For anyone in the Seattle Metro area, I thought that I'd post my experiences at 2 places where you can try a surprisingly large amount of fountain pens in person. Here goes -
1) Kinokuniya bookstore inside Uwajimaya (Japanese grocery store in downtown Seattle). Pilots, Platinums, and Lamys. Not only do they have the cheaper models (Platinum Plaisirs, Pilot Metropolitans (I think), and some student ones), but they have some higher end ones as well. I had a chance to try a Platinum 3776 and a Platinum maki-e (silkscreened one). They also had Preras and the Lamy Safari/Al-Star aluminum ones. I think that they had a few Pilot Customs as well. A few J. Herbin inks and definitely a batch of the Pilot Iroshizuku inks. They had a few papers, including Moleskine and another brand that looked pretty high end but I forget the name.
2) University of Washington bookstore (main one). I went there today and got to try out - a Waterman Hemisphere (nice, a little thin), a Parker Urban in Mandarin Yellow (the gold is much more reflective in real life than in pics) as well as seeing the blue and the purple striped ones in person, a Pilot Falcon with a soft fine nib (I like the nib! Reminds me of my 3776, although maybe a little wider with no pressure), a Pilot Vanishing Point (not my thing, alas), Noodler's Ahabs, Kawecos (Lilliput and Sport), and Lamy (Safari etc). They also had a few X-pen fountain pens. Waterman, Parker, Pilot, Lamy, and Kaweco. Not a bad selection at all! Also some Iroshizuku inks. I had to run, so I left before checking the inks out. I did pick up a Kaweco ART Sport in purple acrylic for 40% off (they still have some more of those, including another purple and a white) with a few others at 40% off sale until they sell out. they also have Leuchtturm and Rhodia papers in addition to a ton of Moleskines.
Both places let me dip the pens to see how they wrote.
Most importantly, if you get on their email, there is a 20% sale in a few weeks (Pilot Falcons included!). They do ship, apparently.
If there is anywhere else in Seattle with notable paper/inks/pens/etc, feel free to post here. Supposedly there is a nice paper shop downtown.
1) Kinokuniya bookstore inside Uwajimaya (Japanese grocery store in downtown Seattle). Pilots, Platinums, and Lamys. Not only do they have the cheaper models (Platinum Plaisirs, Pilot Metropolitans (I think), and some student ones), but they have some higher end ones as well. I had a chance to try a Platinum 3776 and a Platinum maki-e (silkscreened one). They also had Preras and the Lamy Safari/Al-Star aluminum ones. I think that they had a few Pilot Customs as well. A few J. Herbin inks and definitely a batch of the Pilot Iroshizuku inks. They had a few papers, including Moleskine and another brand that looked pretty high end but I forget the name.
2) University of Washington bookstore (main one). I went there today and got to try out - a Waterman Hemisphere (nice, a little thin), a Parker Urban in Mandarin Yellow (the gold is much more reflective in real life than in pics) as well as seeing the blue and the purple striped ones in person, a Pilot Falcon with a soft fine nib (I like the nib! Reminds me of my 3776, although maybe a little wider with no pressure), a Pilot Vanishing Point (not my thing, alas), Noodler's Ahabs, Kawecos (Lilliput and Sport), and Lamy (Safari etc). They also had a few X-pen fountain pens. Waterman, Parker, Pilot, Lamy, and Kaweco. Not a bad selection at all! Also some Iroshizuku inks. I had to run, so I left before checking the inks out. I did pick up a Kaweco ART Sport in purple acrylic for 40% off (they still have some more of those, including another purple and a white) with a few others at 40% off sale until they sell out. they also have Leuchtturm and Rhodia papers in addition to a ton of Moleskines.
Both places let me dip the pens to see how they wrote.
Most importantly, if you get on their email, there is a 20% sale in a few weeks (Pilot Falcons included!). They do ship, apparently.
If there is anywhere else in Seattle with notable paper/inks/pens/etc, feel free to post here. Supposedly there is a nice paper shop downtown.
