My name is Elizabeth and I am from North Louisiana. I am on leave from teaching second grade because of back problems, and am currently waiting for the latest minimal procedure to work. Teaching is wonderful-- but have found that I love being home more.

My love for fountain pens began about 4 years ago when I received a Levenger's catalog and saw so many beautiful pens. Teaching is a profession which still requires heavy pen usage. I had grown tired of throwing out gel pens that dried up too soon; but had become dependent on color coding with gel pens for my grading and documentation. The Levenger's inks really drew me in. Within a short period of time I had ordered a Magellan tortoise, Lamy Safari, Pelikan 400 tortoise, and an Ipsilon Deluxe in red.

I quickly stockpiled 12 colors of ink trying to find just the right shades. I used Blue Suede, Fireball, and Pelikan turquoise for grading papers. Waterman violet and PR plum were my favorite inks for editing stories with my students, and Waterman blue black was the usual choice for correspondence.

Along the way I got interested in correcting my pen grip to alleviate hand pain, which drew me into correcting my chicken scratch cursive writing. Then came a few vintage pens. My all-time favorite pen to use for extended amounts of time is my Mottishaw modified Skyline. Economics drove me to buy small pens like the demi 51 or deb Vacumatics, usually in the less flamboyant colors. I buy pens that have already been restored.

Since I'm not working now, I am learning spending restraint, but it's hard. I have a large selection of inks because I buy ink instead of pens when I get the craving. I do gift others with Pelikanos or Kawekos as an intro to fountain pens, so I do buy pens occasionally.

My pen and ink usage has also changed. My tastes in ink run more to blues and blue black. Instead of carrying 3 Kawekos in my pocket at all times, I keep a mug of pens on my kitchen table so that I can take writing breaks during the day. I can use my vintage pens whenever I want. I have begun working on my novel again, an ongoing project which will probably never get finished.

My back problems have limited some of my other interests like gardening and simple carpentry, but I dusted off my old sewing machine last week to begin making purses for gifts.

I really enjoyed reading through old posts on FPN and hope to post in the future.

Welcome aboard Elizabeth. You seem to already be terminally afflicted with our common addiction - fountain pens, so I'm sure you will enjoy it here among the rest of the inmates...

Looking forward to reading your posts.

Warmest Regards

Gerry

Hi, Elizabeth!

You've definitely found a lovely oasis on the web, one with nice people who share wonderful information.



This is similar to my recent experience. I have an old, poorly-healed hand injury that's been troubling me lately, and that is what has renewed my interest in fountain pens. And in the (ongoing) process to write without pain I chose to improve my handwriting. And now I've acquired my first vintage pen, and, lo and behold, it's helping me to write with even less discomfort.

The pen is from the mid-1930s, a black celluloid lever-filler with a flexible nib, and quite slim and very light. Both of these characteristics encourage me to write with an extremely light pen-hold. Gripping the pen very lightly, I can write for hours without any pain. The flexible nib acts as a sort of "shock absorber", isolating my hand from the minute vibrations that would otherwise trigger a grip-tightening reflex in my hand. The nib's delicacy and tactile feedback also encourage me to slow down my writing, and that helps too.

I'm finding that the light grip -- which allows me to "paint" letters, rather than "inscribe" them -- has opened a path to improving my handwriting.

Welcome!

-Arnav

Hi Elizabeth,

I worked in Northern lousiana one summer years ago. In the lovely(?) town of jena.

Cheers

John

Hi Elizabeth,

Welcome to this wondrous, strange place!

Regarding pain in your hand: I found writing with fountain pens alleviates my RSI to a very large extent. You'll have to make sure you use your arm, though, rather than hand and wrist or just underarm. Write from your shoulder, that'll make things a lot easier. I guess, trying to write in cursive again may make that happen to some extent anyway.

I do hope you recover from your back problems quickly, at least to the point where you can do what you want to do. I know what a pain it is... .

BTW, what about making some pen wraps, now you're into sewing again?

Warm regards, Wim

Welcome Elizabeth.

Sounds like we don't have to work at encouraging your addiction.

I have a great respect for anyone that can teach. I'd be one of those teachers who ends up in a corner speaking in word salads.

You've also already learned what many of us have learned - FPs can take a huge strain off your hands. I have an autoimmune disease and that means hand pain. Moving to FPs has been pretty much a requirement.

Like you - when the urge hits - I buy ink or paper. Which is odd when you consider that I could take one ink/paper binge and probably buy a decent little pen for that $. But for some reason it makes more sense in our minds: more pens aren't "necessary" but paper and ink will eventually get used, right?

so.. 'ullo and hope you enjoy it here.