Found a weird trick for keeping my fountain pen from drying out during long journaling sessions

I was writing for about two hours yesterday and my pen kept skipping, which was driving me nuts. I remembered reading that putting a damp cloth over the nib when you pause helps, so I tried a small piece of paper towel folded over the section, and it actually worked perfectly. Anyone else have a simple hack for keeping ink flowing?

3 comments

3 Comments

nina_campbell2mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh that's actually genius. I've had the same problem with my pens drying out mid-session and it's so annoying. I just keep the cap on when I stop for more than a minute, but that feels clunky. Your paper towel trick sounds way smarter for long writing breaks. Gonna try that next time for sure.

gavinb972mo ago

Seems like a lot of extra work for a problem that shouldn't exist with a decent pen. A good fountain pen should be able to sit uncapped for a few minutes without drying out. Maybe the issue is the ink or the pen itself needing a fix, not a paper towel band-aid. Constantly having to wet something and cover the nib sounds messy and more annoying than just recapping it.

jason_henderson2mo ago

Totally get the struggle with pens drying out. My own hack is just accepting I'll forget and then spend five minutes scribbling like a madman to get the ink going again. Honestly the paper towel idea sounds way more put together than my usual method of just blowing on the nib like it's a Nintendo cartridge. Might have to try it next time instead of my usual routine of mild panic.