I'm currently looking for fountain pens to fill out my set of steampunk accessories for a few outfits I have. I am wondering what others use, do you disguise ordinary pens by yourself or use real fountain pens?
I was looking to buy one already steampunk themed and they cost a fortune.
Do you know any alternatives to buy them cheaper or have any helpful "how to videos" and articles?
And how do you prevent them from leeking, smudging fingers and staining clothes?
I never used one so I appreciate every advice

I guess we have a bit different idea of what is expensive I love fountain pens and I have at least 10 of them. All of them are the ones people use at school, you know, with refiles you buy at supermarket They write beautifully and cost around 4 euro...
Some of them I modified with spray-paint and gems to look goth or steampunk, they look ok, but it could be better

I use them a lot, some for writing some for drawing and I use calligraphy pens too
I have some of those cheap ones, some from Parker that costed an arm and a leg and some unique ones I bought over the years...
This is my next conquest :


But now I realize I never modified one myself.... I will have to try that now

When you get good at using a fountain pen I would recommend you to think about using something like this for authentic steampunk feel



Or a set of calligraphy brushes, since the Asia theme was very popular in Victorian era

Last time I had a fountain pen in my hands was more than a decade ago. And now I wonder why I never use them, they write so beautifully!
I should try again, maybe take up calligraphy as a hobby, so I can put something like this on my wall


As for the ink stains, they are easy to remove, just with water and soap if you do it immediately, otherwise dry cleaning is necessary

Calligraphy is a fantastic form of art, and useful a lot of times, especially for invitations and stuff like that

I used to use fountain pens, and enjoy them quite a bit. But, I also lose them on regular bases, and even the cheap ones cost around 5 euro each...
Therefore, I generally use roller-ball pens and such for writing.

For art and calligraphy on the other hand I use a dip pen and nib, quill, glass pen, or calligraphy brush.
Windsor and Newton shellac-based India ink are great for calligraphy.