I don’t normally celebrate this blog’s anniversary, but I decided to answer The Well Appointed Desk’s 21 Pen Questions and The Gentlemen Stationer’s 5 More Pen Questions to celebrate this year. You’ll see that my answers skew towards vintage pens and sket

#21PenQuestions

1: What is the pen they’ll have to pry out of your cold dead hands?
My very first Parker 51 (an aerometric black one that’s worth very little but is still my favourite). I love writing with it, and it was such a significant purchase at the time. It was the first vintage pen that I bought, I got it from the Fountain Pen Network without having tried a Parker 51 or a gold nibbed pen or a vintage pen before, and it was so expensive for me at the time. I’m so glad that I took that leap of faith, and that it worked out so well.

2: What’s your guilty pleasure pen?
My Nakaya Cigar Piccolo Negoro Kise Hon Kataji black/red with elastic flexible medium rhodium nib. It’s a joy to use but it was so expensive to purchase, I had to wait so long for the pen to be made and then I had to go release it from customs myself because they wouldn’t believe its price, so it never leaves my house. I bought it years ago from Mora Stylos in Paris.

3: What’s the pen you wish existed?
I’m curious about how a red Lamy 2000 would look. If it’s anything like I think it would then I want one.

4: What pen would you give to a new enthusiast?
It depends on the person but either a Lamy Safari or a Pilot Metropolitan. If they were remotely interested in vintage pens, I’d have them try the magic that is the Parker 51. If they are an artist, then a Sailor Fude De Mannen with a bottle of De Atramentis Document ink.

5: What pen do you want to get along with but it just never clicked?
Pocket pens, particularly the Kaweco series. I use them sparingly because it’s such a hassle to uncap and post them each time I want to use them. The same goes for the Schon Design Pocket 6. I have two of them, they’re great, but they’re too much of a hassle to use regularly.

6: What pen do you keep only because it’s pretty?
I have some vintage pens that I daren’t use, the prime example being a retractable Waterman that I’m afraid to fill. You are supposed to pour the ink directly into where the nib is extracted from, and I can’t bring myself to do it.

7: What pen (or stationery product) did you buy because everyone else did?
My worst pen ever, the remade Conklin Crescent filler. I bought it because people on the Fountain Pen Network went wild when they came out, and it is plasticky garbage that fell apart after one use, is horrible to fill and use, and was an utter waste of money. I’m now writing with a vintage Conklin crescent filler and A. The filling mechanism looks cool but isn’t practical (hard to fill, hard to clean), B. The Conklin flexy gold nib is amazing. C. It’s made of BCHR so it stinks to high heaven and has aged poorly. But I couldn’t care less because the nib is amazing.

8: What pen (or stationery product) is over your head or just baffles you?
The plotter. It looks like a less well made Filofax for much more money, and I don’t get the hype. I also don’t get $400 steel nibbed cartridge-converter pens with over-hyped advertising. I don’t care how pretty the box or the site or the story is — it’s a $250 pen, tops.

9: What pen (or stationery product) surprised you?
The Stalogy 365 B6 notebook. I wasn’t expecting them to become my main journaling notebook, but I like the paper and the size. Also the Retro51 tornado, which I thought was a gift shop pen but turned out to be pretty good, even though I don’t love the refill.

10: What pen doesn’t really work for you but you keep it because it’s a collectible?

I have a few vintage lever filler fountain pens from Waterman and Parker that I rarely use because they’re such a hassle to fill and even more of a hassle to clean out.

11: What is your favorite sparkly pen (or ink)?
I rarely use sparkly ink outside of Inkvent testing (I’m foolish enough to fill entire pens to test the ink instead of just dip testing them), and I have two sparkly pens only (both by Franklin Christoph) as I’m not a fan of the genre. That being said, between my Sedona Spa and Sparkling Rock I prefer the Sparkling Rock.

12: Which nib do you love — but hate the pen?
Conklin Crescent filler. I also have some flex nibs on vintage button fillers (which I hate) that I keep for the nib alone.

13: What pen (or stationery product) gives you the willies?
Noodler’s Bay State Blue. Because of the ink and because of the company.

14: What’s your favorite pen for long form writing?
Parker 51, Lamy 2000 or a Pelikan with a fine nib. They’re all excellent writers, and the Lamy 2000 and Pelikan have giant ink capacities. The Parker 51 just makes me want to write more and more with it.

15: What pen (or stationery product) do you love in theory but not in practice?
The traveler’s notebook. I love setting them up but I never use them because the format (both pocket and regular size) just doesn’t work for me. It’s too small and too narrow.

16: What pen (or stationery product) would you never let someone else use?
I tend to not loan my pens out because they walk off my desk, to a point where I no longer keep any pens in the office (they all live in Sinclair bags and travel with me everywhere). If it’s at a pen gathering then I have no problem letting people try out my pens.

17: What pen (or stationery product) would you never use for yourself?

Lined notebooks where the lines don’t reach the end of the page. I loath them.

18: What pen (or stationery product) could you NOT bring yourself to buy?
A Sailor King of Pen, because of the size and the price (and I’ve been eyeing one since they’ve been significantly cheaper). I actually tried one out and it felt ridiculous in my small hands.

19: What’s your favorite vintage pen?
Parker pens, particularly the 51s but also the striped Vacumatics. But I have a hard time not buying every Parker 51 that crosses my path. I love the nibs, the sleek look, how reliable they are and how easy they are to fill and clean out.

20: What is your favorite EDC/pocket pen?
Schon Design Patina faceted pocket 6. I love the design, the facets and the colours.

21: What’s the pen (or stationery product) that got away?
Retro51 Pink Robots. I was a Pen Addict member when it came out but I didn’t get it in time as I was distracted by my mom’s cancer diagnosis and treatment at the time. When I got cancer I wanted it even more, but I haven’t been able to get one. If you’re reading this and you have one for sale for a reasonable price, let me know.

#5MorePenQuestions

1. Why do pens and stationery continue to play such an important role in your life, especially in an age when everything is supposed to be going paperless and digital?
   I started using fountain pens as a way of dealing with my carpal tunnel issues. Then I started sketching with them, and then I really got into vintage fountain pens. I always used paper and pens/pencils both for my sketches, and because I process and recall information much better on paper. Beyond the practicality of it all, I love my pens, pencils and notebooks as objects. I love their designs, the feel of using them, their history and the way they gather meaning as objects for me.
2. What do you view as the key benefit of writing by hand?
   I think best when I write by hand. I enjoy the physicality of the process, and the way that it helps me slow down, focus, see things more clearly. I also remember things best when I write them down, even if I don’t go back to reading my notes later on.
3. What is your favourite thing about the pen/stationery hobby?
   That it affords me an immediate connection with the past. Most of my family was wiped out in the Holocaust. I don’t have a family history. I don’t have heirlooms. Using vintage fountain pens, real survivors (in my eyes), brings me so much joy – particularly when I know that I’ve “rescued” them from being tossed away or gathering dust in a drawer. I love researching them, trying to imagine their past, wondering who their previous owners were, and what they were like. It’s part of why I have no problem buying vintage fountain pens with names engraved on them.
4. What is your least favourite thing about the pen/stationery hobby?
   The way that I’m treated as a woman in local fountain pen circles, and in vintage fountain pen circles. The assumption is that I don’t belong, and I must be buying a pen for my boyfriend or something, that I’m a “fake” fountain pen enthusiast. I tried joining the local fountain pen group but they were so hostile (yes, even after I gave out free bottles of fountain pen ink, showed my collection and proved my knowledge) that I left, never to return. It’s the same when I visit vintage fountain pen dealers for the first time, and I’ve gotten used to it, but it still annoys me.
5. If you could choose one combination of stationery items to use for the rest of your life, exclusively, what would those be and why?
   A Parker 51 Aerometric fountain pen with a fine or medium nib; Waterman Blue-Black/Mysterious Blue; Midori MD Cotton Paper (blank) in a pad or notepad. I think that the Parker 51 is self explanatory at this point 🙂 Waterman Blue-Black has a lot interesting shading, and even some teal in it, and some red sheen. It’s also very easy to clean out of pens, which is always a plus for me. The Midori MD Cotton Paper is very well behaved with fountain pens, and ink doesn’t take hours to dry on it. I also like its minimalistic aesthetic.