h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I saw this BBC news article a couple of days ago, which suggested that the fountain pen is making a comeback. Sales have increased this year, it seems, and email and the ballpoint pen haven't put the old inky fountain pen out of business after all!

This is very pleasing news to me. I use a fountain pen.

I love the sound it makes as it glides over the paper, the flow of the ink, all crow black inky black.

I love the the way that the wet inky words shine for a couple of seconds, before they dry.

I love the way that the ink always gets on my fingers, and sometimes it soaks right through the paper, so that I can read my text, backwards, from the other side.

I love the smudges. And the way that my signature looks good, like I'm someone famous. .

Ah lovely fountain pens. I love my fountain pen.

I hope that blotting paper returns, also. What about blotting paper then?

Pink blotting paper. And green. Was it pink and green? I remember it from school, I'm sure I do. .

And those posh writing pads that have a sheet of blotting paper at the front. I love them.

And when you blot the words, interesting inky shapes appear all over aforementioned .. erm .. blotting paper.

Oh yessy yes yes yes I do like many things, especially fountain pens. Did I mention that I also like blotting paper?

I used to use a fountain pen, back when I could still write at all. (These days, I type like a house afire, but have a great deal of trouble filling out a cheque.)

I would get lost in German stationery stores, too. Rapt at the sight of clever things I had not imagined existed, like Aktenordner and fancy paper punches...

Elektra would laugh at me.

ah! the days of using a fountain pen at schoolloading ink by squeezing the little "bag" and then getting the canefor wasting loads of blotting paper and blotches over the writing book.
Fountain pen! I miss you not

Caned?? ohmigod, that's awful, Prof. My brothers had that. I avoided it because I am a girl. The dark side of fountain pen memories.

I love stationers too. I still go to them, buy loads of paper clips and notebooks with shiny, stripy covers, and diaries I will never need. How many paper clips does one need, especially as one has very little to clip.

Just checking the Wiki entry for Aktenordner, which appears to be in German. Now I will try to find the translate facility, for the mystery of the Aktenordner. I like that name. If I discovered a faraway planet I would name it Aktenordner. I shall write it out several times, with my fountain pen.

There's a translation site, called 'LEO'. Explore.

You must learn to write Suetterlin, the old German writing style. It is a writing style that really works well with a fountain pen:

http://www.suetterlinschrift.de/Englisch/Sutterlin.htm

I taught myself this when I was about 16. The reason? My dad brought home a family Bible belonging to a work friend. His friend didn't know very much about his folks, but they spoke German and wrote it all down in the pages in the middle of that Bible. In old German handwriting. My dad thought, since I was learning German in school, I could help him. I panicked when I saw the writing, but went out and found an old primer and learned the writing, so that I could read the genealogy for him.

The curlycues told him the names of his ancestors.

Look at this ABC page:

http://www.suetterlinschrift.de/Lese/Sutterlin18.htm

Now tell me, dear CC, that you don't want to make us a picture like that. Maybe of the 'Dream of the Rood', in Suetterlin/Anglo-Saxon?

holyinkyscripts!!

Yes I do want to write and draw like that.

That's incredible!!!!

You can write in Suetterlin script?? That's amazing, and what a story that led to this skill. I think I am going to faint. I wish I could write in Suetterlin script. Perhaps I will devote my twilight years to this skill. Suetterlin at twilight. Be so great to scribe one's works like this.

Is that a verb, to scribe?

I sense the need for calligraphy nibs. I need calligraphy nibs. Now now now. .

Aktenordner, ah OK, just did some kind of auto translation, (kinda funny ,) seems to be a file, like one of those lever box files, like a lever arch file. I have had these before, way back, they're great!

So I just named an undiscovered faraway planet Lever Arch Box File. I love it. I'm going to go buy one, tomorrow. A lever arch box file, not an undiscovered faraway planet. , although that would be good, too. I could run a tourist industry. .

An arch file. I never knew what it was called in English, though I have a couple.

An arch file...it makes arch comments...

I expect Suetterlin art in the Postbox....

http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=601

looks like some free stuff

hey, these are calligraphic cool, Prof! thanks!

Hello Dmitri, Cactuscafe and Prof! I'm reading but I don't have much to say. Except, I've done a bit of drawing with a fountain pen, and we still have one and a number of nibs here and inks in various colours. And my dad was into calligraphy, we still have some books about that. And that Sütterlin font is very hard to read!

Hi Willemhope all is ok mate

I've never been a good writer (neat)and quite happy now I've a keyboardand spellchecker

Hah! Yes! And different coloured inks. I just remembered about different coloured inks, 'cos of what Willem said, about inks in various colours.

Hey guys

I once did a series of odd drawings in black, red, and green inks. They involved a strange bird, some silhouette telegraph poles, and the Jack of Diamonds. They survive only in memory (fortunately). . This was the 80s. . Hmm.

Interesting, Willem, about your Dad being into calligraphy. You must have inherited your artistic soul and talents from your Dad, for sure. Was your Mum artistic also?

I would love to be a calligraphic scribe, creating illuminated lettering, mostly in Latin, by the light of a spluttering candle, or even electric light.. I don't know why, but I think my texts would be in Latin.

As it is, to compensate for my current lack of knowledge and skill of calligraphy, and Latin, and quite a lot of other things,, I just had an idea about photographing my fountain pen, with words coming out of it, somehow. Going to work on that one.

There's a beautiful graphic by Dave Mckean, who illustrated the Sandman comics, of a lily with a fountain pen coming out of it, at least I think its a Dave McKean graphic, have to check. I have a book of Sandman dustcovers. What if I can't find it, the lily? Perhaps its a dream.

Hmm. Onward then, ye scribes. heheh.

Hint, you people: The Post needs Stuff for next week.

Pictures of fountain pens, musings on ink - oh, and anything about music, that's June's theme, I believe - would be very welcome.

Working on it, boss, working on it. How about next year? . I love .

Have already taken a couple of fountain pen photos, but they look like peculiar thin silvery black entities that have survived on nothing but inky visions and fizzy water for twenty seven years. .

I think my output might be too peculiar for a quality magazine like the Post, and I am still all shy. . hmm. That's the truth. I wish I wasn't so nervy.

Maybe its because I have been surviving on inky visions and fizzy water for the past twenty seven years.

hmm. That second bit is almost true, but I do like cheese as well. .

Ah, the tune of June. Makes me think of that lovely Paul Simon song, April Come She Will.

June, she´ll change her tune,
In restless walks she´ll prowl the night;
July, she will fly
And give no warning to her flight. (quote Paul Simon from April Come She Will)

What a wonderful thought. I think you've just contributed to the next Post editorial.

Please don't be shy, folks. We are loose, experimental, ready for inspiration in all forms...

saw music, in fountain pen

and a purple spider, with clogs on

that sort of experimental

that is where ink blottings get me

Ah yes.

I love it, Peanut, I want to travel in your world of ink blottings. . Do I need a passport? . The purple spiders in clogs say nay. . Music in ink blottings, music! musical shapes, you just started me off, again.

Thankyou for being the kind of folks to whom I can speak about shyness.

The thing about my creative ideas is that they float freely through my inner space, and I talk from them all the time, because there is no separation between me and them, but when they have to present themselves to the world outside of their world they go curly and swirly and shy.

They lack theme, because they come from dream. However they do like ice cream, because it rhymes with theme and dream.

Having said that, in the spirit of things, I will send my strangely lit starving dream-shy fountain pen entites to Dmitri, because its OK if they aren't quite right for , and he and Elektra can make them into postcards and send them to the sparrows.

I think, as a future project, I would like to explore the theme of shyness, in writing and photo, and talking to you guys. It might help. me.

Everybody write something, or draw something, about shyness.

Then we will boldly put all of the pieces in in mid-June.

Good idea Dmitri! I'll give it a try. I might even help other folks out with drawings if they have ideas and ask me nicely ...