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Thread: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

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    Senior Member penwash's Avatar
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    Default What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    This fountain pen hobby is definitely something which helped me to push through this trying year.
    I'm sure some of you can relate to this.

    Much as possible, I try to choose a perspective which allows me to see the bright side, instead of complaining about things.

    So in that regard, not only that I get to see, restore, and use some interesting pens this year, also learned a new sketching technique or two, which is always fun.

    As this week/month/year coming to a close, I gathered nine of my favorite sketches (out of about 77 that I did this year) and make a collage out of them. It's quite a fun project in itself



    Now it's your turn, what fun things did you get to experience *in this hobby* in 2020?
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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    Senior Member Kaputnik's Avatar
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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    I always like seeing your drawings, penwash. That's been one of the good things about 2020 for me also, getting over my reluctance to draw in ink. Nothing in particular that I want to show here, but my results have been improving, and I just accept that the mistakes I make are going to be harder to correct than pencil or charcoal, which are what I had been using almost exclusively. I still use those, of course. Sometimes I'll try the same picture in both pencil and pen.

    And one of the two new fountain pens that I bought, a Parker 180, has quickly become a favorite, although not for drawing.

    Also got something I've been wanting, a drafting table, which is good for drawing and as a writing desk. I got a deal, as the MSRP was $220, but there was a Black Friday price of $100, and a friend who works at the store got me her employee discount of an extra 30%, so I paid $75 including tax. I don't think it would have been worth the list price, but it was definitely a bargain for what I paid. It's solid and well made. Wasn't too hard to put together despite the traditional awful instructions.

    Actually, there have been quite a few good things this year for me and those closest to me, but no others that I can squeeze into the category of "pen related".
    "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."
    G.K. Chesterton

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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    I love your drawings, too.

    This year, I got an amazing PIF of THIRTY pens.

    Some of them were sac-fillers needing new sacs, and we have already done a couple of them. A pretty green Wearever is next in line.

    The rest, except one, were regular C/C fillers. I had fun testing and writing with each of them. Then I PIF'd the ones that were duplicates of those I already had, or were too slim or had metal sections.

    The last one was a Serwex piston-filler that has become one of my absolute favorite daily writers.
    My other pen is a Montblanc.

    And my other blog is a tumblr!


    And my latest ebook, for spooky wintery reading:

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CM2NGSSD

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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    I love your drawings and sketches penwash. You're such a talented artist with the ability to draw a wide range of interesting subjects in the greatest detail. Thank you.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    I joined this board. Despite the ups and downs I really like it here. I've been a member of FPN for a couple of years but I prefer the discussion here.

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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    I put a cartridge in a second pen. Seems strange having ink in two pens at the same time.

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    Senior Member penwash's Avatar
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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kaputnik View Post
    I always like seeing your drawings, penwash. That's been one of the good things about 2020 for me also, getting over my reluctance to draw in ink. Nothing in particular that I want to show here, but my results have been improving, and I just accept that the mistakes I make are going to be harder to correct than pencil or charcoal, which are what I had been using almost exclusively. I still use those, of course. Sometimes I'll try the same picture in both pencil and pen.
    Accepting that mistakes will be made in a sketch liberated me from the "need" to pencil the outline first. And I suspect that this pushed me to be more careful in my positioning and framing, and with repetition, this ended up improving my ability to estimate where to start and where to end the sketch.

    One of the most interesting aspect of this is that I keep on learning new things, and that's actually quite fun in itself.
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by Sailor Kenshin View Post
    I love your drawings, too.

    This year, I got an amazing PIF of THIRTY pens.

    Some of them were sac-fillers needing new sacs, and we have already done a couple of them. A pretty green Wearever is next in line.

    The rest, except one, were regular C/C fillers. I had fun testing and writing with each of them. Then I PIF'd the ones that were duplicates of those I already had, or were too slim or had metal sections.

    The last one was a Serwex piston-filler that has become one of my absolute favorite daily writers.
    30 pens? That's amazing! I can imagine how much fun you were having, going through each pen.

    And that you PIF'd (love that new word) some of them, is great.

    Thank you for your supportive comments through the year. A positive attitude wreathed with humor can do wonders to pick someone's mood.
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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    Senior Member penwash's Avatar
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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    I love your drawings and sketches penwash. You're such a talented artist with the ability to draw a wide range of interesting subjects in the greatest detail. Thank you.
    Likewise, Chrissy. Your watercolor paintings are a pleasure to behold, and you're able to keep up with the series of subjects during the inktober session. Thumbs up.

    Actually, meeting you and other FPG friends online via the Lone Star Pen Club virtual pen meets is one of the highlight this year for me.
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by eachan View Post
    I joined this board. Despite the ups and downs I really like it here. I've been a member of FPN for a couple of years but I prefer the discussion here.
    Although you just joined this year, you have infused this forum not only with your expertise on British-made vintage pens, but also with temperate, and reason-able participations, especially in some of those troublesome threads we had here this year.

    And I picked up some cool phrases from you such as "thundering bore", love that one!

    Lastly, please tell Deb that Will from Texas misses her presence here.
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by jar View Post
    I put a cartridge in a second pen. Seems strange having ink in two pens at the same time.
    Is it on one of your Namiki Yukari's ?
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    In a discussion of this nature, going on in a place like this, it would be easy to focus on things.

    If a burly ruffian was holding me down and forcing me to focus thusly, I'd say that while I accumulated more than a few writing instruments, I'm probably most pleased with the pen I bought from Sarj Minhas at the LA Pen Show. It was the special model he had made by Leonardo, and has his likeness in a couple places. Beyond the fact that it writes like a dream, especially after a nib grind - at the show - by Mike Masuyama, it is the connection to one of the people I enjoy and admire in this pennish world.

    But it is still a thing, and this awful, awkward, and misanthropic year of 2020 puts my mind at other riches, small but cherished tokens of humanity. The best that has come to me in a year I long to put behind are the connections with other people, and how my pens have factored in. On a pragmatic level, I kept looking at those inky devices and wondering why they couldn't help make things better... and then I found the Vote Forward project. I wrote lots and lots of letters to people I didn't know, hoping that a personal message might encourage them to make the effort to cast their vote... however they saw fit. Each evening when I set down to write some more, it became a very calming ritual, with the side benefit that maybe it would serve a greater good. I felt some of these old pens were pleased to be in this service.

    The final step above this, while not denying the worth of the project, was my gradual increase in correspondence. I have made a determined push to write more to others, both to make more casual contacts with more of my scattered friends, and to deepen written relationships with a much smaller group. I sit in the quiet, writing (usually late at night) to people I often haven't met or spoken with in Real Life, and realizing with each letter received back I am being rewarded in ways I never counted on and hardly deserve.

    The best of 2020, in the midst of a horrorshow of execrable individuals, has been the discovery of how truly good and important and softly deep many of the people in my life are. How valuable their daily musings, how life-affirming their individual efforts and gifts. Like Will's warm and witty sketches, which remind me nothing more than the man himself, a quiet and sincerely good man. I get these letters in the mail and I feel young and enthused, I am giddy. I slap myself for not writing back more, or more often, but I know I'll do my best.

    My pens led me to these people who are saving my soul and mending my heart. I owe a debt of gratitude to these pens for that, so maybe it did come back to things.
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    Heh, as an addendum, the pen I mentioned ended up in my most liked IG photo (with friend Marta and Sarj), and made another appearance as well. Pens and cats tied for popularity!

    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by penwash View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by jar View Post
    I put a cartridge in a second pen. Seems strange having ink in two pens at the same time.
    Is it on one of your Namiki Yukari's ?
    No, in one of my Conway Stewarts from their second to last rebirthing.



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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    I did the 100-day writing challenge longhand with fountain pens, a different pen and ink every day (in a rotation, not a hundred pens and inks) and also realized, belatedly, that I do better with NaNoWriMo when I don't type.

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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    It has been a difficult past two years in some ways, but a wonderful two years when I consider where I have landed. Through it all, the FP has been a constant pleasing past time. What I have learned is not to think you have to do everything today. Just take one day at a time and whittle away at what must get done.

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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by penwash View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by eachan View Post
    I joined this board. Despite the ups and downs I really like it here. I've been a member of FPN for a couple of years but I prefer the discussion here.
    Although you just joined this year, you have infused this forum not only with your expertise on British-made vintage pens, but also with temperate, and reason-able participations, especially in some of those troublesome threads we had here this year.

    And I picked up some cool phrases from you such as "thundering bore", love that one!

    Lastly, please tell Deb that Will from Texas misses her presence here.
    Very kind, Will. I'll tell her.

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    Senior Member penwash's Avatar
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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    The best of 2020, in the midst of a horrorshow of execrable individuals, has been the discovery of how truly good and important and softly deep many of the people in my life are. How valuable their daily musings, how life-affirming their individual efforts and gifts.
    That "horrorshow" almost stopped me cold from ever visiting this unmoderated place again.

    You, who, despite being unjustly targeted and had to go through all that immature imbecility, still have a big enough heart to continue staying true to who you are and what you stand for.

    And because of that, I was inspired to stay and continue to participate alongside you and others who play fair on the side of truth (not perfect, but doing our best).

    Here's to 2021 where we outrun and overcome the pandemic without forgetting what we learned from it.
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    @Jon, I am glad you stuck it out and did not leave FPG. It can't have been easy continuing to come here when you were subject to a foolish yet malicious attack every time you logged on. Your contribution is much valued.

    I think the worst of the mean-mindedness and stupidity has passed (knock on wood). Kudos to those who stuck with the pens and pen-related issues in their posts. Those were among the good things of 2020.

    Among my own personal good things was learning that there is a cure for the disfiguring cracking that spoils the appearance of some casein pens. Of course I learned that just when I decided to limit myself to Mabie Todd pens. There are no casein pens in that brand.

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: What pen-related good things in 2020 for you?

    Thanks for the kind words, friends. We're in this together. And, look out - here comes 2021!!



    Happy New Year!!
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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