Fountain Pen Nerd

There was a time when the question "what pen do you use" would get you an aggressive eye-roll. (The point, I think, was that you should spend your time building up your fundamental skills instead of obsessing over tools)

EXCEPT. Tools absolutely make a difference? A teacher told me to use a fat round watercolour brush with a fine point; you can do everything you need with it from laying down large washes to fine detail work. Without that tip I'd still be trying to use a dinky brush and being endlessly frustrated by its low paint/water capacity. A tool that suits you can be the difference between liking and hating a medium.

I bought a Pilot Kakuno about a year back, and I've since fallen down a fountain pen hole.

My father-in-law turns out to be a bit of a fountain pen nerd too, and I've inherited his collection since nobody writes much by hand these days.

The Sheaffer is the nicest to use, except that there's some fussiness with ink feed. The Faber Castell is an absolute workhorse - it's juicy, it never skips or lets me down. But man is the body heavy.

The Kakuno is still my main writer/sketcher - I like the light, chunky plastic body and I enjoy not having to be precious with it since it's so affordable. I just wish they made a broad nib - Pilot Medium nib writes like a western Fine. I like a fat juicy line! Not much to say on the Jinhao or Metropolitan, they'll do in a pinch but not my fav.

I've included the Pentel Tradio Stylo, a disposable fountain pen which used to be my absolute ride or die for years, but these days I prefer the deadweight line quality of metal nibs. Plus, they can be customized with inks, which brings me to my next point...

The inks!! Listen, I'm just a human, if you put evocative names on things like "Mountain Chestnut" I'm gonna buy it ok?? The fuyu-gaki (persimmon) ink is so nice I bought it twice (the original bottle is buried in a box somewhere and I can't for the life of me find it).

Next on the coveting list, this bizarre and ultra-cool nib, the Kakimori Brass Nib. Surely it will be the answer to all of my problems in this life!

Unrelated to pens, I got back from out west and arrived directly into hot and humid summer - suddenly life is very cottagecore.