My all-time favourite pen was my Lamy abc fountain pen I have since 1995 as I was in the 2nd class of elementary school. It’s the pen with the long red lid. The end piece is missing since I had a rampage about my school work in 1995 and threw my fountain pen to the ground. laugh
The nib isn’t the original one anymore, I needed to replace it around 2010.
The last time I used my Lamy abc fountain pen was last year, as I wrote lots of folded cards. Since I do Postcrossing, I switched to ballpen and Fineliner, because I’m worry about ink by rain and want to be sure, that everyone can read my handwriting.
I use mostly the dark blue ballpen under my Lamy abc. The color is also dark blue. ^^
Above my Lamy abc is my first PIGMA MICRON 003 (black, 0.15mm line) which I bought in July 2022. I never knew before, that Postcrossers in Asia can’t read cursive, nor learnt to write in cursive. Since I read this often on the official Postcrossing Profiles from Postcrossers in Asia, I always write in block letters, even if the recipient don’t ask to write in block letters. I want to make sure, that the recipient can read my postcard without any trouble.
The other two ballpen have black ink and the same font-weight as my dark blue ballpen. Sometimes I switch between dark blue and black ink. ^-^
And the two quill I used a ver~y long time ago. Both make a horrible sound when I write on paper. A scratching sound is horrible, so I don’t use them anymore.
I almost always use a Zebra G nib on a Koh-I-Nor pen holder, usually with walnut ink, though I do sometimes use sumi ink. I find other inks are not always amenable to postcard writing.
Hello! I live in the U.S. and I’m looking for a really good pen. I have some gel pens at home and they are…okay. But I’m looking for one that writes really smoothly with a fine black line. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don’t want to spend a lot of money. Please recommend brands or certain pens. Thanks!
My go-to pens are Sakura Micron pens for matte postcards, Sakura Microperm for shiny postcards. Can be bought as a multi-pack (3-5 pens for ~$10 online) or individually at an art store for ~$3.25 each.
For a ballpoint I like Delfonics wooden ballpoint pens:
It’s funny you should post a picture of all the Sakura pigma pens today because as of yesterday they’ve been on my shopping list! I’ve been watching someone doodling with them on Instagram or a FB reel (I can’t remember which)…either way, I thought I’d try them!
@floridagirl10 An interesting question. Back in the 1980s, I represented Pilot Pen here in the US. Their huge seller was the “Razor Point.” It was extremely popular with the Art Materials trade for its point that could do excellent detail work. You can find these pens on eBay.
I currently use Uni-Ball’s “Impact 207” for writing on postcards. I have also used Pilot’s Precise which has a V7 fine (.7mm) or an extra-fine V5 (.5mm) point.
Im currently using a Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen with a fine nib and some Noodlers water resistant ink (but am going to find an ink color I like better)
The Sharpie ultra thin pens I bought to replace one from a large set are darker blue than I want, and I can’t find one close to color 0057B7. Can anyone recommend another brand of pen that works similarly on postcards?
Favorite general purpose writing pen is a fountain pen, but the inks I like are not water resistant so I don’t use a fountain pen for postcards. My current favorite for postcards are Sakura GellyRoll pens. I’ve also used the ultra fine Sharpies, S Notes (for decorating), Zebra Mildliners, and Bic Intensity. I need to hunt up more colors of the Bic Intensity. They are especially good for postcards with a coating on them. No smudging! I just picked up a set of Sakura Glaze pens that I’m curious to try. Has anyone used them?
I need help to translate this pen please! Anyone? Anyhow, this is one of my favorite pens and want to know where I can get another like it. I received it as a gift when my husband was stationed in Japan. I wonder if it is Sanrio?
It’s a simple/easy-to-find pen over here but I like the brand Artline, specifically the Artline 220 Fineliner 0.2mm Black. I have dyspraxia and my handwriting is horrible, but this pen helps my writing look somewhat ‘cute’ as opposed to ‘chaotic/messy’ and it also helps me fit a LOT on my postcards I like to write long letters when I send postcrossing! So fineliners seem to be my best bet for that.
As an artist who is concerned with the longitivity of her works, I just want to remind people to be careful with the lightfastness of the ink you are using, especially if you plan on displaying your writing in some way.
Between 2014 and 2015, I conducted a (semi-scientific) lightfastness test on various writing/calligraphy instruments with different ink property in my possession. I will leave out the description of the protocol unless someone is intersted in knowing it, and show you some of the results:
These are the results of the inked samples after X hours of exposure under direct sunlight. As you can see, some of them didn’t resist to fading at all.
However, before everyone panic, I should point out that
I was exposing the inked samples under an extreme condition. If you keep your writings properly under ‘normal’ to ‘very good’ conservation condition – e.g. in the shade, with humidifier, etc. – your writing shouldn’t fade so badly so quickly. It will still fade over time, but at a much slower rate. For comparison, here is my classnote written a few years before the experiement was conducted, using (if I remember correctly) Pilot Hi-Tec C. It was conserved over the years in a storage box in the shade, in Montreal, and every stroke is still visible today:
The manufacturer might have changed the ink formula since I purchased the writing instruments (Pilot Hi-Tec-C maybe around 2012 or so). What seems to be terribly light-sensitive 10 years ago doesn’t mean it’s still so.
If you don’t plan on ever displaying your writing under environment light, you shouldn’t worry too much about this lightfastness property. But if you do, this is something to be careful in case you want your works to last for several generations.
I have also conducted the lightfastness test on several brands’ fountain pen inks, if anyone wants me to share the result here or somewhere on the forum, simply let me know.
You can buy refills for these, which is really nice.
I like to write long letters when I send postcrossing! So fineliners seem to be my best bet for that.
