give it a go
I have these.
So that my notes are barely readable but in nice colours.
I wish I had a lovely pen to hand write that this is potentially the second most desperately pretentious thread title ever seen on here, only beaten to the number one slot by ācollected thoughts on card designā. That said, I do enjoy pens and pen chat very much so if I can stop myself cringing so much at the god awful title I can focus on the words, I will enjoy seeing where this thread goes.
Gel pens > Ballpoint
ETA: had a look at site linked in reply after and saw it had one of my favourites
This is my favourite ball point
Really fine nibbed, but the Pilot G2 is a slightly thicker alternative.
They are āgel inkā rollerballs, I think. So the best of both.