Kris
@hareguizer.bsky.social
Beer With Teeth artist and ideas-flinger, unrepentantly left handed fountain pen geek. My journal keeps me sane. They/them
I still haven’t forgiven Monteverde for taking a Jinhao 992 and making it worse and 100 times more expensive.
February 12, 2026 at 12:44 AM
I still haven’t forgiven Monteverde for taking a Jinhao 992 and making it worse and 100 times more expensive.
So much this. It feels like the pen-as-luxury types have forgotten that it’s not just rich people who write. Kids and students and people living on a budget deserve nice things too, and there’s a lot more of them. It feels like snobbery as well as Sinophobia.
February 12, 2026 at 12:37 AM
So much this. It feels like the pen-as-luxury types have forgotten that it’s not just rich people who write. Kids and students and people living on a budget deserve nice things too, and there’s a lot more of them. It feels like snobbery as well as Sinophobia.
It might have a blockage as well as a nib misalignment. It is possible to fully disassemble the pen for cleaning, but it might just need a good soak and repeated flushing with clean water. Cool or lukewarm at most.
February 12, 2026 at 12:24 AM
It might have a blockage as well as a nib misalignment. It is possible to fully disassemble the pen for cleaning, but it might just need a good soak and repeated flushing with clean water. Cool or lukewarm at most.
Congratulations! They are easy pens to keep running too. The sacs are straightforward to replace and the nib unit screws out for easy switching (they made a huge range of different nibs).
Just avoid alkaline and highly saturated inks with a latex sac. Iirc Noodlers Baystate inks can dissolve them.
Just avoid alkaline and highly saturated inks with a latex sac. Iirc Noodlers Baystate inks can dissolve them.
February 12, 2026 at 12:15 AM
Congratulations! They are easy pens to keep running too. The sacs are straightforward to replace and the nib unit screws out for easy switching (they made a huge range of different nibs).
Just avoid alkaline and highly saturated inks with a latex sac. Iirc Noodlers Baystate inks can dissolve them.
Just avoid alkaline and highly saturated inks with a latex sac. Iirc Noodlers Baystate inks can dissolve them.
Stalogy make a 365 page notebook with stitched binding so it lies flat, blank and grid options. My FP peeps tell me it’s ink-friendly. I like Yu-Sari and Canopus, but they’re half the number of pages.
February 12, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Stalogy make a 365 page notebook with stitched binding so it lies flat, blank and grid options. My FP peeps tell me it’s ink-friendly. I like Yu-Sari and Canopus, but they’re half the number of pages.
It shows how short (or selective) a memory people have. Sheaffer and Wahl riffing off each other’s designs, Parker making the big red Duofolds and everyone from Conklin to Waterman producing their own lookalikes, every decade since has had its dupes.
February 11, 2026 at 11:52 PM
It shows how short (or selective) a memory people have. Sheaffer and Wahl riffing off each other’s designs, Parker making the big red Duofolds and everyone from Conklin to Waterman producing their own lookalikes, every decade since has had its dupes.
I hear good things about the Uniball Jetstreams.
January 31, 2026 at 10:43 PM
I hear good things about the Uniball Jetstreams.
Or brush pens. They kinda make you write lightly.
I like fountain pens because they write without force. Just the weight of the pen is enough (and I like light pens too, none of that hand-tiring solid brass rod nonsense). Ballpoints feel like pushing a cannonball through thick mud.
I like fountain pens because they write without force. Just the weight of the pen is enough (and I like light pens too, none of that hand-tiring solid brass rod nonsense). Ballpoints feel like pushing a cannonball through thick mud.
January 31, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Or brush pens. They kinda make you write lightly.
I like fountain pens because they write without force. Just the weight of the pen is enough (and I like light pens too, none of that hand-tiring solid brass rod nonsense). Ballpoints feel like pushing a cannonball through thick mud.
I like fountain pens because they write without force. Just the weight of the pen is enough (and I like light pens too, none of that hand-tiring solid brass rod nonsense). Ballpoints feel like pushing a cannonball through thick mud.
Or a bramble. Maybe just skin a bramble stalk and wrap it round the pen. To remind the fingers to relax.
Only works if you have a pen that doesn't require the force of a thousand elephants to write, though.
Only works if you have a pen that doesn't require the force of a thousand elephants to write, though.
January 31, 2026 at 10:14 PM
Or a bramble. Maybe just skin a bramble stalk and wrap it round the pen. To remind the fingers to relax.
Only works if you have a pen that doesn't require the force of a thousand elephants to write, though.
Only works if you have a pen that doesn't require the force of a thousand elephants to write, though.
New stationery product idea - a rubber pen/pencil grip with sharp, pointy studs all over it to train students not to grip so hard!
January 31, 2026 at 10:10 PM
New stationery product idea - a rubber pen/pencil grip with sharp, pointy studs all over it to train students not to grip so hard!
I still have my middle finger callus too.
January 31, 2026 at 10:05 PM
I still have my middle finger callus too.
I might be a tiny bit obsessed.
January 31, 2026 at 10:03 PM
I might be a tiny bit obsessed.
To be fair, fountain pen technology has seen plenty of advancements in the last 50 years too, and it feels like it's accelerating, what with the fancy ink chemistries, novel filling mechanisms, 3D printing technology and machining advances.
January 31, 2026 at 10:03 PM
To be fair, fountain pen technology has seen plenty of advancements in the last 50 years too, and it feels like it's accelerating, what with the fancy ink chemistries, novel filling mechanisms, 3D printing technology and machining advances.
The ideal hand position, according to the Spencerian authors.
January 31, 2026 at 9:57 PM
The ideal hand position, according to the Spencerian authors.
Sounds like. The old penmanship books teach a relaxed hand and the joints in a natural, comfortable alignment. They were expected to be able to write all day, every day. Very different to the vertical fist-clutch I see being taught today. But quills and ballpoints demand very different grips.
January 31, 2026 at 9:35 PM
Sounds like. The old penmanship books teach a relaxed hand and the joints in a natural, comfortable alignment. They were expected to be able to write all day, every day. Very different to the vertical fist-clutch I see being taught today. But quills and ballpoints demand very different grips.
I sure managed okay - they let us develop our own style and solutions, giving us pointers when needed. But I'd be interested if there was a lefty-specific teaching method out there, taking account of things like stroke order, especially for flared, variable pressure styles like copperplate.
January 31, 2026 at 9:12 PM
I sure managed okay - they let us develop our own style and solutions, giving us pointers when needed. But I'd be interested if there was a lefty-specific teaching method out there, taking account of things like stroke order, especially for flared, variable pressure styles like copperplate.
Thanks, I have come across that resource. It doesn't have separate material for lefties, just that advice. As a southpaw who's been using fountain pens since age 10 the advice of righties for lefties sometimes perplexes me. My teachers mostly just let us figure it out ourselves.
January 31, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Thanks, I have come across that resource. It doesn't have separate material for lefties, just that advice. As a southpaw who's been using fountain pens since age 10 the advice of righties for lefties sometimes perplexes me. My teachers mostly just let us figure it out ourselves.
The opening pages of The Theory of the Spencerian Method of Penmanship focuses on the pen, hand and arm position and finger and arm movements - no wrist movement at all, and it mentions writing without moving the fingers, all from the arm.
January 31, 2026 at 8:35 PM
The opening pages of The Theory of the Spencerian Method of Penmanship focuses on the pen, hand and arm position and finger and arm movements - no wrist movement at all, and it mentions writing without moving the fingers, all from the arm.
As a lefty I'd be really interested in learning more about that.
January 31, 2026 at 8:22 PM
As a lefty I'd be really interested in learning more about that.
Oh, you should! There's a lively community of ink lovers online these days. I keep a little stash of pens to hand to anyone who wants to try one. And so much ink... let me know if you'd like an inky care package to get re-started. I can also recommend Pure Pens as an outlet.
January 31, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Oh, you should! There's a lively community of ink lovers online these days. I keep a little stash of pens to hand to anyone who wants to try one. And so much ink... let me know if you'd like an inky care package to get re-started. I can also recommend Pure Pens as an outlet.
That looks like a #5 fountain pen nib in there. If so, there might be room for a plastic feed, which will hold plenty of ink - up to half a page, with luck.
January 31, 2026 at 7:53 PM
That looks like a #5 fountain pen nib in there. If so, there might be room for a plastic feed, which will hold plenty of ink - up to half a page, with luck.
No, that's why they call them dip pens. You're doing well to get multiple words out of one dip.
You could add a reservoir to hold more ink. There's clip-on ones or my fave, the One-Dip-Wonder, a little spring with a tiny magnet to hold it under the nib.
You could add a reservoir to hold more ink. There's clip-on ones or my fave, the One-Dip-Wonder, a little spring with a tiny magnet to hold it under the nib.
January 31, 2026 at 7:50 PM
No, that's why they call them dip pens. You're doing well to get multiple words out of one dip.
You could add a reservoir to hold more ink. There's clip-on ones or my fave, the One-Dip-Wonder, a little spring with a tiny magnet to hold it under the nib.
You could add a reservoir to hold more ink. There's clip-on ones or my fave, the One-Dip-Wonder, a little spring with a tiny magnet to hold it under the nib.
I always get a rush of confused anguish whenever I read 'do you remember' followed by a thing that I see every day. 'Do you remember bicycles?' 'Do you remember books?' Um, yeah?
I'm sitting at a desk framed by postcards, dip pens and fountain pens. The latter I use every day. Am I an aberration?
I'm sitting at a desk framed by postcards, dip pens and fountain pens. The latter I use every day. Am I an aberration?
January 31, 2026 at 7:41 PM
I always get a rush of confused anguish whenever I read 'do you remember' followed by a thing that I see every day. 'Do you remember bicycles?' 'Do you remember books?' Um, yeah?
I'm sitting at a desk framed by postcards, dip pens and fountain pens. The latter I use every day. Am I an aberration?
I'm sitting at a desk framed by postcards, dip pens and fountain pens. The latter I use every day. Am I an aberration?