How I Got Started With Fountain Pens

[Manny]

These were old pics I thought I deleted from another forum, but found in another folder I had at photobucket.

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Halloween_2010.jpg

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Halloween_2001.jpg

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Scans/PTDC0044.jpg

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Scans/PTDC0042.jpg

[jar]

I've told this saga before I imagine but then I'm old and so forgetful but ...

I came to fountain pens late in life. As a child starting school we had to bring our own stones to scratch lines into the cave wall. For art we had to chew charcoal and ocher to spit over our hands leaving shadow paintings. Later we learned to sharpen sticks and make better drawings of the bison that almost killed us yesterday and the mastodon that used to chase us on our way to school.

Later we learned to search for the GREAT Fire Bird and steal feathers. We went down to the stream and found rocks that we could split giving us sharp edges that could be used to shape the end of the feather into a nib. We would chew up the charcoal or ocher and mix it with water and fat to get lovely inks, red and black, purple and brown. But we had no paper and so tried to write on the hide of the antelope. Unfortunately they refused to stand still so writing became a challenge and often left us gasping for breath.

[thagbert]

I've told this saga before I imagine but then I'm old and so forgetful but ...

I came to fountain pens late in life. As a child starting school we had to bring our own stones to scratch lines into the cave wall. For art we had to chew charcoal and ocher to spit over our hands leaving shadow paintings. Later we learned to sharpen sticks and make better drawings of the bison that almost killed us yesterday and the mastodon that used to chase us on our way to school.

Later we learned to search for the GREAT Fire Bird and steal feathers. We went down to the stream and found rocks that we could split giving us sharp edges that could be used to shape the end of the feather into a nib. We would chew up the charcoal or ocher and mix it with water and fat to get lovely inks, red and black, purple and brown. But we had no paper and so tried to write on the hide of the antelope. Unfortunately they refused to stand still so writing became a challenge and often left us gasping for breath.


LOL. Our experiences sound familiar! Except I used a chisel and slate!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Manny : As always, your handwriting is made of awesome, and your thoughts much appreciated.

[I like mango pudding]

I got started based on a whim purchase in a drug store stationery section while in high school. It was one of those pens hanging next to the Bics and dispoble click pens. I wrote with it for a year or so in high school and most likely lost the pen. I ended up getting a Mont Blanc Meisterstuck Classique rollerball as a gift some 30 years ago while I was still in my university days. I used it on and off. One of my classmates in school at the time was writing with a disposable fountain pen and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I always wanted to imitate her as she was the most sophisticated person I knew in university, plus I wanted to ask her out, too. So I got one and wrote with it for some time.

A colleague several years ago had a 149 he brought in once and we compared MB's. I didn't think twice about getting into them at the time. I only recently got back into it. . Picked up a Meisterstuck classique and a Boheme, but neither of those pens really "speak" to me. So now here I am.

[JustinJ]

My undoing was a Lamy Safari. I know it is the gateway fountain pen for many unsuspecting users. In hindsight, I always liked mechanical pencils, paper, and books. It was not much of a leap to fountain pens.

[Manny]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Tutuguans/0507132350-1_zps11e256f2.jpg

[JustinJ]

Removed post

[Sailor Kenshin]

"... for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

(Shoulda hand-written this, really)