When I was first introduced to fountain pens, I was still learning how to write, so I would always just drag the side of my left hand over what I was writing and smearing everything I wrote. Since I was not a fan of really having to just guess at what the blobs of ink were supposed to be saying, I did not mind leaving the fountain pens behind the first time. After that period of time I learned how I prefer to write, and how to reduce most of my smearing issues. Here are some of the things I have learned as a lefty using fountain pens.
One of the very first things that I learned to help my handwriting was to change from broader and wetter writing pens to finer point pens. This has helped not just with fountain pens but has really improved my handwriting with all types of writing instruments. By having a finer point pen, there is much less ink actually going from the pen on to the paper, so it should be dry by the time your hand rubs over it. Typically from what I have seen an extra fine point pen is generally a much drier writing experience regardless of the ink choice, though I have had a couple of inks that still just want to run and run like the Tigris river even in an extra fine pen. By using finer point pens I have also learned to control the size of my writing, which makes it easier for me to write on whatever kind of paper I have access to. A finer point will also tend to be much more forgiving about what types of paper is being used.
The next thing I changed around at all was actually the way that I write. Instead of just holding the pen so that the side of my hand would run over what I wrote, I started to move my hand Up so that it would run over the line or a few lines above what I was actively writing. This is what most people would call over writing or hook handed writing, and there are other ways of holding a pen but this is the way that I have found the most comfortable for any extended period of time. In my experience this combination of how I hold the pen, a finer point nib, and a slightly drier writing ink are the best ways to avoid having my writing getting smeared into a piece of impressionistic art.
One of the last ideas that I was exposed to was the blotter. Most of the time a blotter is going to be a separate piece of paper that is more absorbing that you keep under the side of your hand so that as you move our hand it is only rubbing against this paper. In testing this did indeed help me prevent more of my smearing situations, but I find that I move my hand too much and tend to get distracted while I am writing so I would tend to lose my blotter page more often than not so I was the biggest fan of this process. While looking into some ways to help prevent this issue, I found videos on YouTube where artists were talking about using fountain pens and learned about artist gloves. These are typically made of some material to help and prevent smudging and smearing. I picked up one and it has helped in addition to my previous methods, even with my broader or wetter pens.
Now I must admit, while it sounds like I have had lots and lots of pens to try throughout the years I have actually only owned maybe twenty non-disposable fountain pens. At least six of my pens have been Jinhao pens, two have been Baoer pens, one Hero pen, one Lamy Safari pen, one Monteverde Ritma, and most recently a Camlin 2r school fountain pen. the rest have all been lower quality, mass produced ones. I am currently using the Monteverde pen the most, but honestly I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite pen. So I do not have the most vast pool of knowledge and experience to pull from, but I do try new things with what pens I do have available. Of the pens I have right now the only three that really write wetly are my Hero and Baoer pens, with the Hero being the wettest writer I have. It has even dripped onto my writings in the past it writes so wetly. This pen was one of my old favorites just because it could pull the best out of whatever ink I put in it, and as such have been trying to learn how to reduce the dripping of ink. So far in my experience with this pen, storing it with the nib up has really helped to prevent the ink from just pooling at the feed and dripping out as gravity allows, and this pen also writes very nicely in reverse with the feed facing up. While writing in reverse is not always something that a pen is capable of doing, it has greatly helped in reducing the amount of ink and writing I have lost.
Most of my new knowledge on fountain pens has come from many different channels on Youtube, but the channel I would recommend the most would be the Goulet Pens channel. Mostly I watch their pencast videos and pick up bits of knowledge about things that I am experiencing, but I love everything they have up. By watching their videos I was able to build the confidence to attempt to repair my older Baoer pen that the nib got splayed badly and my feed actually broke off. I was able to succeed in getting a new nib and feed in that pen, but that is a story for another time if y’all would be interested in hearing it. If any of you would like to share your experiences with a wet writing pen, please do, and I will try to come back to this topic and acknowledge the new information.
Well that is going to do it for this post. I am still working on my next post’s first draft, but I am thinking that I am going to discuss my most recent experience with gifting fountain pens as both a giver and receiver, and how it is different based on the recipient’s experience with fountain pens. Please feel free to leave a suggestion if there are any fountain pen related topics that you would like for me to cover and I will do my best to at least share my thoughts on the topic. Until next time readers. Stay healthy and happy, and keep on learning!
Shaggy's Left Handed Journey In Writing 