Fountain pens

Ah Jess - I'm another Lamy fan! Nibs are v. good. I haven't used one since I finished working.
Having been stumped when asked what I'd like for Christmas by Mr. F. - I now have the perfect answer. Thanks!

Thank you for the idea goldengirl I was stuck for an idea for my DDH who still writes in preparation for his talks. Yippeeeee!!!! off we go for a hunt for a pen.

My DGD has to use a fountain pen at her school. Watching her doing her homework the other day I notice the ink stain on her middle finger (I always had one of those) brought back memories.

We used to pick daisies in break time and put them in our ink wells to turn them blue, at least, those of us seated at the back did

I use a fountain pen that I bought from W H Smith about 40 years ago, and it's still going strong. It does take cartridges but as they are difficult to find now, I refill it from a bottle of ink. I remember when I was at school, filling my pen on Sunday night was part of the ritual of getting ready for the week ahead. I use it to write Christmas cards, but use computer generated address labels for the envelopes, as 'real' ink has a nasty tendency to run in the rain!

Ariadne and people used their rulers to fire inky lumps of blotting paper to the ceiling, where they stuck until they fell off in the middle of a lesson.

A school I taught in, about 35 years ago, did not allow ballpoints. Children deliberately got ink on their fingers so that they had an excuse to leave the classroom to wash their hands. I got so fed up with this ruse that I made ballpoints compulsory in my classes and the other staff were actually grateful that someone had taken a stand against the dinosaurs.

And people used to put blotting paper into the ink pots so you brought up great, splodgy, inky lumps onto your pen nib!

One of DH's retirement presents was a Mont Blanc pen, which he loves. But he does have quite a collection. My DC gave me a Tiffany ball point pen when I was sixty, and I use it for cards and so on. It is very pretty.

I do own one but rarely used. At school we had to use fountain pens, biros were banned. They provided us with pens that were dipped into the ink well on our desk. I was ink monitor for one day only. I am very clumsy even now. In tipping the large bottle containing black ink into an empty ink well it slipped from my grasp and poured itself all over me and the floor. To 'punish' me for being so clumsy I spent the rest of the day in my ink sodden gym slip. My mother was furious as it ruined the gym slip. If it had been whipped off me and put in cold water the ink would have come out - but once it was dried on me no such luck. I went to a lot of schools - nineteen - and the private schools were the strictest.

they were messy though, those pens you had to refill. I still get in a bit of a mess sometimes with my cartridge based Lamy.

Over here in Australia we can get them from newsagents, as well as bottles of ink (eg Quink ink)

I learned to write 'joined up words' at school with a pen dipped in ink from a ceramic inkwell in a hole in my desk, as did many of us, I think. I was the ink monitor, mixing the ink powder and taking the ink round to classrooms, so I had permanent blue finger ends.

When I passed my 11+, my totally shocked* Mum took me to the newsagent to get a fountain pen, my first. She got shocked again at the price - 6/11d. As she had a cleaning job at 2 shillings and hour, the pen cost over three hours work - damn expensive.

* She had labeled all of us kids in various ways: John was practical, Steve and Dot were clever, and I was good with my hands. My passing any exam did not compute.....

How about buying a vintage pen? It is a good price compromise. I have a Parker 51 I inherited from an aunt and it is a joy. Writes as smooth as silk, because it is old. It is quite slender to hold though, which fits my hand. I would practise writing with a thick-barrelled one before you decide which model to buy - I find I can't write with a chunky one.

I use my Parker Sonnet all the time, even for shopping lists.

I love my bright yellow Lamy pen. It has an ergonomic grip and is quite chunky. (Good for young fingers or for older ones)
When frantically scribbling interview notes there is nothing that flows as quickly and smoothly. Just indulged myself and ordered one in purple - I need a spare. Purple ink as well.

DiL bought DS a Mont Blanc for significant birthday. He loves it, despite being in the IT industry and using computers all day! X