Once upon a time, you could get a cheapy Parker fountain pen at many grocery stores and certainly any office supply or stationary store for around $7 or $8; packs of ink cartridge refills cost maybe $2, and came most commonly in black and blue (though if you looked hard enough you could find red, green, and -- my favorite, besides blue -- brown). I loved these pens. I used them all through high school, college, and beyond. Sure, I had a more expensive fountain pen that I bought mostly for the cachet (back then I thought pricier automatically meant better) and yet, it was always the plastic barreled Parkers I reached for. They fit my hand more comfortably, wrote beautifully, and it didn't matter so much if I misplaced one.
When my brother asked me last weekend if I could recommend a good pen for a project he wants to begin, I immediately thought of my old Parker pens. You can't beat fountain pens for beauty -- the sweep and flow of the words across the page, the way the ink settles into the bottoms of the letters, aaahhh! -- and you certainly couldn't beat my old standby for price. So we went looking.
We came back empty handed.
I told him I'd look it up online -- I couldn't remember the model name of the pens, but I'd know one when I saw it -- but now, having Googled and searched all day, I've come to the conclusion that they no longer make my favorite pen. I'm so disappointed.
On the upside, I've discovered a new cheapy pen that gets great reviews from fountain pen aficionados: The Lamy Safari! Amazon.com has them (or rather, another seller -- who charges too much for shipping, IMO -- offers them through Amazon). You can get the ink in refill cartridges, but as far as I can tell the Lamy inks are neither waterproof nor archival, which won't suit my brother's purposes. If, however, you get a cartridge converter for your Lamy Safari, you can fill your pen with bottled ink from Noodler's that claims to be so permanent it's "bullet-proof."
Now, all of this is more expensive than the $9-12 investment my old Parker pens would have set you back, but if you factor in the cost of inflation maybe it all comes out even. Hmmmph. If I were my brother and still interested in getting an entry-level fountain pen, I would purchase the following at PenCity.com:
- A Lamy Safari in red (an easier color to keep track of than, say, charcoal) with a fine nib - $21.73
- A cartridge converter - $4.95
- Noodler's Bullet Proof bottled ink in either black (but what fun is that?) or luxury blue - $12.50 - 13.50
It all adds up, and may still be more than he'd want to spend before he's convinced he even wants to use a fountain pen for his project. But I'm salivating. I may just have to order this stuff for myself so I can let him know first hand if it's worth it. ;-)
~RCH~
7 comments:
I love pens. I love office supplies. I remember those Parker pens you used to use...they were so awesome!
I had forgotten the Parker pens, but I even used them for a few years due to your influence. You are so right that they wrote like a dream. Ah, Memories.
Brown ink is my favorite, too! But it's incredibly hard to find. It reminds me of the gorgeous brown inked penmanship in Griffin & Sabine that made me wish I could write worthily enough to use a fountain pen. I get too hung up on perfection and technicality and end up making myself nervous when I use them. If only my penmanship was as pretty and free flowing as yours!
Your Parker pens remind me of all the hundreds of notes you wrote me, which are currently in a Payless shoebox. :)
These wouldn't be the ones you're looking for, would they?
http://www.redfingerprint.com/Parker/fountain_pen
(Obviously not the first pen, because it's $232, but the ones just below it?)
Oh my goodness! You found it! You are my hero, and apparently a much better Googler than I am! This one in particular is the one I'd always get -- the lovely red (maroon? burgundy?) Vector. Now I'm going to have to stock up. :-)
I know how you feel about wanting everything to be PERFECT if you use a fountain pen -- I feel that way about pretty blank books. But remember that these aren't technically "fancy" pens -- they're cheap; they're made of plastic! So go to town! Write grocery lists with them. Doodle. Cross things out and write something else. And then, by the time you have something important and lovely to write, you'll be comfortable enough with them that you won't be nervous.
Anyway, you have lovely penmanship! :-P
I SOOO want one now. Just for the having. hint hint hint kaintie. And Brown Ink. How sweet is that?
Oh, thanks! I'm glad I found it! I just typed in "Parker fountain pen plastic" and searched until I saw the one that looked like the ones I remembered you had. I think the reason they're so hard to find over here is because they're a UK company...so they're IMPORTED! ;)
I went to Amazon and typed in "Noodlers Ink Brown" and you can get 5 different shades of brown ink: standard brown, walnut, golden brown, kiowa pecan and beaver brown. I can't decide which shade is nicest--maybe golden brown of the kiowa pecan because they're not too dark. I might have splash out and get some. It's a pretty decent sized bottle of ink for $12.
None of them are the bullet proof ink (which they do sell in "eternal brown" but apparently not on Amazon) but it's archival quality, which should be perfect unless you're using it to sign checks.
I feel the same way about blank books and journals...so pristine and daunting!
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