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writingrav
June 17th, 2012, 02:31 AM
How did your addiction begin? I accompanied my wife on a visit to the doctor where I found a copy of Pen World in which the advertisements for the Stipula Passporto caught my eye. Two days later I ordered one and haven't looked back since.

FP_GaF
June 17th, 2012, 03:24 AM
Well, there are two possible answers really if you ask me.

If you mean by "getting started" actually "what was your first pen" then it would be a Pelikano school pen which I used to learn writing. I was six or seven years old then (we did start with crayons first).

But if you're asking when it was that I lost one or two marbles from the whole set and started spending way too much money on "the perfect-pen quest" and more importantly which pen it was that dislodged those vital marbles of sanity this is much more difficult to answer. You don't slip away in one big avalanche incident. At least I didn't.

For me it was more a slippery slope that included a Pelikan M400, a Sheaffer Legacy and a Pilot Capless. By that time I was already quite mad but a very happy man indeed. My journey on the path of madness (on which we are to indulge as suggested by our grandmasters Eric and Dan) brought very pleasant encounters with such brands as Platinum, Visconti and Aurora.

So now I am far beyond the insanity horizon and still accelerating.... :crazy_pilot:
Phew, those ink fumes again.

...Well, you DID ask! :D

snedwos
June 17th, 2012, 06:02 AM
I was given a yellow plastic fountain pen for my 7th birthday. I have no recollection of writing with it and it is long gone. The when I was 11 I had a silvre coloured pen that I used in school, which layed down a beautiful broad blue line that I loved, especially combined with the thick paper in some of the books the school gave us. I lost that pen, and have mourned it ever since.

In the eleven years since then I have used fountain pens very sporadically, never staying with one too long (I am careless, they were cheap, and cartridges would run out and not be replenished.

Then 3 months ago I decided that for my 22nd birthday I wanted a decent fountain pen. It was about time. I always write better with fountain pen, and I'm a sucker for ritual anyway. So I got my grandparents to take me to the shop and I got the Waterman I have reviewed. I had a bottle of ink at home, so i declined to buy a new one.

The I found a whole new section of the internet, from which I have not found my way back. I've always been addicted to fountain pens (and writin instruments and paper in general), I just never fully realised and acknowledged it until now.

fountainpenkid
June 17th, 2012, 07:16 AM
My Dad bought me a english calligraphy fountain pen....used that for a while...then i found my great grandmother's esterbrook j in grey, along with some pelikan 120s.

Bogon07
June 17th, 2012, 09:34 PM
A Lamy Vista from Borders closing down sale. My collection was supposed to be just that and a Coffee Al-Star.

I also have very vague memories of a Parker FountainPen in High School, with a greeny-blue body and a 'bulb sack' filling system. I don't know what happened to it or how I got. All I can remember is getting blue ink all over my hands and the paper. I suspect it was dumped in favour of radiograph technical pens.

KrazyIvan
June 17th, 2012, 09:57 PM
I had a Sheaffer school pen when I was a kid. It was a red demo with chrome cap. I liked the pen but soon found out I could not source cartridges for it. I forgot about it. Then a few years ago I bought a Sensa Meridian Carbon. I used it for a bit and forgot about it with a cartridge installed. It sat for a summer and dried out. In 2010 I bought a Lamy Safari and then researched it and found FPN. I pulled the Sensa back into service after some extensive cleaning. It has been down hill since.

Hanryy
June 17th, 2012, 10:42 PM
I had always been an odd one in general. Part of that whole concept included the use of fountain pens. It probably wasnt until 10 years after I had started using them. (just in 2001 in 7th grade) that my wonderful girlfriend brought me to Bittner's in Carmel CA. Soon after I discovered these great sites such as FPGeeks and FPN. It has become quite the hobby of mine :)

My first fountain pen was a Duke "Ruby." I fell in love with it on my first visit to china and had bought 3 of them on that trip.I still have 2 of them. Great writers and beautiful looking pens.

John the Monkey
June 18th, 2012, 02:20 AM
I have vague recollections of using some sort of Osmiroid at school - and of squirting ink from an aerometric Parker of some sort for fun as a nipper.

My younger days were mostly a quest for the the finest tipped drawing pen (I was obsessed with detailed sketching at the time) leading me to Staedtler Marsmatics, in sizes from 0.5mm to 0.18mm (!)

A few years ago now, I bought myself a Parker Reflex, which I enjoyed, until its cap cracked (a common occurence, apparently). My gateway into the world of collecting though was a Wearever Deluxe 100, bought largely because I liked the pattern it had. That led me to sites like FPN, and an interest largely in inexpensive vintage, and inexpensive modern FPs.

manoeuver
June 18th, 2012, 06:02 AM
Poiyyygtreewwqqaazx

Lkourewwwwwqqa

My dad gave me a Waterman in hi school. I used that a while. Still have it. Didn't get the bug for real tilt I finished college. Got a rotring core and an al star and some other stuff- I had to change my ebay password with my eyes closed to stop the madness.

FP_GaF
June 18th, 2012, 07:31 AM
I had to change my ebay password with my eyes closed to stop the madness.

I know exactly what you mean Dude, EXACTLY... :cry:

Lt. Tom
June 18th, 2012, 08:16 AM
I have always liked the idea of using a fountain pen. But I bought into all the stories about how they're fussy, and unreliable, and will leak in your shirt pocket. A couple of months ago, (2 months to the day, according to my journal!) I was at Staples and on a whim bought a $6 Sheaffer caligraphy pen. It's a cheap pen with a sticker on top of the cap showing it's nib size. (1.5mm) I just used it like a regular pen, and started a journal with it. After a week I realized that it had never leaked, always started immediatley, and never skipped. In short; no drama of any kind. I figured if this toy-like pen could do that, I had to get in on this! So I ordered a "real fountain pen", a medium nibbed Lamy Safari. Oh dear. Started spending way too much time on FPG. For the last 7 weeks, I've been averaging about a pen a week and a bottle of ink every other week. This could easily get out of hand............

manoeuver
June 18th, 2012, 08:24 AM
I have always liked the idea of using a fountain pen. But I bought into all the stories about how they're fussy, and unreliable, and will leak in your shirt pocket. A couple of months ago, (2 months to the day, according to my journal!) I was at Staples and on a whim bought a $6 Sheaffer caligraphy pen. It's a cheap pen with a sticker on top of the cap showing it's nib size. (1.5mm) I just used it like a regular pen, and started a journal with it. After a week I realized that it had never leaked, always started immediatley, and never skipped. In short; no drama of any kind. I figured if this toy-like pen could do that, I had to get in on this! So I ordered a "real fountain pen", a medium nibbed Lamy Safari. Oh dear. Started spending way too much time on FPG. For the last 7 weeks, I've been averaging about a pen a week and a bottle of ink every other week. This could easily get out of hand............I like the fine Sheaffer cally pen I got at staples too, although I did give it to my wife. A wonderfully cheap intro to italic nibs.

Lince
June 18th, 2012, 02:24 PM
I started with a Pilot Decimo VP. Fine. Boy was it fine.
My handwriting was terrible, but it was super practical.
I thought then the thiner the better.
I used it for a year non stop every day.
Then I discovered the broad nibs, stubs, CIs, flex.
It is a universe.

duende
June 18th, 2012, 04:52 PM
It was a dark and stormy night when I saw a Pelikan perched upon my Windows.

KrazyIvan
June 18th, 2012, 07:58 PM
It was a dark and stormy night when I saw a Pelikan perched upon my Windows.

Okay, now black Pelikans are going to creep me out. :alien:

snedwos
June 18th, 2012, 08:13 PM
Okay, now black Pelikans are going to creep me out. :alien:

Ah well, the green ones are nicer anyway...

geoduc
June 18th, 2012, 08:44 PM
I blame it on my son.

I had used fountain pens in high school way back when, but hadn't touched them in decades. My son has a bit of an anachronistic streak and started using fountain pens several years ago. One day he was at my house looking at an old Parker pen display case I own (not being used for pens) and said, "Dad, you should really get a Parker 51 to go with that case." I told him to find one and I'd buy it - next thing you know, I have a bunch of pens, buckets of ink, and have spent more money than I care to think about.

Maja
June 19th, 2012, 12:14 AM
I got my first fountain pen in grade 6 and it was a red Sheaffer "No Nonsense" fountain pen. The next one was a Pelikan P10 plastic school pen which I bought in Vienna in 1993 while visiting relatives, but it wasn't another 8 or 9 years until I bought the green marbled Pelikan M200 that really got me into the FP hobby. The first vintage FP I bought was a Parker 51 Demi which was a few months after the M200. All are great pens, which I still own and use :D

rbadger332
June 19th, 2012, 11:50 AM
Oddly, the first one I has was my worst - A Cross Adventura. The steel nib felt like I was writing with course sand paper, and was REALLY dry. Instead of getting it worked on, I bought a Parker Sonnet and had it tweaked. That was when I lost my marbles. Now, I am using a Visconti Homo Sapiens, and honestly, I haven't felt the need to buy more pens. This one just satisfies my want. That, and I am flat broke. :P

JustDaveyB
June 19th, 2012, 02:58 PM
I have always had a thing for writing and pens (exclusively roller balls and ball points), feeling grown up (old) I decided to buy myself a fountain pen for my 30th birthday way back in 1997 - ended up with a Waterman Preface in Thriller Red with a fine nib and a bottle of Waterman Blue/Black ink. I used this one pen and ink colour for everything until in 2010 I was casting around for a new hobby and saw my old waterman sitting in my desk draw, light dawns, a visit to the local pen shop, buying a Waterman Hemisphere and a Lamy Studio in Stainless steel plus four inks. The world's financial troubles causing the Australian dollar to appreciate greatly against the greenback, FPN, eBay and FPgeeks lead me to now have 56 pens from nine different manufacturers , 77 nibs including custom grinds from Richard Binder and John Mottishaw and 111 inks with a FP want list that runs to double figures. Mans got to have a hobby...

goldiesdad
June 20th, 2012, 07:22 AM
I have had a fascination with FP since elementary school. Used one thru-out college and then stopped ... Fast forward to 2 months ago I came across my Dad's Snorkel had it fixed and 50 pens later i am still going strong ...

fountainpenkid
June 20th, 2012, 07:54 AM
Nice! Each purchase for me takes alot of convincing my parents... they spend the money, not me.:)

jfsisler
June 21st, 2012, 04:46 AM
FPK, at least your parents know they're making an investment that will last the rest of their lives and probably most of yours:) There are worse things parents could enable a kid to do;)

My gateway pen was a circa late 80's Shaeffer Targa fountain pen that my grandmother gave me. I lost it back in the early 2000's :cry: and then the pen shop at the Philadelphia airport (which doesn't exist anymore:cry:) was where I bought a lot of my earlier stash.

I'm seriously into vintage pens right now, so Ebay is my enabler. I love my new old Shaeffer Touchdown that I got a few weeks ago --it's got the best nib of any of my pens and writes like a dream.

Alexander
June 21st, 2012, 11:10 AM
My first fountain was a Cross Century II, it was bought for me by my grandfather for my 16th birthday. He told me "you can tell the character of a person by the quality of there shoes, shirt, watch and pen, here's something to show off your character". This has stayed with me ever since (I'm now 18 years old, so not that long).

Since then my collection has grown and so has my love and appreciation for fine pens. My collection now consist of a. . . Cross Century II, Cross AXT, Twsbi Dimond 540, Mont Blanc 149 (received from my grandfather after he died) and I'm curantly thinking of buying my self a Visconti Homo Sapians Oversized Bronze pen.

inky
June 22nd, 2012, 09:43 AM
For me the adventure starts with a cheap speedball dip pen set from my local hobby store. I was in need of something to do so I decided to do some ink drawing. I loved the results the dip pen gave me but not the fact that I had to have an open bottle of ink sitting on my table for my cat or kid to knock over while I was working. That lead me to fountain pens.

I went back to the hobby store and bought a Pilot Varity which I liked but was too wet and broad for what I wanted. The second fountain pen I ordered was a white Lamy Safari with an extra fine nib. The third one I ordered was a a clear Kaweco Classic sport with a medium nib. The Kaweco arrived first and the Lamy a day later. After using these three for about a week I started ordering a lot of ink from the Goulets. It was about this time that they came back into stock of the Noodlers Nib Creeper Flex pens. I picked one up in Poltergist Pumpkin since it was around Halloween. That pen is still my all time favorite drawing pen.

So that was the start of the addiction. I still pick up pens here and there but I don't really have a direction for my collection. I'd say I have about 30 pens but I only take a Penvelope 6 to work with me daily :)

jfsisler
June 23rd, 2012, 07:50 AM
He told me "you can tell the character of a person by the quality of there shoes, shirt, watch and pen, here's something to show off your character". This has stayed with me ever since (I'm now 18 years old, so not that long)

I love to see younger folks (hey I was 20 when you were born - I just made myself feel old:blink:) using fountain pens and taking joy in the finer things in life -- I think your grandfather was completely right, and it's a sweet story. I'm glad he got you started on fountain pens!

fountainpenkid
June 26th, 2012, 06:03 PM
Both of my grandfathers use/used fountain pens too. One was an artist, the other is a lawyer...the artist had a P75 in 14k gold, and the lawyer many crosses, watermans, a visconti and a pelikan.


Will

jd50ae
July 4th, 2012, 02:28 PM
I can't remember when I wasn't using a fountain pen.

dannzeman
July 6th, 2012, 04:51 PM
I can't remember exactly why I started thinking of fountain pens. There was one day where I either thought about them because I had seen one in an antique shop or went into the antique shop because I had thought about them. But either way, after I left the antique shop I went home and started Googling. Then shortly thereafter I saw an advertisement in our Sunday paper of a big sale on fountain pens at The Art Store.

I went down to check it out and the sale was 20% off the first pen, 30% off the second, and 40% off the third. I had three pens picked out but two of them weren't part of the sale. I asked the guy behind the counter if he would include them in the sale then I'd buy all three. He agreed and I walked out with my first 3 fountain pens: a Retro 51 Tornado, a Retro 51 Scriptmaster 2 in Citron, and a Faber-Castell Ambition.

I didn't know anything about fountain pens when I bought them and eventually sold all 3 to fund the purchase of other pens. I regret selling the Ambition as it had one of the smoothest nibs I've ever used, and the Scriptmaster 2 as well. I just recently bought another Scriptmaster 2 in Citron to replace it.

That was all several years ago and I now have over 80 in my collection.

jor412
July 8th, 2012, 06:19 AM
I was using fountain pens on and off for a long time but didn't think much of them. Then I was given a Waterman Laureat whose end cap I lost. The gift meant a lot to me I searched all over the net just to find that one part and that took me to website after website of content and photos and then I got hooked.

The Ambition is a beautiful looking pen. My friend swears by it, too. Maybe one of these days... :)

southpaw52
July 8th, 2012, 12:06 PM
I walked into a well known pen retailer, began looking at the fountain pens. Quickly a sales clerk came over, explained to me that fountain pens were not really intended for left handed writers and that a rollerball would be a better choice. Needless to say I promptly walked out and have never been in another pen store.

I'm extremely proud of being left-handed and I have met every challenge of being left-handed head on. I bought my first fountain pen a Waterman Philleas on-line. From there I have built a collection of both vintage and modern. Preference is for vintage fountain pens.

jor412
July 8th, 2012, 08:57 PM
What an odd thing for a sales clerk of a well known pen retailer to discourage you from using fountain pens.