Sunday, November 15, 2009

I'm in Fountain Pen Heaven

I received 2 boxes this week that contained the most amazing things in the world. Well, at least for me they contain some really wonderful things that make me very happy.

I love to journal and I've wanted to be able to use a fountain pen for journaling. There's something so pure and visceral to me in being able to write with a fountain pen. I really can't explain it. Don't get me wrong, I adore my laptop and all the information it allows me access to. BUT, it's just not the same. I owned one fountain pen up until the other day. I enjoy it very much but it does not have a fine enough nib for me to use in my journaling.

Levenger Sea Grass is my first fountain pen. She is beautiful to look at, she writes so smooth that it's like gliding along on silk. Her nib says 'Fine" but she's more like a medium width line and that's fine for notes at class and writing on most papers, just not in my journal.

Back to the boxes!

The first one came on Thursday. It was from JetPens.com and contained a bottle of Noodler's Ink called Kung Te-Cheng Emperor's Purple that came with a fine point fountain pen and a felt tip pen, along with a Pilot extra-fine nib pen from Japan and some cartridges for that pen. The Noodler's Ink is every bit as wonderful as I read it would be. I only wish that I could use this particular color in all my pens, but it says to only use this ink in the provided pens due to it being a bit experimental. It's absolutely awesome. I have yet to put the other pen to the test because I don't want to wind up with too many pens with ink in them at one time.

The second one came on Saturday. It was from DalysPenShop.com and contained a Lamy Al-Star fountain pen with an extra fine nib. The one I ordered is the color they call Black Purple. It's absolutely beautiful. And when I slipped the blue cartridge into it that came in the box I was so amazed how quickly this pen fed ink and started to write like a total dream. It writes an extremely fine line that is fantastic in my journal. I am in love! I purchased a converter and some spare cartridges for this pen and I can see that I am going to be running more ink through this one than the others combined.

These are my birthday presents to myself for this year. I'm SO pleased with them. Both the pens, the ink and the companies that I dealt with are totally super. I'd recommend them all to anyone looking for fountain pens, ink and companies that deliver on what they carry and/or produce.

I plan to acquire more Noodler's Ink colors as soon as I can. If this ink I have now is any indication at all Noodler's Ink totally deserves all of the good reviews I have read about them.