What happened to fountain pens?

[DrearyLane]

When I was at secondary school, all work had to be in fountain pens. Ink everywhere, collection of those tiny plastic balls from the cartridges were seen as a “win” and it was a pain to write quickly. Whether to use a classic Parker (which your parents thought was posh but actually harder to find a cartridge in an emergency for) or a stationary box special - still remember my lovely green jungle themed one.

in the past 30 years (The time span between me leaving school and DS starting secondary) they’ve gone.. completely. He doesn’t even recognise what one is.

When did the tide turn? (I’m very grateful it did)

They haven’t gone. My student was delighted when she graduated to ‘fountain pen’(her school
only let ss use them once they’d proved a level of hand-writing proficiency so they came with status).

It's not a ubiquitous tool anymore but it's certainly a growing niche collecting area. There are 280K members of the Reddit board r/fountainpens, where I may or may not occasionally offer my expertise! 😄They're very popular in the far east in particular.

Some people used them when I went to school (left in 2009) but I never used one; I much preferred a rollerball and it wasn’t mandatory, in primary we used pencil and the red handwriting oen.

Mixture of factors, not least the cost and requirement to keep buying cartridges/ink when half the families find it hard to get it together financially or practically to buy biros.

Other than that, behavioural stuff - splattered cartridges, bottles of ink being dropped, splodges over work, how pointy a metal nib is compared to a biro, leaks in pockets and bags.

I remember how if you found the right fountain pen, writing was smooth, fluid and fast - but if you had the cheapie ones, they'd get scratchy and irritate you with every movement. My favourite was the Parker set of fountain pen, rollerball and mechanical pencil - although even then, I preferred the rollerball and the thicker lead pencils, not the crappy 0.2mm fine ones, and my absolute favourite was the thick fibretips as it didn't hurt my hand at all.

These days, a nice, fat, washable Sharpie would be my preferred pen if I can't use a chisel tip marker. But I only really write when working things out, most things have to be done on the computer and, worst of all, on a live Google doc/sheet (I absolutely detest Google). So I'll normally just use a pencil instead.

I had one for Christmas 😀

DC1 (25) was taught to use a fountain pen at school. DC2 (18) was not. By that time they’d moved on to Frixion pens. So they probably stopped about 2010ish in Italian schools. Both DC had those irregular lined handwriting exercise books in year 2.

I had a WH Smiths one at school. Wasn't posh enough for a Parker. Someone at work was using a Mont Blanc one a few years ago and inspired me to return to the ink. My handwriting instantly improved, but I don't write enough, so it kept drying up. It is then annoying to coax the flow again every time you need to make a note. Shame as I did like it.

I have a little collection of Waterman fountain and rollerball sets. I do use one of my Waterman inkpen whenever I write to my sister and she uses an inkpen to write to me. We write each other a long letter about 3 times a year. Always whilst we are on holiday. I also sign documents with a fountain pen.

My dd was never taught proper letter formation to start with. Year after year I kept thinking 'this is the year they will be taught nice handwriting' but nope. Never happened.

On my desk.

I’m a left-hander and I use a fountain pen every day - I have a stable of Kawecos in different colours.
I do still get a bit inky, but the trick to not smudging is to only write on non-shiny paper. Christmas cards are usually a nightmare.

Funnily enough, I'm a leftie and when I was at school the only pen I wouldn't smudge to buggery was a cartridge pen!

I bought one again from WHSmith a few years ago, and I couldn't write with it for love nor money. I was irrationally upset by it 😓

Parker fountain pens come in a range of prices and I would recommend them.

I love my fountain pens and have different ones with different coloured ink in.

There was a couple of occasions I heard of people being stabbed with fountain pens at school so that might have something to do with them falling out of favour, you know what some teenage boys are like getting into fights! I left in 2006 and hardly ever saw them then, and even when I was in primary they were quite rare so I guess probably at least 30 years since they were commonly used.

I have a number of fountain pens with different inks - both cartridges and bottles of ink. 'Cocoa Shimmer' ink is the current favourite.

My writing is so much nicer with one and I wish they still used them in schools.

Our desks at school still had the old fashioned ink wells and a brand new piece of blotting paper was a glorious thing!

You can get leftie nibs.

Thanks @scrivette. Will have a look! Great to have a starting point

I remember getting my Waterman in John Lewis and actually trying a load of different nibs out until I found the one suitable for my writing. I liked the fact I could choose my pen style then the nib. It's like it's made for me!

My writing is so much neater with my fountain pen.

I used a fountain pen in primary school. We were taught italic handwriting. I still have two fountain pens, love them and use them, especially for writing letters and birthday or Christmas cards (no Mumsnetters do these things though, apparently 😂)

My DC did too, at primary school (they are late 20s/early 30s now).

My DC had them in year 4 - they were Lamys - absolutely everyone had them and they were encouraged. They were all still using them at secondary school. Both now in HE and type pretty much everything but they both use their fountain pens to write thank you letters etc. One has a Cross Botanica that she asked for as a present for passing her Grade 8 and the other a vintage Parker 45 that had belonged to her godfather's mother and he passed it on when she died. Must be 50 years old at least and still going strong. THe Cross however all the enamel has rubbed off - such a shame.

My 'gentleman caller' (I just can't call him a boyfriend at our age!) is left handed and uses a fountain pen, too.

I have a Cross one at home and a cheaper Parker at work. Love my fountain pen and wouldn't be without one. DD asked for one for school last term and uses it now for most things, so I may have passed on my enthusiasm.

I think fountain pens are very 80s/90s schooling. I still like using one though. What I was most horrified about was when DD (18) commented that I have very 90s handwriting. Is that a thing??

Omg I love them - I have disposable bic ones and they're my fave x

Some left handers love them...