In May, Ana over at The Well-Appointed Desk asked #21PenQuestions and provided her answers to all of them. I haven’t written about my pens here, but I thought that these questions might be a good way to start! I had a lot of fun thinking through my answers. It’s not often I think critically about my (too many?) fountain pens and how or why I use what I use. We choose the things we use intentionally. Why not think about them just a little bit?

Let’s roll.

  1. What is the pen they’ll have to pry out of your cold dead hands?
    I have fancier pens, but the Pilot Metropolitan is the pen with which my wife and I signed our marriage license. It’s also my first fountain pen. The fine nib is perfect, the weight gives it a nice sense of balance, and the step down from the barrel to the grip is perfect. It’s a great pen with some special memories bound up in it.
  2. What’s your guilty pleasure pen?
    The Lotus Dodeca is the most ridiculous pen in the world. It is huge, it is unwieldy, it is heavy. It feels good in the hand, though, and it’s made of ebonite, a hard rubber material that warms very nicely with use. I enjoy it every time I use it, even though it’s the most ridiculous pen I’ve ever used.
  3. What’s the pen you wish existed?
    If I could put a Sailor broad nib on a modern Pelikan body, I would absolutely love that. Sailor nibs are more fun to write with than the wide and wet Pelikan nibs, but Pelikan does a much better job making fun pen bodies in interesting colors with piston fillers. And their pistons are better than Sailor’s, so there’s that.
  4. What pen would you give to a new enthusiast?
    The Pilot Metropolitan. There are other options, sure, but the Metropolitan has style and it’s a little easier to come to grips with than some of the other entry-level options. I think it feels special, too, in a way that the Platinum Preppy, for instance, doesn’t quite manage.
  5. What pen do you want to get along with but it just never clicked?
    Probably the Sailor Pro Gear Slim Mini. It’s too small in the wrong ways for my hands. I love small pens, but the Slim Mini is designed to be posted in order to come to full size for writing. This puts the cap and and the clip in positions that I don’t find comfortable. It’s cute, though!
  6. What pen do you keep only because it’s pretty?
    Probably my Sailor Pro Gear Slim Red Supernova. I don’t need another Sailor, but I like the sparkles! It’s fun, so I’ll keep it.
  7. What pen (or stationery item) did you buy because everyone else did?
    I just picked up a used Pilot Custom 823, which has a great vacuum filling system and a beautiful nib. Yes, I have it because other folks in the fountain pen community can’t stop talking about it. No, the amber color is not attractive. Yes, it is a really great pen. No complaints! Other than the color. The color is so bad.
  8. What pen (or stationery product) is over your head or just baffles you?
    Any Conid! They’re far, far too expensive for what they are. They were on hiatus for a few years. Now they’re back. Am I interested? I am not.
  9. What pen (or stationery product) surprised you?
    The Caran d’Ache 849 ballpoint. My wife and I got them this Christmas and they’re great! They’re colorful, they’re fun, and they’re great practical little pens.
  10. What pen (or stationery product) doesn’t really work for you but you keep it because it’s a collectible?
    I don’t. There are pens I should pass on that I haven’t just yet, but I’m not holding on to anything because it must be in my collection.
  11. What is your favorite sparkly pen (or ink)?
    My Franklin-Christoph Pocket 66 in Diamondcast Green is sparkly in a weird way and I adore it. I put a neat hybrid architect nib in it and I should really ink it up today.
  12. Which nib do you love — but hate the pen? Or vice versa?
    I don’t know that I have any? The closest might be my first Leonardo Momento Zero, which I have in a nice green. It’s a fun pen and comfortable to hold, but the Bock stub nib in it can be temperamental.
  13. What pen (or stationery product) gives you the willies?
    The Monteverde Ritma. Everything about it frustrates me and feels uncomfortable.
  14. What’s your favorite pen for long-form writing?
    At the moment, that’s probably my Custom 823. I’ve loved doing some serious writing with it over the past week!
  15. What pen (or stationery product) do you love in theory but not in practice?
    I think this comes back to the Pro Gear Slim Mini again. It’s cute, it has a great nib, and it just doesn’t excite me when I have it inked up and ready to go.
  16. What pen (or stationery product) would you never let someone else use?
    Not a one! They’re writing instruments, not diamonds.
  17. What pen (or stationery product) would you never use for yourself?
    I don’t think I could bring myself to use a maki-e pen. I would be too worried about damaging it.
  18. What pen (or stationery product) could you NOT bring yourself to buy?
    A maki-e pen again. I love, love, love so much of the art, especially the work Namiki does, but the price is way too high for something I would be scared to damage every time I used it.
  19. What’s your favorite vintage pen?
    I have a lovely little Pelikan 140 from some time in the early 1950s that I love. The nib is flexible, the pen is tiny, and it fills with a piston that works like a charm. I’m not hugely excited by vintage pens, but I’m always happy when I ink up the Pelikan.
  20. What is your favorite EDC/pocket pen?
    Earlier this year I picked up a Kaweco Liliput in copper. It’s a beautiful little pen, but I think the aluminum version would be far too light given the size — capped the pen is less than 4 inches long. The heavier weight of the copper gives this tiny, tiny little guy exactly the balance it needs to be usable. It’s unfortunate that it’s limited to ink cartridges, but I don’t mind refilling the cartridges at all.
  21. What’s the pen (or stationery product) that got away?
    The Sailor Starburst Galaxy. So pretty! I have the Purple Cosmos, which was next in the series, as well as the Red Supernova I mentioned up above, but I came to Sailor too late to catch the Starburst Galaxy. Ah well, though. There’s no need for me to have everything.