The Wonderful World of Ink

For every quality fountain pen you must use a quality ink.  The best part is that most good inks are not expensive at all. The good traits of an ink are the following:

1. Solid Color: If an ink is black it should not be light and discolored, so to say leaning towards a brownish mess.  The ink must look appealing throughout - true to its intended color.
   
2. Preferred Wetness: The ink dries to what you feel is appropriate. I like using ink that is a little bit wet when writing but dries quickly on paper.

A problem that I encounter with a lot of plain Blue inks is the color not being solid. Too often ink is too light. An exception is the Omas brand regular blue ink, which has a great solid darker color, which of course leads to a perfect shading.

Most of the time people, including I, lean towards buying and using turquoise and topaz inks which are vibrant, slightly greenish, yet casual and professional types of blue that my history teacher Mr.Reynolds uses in his Pelikan tradition series or M200 Emerald marbled Fountain pen. Some quality, inexpensive turquoise inks are made by Pelikan and Pilot (Iroshizuku lake-sumi).

When I use black ink which is both casual and professional, an ink I use a majority of the time, I like my black ink to have a solid dark color, or be black, really black like cheap Higgins Black magic. I also use Pilot-Namiki black, or the strangely inexpensive private reserve Velvet Black ink. But there is something else which is a new type of black called Zhivago by the all american brand Noodlers which comes in a small moonshine Looking Glass, or as us Floridians call it, a jar. The ink itself is a dark black with notes or a tiny bit of shading of Army green.

Skrip - Ink Substitute

Now let's face it. Inks can be messy. That is why there is something called Skrip, which is a nonstaining,
permanent writing fluid, or ink substitute made by the Sheaffer brand, which has been advertised for use since the 1950s for people of many all ages (5 and up).   

My recommendation is that you always use an ink that represents you.   

A Brief History of the Fountain Pen

The Feather Pen

The Fountain Pen was first the dip pen, a very simple system which started in the 1000's as a sharpened
feather, or a feather with a primitive steel point or nib.  Later, towards the early 1800's it came to be more stylish with designs and having the body of what we now call a pen.  But this was primitive in the way as to refill it because it was also a dip pen.  In 1832, John Jacob Parker (he has nothing to do with the fountain pen company Parker) invented the first self-refilling pen, or Fountain Pen.  The way of filling it was that you would dip the pen in the ink for the time required, then by turning the outer case the pen would as today with pressure would draw the ink up through the lake of the nib and through the bladder into the inside of the

The Dip Pen aka Desk Pen

outer case or the barrel, which stores the ink for about an hour of use. A major development from dipping basically a stick with a nib on it into ink every few characters.

The feed was invented by a man named L.E. Waterman, an insurance salesman developed himself a workable Fountain Pen as a result of losing money by accidentally spilling ink over important documents a wealthy client was to sign. He developed this new Fountain Pen with something called a feed which all modern Fountain Pen manufacturers use in their nibs.  The feed, located in the area below the nib, creates an ink duct reservoir which stores the ink and, with the application of gravity, send the ink into the lake of the nib which flows the ink through the stream and onto the paper when writing.  This system helps because it stores the ink for over two days as opposed to an hour or so.  L.E. Waterman later created the famous Fountain Pen company, Waterman, still in operation today making quality pens.

L.E. Waterman's new feeded system

After the Feed was invented by Mr. Waterman, it was applied to all Fountain Pens.  New interesting systems of refilling the Fountain Pen was implemented such as: the Crescent Filler, the Suction Filler, the Pressure Filler, and probably the most famous, the Lever Filler developed by the Shaefer Company of Iowa which still
runs today.   The way the Lever Filler works is that once the lever is lifted upwards, it presses onto the ink sack which with pressure and gravity, lifts the ink through the lake of the nib and through the bladder into the sack, which flows the ink into the feed.

Lever Filling Fountain Pen

The most common filling mechanism of the late 1960's through today is the cartridge. The cartridge stores the ink and sends the ink into the feed.  A cartridge is placed inside the pen by firmly pushing it or screwing it into the nib section.

Converter Filling Fountain Pen

Another more modern filling mechanism is the converter system. Twisting the top of the converter clockwise will, with pressure and gravity, bring ink through the lake of the nib and into the converter that sends the ink into the feed.  Almost all Fountain Pen manufacturers use this very modern system.     

Cartridges for a Cartridge Filling Fountain Pen

   

My Beginning Collection of Fountain Pens

The models of my Esterbrook Fountain Pen

Some of the Fountain Pens I currently have include; the Cross Bailey Metalist cartr
idge/converter filling with14 karat gold and silver finish; Dragon Design Jinhao 1200 cartridge/converter filling with ruby eyes and 18 karat gold plating; the antique Esterbrook J series ivory colored finish with twist off cap 1960's lever filling with an Esterbrook 9556 size nib made for formal writing; and last but not least, the rare Kaidouli cartridge/converter filling first emperor of China inspired design with a 20 karat almost solid, pure gold kangaroo blunt nib.  Those that are reading this that are in the fountain pen world probably have never even heard of the brand Kaidouli.          

The Introduction

When writing with a fountain pen you feel something different. A feeling not felt when you use a cheap disposable ballpoint pen. The way you write, and what you write with, makes a strong statement about yourself, something I learned over the years.  This is why I am writing my blog, to share with you the art of collecting and using a fountain pen.