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In this episode, I talk about fountain pens for kids, military deployment fountain pen options, and what really gives a fountain pen its soul!
This week:
  • Goulet 50k giveaway, close to 700 entries! Wow! Big shoutout for Colin
  • Top 5 Fountain Pens for Newbies, FP 101, Top Shading Inks, Next Level Pens
  • Winner….Stephanie Griffith! “My favorite youtube video is the Atlanta Pen Show 2016 Recap. I was honored enough to meet the Goulets at the pen show and I make a minor cameo in this video! It was so great to hang out with fellow fountain pen enthusiasts and meet some of the awesome people I have met through social media!”
  • Slowed down a bit
  • Katy came back!

 

New/Upcoming Products: – (7:15)

  • Pelikan m400 Tortoise Shell- Brown
  • Slow week for new product launches
  • Physical inventory
  • Blog on doing ink washes
  • new Parker IM and Urban pens coming out! Check out our blog
    • Changing nib, slimming body, centerband, finial, new colors and patterns
    • Urban $60-88 range
    • IM $44-76 range
    • we’re gathering interest
    • previously only medium, now also in fine!


Pens/Writing – (9:34)

1) Ramananda R.- Facebook – (9:36)

Can nibs be made with anything other than metals?
  • CAN they? Sure, but not often are they
  • metal is durable and malleable enough to work with
  • There are glass pens
  • There are wood/bamboo/reed pens (that artists use)
  • feathers (quills)
  • really any natural material can be a nib, it’ll just look really different than metal ones


2) Lisa R.- Facebook – (13:51)
I’m deployed and don’t want to have a treasured fountain pen with me, and can’t keep bottled ink easily. What is your favorite pen that accepts standard cartridges which isn’t too expensive?
  • thank you for your service!
  • I’m assuming standard here means Standard International
  • you can get cartridges for any C/C pen, though a lot are proprietary, so be aware
  • SI might be easier to get abroad, depending where you are (esp Europe)
  • Jinhao x450/750 – cheap and durable
  • Nemosine Singularity – $20, good nib ranges, maybe a bit delicate though
  • Kaweco Sport
  • Faber-Castell Loom
  • Karas Kustoms or Tactile Turn for sure
    • not super cheap, but really durable, American made, take SI carts
  • Schrade Tactical pen (I don’t sell it, but I hear good things)
3) otaku.crafts- Instagram – (19:15)

What do you think about fountain pens designed for kids like the Lamy ABC, pelikan happy pen or bruynzeel my grip.

  • I’m actually a fan of them
  • my experience with kid pens has been that they actually perform great, very smooth and durable nibs
  • usually only one nib size though, around a medium
  • often are pretty bright, colorful, and odd-shaped (look like kid pens)
  • they don’t sell well for us AT ALL, so we don’t carry most of them
  • I think they’re worth a look, especially for kids

4) ryanshh- Instagram – (22:21)

What exactly is a fountain pen? By that I mean, If I have a fine, black metropolitan with black ink and a medium, green metropolitan with green ink and switch which body is screwed onto each section…did I just change the ink color in my pens? If I clean the nibs and feeds and only swap converters did I? What if I keep the sections, converters and bodies but swap out nibs and feeds? In short, is there a piece you feel gives each pen its identity?
  • ahhh…a deep question here!
  • what makes a fountain pen is a complete pen
  • the nib (and feed) is definitely the soul of the fountain pen, that’s what it’s really all built around
  • the body of the pen really distinguishes it too, especially with SE/LE’s
  • it’s really the complete pen that makes it a pen
  • observing how they’re manufactured, it’s all just parts until the pen is completely assembled, so if you swap a part out, it’s really still that same pen just with a new part (even the nib)
  • so while the nib is really the working end of the pen, the body of the pen is really more what I would say is the thing that really makes it “that pen”


Ink – (28:03)
5) Kate P.- Facebook – (28:07)

I have a theory that waterproof inks dry out in pens faster than non-waterproof inks. What say you?

  • that’s somewhat of a generalization, true
  • it really depends, there are plenty of non-waterproof inks that can be dry
  • there are a couple of categories of waterproof inks:
  • it definitely does depend on the ink, ones like the Noodler’s Black Eel are lubricated and don’t dry out easily
  • as a general rule, I would say that you should exercise more diligence when using/maintaining pens with waterproof inks in them
6) Jocelyn S.- Facebook – (34:01)

When my hands are stained but dry the ink doesn’t seem to rub off on things like white door jams or other things I’ve touched that would be a shame to stain by accident. Can getting my hands wet by washing or sweating cause old ink spots on my fingers to stain things I touch?

  • I’ve found that this can be the case with fresh ink on your hands, that if it’s dried but you haven’t yet washed your hands, sweat can make it rub off
  • if you have washed your hands (just with normal soap) you shouldn’t have that problem
  • you might still see ink on your fingers, but it won’t be nearly as likely to rub off due to sweat (under normal circumstances)
  • as a practice, when I get a lot of ink on my fingers, I do a simple hand washing, and then don’t even think about it from there
7) SteVen F.- Facebook – (37:41)

Is it only direct sunlight that causes ink to degrade? I have a relatively dim light bulb in my room, and I have my bottled inks displayed on my shelf. The curtains on my windows are dark, thick, and don’t really let much sunlight in at all. Is light from a low wattage incandescent bulb safe for my inks? Or should I only keep them in their boxes/in a drawer?

  • so it’s the UV rays in the sunlight that degrade the ink dyes, and direct sunlight affects it the most
  • to a degree, indirect sunlight can degrade it too, though slower
  • the amount of UV exposure from a lightbulb is much lower than direct sunlight
  • fluorescent and halogen lights emit a higher UV exposure
  • incandescent light emits much less, so little you probably don’t even need to worry about it
  • same goes for LED
  • So if you keep it out and exposed to direct sunlight or bright fluorescents, that’s not ideal for archiving your inks
  • other light may be okay, but if you want it to really last the longest, keep it in the box

QOTW: What age were you when you used your first fountain pen? – (46:19)Thanks so much for joining us this week! You can catch up on any old Q&A videos you missed here.

Write On,
Brian Goulet