On Keeping Fountain Pens Alive
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- Опубликовано: 11 мар 2024
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I take three or four fountain pens with me daily to work as an ER physician in the US. I take notes at the bedside using one of these pens with almost every patient encounter and almost daily find at least one patient who comments about the "calligraphy pen" that I'm using. This is especially true with teenagers. I typically show them the pen and discuss (in 15 seconds or less) how fun they are to write with. I think I'm going to take a bag of Pilot Varsity pens with me and give a pen to anyone who is interested.
some give a lollipop, some give a varsity. 🖖😆
I just gave a hospital nurse a fountain pen. She had a death grip on the ballpoint she was using that was obviously a personal pen. I hope she likes it long term.
do you mind if i ask which pens you use on the job?
also curious about inks - i imagine “water” resistance is important if a patience might, without warning, eject any number of bodily fluids on your case file 💁♂️🥼📑🤮
I'm a psychologist in private practice and I use my fountain pens every day to take notes. I can use fountain pens and my hands are not cramped at the end of day. I am grateful for the pens utility, beauty, and uniqueness. Long live the non-digital!
I work in a primary school near Hamburg, northern Germany. Our kids don’t HAVE to write with a fountain pen, but many of them do. Although nowadays those erasable Pilot Frixion ball pens are on the rise, fountain pens are still easily available even in convenience stores, be it Pelikan, Faber Castell or Lamy. Almost every manufacturer in Germany makes fountain pens which are especially designed for children, with special grip sections, kid friendly colours and so on. So for the foreseeable future I am not afraid when it comes to getting fountain pens into the hands of the next generation, at least here in Germany.
I myself made it a habit to bring a different pen from my collection with me every day and kids regularly ask me whether I got a new one and are keen to see or write with it. Of course those with nice colourful acrylics or over the top designs work best with 6 to 10 year olds. Gold also makes a great impression. And when after finishing fourth grade my class left for secondary school last year everyone got a Lamy Al-star 2023 special edition with their name engraved on it. I couldn’t think of a better and more emotional farewell present.
I work in an English primary school and take my fountain pen in every day. I write the students' names on their books in my very best copperplate and they gasp. As you say... osmosis... Last Christmas, many of them asked for fountain pens and they are now becoming popular in the classroom. They are proud of them and their handwriting has improved. They see pens (they are 10 - 11 years old) as a sign of growing up and want to take them to secondary school. Fountain pens are such a pleasure to use. A lite encouragement is all you need.
One thing I am doing is buying disposable ones to carry as spares and to hand to people to try. Lots of medical staff recently have been handed a fountain pen to try.
I've done that.
Yes. I find some nurses and therapists who are happy to start using them.
I love penabling people.
Not much for keeping the technology and FP culture alive, as handwriting (with any writing instrument, and with FPs in general) will inevitably become less and less common in a digital world. But to make them experience something different that can bring them joy and make them rediscover handwiting.
Had no experience with fountain pens until 19 when I did a year abroad ‘experience’ at a university in Switzerland. Pretty much all of the Swiss students were using fountain pens … mostly inexpensive ones they got at the local stationary / book store in town. Part of ‘going native’ ... as one does on your year abroad experience … is to be like the other students, so I asked my US girlfriend to bring me a good one on her Christmas visit. (In the US 35 years ago they were hard to find.) She got me a Cross Classic Century with a very stiff steel nib, but I loved it and got totally hooked. I married that girl too. She’s my wife of 35 years and is still buying me fountain pens.
I, as a history teacher, have showed my students, for many years now, what is a fountain pen, and at first, they look at the pens with a strange look, but in the end, I have "transformed" 3 or 4 that now are using fountain pens in their life....nothing brings me more joy that knowing that I have influenced their lives in more than one way.
My entire fountain pen hobby was born out of someone giving me a pen. I was working in a small business retail environment where I was checking in guests for an event we were hosting that night. The guests were required to sign themselves in on a ledger. One nice older man used a Pilot Varsity when checking in, I had never seen a fountain pen before so I told him it looked cool. He told me to keep it and showed me how to used it. Now here we are, some significant improvements in handwriting and hundreds of dollars later XD.
Pilot Varsities are great, I've been refilling the for years.
I remember taking two log books and two slide rules to teach a remedial maths lesson to five students who had grown up with electronic calculators. I needed to get them to understand the principles of the topic of logarithms and there is nothing better than log tables and slide rules to bring light to the mechanics of what changing numbers to base 10 is all about and just adding the indices. It must have been the first time there was fun in a remedial maths class as they got a chance to apply their thinking while learning to master the "old tech" as they actually got excited. With the right approach fountain pens could be similar.
I teach creative writing at a U.S. university, and I provide my students with a fountain pen ( Platinum Preppy) at the start of the semester and encourage them to use it. Most do and some continue to use them after the course ends.
Stephen, this is one of your most insightful videos! I retired from college teaching and loved the students. Like you, they seem to have no interest in pen and paper communication (or analog clocks but that is another story). You and I both know that handwritten notes enhance learning over computer notes. We learn so much about the past from journals and diaries and future generations will have their thoughts locked away on some digital file probably not accessible. Let's present your thoughts on keeping fountain pens alive in our discussions with our children and grandchildren. Thanks for all you do!
I enjoy your pen review videos. They're fun. However, this particular video is something that matters. Thank you Stephen!
I have been working for a public school district in IT for almost 5 years now. I take my fountain pens everywhere. I don't have a lot of contact with students but when I do, and I need a pen, out comes a fountain pen. My wife also works for the same school district and she has more direct contact with students. I just gave her a fountain pen so she can use it in front of the students (5th graders). My youngest daughter is a senior in high school this year and used a Platinum Preppy throughout her high school years. She also just got a piston filler this past week. :)
Born in 1980, and I never saw a fountain pen at all in my Canadian schooling. What changed that for me, was an introduction to fountain pens through adjacent creative hobbies and finding a pack of colourful Zebra Fuente disposable fountain pens in a bookstore. They might not have been the greatest pens, but they were accessible, affordable and, most importantly, they AFFORDED me the freedom to discover and learn about a style of pen I probably wouldn't have touched because of the fear of not knowing how to use them. It took those Zebras for me to realize that it wasn't that hard or difficult to write with a fountain pen-BUT, contrast that accessibility and freedom of experimentation with what a young person might find in the fountain pen community if they were interested in dipping a toe (or nib?) into the fountain pen hobby.
Yes, there are a lot of really amazing people in the FP community, but sometimes they might not even perceive how, to an outsider, the discourse as a whole contains a fair amount of gatekeeping, class positioning and whistles of casual racism/nationalism. In the same breath as people decry the declining use of fountain pens, "youth today" are ridiculed for not being able to read or write in cursive, brands that might actually be reaching those new markets and introducing a new generation to fountain pens are routinely slammed because their influencer marketing is too distasteful, affordable designs look too much like a luxury brand, or the original design is garish and tasteless.
Sure, explicit instruction is an efficient way to systematize the direct transfer of knowledge through schooling... but neither my parents, nor any of their contemporaries owned or used a fountain pen in the 80s, so clearly the requirement to use them in school has about as much permanence as high school calculus.
Maybe try making space for discovery. If I handed a pen to a monkey and they started trying to write upside down with it, it probably wouldn't be too long before they experimented with angles and discovered the sweet spot of the nib. What does it communicate to youth if we don't trust them with the same capacity for experimentation and discovery? One could easily acquire a number of inexpensive pens with attractive colourful inks and make them available for any student who wants to try one out without being under the watchful eye of the instructor. Sponsor a journalling and stationary extracurricular club at the school and be a guest speaker letting them try out some pens and inks. Get them to swatch an invent calendar and experiment with chromatography. Have a local nibmeister come in to demonstrate basic nib tuning. Afford an environment that is safe to explore without psychological risks of failure. Let them feel like they are capable and they can build confidence from their errors instead of "this isn't for me."
The measured learning outcomes could arguably be the same as explicit instruction, but a qualitative analysis of students' sense of belonging and self-efficacy would probably uncover a completely different takeaway.
My interest in fountain pens is sustained by learning more about nibs,inks,handwriting styles,papers .
If my spirits are low I get out my tomoe river notebook and my favourite fountain pens,to cheer myself up. Usually that works.
Two of my doctors are fountain pen users - one puts his own resins and makes his own pens and they are stunningly beautiful. Those are the MDs I trust the most.
I give fountains pens to members of the next generations and find it’s pretty easy to get them hooked. The glorious arrays of ink colours helps. When my spouse was teaching Latin in. Jr/Sr high school, he gave his graduating students Pilot Metropolitans.
I think we should go back to requiring students to hand write papers. Aside from the possible boost doing so would give the fountain pen industry, the requirement would cut down on wholesale plagiarism of the cut-and-paste variety. Even if students do copy better essays, at least the process will help encode better sentence structure in their brains. Retention of material is often better when there are more tactile processes involved as well. So say I.
Really solid video. Thank you.
I am a doctor. I am fond of fountain pens, i took 2 from my dad, 1 got broken , so i kept my fountain pens in my desk as ( my precious) . but definetly after your words today, I will take a pen to the hospital tomorrow and consent the patient using this pen. people will definetly enjoy using it while they sign with it .
I will keep you updated about what happened. i joined your channel to learn more about pens. i am fond of them.
I couldn’t help but break out laughing when you mentioned your troubles with cursive. I found your videos in 2016 as a 15 year old while looking for a review of the Kaweco Lilliput, and once I got the pen, it catalysed a want for many more cool pens in the future like Viscontis, Montegrappas, and Pelikans. I felt some imperative to then have a handwriting that befits all those pens, and I was mightily impressed by your cursive.
That ended up being the template for where I tried to take my chicken scratch, alongside everything else you had suggested in your video on developing a better handwriting. My handwriting has developed further so the resemblance is less apparent now, even if the skeletal structure is shared. Anyway, you fixing your handwriting into your beautiful cursive got me to fix mine as well, and I doubt I am alone in that in my generation.
My father had a fountain pen that he rarely used when I was growing up. In college, the student store had a big disposable fountain pen which I bought and used in my first semester. After that I caught the bug, found your videos and started collecting. I flipped maybe 20 other students onto fountain pens while I was there and still today when I meet people at work I usually have a fountain pen with me and it commences a surprising number of conversations.
I’m a Dutch writer/philosopher who learned to write with a bottle of ink on his desk and a fountain pen in the 70’s. In those days it was a privilege and a happening to use these products. I even remember the smell of the Oost-Indische inkt. Last month I bought two Lamy Safari’s for my children (6 and 9) and they love them.
When I was in primary school, we had inkwells, blotting paper and dip pens. The fountain pen came in a bit later…..wales in the 1960’s
I started with a dip pen and then fountain pen at age 11. My parents bought me a Burnham fountain pen as a Christmas present just before my 11th birthday. I still have it along with a rather large collection.
I started US elementary school in 1946. I'd already learned to write at home, with pencils. In school, we soon started using dip pens, and bottled ink. (Desks still had built-in inkwells, but those were abandoned years earlier.) I'm not spectacularly neurodivergent, but enough so that my idea of a thrilling purchase or present was a fountain pen. I got my first dime-store one about aged 8. Have loved and used them ever since, through college and two uneasy graduate-study years. Wrote fiction with them. As long as there is literacy, they'll survive.
I have taken to carrying a pocket composition notebook & fountain pen to keep track of the days events. Most often, lately, when someone sees me using the pen they say "oh, you've got a calligraphy pen", and I gently say "no, it's just a fountain pen" and go on to inform them of the difference. I once also discussed pens with a family in search of pens in my local Walmart, & pointed to the disposable Zebra fountain pens the store sold in a 3 pen blister pack. They wanted a pen that didn't require a lot of pressure to use. In other words, I try to pass on my enthusiasm and passion for pens when ever I can.
I use to be accused of engraving when I wrote. Since I have switched to fountain pens (about 20 years ago) I am no long accused of engraving. Now I am accused of being a pen snob. A badge I wear with great pride. Keep em coming!
I grew up in Asia and i was exposed to fountain pens in elementary school along with my peers. Now I live in the States, and I’m always genuinely shocked that ppl have never seen a fountain pen irl! A coworker of mine, born in the mid 80s called them “the pens with bent blades” 😂.
Yes, you are right, Stephen; each of us should (must) do something to transmit knowledge to the new generations, like how to write with a fountain pen and reading books, but also the ability to interact with other people, writing, chatting, even smiling to each other.
Regards.
I don’t see myself as a pen ambassador. I just want to enjoy my pens and be left alone.
I got into fountain pens at 25, and all it took was me trying one as an adult. I instantly loved who it felt to write with one. A friend had a collection and let me try out different pens/nibs/grinds.
I am a middle school science teacher in alternative education in NY State. I have several students who had questions about the pens I write with. I always keep a few inexpensive fountain pens with me for those students who want to try them. Currently, I have 5 students who ask to use one of those fountain pens in class on a daily basis. They are having a blast using them. The kids are also very careful using them after being told how to use them.
Hi. Although I am in Edmonton and in my late 60s, my keen interest in FP is only as of this year, 2024. I have many of them now, due to my new passion in art (painting, drawing, sketching, colouring), and see many more in my future. I also have started a collection of inks - including the SBRE Brown ink that I ordered from Akkerman’s last week. Although I have gifted basic art supplies to family and friends, I will now consider introducing them to the exciting world of FP, along with simple explanation and encouragement of it. Thanks for the commentary.
Kids are fun and open to everything if they are exposed to it. Where I live, kids don't even learn cursive and how to write/think. I think fountain pens will continue to be popular as a niche hobby. I learned SO MUCH from RUclips videos! You are right, just keep talking about it and sharing your joy. Great video! :)
If we notice there is a surge of interest in mechanical watches although digital are the standard, I believe something analogous is happening in the fountain pen world and this because many realise we are not digital creatures by nature, we need tactile objects and agree that maintaining an interest in this magnificent writing instrument is an uphill climb. My suspicion
for the reduction in proper culture in schools in so many countries has to do with governments' desire to have uneducated citizens so as to manipulate them as need be, take for example the US using tax payers' money to finance horrible wars. My point is that the gradual demise of handwriting in school and with it the use of fountain pens has a lot to do with that. So for fountain pens to survive they should not only be elitist and for the few, but given a grassroot approach. Most school work should be done with fountain pens because it is healthy for the brain and infinitely more ecoligical than cheap ballpoints meant for the landfill. And the feeling is so.much more gratifying.
I have to respectfully disagree as to why children aren't taught to write with fountain pens anymore.
In my opinion it has more to do with with the fact that there's no money, time or care to teach children to use fountain pens. Everything has to be quick, cheap and easy. Ballpoints are just that. A dime a piece, provided in boxes of 100 at a time, no hassle with refilling.
And the gouvernement doesn't care either way what we use to write with. Their focus is on 'the big picture', 'the Reputation of our Great Nation' and such things.
It's a pity that the schools where writing using fountain pens is encouraged, are far in between.
Imagine trying to get young people excited about Bic ballpoint pens once basically everything is digital... increasing digitisation is partly what got me into dip-pen calligraphy. I wonder if in the future it will be common to have one's own fountain pen for those few daily moments when writing is necessary, plastic wastefulness having been recognised as no longer necessary. I imagine it would be a bit like Hanko stamps in Japan.
Born in '99 in the US, I'm in grad school right now. Got into the hobby back in 2020, but before then I had never seen a fountain pen used or even be mentioned before. No one has ever asked me about what I'm using either (not complaining, just an observation). They are nonexistent in the US, and I'm pretty sure most people really don't know what they are, which is really sad because they're so cool.
"to us, people from the previous century" now why would you go and make me feel like a dinosaur with fighting words like that?! LMAO
I love being - heck barely middle aged, yet still from the previous century. Hahahaha
Thank you. Apprerciate your intensity.
Excellent! Thank you.
I started using fountain pens back in 2012 to celebrate 20 years of teaching at the primary school level. I decided to use them when I was teaching cursive handwriting to my students, and I give them fountain pens when they meet my handwriting expectations and learn the parts of a fountain pen. It is an amazing sight when they use them for the first time, and several students have come back to see me over the years, and they still have their fountain pens. Now that cursive handwriting instruction is mandatory in California's primary schools, I am able to spread my passion for fountain pens, and I use them for many subjects throughout the academic day. Long live the analog resistance.
Love your videos. Been using fountain pens from 1961 in primary school . Even today I use them during my daily work.
Thank you Sir. This is the video we needed. Keep the fountain pen alive!
I have been helping run Fountain Pen Network-Philippines group for almost 16 years on Facebook. Many members are generous and give away pens. We also meet quite often for pen meets and let people new to the hobby try our pens. I notice that because there is also a planner/journal/stationery collector culture here in our country, that's a gateway for new people to try fountain pens. We're now at almost 14,000 members of different age ranges from around the country and the diaspora. Growing a community takes time, we just have to be consistent. Thank you for this video, we've been discussing it already.
Greetings from Australia.
I am a classical piano teacher, and I am lucky to have 40 piano students.
I provide very cheap A5 supermarket notebooks to all of my students, and these become piano diaries in which I make comments on their performance.
All of my pens are inked and are used in this practice.
My pens are always on display, so it becomes a talking point, and I always give an opportunity for the student to use one of my pens, even if only for writing their name on the bottom of the page.
On one occasion, a ten year old girl came in with ink on her fingers, and she informed me that her mother had bought her a fountain pen. I have also gifted fountain pens to students, so in a very small way, I am promoting fountain pens.
I am well down the rabbit hole, and family members know what gifts they will receive for birthdays or Christmas.
I share my enthusiasm with those around me. Many have gone to the local store to buy their own pens now. My kids (5y and 9y) are also both interested!
I think it's interesting that you mention that many of the students who try and write with the pen try and write with it with the feed up. I have noticed that trend with people I show a fountain pen to and they try it for the first time. I'm curious why people seem to natively think that, to me it seems like the nib kind of visually explains itself and that it should be the one that is facing up, but that doesn't seem to be the case which is interesting.
Fountain Pens doing great as of now. Parents passing the habit to their children is the best way. Good thing is there are choices for every budget.
Hoping as well to intrigue my grandchildren once they're old enough.
@@crouserm I think sketch pens, drawing books and playbooks are good options to start with.
@@varadharajannadarajah Agreed!
Ha! yes, I, too, remember the days of my homework having been to write a sentence a hundred times in order to improve my handwriting... and totally normal and naturally we were using fountain pens in school in Germany - the spills and splotches, making sure to have spare cartridges, and blue fingers were simply part of school life - though we just had the standard cheap blue plastic Pelikan and never knew one could get varying nibs :-)
I gave my niece and nephew a fountain pen each for Christmas one year, along with a 15 ml bottle each of Iroshizuku, Take Sumi…. in the hope that they too will become obsessed one day. They were 12 and 14 at the time.
You are so correct. To share my experience, I have done just that- with family, friends, and acquaintances all to varying degrees of success. But my best sharing moment was when the family gathered around the table to open the Diamine Inkvent Calendar to see what color/type ink was next- we all shared those samples to create some interesting works of art. Just another way to share the hobby. The grand-kids have their own Lamy fountain pens to practice as well.
I appreciate this video.
i use fountain pens at work in a chemistry lab, where ballpoint pens are the norm, since we're required to record data and sign in permanent blue or black ink. most people are a little curious. a manager needed to borrow a pen for a moment and got upset when i handed him a fountain pen, because he didn't know which way to orient the feed to get it to write. i found it hard to explain in a hurry how to use it, so he was frustrated and asked for a regular pen. definitely not the norm here in the midwest US.
I know what I do. I go up to an impressionable kid (hit or miss and they have to be old enough to have a conversation with a 52 yo whit woman stranger) and show them a fountain pen. I make it mysterious, "do you know what this is?" Then I point out that there are people who will pay thousands of dollars for one of these with all the bells and whistles. Then, when the kid asks "what does it do?" "It writes."
But it does it really well.
hahaha "My precious..."
Fountain pens are or soon will be in a similar place as mechanical watches. They are niche and have been obsolete for decades but there is still a core group of enthusiasts.
I went to school in the UK from the age of 3 here in the UK. In junior school (7-11) we wrote with school provided blue biros. Then from 11 on I went to a comprehensive school where we were provided with fountain pens, but for only a year or so if I remember after which we could then use whatever we wanted (as long as it was blue or black ink). I carried on using a fountain pen right through school and later in further education and throughout my working life. I used to get strange looks in meetings, and was forever being asked "what's that on your hands?"!!
I have gotten my 9-year-old daughter into fountain pens and inks. She takes one to school. Now all of her friends are asking for one and their parents are asking me about them. I think if parents are into them and pass the enthusiasm on to their children, that will help!
I just gave Platinum Preppies to young cousins (11 and 15), and one of them seemed really interested. Anyway, now they know what a fountain pen is, and though it may take years for them to really appreciate it, at least they know about it. I've bought a bunch of Jinhaos and FPR $5 ones to take to a public event to share. It'll be at a venue which a lot of kids attend. Thanks for the encouragement!
Well, gor starters, keep up the great video’s. I always kept with rollerballs, cause fountain pens seemed too ‘complicated’😊. Then only this year somehow got on your channel and all the possibilities and magic of fountain pens opened up. I bought a Leonardo MZ and immediately got hooked. And little as i knew, i thought i only need one. 🤣 It simply doesn’t work like that. So thanks for that 😂. I write a lot as a Data Analist even and also picked up letter writing. And i tell everybody how awesome they are!
I enjoyed your Videos ..it’s informative and very funny.
This is an intriguing topic, Stephen. I've tried sharing my interest a few times but have met with very little response. I use my pen from time to time "in public" and no one even notices. I hope you and the rest of the FP community succeeds better than I.
My brothers grandkids are all fascinated with my fountain pen. One of these days I’ll give them one of their own
I gave a fountain pen to a friend as a gift. The fountain pen's nib was missing, the clip was broken, and ink was gushing out.
he gave it back to me.
I have a friend who loves fountain pens. However, I cannot write with a fountain pen.
Japan has a culture called calligraphy. Even today, many people are learning calligraphy.
At school, there is time to teach calligraphy. All Japanese people are learning calligraphy.
However, there are very few brushes that use calligraphy brushes to write letters.
Many calligraphy teachers cannot write with a fountain pen. It looks very bad.
I think future fountain pens will need something spiritual.
Japanese saying: "Characters are people."
What fascinates me most about people in NorthAmerica using *any* pen, pencil, fountain pen, brush... is the way almost everybody everybody holds them .. tight-up close to the tip with index-/middle finger/s bent at the final (distal) joint and thumb crossed over all the way contacting with it's middle joint over the index finger and the pen barrel deep into the back of the almost clenched fist ... instead of comfortably naturally with somewhat extended index-middle- fingers and thumb having contact with the front of the pen about 1 1/2 inch back from the tip, index on far side- middle finger underneath- thumb on near side of the barrel ... makes it loose and flexible and able to move arm, wrist, hand, fingers freely all the while the tip and writing surface is open and visible ... yes, everybody is different and has their own style and anatomy and all.. and plenty of those people are far.. way far better writers and artists than my little wannabe-artist self, of course, there's no right-or-wrong of how to use one's art supplies... still, it is a curious thing to observe -
my nephew will inherit my fp collection: he’s an architect who likes writing implements particularly mp’s but is willing to embrace fp’s too(which is just as well as it’s a big bequest!:)
Bruynzeel!!
I bought my nephew a Jinhao Shark for Sinterklaas, because he's learning to write. He wasn't allowed to use it in school!!!
What a shame!
As a chemistry teacher, I make a character of myself telling my students: "let me get a real pen". Telling them that all my RUclips income from my chemistry channel gets spent on outrageously expensive pens and showing them off. It builds a relationship (that weird guy with his pens) and gets them interested. And occasionally I do give away a pen to a student. I've got a bet going on an upcoming exam. The stake is a $60 pen
I expect that there will be fountain pen lovers, enthusiasts and evangelists long after handwriting has ceased to be taught. It’s like with steam trains 🚂:
they are still there but they serve no practical use anymore other than a source of inspiration and admiration.
They are not produced anymore just well maintained and rebuild.
So far the (fountain) pen has survived its successor the book printing so who knows how long it will survive to be used? We do have some influence on that. 😊
There can be a fountain pen center that bring up the culture, design, and school of cursive writing. An in-house nibmeister, inkmeister, paper artist, even 3-D printed designs. A gift shop. A museum on display. That can move the needle to posterity.
British, 47. At school we used FPs. I write constantly for my work and hobby.
I keep the flame alive by gifting pens to the younger generation. My FPs attract incredulity at client meetings (IT people).
You dear man, I applaud your passion and love your enthusiasm.. The realist in me feels that like language, communication, thought and a whole host of other things, technology has already taken over. The art of handwriting is already dying. I suspect that if I asked a 9 year old in an English school about 'handwriting' they would not know what I was talking about. I would be surprised if many teenagers would even search out a more interesting font to use on their computer. When I was in primary school we were taught italic handwriting with a fountain pen and I was very good at it, I won prizes for it. However, when I got to senior school it was no use to me at all, I couldn't write quickly enough in lessons and I developed a horrible scrawl just to be able to keep up. Recently I have had the desire to improve my handwriting and use fountain pens again. I am 73, not too old to start a new hobby but no longer in a position to influence anyone and everyone I communicate with wants email. I would love to write letters but the post is so slow that my correspondents would think I have died! The irony is that my parents 90+ years old had lovely handwriting and always used fountain pens. Now we applaud their ability to use technology instead of writing. Handwriting using fountain pens will exist for decades to come but as a hobby. We are still using the wheel!! Sorry, bit of a long comment!
In the US, I only came to learn or use fountain pens within the last few years; and I’m 65.
Ah, so that's the audience you do the reverse writing sample for!
On a more serious note, I think there is something that could really help. Everything is communicated and stored in digital form these days, so that often makes it frustrating to write things down, only to later have to type them out again later. Optical Character Recognition is great, but it doesn't really work for handwriting because everyone's handwriting is different and even within one person's handwriting there is a lot of variance; and then we aren't even talking about cursive handwriting yet. If machine learning were to be be put to good use for once, programs could be written that create a personalised model for an individual's handwriting. Then all you'd have to do is take a picture of your page, and you could digitise it with great accuracy. OCR programs should also have some more logic in them to recognise the page formatting(text alignment, indentations, blank lines, tables...) and translate it more accurately to one's intentions. It feels like this should be well within the realms of possibility in 2024.
Don’t forget speech to text. Why write if you can’t speak and do something else with your hands.
In this age of multitasking and “productivity“ thinking.
I’m glad to see that there is a rediscovery of the effect of writing ✍️ and creativity.
I'm 65 and American. When I was in elementary school, I never used a fountain pen (or later, for that matter). My older brother (by four years), however, starting in fifth grade, was required to use a fountain pen. I've been thinking about this recently. I thought maybe the ballpoint hadn't been developed until the late '60s. After some research, I found that the ballpoint pen had been around for some time before then. So I don't know what happened that the school no longer required fountain pens by the time I was in fifth grade. Marketing?
Another historical cohort where fountain pens were mandatory: Catholic schools in the US, for Boomer generation and earlier. (The nuns called then "cartridge pens".) Since I despised all nuns and rejected everything they said and did, it's remarkable that I eventually made my way back to fountain pens.
Great video, and good point about keeping fountain pens alive. People who know me I think see my passion for fountain pens and handwriting. I have gifted fountain pens to people close to me, and so I hope I am having a small affect on helping to keep fountain pens alive through the generations. I have to thing about what to do with my 50+ fountain pens when I am no longer here. Donate them? Sell them? If I sell them, they will go to people already into fountain pens, but perhaps if I donate them, some will get into the hands of people who otherwise would never have known of them.
I liked the idea of giving folk a fountain pen, so they can play with the medium. I've given two women pens unbidden. One was a relative and another was a friend graduating with her Master's degree. Both a Twsbi Eco due to ease of filling from a bottle, and medium nibs. Never heard a word from either that they liked or didn't like it. Gave them each a bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku ink in a professional-looking color. My own daughter says basically I don't want to inherit your pens cause they are "scratchy." I have pens from inexpensive to Sailors with Gold nibs, to Pilot Custom Heritage, to Lamy Linea, Platinum 3776 etc. Surely not everyone is "Scratchy" in and of itself. My theory is that it is a matter of not knowing HOW to write with a fountain pen and that this can be learned, ie don't press down too hard, don't hold it at too severe of an angle. And so on. Yes, it would be preferable if I were in these women's daily world vs living far away so I could have "introduced them" properly. For the relative I did say in my note with the pen, even if it's not her thing, hold on it, maybe she'll find it of interest someday or her children might. It's an item that doesn't suit every season of life. That said, I will happy Penable any interested parties, but I don't think I'll ever give a pen unbidden again. I have had other folk, who are interested, want to learn about them, so that is nice and I'm pleased to share the interest!
I note with sadness Uniball states that their purchase of Lamy will allow both companies to pursue digital writing.
I suspect the fountain pen manufacturing Renaissance is driven in-part by the Chinese middle class since Mandarin really can't be written with a ballpoint or gel roller. US schools have always been pencil and ballpoint/gel-rollers. Fountain pens haven't been used in US education since the 1950s here.
I think most fountain pen users have a real passion for them, not just simply a ho -hum attitude
towards them. We need to get the young people who barely write anything anymore due to smart phones and computers to get the passion. Seeing a hand written note these days is a rarity.
I think the reusable aspect of fountain pens could be the biggest selling point for this generation to be perfectly honest. Reusable, refillable, less plastics in our water, our food,etc. Now all we have to do is start the campaign!!!
I gave my grandchildren a fountain pen and they could choose their ink.
If the United States ever gets back to educating our kids, Fountain Pens should definately be introduced!
Most people I've lent my pens to have often written with the feed up. I guess that's a universal thing. 😂Minor critique, Dr. Brown: you may want to turn your mic's recording level up just a touch.
You think college students not being familiar with fountain pens is odd? 6 years ago was the last time I taught a college level chemiatry class. I was asked by a student to read my comments on her lab quiz to her - because she had not been taught how to read cursive in school :(
Looking at a person infront and with a camera, does make a lot of difference, similarly writing with a Fountain pen one can experience their Own individual reflecsive thought pattern, logical inpretation, the way how one interpret information and emotion into writing Rather typing which is not independant cause one can't see their handwriting, someone esle is writing for me, I'll never ever be able to write the way as it is written down(type letters) for me. Not my handwriting, a false identity stays with me every time that I am not, thats not me its just a computer typing these letters for me. Just revealed the true likeness of my ownself by my handwriting with a fountain pen.
Children are impressionable. Try to corrupt them when they are young. Give cheap pens and ink samples to relatives and friends' kids.
I gave some pens and inks to my nieces. A few month later, my brother in law start to use fountain pens.
Time progresses, and we are just too short lived to see history repeats itself. Image some student insisting using a desk dipping pen, or a Waterman hard rubber overfeed eyedropper, during an exam. What will you say?
I can understand the sentiment of wanting this hobby to outlive you. However, whatever happens to the hobby after I pass is irrelevant. In the moment, I enjoy my pens and share my interest with others, a few whom I’ve “penabled.” If enough of us do that, perhaps the hobby will sustain itself for another generation; then it’s up to them.
I think you're a bit harsh on ballpoints: not all of them are disposable - granted, the refills are, but they do last a long time before they have to be replaced.
What about a history of fountain pens since ancient Egypt?
A bit difficult considering the fountain pen wasn’t invented until the 19th Century.
@@LANCSKID difficult? I can easily take care of the first 4.000 years😝
My wife won't let me invest more than 200€ on fountain pen collection. Any solution around that ?
Show her this video, and explain to her that by "investing" into fountain pens, you are supporting an industry that you appreciate, and also this writing instrument, contrary to disposable pens, do not contribute to the mountain of garbage each of us is unfortunately creating every year.
I am sure she will tell me look at the genocides and hunger around you then care about the environnement and dying industries.
@@freewind1977"Happy wife, happy life!"
But there is a counter-argument. Not only the buying of pens is a luxury, compared to all the suffering, but so is the buying of cars, of too big houses, of too many clothes, of electronics, of entertainment, of fancy dishes, even of many drugs, which are not used to save lives, but only to make it slightly more comfortable.
The last time the economy was all about food and survival was during the middle ages, and we should all agree it was not the best times to be alive.
How much does she spend on her shoe collection… purse collection… make-up… phones and custom phone cases… on and on and on. Why do you let others put a ceiling on you and your passion and hobbies? Hmmm
No fountain pens in my schooling (Canada), and I have kids the age of your students. Fairly sure my interest started with watching old movies and the reverence shown them by grown-ups. My attempts at indoctrinating family and friends have been unsuccessful, likely because the cheap pens I gave away weren't reliable enough and free of maintenance (rituals that I would argue are a big attaction of pens and other hobbies to people like us).
I think a lot of FP users already try to spread their use, but it's impossible to make any difference as an individual. Things like this are like any social movement, and only spread organically. If we must talk about this as a serious topic, though, what I think about the worry over FPs disappearing in 2 or 3 generations, is that it's a way too disproportionate concern. I think people are going to have much bigger problems simply existing as this century advances. I know most people still reject and despise this view as too grim, but it's one based on empirical evidence and the scientific consensus around ecological collapse. So, for all we know, FPs will endure as old relics, and the only tools for people to document their demise, with whatever tinted water substance they can conjure, on homemade paper. Remember you could use even coffee if you run out of ink in the apocalypse.
Sorry Stephen, I think some of your argument is off-track. The threat to the future of fountain pens is not with ball point and associated writing instruments, but with hand writing itself. Many younger people struggle to put language and ideas on paper at all they've spent their lives typing on computers and mobile phones. Even in the classroom students are often more comfortable taking notes using a keyboard. It's interesting that the largest manufacturers of fountain pens (outside China) are in countries where fountain pens are compulsary in primary education. I've been told in the classroom that hand-writing is 'boring'. I agree with you and several of your respondents; that an early introduction to hand writing is essential, and then using a fountain pen will start to make the process of hand-writing more interesting at some stage.
I tried to interest my wife, and children, and grandchildren in my pens without success. I may try again, but I am pessimistic. My collection may end up on ebay, postmortem.
I want a fountain pen that glows - when Orcs are near. That's something I'd want to pass on to my future kids.
It'll help keep them safe.
;)
The time of the mass appeal of fountain pens is probably forever behind us. This carries some consequences, foremost being the loss of most economies of scale within the industry. Only through large volume manufacturing, with guaranteed sales numbers waiting at the other end, could pens like the Parker Vacumatic or the Sheaffer Touchdown ever be realized. Collecting vintage, at least for me, is thus a sort of chronological arbitrage. There are many fantastic modern pens out there, but overall in the modern era we simply see less complexity and expense in materials, in design, and in production relative to retail price.
But all is not lost. Fountain pens continue to serve a niche as writing instruments rather than mere art objects, particularly in an era when pitching another package of used plastic sticks on the landfill can be such a matter of social conscience. Gel pens have improved the picture considerably in the smoothness department, but they're still no competition for a well tuned nib. Ink choices and the ability to change out inks on a whim can count for a lot. And although they've fallen out of favor in the US and UK, several large countries in Europe and Asia do still use them as a part of curriculum and lifelong business custom. What lays ahead? Who knows, the internet has been a boon for advertising and enthusiasm about niche products that few could have predicted.
If they're not alive, who's eating all the ink?
gifted with curse of knowing how fountain pen works without seeing anyone using it in person, somehow. well, any manga artist wannabe in 2000-2010 should be familiar with dip pens, so at least that was a primer on how nibs work, just how cool/pretentious ink bottles were to make the vibe of a working comic artist, or to just having something that looks nice! except dip pen nibs aren't tipped, so scratchiness was something that made me gave up. I think dip pens should be an adjacent to fountain pens.
My Friend is a canadian english teacher. They removed cursive handwriting and Shakespeare from the Ciriculum.. I feel sorry for the new generation in Canada because they will be disadvantaged when they try to compete internationally with other students.
I hope fountain pens and the plethora of inks survive, but analog futures are dicey. Are they buggy whips? No, but are they as jeopardized as newsprint newspapers? Probably. Hope not, I’m doing my part, but I’m a 77 year old fossil.
I like using fountain pens. In fact I have a few. Do I want or care if future generations maintain an interest in using the same? Not really. If pens retain some intrinsic value for sufficient numbers of people then they will (presumably) go on (to steal a line from Titanic!). Sure, provide some education. Sure, try to convey one's enthusiasm. Yet, FPs have not been mainstream for a long time now, the decline is well underway, and the current 'interest' is likely nothing more than an expression of recent hipsterism.
Unbleached recycled copy paper at work might be cheaper and more environmentally friendly but is not helping promote fountain pen use, it's like writing on blotting paper....😢