Yes, Brian, thank you for not being ashamed to acknowledge these very important aspects of your life. So many are yielding to the pressure to be overly "politically correct" and it's ridiculous. I admire your personal values and I believe they carry over into your business practices as well. That's not an unimportant thing! Keep up the good work and God bless...
Getting a pen that writes well out of the box without any skipping, hard starting or baby's bottom, especially higher end pens, should be the norm. If a pen has baby's bottom for instance, even just a little, it is not just "not perfect", in my opinion it is not a properly functioning writing instrument.
@@herrkeks8509 yeah, unfortunately. I counted how many of my pens (I have various Conklins, Deltas, Markiaros, Leonardo's, Lamys and ASA pens, Kaweco etc (no gold nibs) which I bought from various stores, but just to be clear, none from Goulet Pens; not trying to wrongly judge any store) have needed some form of work or replacement: nib work, nib or feed replacement etc. It was 68% (17 out of 25). Just for reference sake, just some of the pens I did not have any issues with are Lamys (Safari/AlStar, Studio, Aion), the Pilot Metropolitan, and one ASA pen.
Something memorable for me was getting my TWSBI eco. It is my first piston pen and I love putting shimmer ink in it and watching the shimmer when I am writing.
@@Gouletpens I recently got a Twsbi eco. At the start, it wrote terribly. Skipped alot and I had to use a lot of pressure. It felt like I was using a ballpoint pen. Yes, I did run water through it before using it the first time. After using it for a bit and cleaning it again, it has going better. But I still have to be careful to keep it on its "sweet spot". I have a pilot metropolitan and a lamy safari. Neither of them had anywere near the issues that the Twsbi eco had.
I had a similar situation of ordering 3 Italian made pens from 3 different retailers. Two of them arrived visibly misaligned (nib to feed) and one is just skipping. They all write and I won’t return any of them, but I will need to have them tuned which adds to the price overall. I remember buying my first fountain pen from Goulet. I had a little trouble with skipping. Rachel helped me troubleshoot via a writing sample. I learned so much right off the bat and even disassembled and reassembled the pen successfully. That is one of my best FP stories of 2018.
My favorite fountain pen moments this year have involved sharing the love with two friends at work. I gifted each of them with some wingsung pens, and now they are both into the hobby! It's so fun to have IRL friends who "get it" and I love to see someone else enjoying the experience of fine writing!! Merry Christmas, Goulets!
A big advantage of the 580 over the Eco for me is that it looks more like a pen. On two separate occasions, people asked me if an Eco was a vape pen. If you're into vaping this might not bother you, but I am not, and very much did not want people thinking that I was.
There was a Reddit discussion about Frixion-like FP inks and the main problem seems to be that those heat sensitive leuco dyes are mostly pigments (not water soluble) and therefore not fit for FP usage.
My most memorable fountain pen moment-I finally made my first purchase from Goulet. And for the new year, I bought a new pen, the Conklin Duragraph Matt Black / Rose Gold, to celebrate the completion of my first novel.
i have been singing since I was about 4 or 5 years old. I still absolutely love singing in my church choir. Any chorus. Any time. I love the way it feels. What a pleasure.
The Pilot Frixion ink would be great. Noodler's Boston Mueller's ink is fun...writes red but wipe with water and it turns a shade of blue. I would also love to see some iridescent fountain pen inks too. So what color ink are people using in the new Mint TWSBI? QOTW: Finally being a little more relaxed about using & cleaning my pens. Less stress...more use. My husband began using a fountain pen this year and won over a co-worker, sent another co-worker to Goulet for her supplies. The rabbit hole is getting bigger and busier. lol. Merry Christmas! 🎄✝️🖋🎁🌲☃️🌬❄️🛍🎄
QOTW: most memorable fountain pen experiences of this year is that every time use my Pilot custom 823 (which is almost everyday), it reminds me that I don't really need another pen because it is so perfect for daily use.
Frixion ink exists for highlighters already, so it seems like a small leap to turn it into fountain pen ink. (Especially since Pilot has FP-style refillable highlighters in Spain, which nearly killed my friend's Metro when a store sold her the wrong cartridges.) Small frictiony object: an eraser. Or a rounded off hot glue stick would probably work here, too. Some of the firmer touch screen styluses. Market: my mom's middle schoolers actually use Frixion pens as a 'next step' from writing with washable blue fountain pen ink. Even in uni, where textbooks might get re-sold, if you write and highlight with a heat-sensitive ink, you can take a hair dryer to your textbook instead of carefully only using pencil in them, and then erasing 300 pages of margin notes.
My most memorable fountain pen experience for 2019 was gifting my friend Debbi, who retired from radio after 36 years, a Senator President fountain pen. She loved it so much that I gave her 1 of Monteverde's inks in her favorite color! She has told me that there are moments that she just looks at her pen and thinks of me.
I cant stress this enough for beginners get the eco not the 580.. the 580s heavy and the cap doesn't post confidently and it changes the balance. The extra ink is nice but not at the cost and trade of to the eco. Trust me it's better to start of with a nice paper multiple ink and a good pen.
I question a strategy. Some of us may hold off purchasing a pen in excess of $200. If the first time we are tempted to do so, we purchase a pen shown as MSRP $400 or more for $200, and we get one from a brand we view as upscale and have the QC problems mentioned, I can just say I will never buy another Stipula ever. If a vendor is discontinuing the line, that may be something they view as all right; however, I think it also has an impact on the vendor’s reputation for quality as well. I will eventually pay a Nib-pro to adjust it, and I will not likely change loyalties. But, I did not return the pen because of the discounted price.
Regarding upper end pens not working well, last year when I bought my Homo Sapiens dark age from Goulet, I noted the spotty reputation that Visconti has and asked that they test the pen first. It did and they sent the page they used to test the pen. Of course, I had MikeItWork turn it into a Japanese EF, but it worked from day 1 after buying from GPC.
My Dark Age 1,3 mm 18k Gold didn’t work flawlessly, it had baby’s bottom, but I fixed it myself, not it writes extremely well :) I also ordered a monotone (silver) 23kt Palladium nib (M) and I‘ll see how that goes :)
Vintage pens are generally thinner and shorter than modern pens, unless it is an oversize version, and even smaller if it is a ring top ladie's or junior pen.
QOTW Most memorable was the pilot parallel set and all the fun with it. Best video was when Drew put on the ring from the Lord of the Rings pen set then had to squirm it off then of course bounced it on the hard table and Brian Goulet kept his cool throughout
The most memorable pen moment for me was getting my Lamy 2000 during my vacation to New York. It was the first fountain pen store I went to and it was wonderful!
In terms of shorter pens, my vote goes to the Pilot Prera every time. Great set of nib and colour options (both solid colour and demonstrators with different coloured accents), nice build quality and, in my own experience, ultra reliable. The capping mechanism is glorious, making an amazing snick sound. The only caveat is cosmetic. For the demonstrators you can end up with ink trapped under the cap liner. This doesn't affect the performance but isn't too attractive. Brian did a great and simple video showing how to remove the cap liner for cleaning, making this a non issue for me.
Another great video. I’m surprised you mentioned it is normal for pens to skip. I have over twenty pens in 50 - 200 dollar range and never have any skipping issues. I used to have skipping with Conklin and Monteverde nibs, but that is easily fixed by switching to Goulet nibs.
Two memorable pen moments this year: 1) hitting my first pen show (San Francisco) and purchasing my first bespoke pens from Franklin Christoph, Herbert Pen Co, Schon DSGN, and Newton/Vanness 2) A limited Japan stationary store exclusive Sailor PG "Russian Blue" cat theme pen launched in December exactly when my friends were visiting Tokyo and could bring it back. It is a touchstone/reminder of both my Zelda RB cat and the trip I took 10yrs ago.
A merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all you wonderful folks at Goulet Pens! The world is a better place because you do what you do and the honest, fun and open way in which you do it. You’re an inspiration for values-based retail business that contributes to communities by meaningful products, education and service. And: pens write peace. They are tools for individual expression and communication. Enjoy the festive season and God bless!
This year was crazy and I think I have fallen in this rabbithole for good. Bought my first fountain pen with a gold nib (Pilot E95S), found the Pelikan 400 of my grandfather and restored it, made my first nibs using Zebra G's... just a lot. I just bought my first ever luxery pen: the Homo sapiens bronze age oversized. Got two friends to fall in this hole with me. I really hope 2020 will be just as great as this year.
For an upper-end pen, this approach might be absurd, but I would pay a $20 (or, perhaps more) tuning fee if necessary to ensure that we both avoid such issues that lead to returns. Is there not a balance where that works for both vendor and customer? I am confident I would never need that for a LAMY or an Asian Big 3. Truthfully, I just have far less confidence in Italian pens.
I agree with you. It depends on the value of the pen, and that is quite relative to the user. Better to buy more inexpensive pens from a retailer like Goulet, where you can ask them to check the nibs out for you before shipping. My spouse has had a TWSBI Eco w/ a stub nib for a year or two and likes it so much as a knock-a-round pen that more were purchased for gifts for young people in the family. All of them stub. All of them with baby’s bottom. I also bought and Eco stub for myself and the Emerald 580, stub. Both of those also have baby’s bottom. At this point I think it is a manufacturing issue. All of our pens were purchased from TSWBI directly, through Amazon. The nib on my spouse’s pen looks perfect under magnification, the others show typical baby bottom’s. Hard start and skipping insanity.
Keith Whitney They do! I ordered the Platinum 3776 and it was an ultra extra fine, so I asked them to do a nib test, and Drew kindly wrote me a card with my pen to test it out. I just specified in the notes of my order to test my pen. It was so greatly appreciated by me.
The Italian pens really are more just art than they are writing instruments. I have noticed those pens have a lot more writing issues, and the companies refuse to care about it or fix it, because they just don’t do that. If you have an issue, you either have to return it (for a fee) or go to a nibmeister. Bad business imo
Lucy Wu THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was unaware you could make that request. I have learned a lot through this post. I doubt I would try another Stipula, and I have great confidence in several brands. Just know you reaffirmed the Goulet standards for me! :)
ECO vs 580: I agree with Brian! I have both in 1.1 stub nibs and love them. My 580 is my personal favorite; I really like that faceted barrel. Also, perhaps by chance, it is a wetter writer, and I like wet-writing pens. Just take your pick! (I wish the 580 came in white with rose gold; just bought another Eco in that color combo. It's slightly dry, though, but a very pretty pen.)
I've penabled a few people this year, one completely unintentionally. He repaid me for sending him down the rabbit hole by getting me a gift card to a local brick and mortar and I really appreciated his appreciation.
Thanks for answering my question! C: I love the idea that a company's R&D department would take into account fashion and color to make trendy pens just as much as I love the companies who make color trends happen. Also! Re: small pens -- the ohto tasche is super fun. QOTW: This was the second question I've ever asked and both of mine have been answered on this channel! I think the first one was regarding organizing inks and cataloging ink swatches a couple years back. 😊
Short Pen: Pelikan M300 :) Just a few millimeters longer than a Kaweco Sport, but a bit thinner :) It is such a cute pen :) Looks funny beside a M1000... 🤣
@@TheKargini I love my M300 as well! :) And it is surprisingly comfortable! :) The price was good and thought it was hilarious, + plus I assumed it will write good; it is a Pelikan after all! And I wasn’t disappointed. This is just like the other Souverän, the only difference is that is so small and CUTE. I sometimes feel like I have a scale model as a design sample. :D But it is a working pen! It’s amazing. :D And I actually ended up liking it very much as a pen itself, on top of it being a tiny Souverän. :) What am I even talking about, haha; you have one as well and thus probably have experienced something similar. :D It is indeed very sad that it got discontinued. :(
@@herrkeks8509 I think they were intended to pair with pocket planners-sadly soon after they were introduced,everyone started going digital. Unfortunate timing on Pelikan’s part. I have small hands & short fingers,but glad to hear someone who can rock an m1000 can appreciate & use them!
@@TheKargini It would indeed make a great pocket pen. However mine sits safely in my desk drawer in a little leather sheath from Kaweco made for the Sports, which are awesome as well. In terms of thickness it fits with plenty of room. Lengthwise, it it almost fits in. The last millimeter is sticking out of the top-half of the sheath, though the other half of the sheath is 2 mm longer than the pen. ...so that this is enough protection for it. :) It is one of my favorites. I usually don’t write more than one page at a time in grid ruling and on most days it is comfortable enough for me to do so. :) I use it unposted, because I don’t want to harm the finish due to posting.
"Rocketbook" is the reusable notebook/paper that entails using ONLY the Pilot Frixon pens or markers, using their app to scan your written word, and automatically uploading the document to your choice of filing system. Then the pages wipeoff with a wet cloth. The pages are slightly plastic feeling. One model uses the microwave oven to delete your pages.
To restore erased FriXion ink I can confirm putting the notebook for a while in the freezer works. I did it with a notebook that had about 15 pages erased because I put a hot saucepan on it (not aware at that time that the ink was heat sensitive). I let the notebook rest in the freezer overnight and what was erased came back... And yes, the notebook was wet ;)
Did I get it right that you do not mention the Tintenkiller/Tintenlöscher ("ink killer" = ink eraser)? In countries like Germany that is a pretty common thing among school children and kind of strange to think it is so unknown in the USA. Mostly a Tintenkiller is a double ended pen; one side features a chisel tipped white end with which you erase the ink, with the other end, some kind of felt or fine tip you write over the erased part. Many brands that also produce school supplies carry that item: Lamy, Pelikan, Online, Faber-Castell, Herlitz, Schneider, Paper Mate, BiC, Idena ...
As I remember he did mention the ink eraser on another qna, just not this time. I guess it's the question being specific on heat erasing. Btw, ink killer is a cool name
@@herrkeks8509 Woaw, great to know, thanks! My children like this colour, too, but do not use it in their fountain pens because it did not occur to us that it might be erasable ... now they will ;-)
2019 will be known as the year of the rabbit hole, 6 years ago when my father passed away, I got a silver Aurora and knew nothing about it, it lived on my desk and was filled with Parker Quink blue and signed things. Along the way I picked up a Kaweco Sport, and a Lamy Al-Star at a Lamy store on a trip to Europe, well that seems like a distant past. In the the past year my ink and pens have exploded, in the search to experience it all. There's something exciting discovering something new, and there's something relaxing about taking the time to put pen to paper. Every pen is interesting, if it's my jinhao with a Goulet nib, or my 149.
I got really lucky with my white eco. It never skips on me (unless I'm tired and I write at an absolutely terrible angle), it writes amazingly for the price, and it has introduced me to a new hobby and love of fountain pens. My next pen may be the 580, just to see what the next step up looks and feels like.
I work a lot with the deaf community, and I would like to know what kinds of videos you’d like captioned. Do you want the shorter videos captioned, the Q&A, or just everything? I can see if I can spare some of my time to caption these and submit them to be approved :)
Cartridge ink or bottled ink? They start differently. It is not silly to get $5.00 of the small ink samples. First touch the pen to ink and use it sort of like a dip pen. Up to the breather hole. This lets me feel the nib. Rinse with clear water, dip in diluted soapy water and blot (Dawn) . Ink dip again scribble, blot, touch to ink again, scribble, clear water rinse blot… then fill with ink or install a cartridge. Your mileage may vary. This sorts out the grind in my mind. The samples are a big bargain. Ink color is emotional one in three is a winner for me. Keep any empty sample containers to dip jump start if needed, not dunk, touch.
I have a good number of Platinum, Sailor, and Pilot gold nib pens and with only one exception, they all wrote flawlessly out of the box. That one exception was a Platinum #3776 whose nib and feed weren't pushed in properly. That's not a defect, it's a minor adjustment and for all I know, it just got jostled during shipping. Not all companies are like that and I think we all know that one company (that I won't name) whose QC has been downright amateurish and neglectful. So much so that I won't risk buying their high end pens -- that I did want -- after having tried their slightly cheaper ones. But a Platinum, Sailor, or Pilot, I'll buy sight unseen at any price point that I can afford and know I'll get exceptional quality right out of the box. Trust is what good QC buys you. Lost sales is the price of bad QC.
QOTW: None of my many fp cost more than 100€. I do like to take them apart to know how they work. So when my colleague asked me how to clean his only pen a Pelikan M805 SE Ocean Swirl thoroghly I confidently removed the nib unit with glee. I could show off. My joy was completely taken over by despair when afterwards it did not write so well anymore. All the smooth wetness was gone. I just touched it briefly...how...I mean how...I was unable to take in that I broke his expensive pen. Me, that I know what there is to know...how why what? Once I could think straight again I figured I must have held the nib by it's sides not top/bottom - big mistake especially with gold nibs - my steel nibs never complained. Nervously I started to work on the once more trusted to me gold nib, in mind the tips Matt Armstrong gave in his awesome video about how to make nibs write wetter. Steadily confidently with improvised tools and not removing the nib from it's nib unit I managed to return it to it's former glory. Seldom if ever was I so upset and proud of myself at the same time over one thing. I love tinkering and I'm good at it that I now know.
If Pilot made Frixxon ink for fountain pens, I would buy it. If it costs extra, I would buy it (up to a point). If it needed a special pen, I would buy that too.
I have an older Diplomat - Classic Collection 1 with a gold, bicolor nib - and had a terrible time with skipping and hard starting. First, I switched to Noodler's Black. Second, I learned to clean the pen more often - every other day (Don't know what the norm is). Third, I had to practice with it on different papers until I learned how to use it. It's a fussy pen and seems to require extra TLC, but I use it every day. Still, must have have been disappointing to spend so much $$ and have pens not work right out of the box as one would expect.
Well, the point isn't perfection but the fact is that it's more likely that you'll get skips and baby's bottom and flow issues with more expensive pens. M200 wrote great but M800 had baby's bottom. Metropolitan wrote great, 823 had flow issues. Aion wrote great, L2K wrote great, MB169 was scratchy as hell. All using Serenity Blue, all on the same paper. That is a problem. If $20 can write five pages flawlessly and a $350+ pen can't, something is seriously wrong.
For the person with small hands, check out the Waterman Hemisphere, a nice slim pen, although not offered at Goulet, it's quite elegant and a good writer.
Got - to - have - all - TWSBI - colors. Resistance is futile. (Clicks "complete purchase") QOTW: This was the year I really got into the hobby! Merry Christmas to all at GP!
@@shutupandcrochet This will be #10 Black, white, purple, red, blue, green, clear, orange, coral and now blue mjint. They are inked with appropriate colors that sorta match. These are my favorite everyday work pens.
I live in Montreal. We have pretty extreme temperature variation between 40 degrees celcius in the summer to -25 degrees celcius in the winter. My daughter's school insists that she use Frixion pens, and I bloody hate them. They do not work in our extreme temperatures and things randomly erase or show up depending on the season. I wish that my daughter could use sensible fountain pens at school!
Awesome vid! And thanks for the timestamps in the description :). Was thinking about getting the twsbi eco (fine or extra fine) with waterman intense black ink for school - where I have to use cheap terrible paper, I'm hoping this would work with no bleedthrough nor feathering? I'm very new to this and I gotta say it's very intimidating... But your videos really help me out! :)
Even sbreBrown joked about a very expensive pen he got and was surprised it wrote just fine with no issues. As if they're made as collectors items and not writing instruments.
17:00 its funny but always when there is talk about skipping pens, i think about my twsbi pens (2 eco's, diamond mini and precision). Although i have ink in them for long periods without writing, i never had these pens skip with the exeption of one situation, which is when i leave it uncapped on the table. and even then its about to lines no ink and then it writes again. to the point that i have tried (with no luck) to frankenstein a twsbi nib in my favorite pen with a bock nib (Ti Ultra pen). I dont know what twsbi does with their nib and feed but they are doing it right. Love theire attention to the packaging and pen life cycle. came to really love the brand. sorry for the rant ;)
You did not mention that the 580 is much easier to clean than the Eco because you can take the nib off and flush it, and you can use syringe to both empty and fill it which is easier for me. Or am I wrong about this ? Can you do these two things with the Eco?
QOTW: The whole concept of journaling was very special for my 2019. Not only did I start using my pens more, but I took time out of most days to reflect on experiences and feelings in a way that I hadn't done before.
I have wicked small hands and I feel near perfection with my Moonman S5. Just sayin'. ;) and heck yes i'd love to get my hands on Frixion ink for my fountain pens!! wow. take my money.
Some examples of erasable inks that I‘m aware of: :) • many washable blues are erasable • Pelikan 4001 Violet (have it) • Faber-Castell (standard) Pink (it is advertised that way, but I myself don’t have it)
My question of the year is going to be how to clean my MYU. Is the feed removable in any way? Or do I just have to rely on soaking and flushing and can't disassemble it? (I don't have it in hand yet, but it's on the way. Tracking says it cleared customs in Japan.) I'd just like a tad more information on how to treat it when it gets here, being far and away the most expensive pen I have personally ever purchased. I saw in one of your videos (I'm sorry I don't remember which particular one) that you have a Pilot M90, so I figured you'd know about this for sure.
Do your kids’ teachers fuss about them using fountain pens at school? We ran a learning center and gave our students varsities, sharks, and x750’s. Some of the kids told us they brought their pens to school and were told not to bring the pens to school again. Now, I don’t know what the kids were actually doing with the pens in school, other than hopefully writing, but these admonishments came from some teachers who couldn’t read notes written to them in cursive, so, yeah.
That's astonishing. In my school days we were only allowed to use "cartridge pens". Fountain pens that took ink cartridge refills. Black or blue ink with red being used by the teachers to grade our work. The only concession to our youthful lack of grace was a preference towards "washable inks". I can't recall any incidents over kids using fountain pens other than ink stains on fingers that got too close to the nib.
If you plan on flex writing with it, I think shading inks are great choices for the Ahab. Noodler's Apache Sunset and Black Swan in Australian Roses are very popular choices. - Colin
love that you mention your family updates and your church choir singing... feels like you're family🤗
Yes, Brian, thank you for not being ashamed to acknowledge these very important aspects of your life. So many are yielding to the pressure to be overly "politically correct" and it's ridiculous. I admire your personal values and I believe they carry over into your business practices as well. That's not an unimportant thing! Keep up the good work and God bless...
Getting a pen that writes well out of the box without any skipping, hard starting or baby's bottom, especially higher end pens, should be the norm. If a pen has baby's bottom for instance, even just a little, it is not just "not perfect", in my opinion it is not a properly functioning writing instrument.
Simon Cook ...but sadly it is not always the norm 😭
@@herrkeks8509 yeah, unfortunately. I counted how many of my pens (I have various Conklins, Deltas, Markiaros, Leonardo's, Lamys and ASA pens, Kaweco etc (no gold nibs) which I bought from various stores, but just to be clear, none from Goulet Pens; not trying to wrongly judge any store) have needed some form of work or replacement: nib work, nib or feed replacement etc.
It was 68% (17 out of 25).
Just for reference sake, just some of the pens I did not have any issues with are Lamys (Safari/AlStar, Studio, Aion), the Pilot Metropolitan, and one ASA pen.
Simon Cook It‘s almost never the stores fault...
I think I had more luck than you. :/
@@herrkeks8509 yes, I know that it's not the stores fault. I just wanted to avoid the impression that this was somehow connected to Goulet pens
Simon Cook Wanted to write almost instead of also (fixed it). I just wanted to express that I got you and I agree with you :)
Something memorable for me was getting my TWSBI eco. It is my first piston pen and I love putting shimmer ink in it and watching the shimmer when I am writing.
Love the TWSBI ECO! My favorite pen :) -Margaret
Mine was the 580 I wish i had gotten the eco to start
@@Gouletpens I recently got a Twsbi eco. At the start, it wrote terribly. Skipped alot and I had to use a lot of pressure. It felt like I was using a ballpoint pen. Yes, I did run water through it before using it the first time. After using it for a bit and cleaning it again, it has going better. But I still have to be careful to keep it on its "sweet spot". I have a pilot metropolitan and a lamy safari. Neither of them had anywere near the issues that the Twsbi eco had.
I had a similar situation of ordering 3 Italian made pens from 3 different retailers. Two of them arrived visibly misaligned (nib to feed) and one is just skipping. They all write and I won’t return any of them, but I will need to have them tuned which adds to the price overall. I remember buying my first fountain pen from Goulet. I had a little trouble with skipping. Rachel helped me troubleshoot via a writing sample. I learned so much right off the bat and even disassembled and reassembled the pen successfully. That is one of my best FP stories of 2018.
My favorite fountain pen moments this year have involved sharing the love with two friends at work. I gifted each of them with some wingsung pens, and now they are both into the hobby! It's so fun to have IRL friends who "get it" and I love to see someone else enjoying the experience of fine writing!! Merry Christmas, Goulets!
Love that! -Margaret
A big advantage of the 580 over the Eco for me is that it looks more like a pen. On two separate occasions, people asked me if an Eco was a vape pen. If you're into vaping this might not bother you, but I am not, and very much did not want people thinking that I was.
There was a Reddit discussion about Frixion-like FP inks and the main problem seems to be that those heat sensitive leuco dyes are mostly pigments (not water soluble) and therefore not fit for FP usage.
My most memorable fountain pen moment-I finally made my first purchase from Goulet. And for the new year, I bought a new pen, the Conklin Duragraph Matt Black / Rose Gold, to celebrate the completion of my first novel.
i have been singing since I was about 4 or 5 years old. I still absolutely love singing in my church choir. Any chorus. Any time. I love the way it feels. What a pleasure.
The Pilot Frixion ink would be great. Noodler's Boston Mueller's ink is fun...writes red but wipe with water and it turns a shade of blue. I would also love to see some iridescent fountain pen inks too. So what color ink are people using in the new Mint TWSBI? QOTW: Finally being a little more relaxed about using & cleaning my pens. Less stress...more use. My husband began using a fountain pen this year and won over a co-worker, sent another co-worker to Goulet for her supplies. The rabbit hole is getting bigger and busier. lol. Merry Christmas! 🎄✝️🖋🎁🌲☃️🌬❄️🛍🎄
QOTW: most memorable fountain pen experiences of this year is that every time use my Pilot custom 823 (which is almost everyday), it reminds me that I don't really need another pen because it is so perfect for daily use.
That’s a good feeling! Pen contentment. Aaaaahhhhh.
Frixion ink exists for highlighters already, so it seems like a small leap to turn it into fountain pen ink. (Especially since Pilot has FP-style refillable highlighters in Spain, which nearly killed my friend's Metro when a store sold her the wrong cartridges.)
Small frictiony object: an eraser. Or a rounded off hot glue stick would probably work here, too. Some of the firmer touch screen styluses.
Market: my mom's middle schoolers actually use Frixion pens as a 'next step' from writing with washable blue fountain pen ink. Even in uni, where textbooks might get re-sold, if you write and highlight with a heat-sensitive ink, you can take a hair dryer to your textbook instead of carefully only using pencil in them, and then erasing 300 pages of margin notes.
My most memorable fountain pen experience for 2019 was gifting my friend Debbi, who retired from radio after 36 years, a Senator President fountain pen. She loved it so much that I gave her 1 of Monteverde's inks in her favorite color! She has told me that there are moments that she just looks at her pen and thinks of me.
I cant stress this enough for beginners get the eco not the 580.. the 580s heavy and the cap doesn't post confidently and it changes the balance. The extra ink is nice but not at the cost and trade of to the eco. Trust me it's better to start of with a nice paper multiple ink and a good pen.
I question a strategy. Some of us may hold off purchasing a pen in excess of $200. If the first time we are tempted to do so, we purchase a pen shown as MSRP $400 or more for $200, and we get one from a brand we view as upscale and have the QC problems mentioned, I can just say I will never buy another Stipula ever. If a vendor is discontinuing the line, that may be something they view as all right; however, I think it also has an impact on the vendor’s reputation for quality as well. I will eventually pay a Nib-pro to adjust it, and I will not likely change loyalties. But, I did not return the pen because of the discounted price.
Regarding upper end pens not working well, last year when I bought my Homo Sapiens dark age from Goulet, I noted the spotty reputation that Visconti has and asked that they test the pen first. It did and they sent the page they used to test the pen. Of course, I had MikeItWork turn it into a Japanese EF, but it worked from day 1 after buying from GPC.
My Dark Age 1,3 mm 18k Gold didn’t work flawlessly, it had baby’s bottom, but I fixed it myself, not it writes extremely well :) I also ordered a monotone (silver) 23kt Palladium nib (M) and I‘ll see how that goes :)
I didn't know they would test a pen before shipping it! Thanks for sharing.
Vintage pens are generally thinner and shorter than modern pens, unless it is an oversize version, and even smaller if it is a ring top ladie's or junior pen.
QOTW Most memorable was the pilot parallel set and all the fun with it. Best video was when Drew put on the ring from the Lord of the Rings pen set then had to squirm it off then of course bounced it on the hard table and Brian Goulet kept his cool throughout
The most memorable pen moment for me was getting my Lamy 2000 during my vacation to New York. It was the first fountain pen store I went to and it was wonderful!
In terms of shorter pens, my vote goes to the Pilot Prera every time. Great set of nib and colour options (both solid colour and demonstrators with different coloured accents), nice build quality and, in my own experience, ultra reliable. The capping mechanism is glorious, making an amazing snick sound. The only caveat is cosmetic. For the demonstrators you can end up with ink trapped under the cap liner. This doesn't affect the performance but isn't too attractive. Brian did a great and simple video showing how to remove the cap liner for cleaning, making this a non issue for me.
Another great video. I’m surprised you mentioned it is normal for pens to skip. I have over twenty pens in 50 - 200 dollar range and never have any skipping issues. I used to have skipping with Conklin and Monteverde nibs, but that is easily fixed by switching to Goulet nibs.
Two memorable pen moments this year:
1) hitting my first pen show (San Francisco) and purchasing my first bespoke pens from Franklin Christoph, Herbert Pen Co, Schon DSGN, and Newton/Vanness
2) A limited Japan stationary store exclusive Sailor PG "Russian Blue" cat theme pen launched in December exactly when my friends were visiting Tokyo and could bring it back. It is a touchstone/reminder of both my Zelda RB cat and the trip I took 10yrs ago.
Yes on the Frixion ink!! I was just thinking about that yesterday!
The pilot frixxion is what led me into fountain pens, I would love the erasable ink and would even buy a special pen for it.
A merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all you wonderful folks at Goulet Pens! The world is a better place because you do what you do and the honest, fun and open way in which you do it. You’re an inspiration for values-based retail business that contributes to communities by meaningful products, education and service. And: pens write peace. They are tools for individual expression and communication. Enjoy the festive season and God bless!
Thank you Johan! That really means a lot to all of us here :) -Margaret
Schon Dsgn Pocket Six also comes to mind, for pocket pens. Lots of pretty colors; # 6 nib.
I have one and the quality is great. Good one to mention, Jared.
This year was crazy and I think I have fallen in this rabbithole for good. Bought my first fountain pen with a gold nib (Pilot E95S), found the Pelikan 400 of my grandfather and restored it, made my first nibs using Zebra G's... just a lot. I just bought my first ever luxery pen: the Homo sapiens bronze age oversized. Got two friends to fall in this hole with me. I really hope 2020 will be just as great as this year.
That's quite the bucket list for fountain pen fandom and all in one year! Really cool. - Colin
For an upper-end pen, this approach might be absurd, but I would pay a $20 (or, perhaps more) tuning fee if necessary to ensure that we both avoid such issues that lead to returns. Is there not a balance where that works for both vendor and customer? I am confident I would never need that for a LAMY or an Asian Big 3. Truthfully, I just have far less confidence in Italian pens.
I agree with you. It depends on the value of the pen, and that is quite relative to the user. Better to buy more inexpensive pens from a retailer like Goulet, where you can ask them to check the nibs out for you before shipping.
My spouse has had a TWSBI Eco w/ a stub nib for a year or two and likes it so much as a knock-a-round pen that more were purchased for gifts for young people in the family. All of them stub. All of them with baby’s bottom. I also bought and Eco stub for myself and the Emerald 580, stub. Both of those also have baby’s bottom. At this point I think it is a manufacturing issue. All of our pens were purchased from TSWBI directly, through Amazon. The nib on my spouse’s pen looks perfect under magnification, the others show typical baby bottom’s. Hard start and skipping insanity.
lu jojo, Transparently, I did not know that Goulet would check the nib for you before shipping it. I would pay for that service! Thanks.
Keith Whitney They do! I ordered the Platinum 3776 and it was an ultra extra fine, so I asked them to do a nib test, and Drew kindly wrote me a card with my pen to test it out. I just specified in the notes of my order to test my pen. It was so greatly appreciated by me.
The Italian pens really are more just art than they are writing instruments. I have noticed those pens have a lot more writing issues, and the companies refuse to care about it or fix it, because they just don’t do that. If you have an issue, you either have to return it (for a fee) or go to a nibmeister. Bad business imo
Lucy Wu THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was unaware you could make that request. I have learned a lot through this post. I doubt I would try another Stipula, and I have great confidence in several brands. Just know you reaffirmed the Goulet standards for me! :)
ECO vs 580: I agree with Brian! I have both in 1.1 stub nibs and love them. My 580 is my personal favorite; I really like that faceted barrel. Also, perhaps by chance, it is a wetter writer, and I like wet-writing pens. Just take your pick!
(I wish the 580 came in white with rose gold; just bought another Eco in that color combo. It's slightly dry, though, but a very pretty pen.)
I've penabled a few people this year, one completely unintentionally. He repaid me for sending him down the rabbit hole by getting me a gift card to a local brick and mortar and I really appreciated his appreciation.
Thanks for answering my question! C:
I love the idea that a company's R&D department would take into account fashion and color to make trendy pens just as much as I love the companies who make color trends happen.
Also! Re: small pens -- the ohto tasche is super fun.
QOTW: This was the second question I've ever asked and both of mine have been answered on this channel! I think the first one was regarding organizing inks and cataloging ink swatches a couple years back. 😊
Short Pen: Pelikan M300 :) Just a few millimeters longer than a Kaweco Sport, but a bit thinner :) It is such a cute pen :) Looks funny beside a M1000... 🤣
Love my 300-Wish they weren’t discontinued.
@@TheKargini I love my M300 as well! :) And it is surprisingly comfortable! :) The price was good and thought it was hilarious, + plus I assumed it will write good; it is a Pelikan after all! And I wasn’t disappointed. This is just like the other Souverän, the only difference is that is so small and CUTE. I sometimes feel like I have a scale model as a design sample. :D But it is a working pen! It’s amazing. :D And I actually ended up liking it very much as a pen itself, on top of it being a tiny Souverän. :) What am I even talking about, haha; you have one as well and thus probably have experienced something similar. :D
It is indeed very sad that it got discontinued. :(
@@herrkeks8509 I think they were intended to pair with pocket planners-sadly soon after they were introduced,everyone started going digital. Unfortunate timing on Pelikan’s part. I have small hands & short fingers,but glad to hear someone who can rock an m1000 can appreciate & use them!
@@TheKargini It would indeed make a great pocket pen. However mine sits safely in my desk drawer in a little leather sheath from Kaweco made for the Sports, which are awesome as well. In terms of thickness it fits with plenty of room. Lengthwise, it it almost fits in. The last millimeter is sticking out of the top-half of the sheath, though the other half of the sheath is 2 mm longer than the pen. ...so that this is enough protection for it. :) It is one of my favorites. I usually don’t write more than one page at a time in grid ruling and on most days it is comfortable enough for me to do so. :) I use it unposted, because I don’t want to harm the finish due to posting.
"Rocketbook" is the reusable notebook/paper that entails using ONLY the Pilot Frixon pens or markers, using their app to scan your written word, and automatically uploading the document to your choice of filing system. Then the pages wipeoff with a wet cloth. The pages are slightly plastic feeling. One model uses the microwave oven to delete your pages.
To restore erased FriXion ink I can confirm putting the notebook for a while in the freezer works. I did it with a notebook that had about 15 pages erased because I put a hot saucepan on it (not aware at that time that the ink was heat sensitive). I let the notebook rest in the freezer overnight and what was erased came back... And yes, the notebook was wet ;)
Inkdependence is doing daily opening and impressions of the Diamine Inkvent calendar.
Did I get it right that you do not mention the Tintenkiller/Tintenlöscher ("ink killer" = ink eraser)? In countries like Germany that is a pretty common thing among school children and kind of strange to think it is so unknown in the USA. Mostly a Tintenkiller is a double ended pen; one side features a chisel tipped white end with which you erase the ink, with the other end, some kind of felt or fine tip you write over the erased part. Many brands that also produce school supplies carry that item: Lamy, Pelikan, Online, Faber-Castell, Herlitz, Schneider, Paper Mate, BiC, Idena ...
That ink eraser only works on a few blue inks only. The other end has a blue ink that isn't erased by the eraser end which is still on the page.
@@invaderzim1964 Yeah, sure, it only works with most Royal/ Washable Blues as well as with Faber-Castell Pink (cartridges, explicitly stated there).
As I remember he did mention the ink eraser on another qna, just not this time. I guess it's the question being specific on heat erasing. Btw, ink killer is a cool name
Julie Paradise I‘d like to add Pelikan 4001 Violet here, it is also erasable :) It’s nit marketed like that, but it works :)
@@herrkeks8509 Woaw, great to know, thanks! My children like this colour, too, but do not use it in their fountain pens because it did not occur to us that it might be erasable ... now they will ;-)
I wondered the same thing about thermosensitive ink (i.e. Frixion) for fountain pens. Glad it's not just me.
2019 will be known as the year of the rabbit hole, 6 years ago when my father passed away, I got a silver Aurora and knew nothing about it, it lived on my desk and was filled with Parker Quink blue and signed things. Along the way I picked up a Kaweco Sport, and a Lamy Al-Star at a Lamy store on a trip to Europe, well that seems like a distant past. In the the past year my ink and pens have exploded, in the search to experience it all. There's something exciting discovering something new, and there's something relaxing about taking the time to put pen to paper. Every pen is interesting, if it's my jinhao with a Goulet nib, or my 149.
On the erasable ink, I’m not interested. I don’t mind cross-outs. In medical charts, erasures are a big no-no.
I got really lucky with my white eco. It never skips on me (unless I'm tired and I write at an absolutely terrible angle), it writes amazingly for the price, and it has introduced me to a new hobby and love of fountain pens. My next pen may be the 580, just to see what the next step up looks and feels like.
I truly wish you could caption your videos! I'm deaf, and would love to watch your videos.
Captions are generally generated by RUclips and are accessible as a menu option
I work a lot with the deaf community, and I would like to know what kinds of videos you’d like captioned. Do you want the shorter videos captioned, the Q&A, or just everything? I can see if I can spare some of my time to caption these and submit them to be approved :)
@@keroppiix Anything/everything that you could do would be VERY much appreciated! Thank you!
@@garykarlin1777 The autocaptions aren't always accurate and makes it very difficult to follow, unfortunately.
You can read this episode in goulet blog.
I’d buy frixion ink. And I already use a separate eraser when I carry a pencil, so I’d be fine having a separate frixion eraser.
Cartridge ink or bottled ink? They start differently.
It is not silly to get $5.00 of the small ink samples. First touch the pen to ink and use it sort of like a dip pen. Up to the breather hole. This lets me feel the nib. Rinse with clear water, dip in diluted soapy water and blot (Dawn) . Ink dip again scribble, blot, touch to ink again, scribble, clear water rinse blot… then fill with ink or install a cartridge. Your mileage may vary. This sorts out the grind in my mind. The samples are a big bargain. Ink color is emotional one in three is a winner for me. Keep any empty sample containers to dip jump start if needed, not dunk, touch.
I have a good number of Platinum, Sailor, and Pilot gold nib pens and with only one exception, they all wrote flawlessly out of the box. That one exception was a Platinum #3776 whose nib and feed weren't pushed in properly. That's not a defect, it's a minor adjustment and for all I know, it just got jostled during shipping. Not all companies are like that and I think we all know that one company (that I won't name) whose QC has been downright amateurish and neglectful. So much so that I won't risk buying their high end pens -- that I did want -- after having tried their slightly cheaper ones. But a Platinum, Sailor, or Pilot, I'll buy sight unseen at any price point that I can afford and know I'll get exceptional quality right out of the box. Trust is what good QC buys you. Lost sales is the price of bad QC.
I would LOVE a Frixion fountain pen ink
QOTW: None of my many fp cost more than 100€. I do like to take them apart to know how they work. So when my colleague asked me how to clean his only pen a Pelikan M805 SE Ocean Swirl thoroghly I confidently removed the nib unit with glee. I could show off. My joy was completely taken over by despair when afterwards it did not write so well anymore. All the smooth wetness was gone. I just touched it briefly...how...I mean how...I was unable to take in that I broke his expensive pen. Me, that I know what there is to know...how why what? Once I could think straight again I figured I must have held the nib by it's sides not top/bottom - big mistake especially with gold nibs - my steel nibs never complained. Nervously I started to work on the once more trusted to me gold nib, in mind the tips Matt Armstrong gave in his awesome video about how to make nibs write wetter. Steadily confidently with improvised tools and not removing the nib from it's nib unit I managed to return it to it's former glory. Seldom if ever was I so upset and proud of myself at the same time over one thing. I love tinkering and I'm good at it that I now know.
If Pilot made Frixxon ink for fountain pens, I would buy it. If it costs extra, I would buy it (up to a point). If it needed a special pen, I would buy that too.
You mentioned non-fountain pens twice. Beware the Inkusition 😄
PenBBS makes some nice small pens. I personally can recommend the tiny 471. Only available via Etsy and eBay.
Have a relaxing holiday! Thanks!
I have an older Diplomat - Classic Collection 1 with a gold, bicolor nib - and had a terrible time with skipping and hard starting. First, I switched to Noodler's Black. Second, I learned to clean the pen more often - every other day (Don't know what the norm is). Third, I had to practice with it on different papers until I learned how to use it. It's a fussy pen and seems to require extra TLC, but I use it every day. Still, must have have been disappointing to spend so much $$ and have pens not work right out of the box as one would expect.
Well, the point isn't perfection but the fact is that it's more likely that you'll get skips and baby's bottom and flow issues with more expensive pens. M200 wrote great but M800 had baby's bottom. Metropolitan wrote great, 823 had flow issues. Aion wrote great, L2K wrote great, MB169 was scratchy as hell. All using Serenity Blue, all on the same paper. That is a problem. If $20 can write five pages flawlessly and a $350+ pen can't, something is seriously wrong.
I got a Pilot Custom 74 EF that barely even wrote at first, had to open up the tines with brass shims and stuff before it wrote
DeLike makes a brass fp (not the Kaweco Sport clone) that is inbetween the size of the liliput and supera.
Brian says the word caveat in every video
For the person with small hands, check out the Waterman Hemisphere, a nice slim pen, although not offered at Goulet, it's quite elegant and a good writer.
Got - to - have - all - TWSBI - colors.
Resistance is futile.
(Clicks "complete purchase")
QOTW: This was the year I really got into the hobby!
Merry Christmas to all at GP!
How many colors do you have?
@@shutupandcrochet This will be #10
Black, white, purple, red, blue, green, clear, orange, coral and now blue mjint.
They are inked with appropriate colors that sorta match. These are my favorite everyday work pens.
I live in Montreal. We have pretty extreme temperature variation between 40 degrees celcius in the summer to -25 degrees celcius in the winter. My daughter's school insists that she use Frixion pens, and I bloody hate them. They do not work in our extreme temperatures and things randomly erase or show up depending on the season. I wish that my daughter could use sensible fountain pens at school!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
Awesome vid! And thanks for the timestamps in the description :). Was thinking about getting the twsbi eco (fine or extra fine) with waterman intense black ink for school - where I have to use cheap terrible paper, I'm hoping this would work with no bleedthrough nor feathering? I'm very new to this and I gotta say it's very intimidating... But your videos really help me out! :)
Even sbreBrown joked about a very expensive pen he got and was surprised it wrote just fine with no issues. As if they're made as collectors items and not writing instruments.
17:00 its funny but always when there is talk about skipping pens, i think about my twsbi pens (2 eco's, diamond mini and precision). Although i have ink in them for long periods without writing, i never had these pens skip with the exeption of one situation, which is when i leave it uncapped on the table. and even then its about to lines no ink and then it writes again. to the point that i have tried (with no luck) to frankenstein a twsbi nib in my favorite pen with a bock nib (Ti Ultra pen). I dont know what twsbi does with their nib and feed but they are doing it right. Love theire attention to the packaging and pen life cycle. came to really love the brand.
sorry for the rant ;)
You did not mention that the 580 is much easier to clean than the Eco because you can take the nib off and flush it, and you can use syringe to both empty and fill it which is easier for me. Or am I wrong about this ? Can you do these two things with the Eco?
QOTW: The whole concept of journaling was very special for my 2019. Not only did I start using my pens more, but I took time out of most days to reflect on experiences and feelings in a way that I hadn't done before.
I have wicked small hands and I feel near perfection with my Moonman S5. Just sayin'. ;)
and heck yes i'd love to get my hands on Frixion ink for my fountain pens!! wow. take my money.
Pilot has V-Pens with erasable inks. I believe CultPens carries them.
Mr. Tardif please make erasable fountain pen ink a thing, my terrible handwriting thanks you in advance.
Some examples of erasable inks that I‘m aware of: :)
• many washable blues are erasable
• Pelikan 4001 Violet (have it)
• Faber-Castell (standard) Pink (it is advertised that way, but I myself don’t have it)
I believe there are now frixion markers which should have ink more similar to fountain pen ink.
Question: Is there a way to make Noodler’s inks less wet? Can I dilute it with distilled water to make it drier in my pens?
My question of the year is going to be how to clean my MYU. Is the feed removable in any way? Or do I just have to rely on soaking and flushing and can't disassemble it? (I don't have it in hand yet, but it's on the way. Tracking says it cleared customs in Japan.) I'd just like a tad more information on how to treat it when it gets here, being far and away the most expensive pen I have personally ever purchased.
I saw in one of your videos (I'm sorry I don't remember which particular one) that you have a Pilot M90, so I figured you'd know about this for sure.
I' ve solved the question of 580 vs Eco. i've bought both, one loaded in blue, the other in green. 😂😂
Good solution :) -Margaret
Do your kids’ teachers fuss about them using fountain pens at school? We ran a learning center and gave our students varsities, sharks, and x750’s. Some of the kids told us they brought their pens to school and were told not to bring the pens to school again. Now, I don’t know what the kids were actually doing with the pens in school, other than hopefully writing, but these admonishments came from some teachers who couldn’t read notes written to them in cursive, so, yeah.
That's astonishing. In my school days we were only allowed to use "cartridge pens". Fountain pens that took ink cartridge refills. Black or blue ink with red being used by the teachers to grade our work. The only concession to our youthful lack of grace was a preference towards "washable inks". I can't recall any incidents over kids using fountain pens other than ink stains on fingers that got too close to the nib.
Hi, have anyone seen the new converters for Chinese pens with loose metal spring inside them? What is the purpose of that spring?
I've heard the spring is for keeping the ink mixed
Gel ink has agar agar in it. So, vegan jello.
Church! Wot bollocks!
28:21 😬
What is the best ink for the Noodlers Ahab?
If you plan on flex writing with it, I think shading inks are great choices for the Ahab. Noodler's Apache Sunset and Black Swan in Australian Roses are very popular choices. - Colin