Hi,
I am currently in Rhode Island and work as a pen repairer and a pen dealer.
I was first introduced to fountain pens by a broken Parker 45 red GT with a 14K nib given to be by my grandfather. The whole thing was broken beyond repair, but it made me start looking for another fountain pen. A full year later, the search ended when I found a Parker Reflex with a medium steel point. Half a year of searching and cartridges later, I found a converter for the pen and used a bottle of Black Parker Quink which I bought on the same day, but from a different place.
Some time later, I received a whole pile of broken Chinese IPGs and a Platignum Silverline. In my search to find out what brand they were, I stumbled upon Rambling Snail where I met DWL who has helped me with his inspiring posts. I never did use any of his repair methods, since I have my own, but he was a wonderful person to meet. Sometime later, someone pointed me to Fountain pen network, then finally, Pentrace.
Some time after the IPG incident, and meeting Rambling Snail, I saved up all of my money to buy a Pelikan M200 in Translucent Green. Everybody was shocked at how much I paid for it ($57), but everyone liked it. It is still one of my favourites. It was then when I discovered that my hand preferred smaller, lighter pens, but then again, I have very small hands. (After that, I gave away two Pelikan M200 pens, I do not know why. I felt that I just had to get rid of them, but they were lightly used, so I gave them to a friend.)
After starting Dillo Pen and Ink Shop, an online business, I fixed many pens and helped people find certain European pens. It was then that my pen buying ramped up and the rest is history. I still yearn for the days of having one pen.
After this, I became an authorised Tryphon dealer and am on my way to becoming a Pelikan dealer.
I tend to like "safe" inks like Pelikan, Montblanc (excepting Permanent Blue black, but then again, I like ferrogallics), Parker, Waterman, Diamine, Sheaffer, Visconti, and Omas. I never use Noodler's or Private Reserve much except in IPGs I have Noodler's black and Private Reserve Orange Crush. Really picky! Pens that stain live on a diet of Pelikan.
I like pens that are very complex technically like the Snorkel, "51" vacumatic, and Intrigue. I also like small pens around the size of the M300 since that is my comfort zone.
Dillon
Other interests:
Knitting, Cross-stitching
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