Darice de Cuba

I’m not a writer, I keep a journal of only the mayor things that happen in my life. I do write things down a lot on post-it notes. Calculating my expenses, supermarket list, questions for the doctor, things to buy, address of appointments, all on post-its. And of course I have my agenda but lately I use mostly Google calendar.

But a pen is an essential tool in daily life. So whenever I write I want to use a pen that writes nicely and has a good ink. Back in high-school I had a white and pink Parker Jotter ball-point that I used to write all my test and notations. I didn’t had any plastic Bic or Papermate pens. In college all works is done on the computer and for exams I still used my Parker Jotters.

Then I lost one of them so I started buying cheap pens from the Hema or V&D both which are Dutch companies that sell mostly house brands. But it’s not fun using those pens as they don’t write smooth and they stop writing after some use. I decided to invest in some nice pen and see if I like those best.

I got a Cross ball-point, I like the pen itself, dark grey with stainless steel. But the ink itself is crappy. I mostly carry the Cross pen in my bag for when I need one underway. For my birthday last year I got the Parker Latitude fountain pen which is just perfect for a first fountain pen. I use that one to write letters and address envelopes.

I have some Pilot G-Tecs of 0.4mm that I use to write in my moleskine as I want to keep my handwriting small. I like how fine the point is but the problem with these pens are that the ink flow is not constant during writing. You have to stop and shake the pen to get the ink flowing. So it’s very inconvenient when I want to write something fast.

When I get ideas for websites I mostly write down and draw them. I have three Rotring graphic pens for drawing. But they are a bit expensive considering I’m not an artist that draws all the time. So ideal would be a pen that performs well with writing and drawing.

Yesterday I came across a pen hack that has been around for some time, How to fit a Pilot pen with a Mont Blanc refill. So I bought a Pilot G2 and a Mont Blanc Rollerbal refill and sure enough for 7 euro I had a “Mont Blanc” pen. I found the ink to be way much better then what I have tried until now. For now this will be my all around pen and we’ll see how it works out.

Originally uploaded by Darice