A fountain pen, plus a notebook, plus some ink can make for a very much appreciated gift.
The issue is that it can cost a fortune—what about a 465$ notebook and this estimated 1 million dollars diamond incrusted fountain pen?
The good news is that it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to get a great starter (and more) journaling kit.
The following prices are indicative and based on the prices in my region (Paris, France) and on the prices of the EU online shops I generally use. No idea how much those cost in your region of the world but, in any case, don’t be afraid to compare from one shop to the next, as prices can vary widely.
- Approx 9€, for the Art Creation sketchbook, from Royal Talens.
The model in the photo is A5 but they’re available in A6, A4, and square formats too. It has a rigid cover available in a few flashy colors (or in black). It’s sturdy but it will lay flat when opened. It comes with a smooth ivory-colored 140gsm paper that’s great with a fountain pen and can also be used for light watercolors wash. Note that it’s a sketchbook, not your standard notebook, which means it’s plain paper and there is no lines, no dots, no nothing to guide your handwriting (it’s a matter of a few hours to get used to it).
- Approx 5€, the Platinum Preppy fountain pen with an Extra Fine nib (also available in Fine, Medium).
It’s the cheapest quality fountain pen I know while still being a really good writer! It’s that good that despite owning much more expensive models the Preppy is one of my three daily drivers.
- Ink option 1: approx 5-6€ for a pack of official Platinum cartridges. Cartridges are easy to use but offer a limited selection of colors. Note that each new fountain pens already come with one ink cartridge.
- Ink Option 2: the official ink converter from Platinum, 5-10€ (the 'Silver' and 'Gold' model will both work, here again price can vary depending where you buy).
A converter allows to use bottled ink instead of the standard cartridges and it’s a single time purchase since you can easily refill it with your ink of choice.
- Add to that a bottle of fountain pen ink (never put non-fountain pen ink in a fountain pen). The Waterman Serenity blue I suggest is a classic but there is an almost endless number of inks available. It’s also among the cheapest at 5,50€ for a 50 ml bottle on Amazon Fr. For comparison, a cartridge will contain between 0.6 to 1.2ml. So, 50 ml will go a long way.
If the gift is for a child, cartridges are the best choice since they’re much simpler and quicker to use, and because it’s way too easy to accidentally spill your brand new (aka full) bottle of ink on your dining table and watch it drip on your carpet—don’t ask me ;)
Any downside to this combo? Two minor ones, both related to the fountain pen itself:
- The plastic the Preppy is made of seems more fragile. The cap can easily be damaged. Which is real sad because it also must be the best cap I have ever encountered, no matter the pen price (capping is essential with any fountain pen, otherwise they will dry real quick and you really do not want that to happen).
- The Preppy looks a lot more like your standard and cheap gel pen than like a nice fountain pen.
I don’t care about that for my own use, but as a gift it may be worth considering.
If that bothers you, check the next bundle which includes the same sketchbook and the same bottle of blue ink, plus:
- Approx 25€, for a Lamy Safari fountain pen.
The Lamy Safari is the full plastic model, not to be mistaken with the similar looking but aluminum Lamy AL-Star. Like with the Preppy, you can chose a nib, this time ranging from Extra Fine to Broad.
- Approx 5€ for the official Lamy converter (either the Lamy Z26 or the Lamy Z28 will work) + you choice of ink in bottle.
- Or the official Lamy cartridges. I don’t give a price here because it will vary a lot, so do some comparison. Each pen comes with one blue cartridge.
The Lamy Safari is now considered a classic but it is still unique, with its simple blocky design and its bright colors. What’s great with that fountain pen is that it was designed for kids. Why does it matter?
First, the pen is sturdy (ABS plastic is solid) and, like most beginner fountain pens, its nib is steel which makes it… reliable and able to endure even the clumsier hands. That said, like all nibs, they don’t like at all being dropped on a hard surface.
Then , it’s not just fancy design. It was developed to help kids learn proper fountain pen handling. Hence the triangular-ish shape of its grip which makes sure one can only grip it right and put the nib at the correct angle to the paper. For beginners, it's a real advantage that can remove a lot of frustration when the fountain pen is not hold correctly.
Free bonus: picking the right nib size
There si a lot to be said about picking a nib, from its size and its width, to the alloy it is made of, it's flexibility and smoothness, and so on. But a beginner should only worry about its width, aka the fatness of the line it will write.
It goes from Extra Fine, to fine, to Medium, to to Broad. There are others, those are the most common.
One issue is that there is no standard agreed upon. Which means a Fine from brand A may be a Medium with brand B. Funny, right? What's even funnier is that some brands will even not use a single standard for all their products.
To hep you chose, you can keep those two simple rules of thumb in mind:
- The smaller the handwriting, the thinner you will want you nib to be.
Note that the thinner the nib the less smooth it will often also feel. So, it's always a matter of finding the right equilibrium between various factors.
- It's admitted Japanese nibs are thinner than their German counterparts. Meaning a Fine from Germany will be larger than a Fine from Japan.
Why does it matter? Well, most nibs will either be Japanese or German-made. How can you tell where it comes from? You need to do some reasearch but in our case: Preppy is Japanese brand and Lamy is German brand (Pilot is Japanese too, while Twsbi although being Asian uses German-made nibs). So a Fine from Lamy or Twsbi will be a tad larger than a fine from Preppy or Pilot.
If it is for a child, I would go with a Medium nib for the Preppy and the Lamy (maybe a Fine for Lamy if the child write real small). Why? A Medium nib will be the smoothest to use and probably the more able to withstand poor handling.
For an adult, I would pick depending their handwriting. In doubt, I would still go with a Medium but, really, having an idea of the handwriting can help a lot.
To give you an idea, I happily use an Extra Fine from Lamy and it's OK-ish to use their Fine (it's already a bit large for my tiny handwriting) where I can use Extra-Fine and Fine from Preppy without any issue, and I can even use their Medium when I don't have a choice.
Other recommandations?
The two fountain pens I mentioned are part of my daily drivers (and that is despite owning much, much more expensive fountain pens). And since I started using the Art Creation sketchbooks, I quit using all other notebooks... Here again, that is despite having access to much more expensive brands and even having learned, a few decades ago, how to bind my own notebooks using my paper of choice.
They are what I consider an excellent compromise between price and quality and ease of use (nothing beats binding your own notebook with the paper you love the most, you just won't be doing it as quickly (or as cheaply) as you can enter a shop, or click Buy).
There are many others to pick from.
- Be it for notebooks. Brands like Leuchtturm 1917, Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Tomoe River,...
- For fountain pens: Twsbi (edit: check their Twsbi Eco, this one doesn't even use cartridge and oes not need a convert: it uses its internal piston filling mechanism), Pilot (check 'Pilot Metropiltain*, even if I do not use thine one (I'm a fan of other Pilot fountain pens) a lot people like it for good reasons),...
- Inks: Pilot (my favorites inks are from Pilot), Pelikan, Parker, Herbin,... And that is not even considering special inks, like fountain pen water-resistant inks:
De Atramentis Document ink, Roher & Klinger Sketch Ink, and (in black only) Platinum Carbon Black are three brands selling waterproof inks I use (mostly Platinum and DeAtramentis Document, but I have no issue with R&K either). One can also find a few from Noodler's, USA but I have not been their customer for almost 2 decades so I have no idea what's available anymore.
My questions, to you
Do you have any favorite fountain pen or other writing device, notebook or ink you would recommend or would use as a gift? Feel free to tell us what they are, and why you like them!
Also, let me know if this the kind of content you're interested to read more often, or if you think it doesn't belong here.
edit: typos. Re-edit: added a few references I forgot to mention for alternative fountain pens.
