jacey | Pen and Ink

Ah, if only I hadn't started...
If only I hadn't seen tychist's post about www.cultpens.com
But the door has been opened and I can never close it again..

When I was a child my dad lent me his Parker 51 to take my 11+ exam. When I passed, Mum and Dad bought me my own Parker 61. I still have both of those pens, the Parker 61 still kept in its original box, though much used throughout my 7 years at Barnsley Girls' High School where fountain pens were the only writing implement allowed (except for rough notes, in pencil).

I haven't used a fountain pen in years.

My Parkers have been resting and very possibly need overhauling before use. The rubber on the ink reservoir of the Parker 51 has almost certainly perished - though I haven't experimented yet. So... a few months ago I bought a cheap Sheaffer calligraphy pen from Amazon.com. The ink flow is rubbish. It dries up and needs wetting to restart it if you put it down for more than 10 of 15 minutes. But when it worket it felt great. I like chisel-tip/italic nibs. They suit my handwriting.

To when tychist mentioned Cult Pens I just went over there to take a little look. Just a very little look. And spent forty pounds, not on one pen but on a variety of cheapies, just to try them out.

LAMY Joy - £13.56 + £1.60 for 5 cartridges
http://www.cultpens.com/i/q/LM09594/lamy-joy-fountain-pen
Yes it is a joy. It has an ergonomic barrel which gives a good writing position and has a narroe italic nib, which is great for my handwriting style. The ink flows right from the get-go as soon as the cartridge is inserted. I'm currently using blue-black but I indulged myself and bought some turquoise cartridges, too. The design is a little strange. The pen has a very long (17cm approx.) matt black plastic barrel, tapering to a chisel shape. There's a window so you can see when your ink is running low. The odd part about it is the cap, a chunky silver tube with a black pocket clip. It's as heavy as the rest of the pen, and is not something you'd want to slip over the blunt end of the pen while writing as it doesn't fit neatly and unbalances the whole thing. Without the cap the pen is really well balanced. The only problem is that it might be easy to put the cap down and lose it. But the odd cap is not really a problem. The pen is cheap and it works and may lead to more pen purchases later. Apparently you can get a cartridge cionverter to use this with bottled ink, too. Recommended.

Pilot Petit - £3.24 + £1.62 for 3 mini cartridges
http://www.cultpens.com/i/q/PL26447/pilot-petit-1-fountain-pen
Does what it says on the tin and you really can't go wrong at this price. This pen is overall only 11 cm long with cap, 9.5 cm without, but a respectable 13.2 when the cap is on the blubt end - and it sits formly on, obviously designed to be used like that. The cap on the end balances it for writing. The ink flows immediately and the nib (not italic) is fine and just a little bit 'scratchy' which is what I like in a fountain pen. (I look for that in a fibre tip pen, too.) If I wanted something that made me feel I'd lost contact with the paper I'd buy one of those horrible ink gel rollerball things. It's a cheap clear plastic barrel and cap, but that's OK for the price. It's small and neat and a good pocket pen. The cartridges are short, so may not give enormous writing miles.

Platinum Preppy - £2.99 + £4.95 for 10 cartridges
http://www.cultpens.com/i/q/PT10726/platinum-preppy-fountain-pen-03-fine
The third pen is a Preppy. It's more standard pen sized, 13.5 cm long capped or 15 cm with the cap on the blunt end. It's a clear plastic barrel and cap. Made in the far east, its overall look is somewhat spoiled by the non-removable 'labels' which might say something very interesting, but since it's in Chinese (or something) whatever instructions there may be are lost on me. So i would really like to know how to make this darn thing write. The Joy and the Petit had ink flowing within about five seconds of inserting the cartrige. So far the Preppy has obstinately refused to write. And yes, I have checked, the ink cartridge has 'popped' inside the barrel and there looks to be some ink dribbling inside where ink should not be. Have I got a faulty one? is this the standard of Platinum Preppy. I feel a return coming on. Even £2.99 is expensive if the damn thing doesn't work

Cult Pens certainly send orders out in a timely manner, so hopefully their cistomer service will deal with the return efficiently. In the meantime I'm delighted with both the Lamy and the Pilot. I'm not quite at the stage where I'm ready to spend big bucks on a pen yet. The next job it to get the Parkers serviced.