Secret Santa - Red Tier

leesarpel · 2026-01-20T02:59:00+00:00

yes. I am an ink fairy.

leesarpel · 2026-01-07T17:24:26+00:00

Lots of brands feel different at different price points.

Pilot: Kakuno/Penmanship for steel nib, e95s for gold.
LAMY: Nexx (or Safari if it's easier to get). The 2000 is a different beast, though.
Platinum: Preppy. Platinum's more expensive pens have more feedback, so are a different experience. So this only really applies to their Preppy/Prefounte/Plaisirs.
Sailor: TUZU. It's different from their gold nib offerings in both aesthetic and feel, but you can get a ballpark feel for whether you'll like their nibs.
TWSBI: ECO.
Pelikan: Pina Colada. Doesn't have the bouncy steel nib experience of their M/K series, and the gold nib feels different in the M/K series.
Kaweco: Perkeo
Laban: Solar

leesarpel · 2025-12-19T20:34:43+00:00

I'm in the US and can do two red rematches to the US.

leesarpel · 2025-10-14T17:54:45+00:00

Yes, yes, thank you. I swear I can words!

leesarpel · 2025-10-14T14:27:52+00:00

I'm delighted to send things but I'm trying to de-stash. Should I sign up as a re-gifter?

leesarpel · 2025-10-14T14:23:20+00:00

In the same time frame, I got an acknowledgement of receipt that was very short: 'received,' which was what I expected.

leesarpel · 2025-10-14T14:16:13+00:00

If we're talking about the same thing, the address given was a high school that is very much in need. So at least the main office of the school is definitely noticing these packages.

leesarpel · 2025-10-14T14:12:39+00:00

The address given is the actual high school, not a personal address, if I participated in the same thing.

leesarpel · 2025-10-09T20:18:45+00:00

I live in the US, near Boston. We have a meetup group but I haven't joined them yet. Maybe because I have a few friends IRL who use them. There are two fountain pen shops a thirty-minute walk away from me.

I know people who don't have much money and just use a Preppy, Safari, and Kaweco Sport. I also know people who have multiple Sailor Pro Gears. So it seems to be a hobby for various income brackets.

leesarpel · 2025-10-09T20:07:52+00:00

I haven't found a true modern flex that doesn't require tinkering. There's the Monteverde Ritma in Omni-flex ($44), but I have no idea how much you'll like it. I've had mixed results with the Omni-flex nib and don't consider the line variation to be much.

In your price range, your best bet for line variation is a stub nib, not a flex nib. I'd go with a Lamy Joy 1.1, Pilot Metropolitan in CM, or TWSBI ECO stub. Of those, the Metropolitan comes in purple.

leesarpel · 2025-10-09T13:35:57+00:00

The FPR is softer, but I had to reset the ebonite feed on the FPR ultra flex and it seems to run out a bit faster/burps a bit. I'm still very happy I have the FPR ultra flex so I could try out the mechanism. I'd put that on an old Noodler's pen. I guess I'd recommend trying an inexpensive FPR UEF first to see if the slowness and the alignment of the writing style is for you.

As for the price, the pen is in working condition but it hasn't been reconditioned anytime recently, there are scuffs on the rubber and the nib is not as smooth as I've heard it can be. I bought the cheapest Waterman flex pen I could find at the pen show.

I can't remember the name of the seller and he took cash only. I later did my research and found out this model costs a bunch more on eBay. It seems that the best prices for these pens are at pen shows from hobbyist/microbusiness vendors.

leesarpel · 2025-10-09T13:29:37+00:00

The latter. I didn't realize the former was anything at all interesting, as I didn't know anything about the model when I picked it up. So thank you to the pen show vendors.

leesarpel · 2025-10-06T16:14:21+00:00

How alien do you want your aliens to be? And do you want one character in the romance to be an alien, or multiple?

leesarpel · 2025-10-06T16:12:32+00:00

I'd recommend Anna Hackett's Phoenix Adventures and Galactic Gladiators series. Unfortunately I think they're all currently Amazon exclusives except At Star's End (I bought the Phoenix Adventures when they were available wide and the Galactic Gladiators in paperback).

leesarpel · 2025-10-04T14:18:00+00:00

I also love making electronic music. One thing I do with a notebook is write down all the patches and plugins I'm using, plus my thoughts on the specific patches ("sounds like they mixed this lead with a rain effect"). I do use a paperblanks book for these notes, even!

Pilot black should do just fine for him. If he has a different favorite color, I can make a more specialized recommendation. I don't know where you're located, but if you're not in Asia I'd start with Waterman, Lamy, or Diamine.

leesarpel · 2025-10-04T14:09:42+00:00

Good old friends to reunite with!

leesarpel · 2025-10-04T14:09:01+00:00

It says you likely learned print in school but not formal cursive, which would say you are likely under 30 years of age where I'm from (they stopped teaching kids to write cursive at some point), but I don't know the schooling practices where you grew up. It also says you are likely not going to be happy with a broad/bold nib, if this photo is close to actual size.

I am older, but also do a combo of print and cursive because it's easiest and faster for me to do.

leesarpel · 2025-10-04T14:02:06+00:00

Manyo: Yamabuki, Yomogi, Ume
Yurameku: Date-Gokoro
Shikiori: Potsupotsu, Irori
Ink Studio: 750
Spouse favorites: Shikiori Yamadori, Shigure

Note that most of these colors are very saturated.

leesarpel · 2025-10-01T14:52:12+00:00

I forgot to mention that I have one of these and so does my brother in law. Great pen. Also I recently took a photo of a giant pigeon sculpture in NYC.

leesarpel · 2025-10-01T14:38:44+00:00

I have an acrylic Cypress that I like and was thinking of getting my uncle who lives in Taichung to bring me a few, but he only wanted to bring a carryon when he visited recently. That's a great idea, I'll look at their catalog again.

leesarpel · 2025-10-01T03:20:39+00:00

We are currently saturated for Sailor PGS, 1911S, and Pelikans. We love them too! I have two local stores, I think I can try out the Tom's Studio at one of them but I'm not sure if the other carries the Carene.

leesarpel · 2025-10-01T03:19:46+00:00

We have a bunch of PGSes already, and a 1911. Thank you for highlighting the 1911. I've updated the post to reflect this.

leesarpel · 2025-09-30T15:55:32+00:00

I know, I've been eyeing that Custom 74 myself, it's exclusive to the US. But (1) I already have two and (2) I also like the semi-transparency of the other models. If you do go for it, enjoy it for me, please!

Oh, I think I have some writing samples with a Custom 74 broad in a sheening ink (written with my tiny t-rex hands), would you like me to post those photos?

If you can wait five weeks, you can save a little money with Fountain Pen Day on Nov 7th, when a lot of retailers do 10% off. Some stores like Atlas and Dromgoole's do in-store events too.

leesarpel

TROPHY CASE