I joined the club today - here’s my starter kit!
My Pilot Metropolitan has been “out for delivery” since Tuesday, so I took it upon myself to go to Blick Art and buy my second fountain pen (before my first has even arrived!). I also got a converter for this one, along with “Neptune” color water-based ink. All of this to make some pretty letters in a Clairefontaine notebook.
Using the converter was much easier than I expected, and the paper in this notebook performs fantastically - no feathering or bleeding at all. As the picture shows, this pen is a Japanese Platinum Plaiser with an F03 nib ($21.99 USD). All in with the two pens, the converter, the ink, and the notebook, I’m just under $110.00. Not bad for starting out a hobby.
It’s my first experience with a fountain pen, so I can’t compare it to another apple, so to speak, but vs ballpoints it’s pretty nice. I’m looking forward to getting in some more time with it. I’m also hoping to get my original selection delivered, and seeing how the two compare to each other.
For the curious, all three lines say the same thing. First line is the Shavian alphabet, second is Latin (and this is my good writing sample), and third is my own conscription and modification of Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Frisian Runes for modern American English.