Doom Secretary! @doom-secretary - Tumblr Blog

You guys, I'm becoming a pen nerd. I didn't mean for this to happen. My hands are stained and I keep wiggling my journal to see the shimmer in my new fountain pen ink.

doom-secretary

Welcome! What's your nib of choice so far?

goldenstorm0

The problem with being into fountain pens is that I'm working on an oc and I figured out their colors but I need the perfect ink for him and a pen to match his vibe so I'm digging through sites trying to find the perfect pen that's actually within budget but then I get distracted by other pens that dont work but are cute as fuck and oh. oh no. that's like fifty tabs. and I forgot the original task. but pens.

goldenstorm0

god its so fucking pretty and its called cosmic shame god save me

doom-secretary

COSMIC SHAME is my favorite kind of shame. I need it.

This is my Esterbrook JR and what on earth? How did this pen break? Did I lend it out to someone who used it badly?

How do I fix this? Super glue?

#fountain pens #help??

rabbitindisguise

For the record, you don't need "good" handwriting to get (or use) a fountain pen. Before rollerballs and gel pens were popular fountain pens were the standard- including for all the people who had messy handwriting. The benefit of fountain pens is how they feel not trying to flex your cursive or whatever else.

syncallio

This pen sat on my desk for ages waiting to be fixed, and when I finished it? Surprise stub!

It writes beautifully smooth too.

Otherwise the build quality isn't that great, sadly. All the gold is gone from the trim. The clip has deformed the cap. The lever stands out from the barrel a bit, meaning it catches on things. But hey, it's the nib that matters, right?

I didn't care much for the black and white pattern at first, but it's growing on me. It reminds me of Jupiter's clouds. You know? Swirly bands with the occasional spot.

This pen is proof that it's worth picking up unbranded pens. You don't know what you're gonna get, and sometimes you get a pleasant surprise.

Bailey at Fountain Pen Ink Station discusses accessibility at fountain pen shows.

#fountain pens #fountain pen shows #accessibility #Youtube

godkissedme

Kind of a impulse purchase, but the FC 2026 Atlanta Pen Show ink was such a cool shade when I saw it swatched. Orange-brown-red and good shading. Shown here in my Dominant Industries ink archiving book (log of elixir).

#fountain pen inks

pombopolvo

I might be able to help with your non-working fountain pen. I fix them for fun. Might be able to ID your pens and give a bit if background on them too, if you're interested.

Oh, most definitely I am! Thank you so much for that!

So, these here are my babies:

syncallio

Okay, so, a little known fact about modern fountain pens is if you see a nib that says "Iridium Point" or "Iridium Point Germany", what you're looking at is probably a white label Chinese manufacturer. It could be one of the big Chinese pen companies like Hero or Jinhao, but they're selling on behalf of someone else, like with your LG/Pierre Cardin pen. It's common for pens like these to be given as promotional gifts. Collectors refer to them as IPG pens, after the nib inscription.

They're not necessarily bad pens! My second pen was an IPG kit pen, and it wrote very well. The "8" might stand for #8 nib, which is a standard size (and quite large).

As for the one that doesn't write, it's a cartridge pen, correct? If so, unscrew the nib section from the barrel, remove any cartridge or converter, and soak the whole thing in water. Maybe a weak ammonia solution (9 parts water to 1 part household ammonia). Fountain pen ink is water soluble. Even after half a century it'll come clean if soaked long enough.

Change the water as it gets inky. You can use a bulb syringe (sold in pharmacies) to force clean water through the nib unit to speed things up. This process can take days depending on the amount of ink, so you'll need to be patient.

If it's a self-filler (that is, it has a piston or other mechanism for drawing up ink from a bottle), soak the pen nib down in water or diluted ammonia until you can get it to draw up water. Draw up water and continue soaking, expelling and refilling with clean water as the ink dissolves.

Hope this helps!

upennmanuscripts

Hanna Vorholt (University of York) considers the layout lines and grids inscribed on manuscript pages as tools for cognition, creativity, an

Sign up now for the next SIMS Online Lecture!

Grid as Ground: Ruled Lines and Manuscript Images

Hanna Vorholt, University of York

Friday, April 17, 2026, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EST

Open to the Public

Register at the link below

Most printed and electronic documents, like this one, show text organized along invisible horizontal and vertical lines. In medieval Europe, where the primary text technology was the manuscript, lines formed visible grids on the parchment or paper surface. Scholars have examined the resulting patterns and analysed their role in the layout of the written text. While manuscript images were frequently executed on the same ruled surfaces as the written text, their relationship to the ruling has rarely been the subject of research. Hanna Vorholt’s forthcoming book Grid as Ground provides the first sustained analysis of this topic across the wide range of image types encountered in manuscripts, from tables, maps, and diagrams, to figural imagery across different domains of learning. The lecture introduces the project and some of the opportunities this analysis presents for humanities research on lines and grids as tools for cognition, creativity, and control.

🔗:

Hanna Vorholt (University of York) considers the layout lines and grids inscribed on manuscript pages as tools for cognition, creativity, an

I ordered the 2026 Atlanta Pen Show-exclusive Franklin-Christoph ink on a whim this morning. I'm excited to play with it!

Related, but I keep forgetting that my DI Ink Archiving book is a thing and that I should actually use it.

#fountain pen ink

gothiccharmschool

Have I geebled at you peeps about PaperHaunt on Etsy? They make creepily adorable stickers, note pads, planner pages, etc.

loquaciousmendicant

My fountain pen is on the way! It's perfect for me, and it's more than perfect for @netherworldpost , and @gothiccharmschool , I didn't get the last one!!! The Montegrappa Merry Skull Copper fountain pen...