I've spent most of my life in the United States, mainly along an arc from Illinois through Massachusetts. But back in grade school in the mid 1960's somehow my Dad's career trajectory put us outside of London, England. That was the first time, as I recall, that I confronted a fountain pen - the level-fill Osmiroid 80, with a medium italic nib. We were required to write in school using a fountain pen - ballpoints were forbidden. I still have that pen. The bladder is of course long shot. I have some spares waiting to be fitted into the pen. But I still haven't crossed that boundary, into "real" pen repair. Rinsing in dilute ammonia, that's my limit so far.
My next fountain pen milestone that I recall: I read Natalie Goldberg's book Writing Down the Bones, & got swept up in her enthusiasm. She recommends writing with a fountain pen. So I got a Sheaffer Targa. That must have been around 1990. I just bought whatever pen the stationery shop had in the case.
I don't know how I got onto the Fahrney's mailing list, but I was intrigued by the book Write Now that their catalog listed. I knew my handwriting needed some improvement! My "D" in fourth grade handwriting class was my lowest mark through all my school years, and my handwriting hadn't improved in the intervening years!
I was intrigued to see that the authors of Write Now, Inga Dubay and Barbara Getty, were from Portland, Oregon. I had recently moved to Portland. So I decided to look around to see what other resources might be available. I ended up taking three courses in calligraphy at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. That opened up an entire universe to me! While focussing on italic, we studied other medieval exemplars and practiced some of those hands.
Then in 2004 a local friend mentioned that there would be a Pen Show in Portland. That was my first introduction to the world of vintage fountain pens. Again, a whole new world was revealed!
My fundamental interest in pens seems to be in letter writing. I love its multidimensional character - ideas, words, shapes, colors, textures. I am certainly a fountain pen user rather than a pure collector - my pens get inked and used, and I have no intent of selling them, much less of profiting from them. But I enjoy the rich culture involved with pens - it brings yet another dimension into the act of writing.
Writing is a cornerstone of community, community is the space where writing happens. Maybe the special character of the PenTrace community is no accident!
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