@paradoxmo It's pretty neat! Takes about 1 minute to assemble. All the pieces are available and you go through the process of assembling the pen parts and the machine presses them all together. It's also a limited edition pen only available at the event and the silver accent says DIY. I'll post a picture of it soon.
A friend is graduating, and I've asked one of our mutual friends if she wants to go in for a fountain pen for him. There are some fun/colorful ones at a local coffee shop that would suit his style.
Thought it may be that I am more excited about picking out a fountain pen than he would be receiving it.
@paradoxmo I think one problem I've had with getting into fountain pens is the deplorable situation with stationery. I used to love to write letters and I had a nice little collection of (cheapish) stationery. But with a fountain pen, the ink seems to be more liquid and more comes out of the nib than with a ballpoint -- so poor little cheapish stationery won't hold up (and even that gets increasingly difficult to find). Can you recommend a solution or a source for nice writing paper (I'm in Europe)?
@Furthering you can go two approaches, first there are inks that are so-called “drier” which won’t bleed as much on a bigger range of papers. R&K Salix or Pelikan 4001 Blue-black are ones to look into.
On the other side, if you want to find better paper, there are many good choices available in Europe. Clairefontaine—French paper is very good (Moroccan paper less so, but not bad), Midori MD, Fabriano.
If buying in larger quantities you could consider Clairefontaine DCP or Kokuyo KB paper.