Besides ink for drawing, a fountain pen and colored ink for writing is also a good thing to have lying around, but contained in a bottle or pen, of course. I am out of homemade iron gall ink and my quills are a bit bedraggled, so I’ve resorted to more modern technologies for awhile.
So many people these days cannot write cursive, much less read it, thanks to the insistence on “new technology” in classrooms. Keyboarding takes place of learning how to write using a pencil or pen. Printing seems to be the only thing taught, and mastering it is not even encouraged. It’s funny to think that the hours I spent in the classroom learning to print, to write cursive, and to touch type are now returning to being recognized as skills more valuable than just being able to communicate. Eye-hand coordination, fine motor control, neurological benefits. I probably could do some research and list a thousand things. All this automation and such makes life easier – no doubt! I love my dishwasher! – but the satisfaction of working with your hands is completely lacking.
Cursive has become a foreign language to students born in the last 30 years. They cannot read it. It’s not just U.S. students who should learn cursive, but students coming in from other countries could also benefit from it. Other languages have other alphabets, and their beauty is certainly something to be appreciated. Good handwriting is really an unfancy form of calligraphy. The practicality of good cursive is just as it was advertised years ago – it is clear and readable.
I’m revisiting what I learned ages ago, and it is a lot of fun. I’m using a fountain pen, and I am using a dip pen. A dip pen is not so hard to master, once you learn how to hold it and adapt to holding it at the right angle and tilt. Once there, it is smooth sailing. Repeating letters and practicing strokes, curves, and circles is very soothing. Like coloring, there is something that simply refreshes, like a deep meditation.
Anyway, because I was blundering around on YouTube, I came upon the above video, which I totally enjoyed. It’s informative, classic, and if you like fountain pens, wait until the end – you will learn a few things you may not have known!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 