I was digging around for pens this afternoon and found (gasp) a fountain pen! Sure, it was a cheap Pilot Plumix, but I had forgotten how my handwriting was forced to improve when using a fountain pen… its pretty crazy actually.
Unlike most normal pens (rollerballs and ballpoints), fountain pens utilize capillary action to move the ink to the paper. This is facilitated by an interesting looking nib, but it creates a nice, smooth line. The characteristic ink marks of a fountain pen are recognized by many as “calligraphy”, as in the time modern “calligraphy” was the norm, dip pens and fountain pens were the most common.
These are the parts of a normal fountain pen:
As you can see, its not quite what you’re probably used to.
A pen-to-pen comparison:
It’ll be what I’m writing my APUSH notes and such with, and hopefully will last some time (until I get a better one!)