Werewolf, see my note above about selecting good paper. This is an often discussed topic on some of the pen sites. Paper just isn't the quality it used to be. The cheaper papers are so porous the ink gets soaked up into them.
You can still get good quality inks via mail order, or specifically through a pen store, but you have to buy the bottles because the cartridges aren't as good.
Sadly, I missed out on dip pens in school. We were already stuck on the #2 pencil by the time I was studying penmanship (an oxymoron, eh?) I had to discover the fountain pen on my own.
Sad really - fountain pens allowed a level of personal expression in one's writing style that just cannot be reproduced with a ball point.
I think due to email, IM, and such we are losing the ability to put pen to paper and write a well crafted letter or note. I love reading books that are collections of letters from the past.