S/C ,can you still use pen and ink ?

Question

When was the last time ?
did you have little holes in your school desk for ink wells?

Answer 1

Yes, but not as easily and neatly as I used to. In my 5th grade classroom, we had lovely old desks still equipped with the actual cast iron holders and the little glass jars that fit inside them.

Answer 2

Still use pen and ink and do so every day (I don't keep a diary, or a personal journal, mostly I jot down thoughts about something I've read). Awhile back I read about some things a senior can do to keep the ol' neurons popping and writing, pen to paper, is one of them. I have always preferred a fountain pen to other writing implements simply because they don't skip.

When I was in grade school, beginning in 1950, the desks did have the holes for ink wells but by then we were using fountain pens that were refillable by lifting the little clip on the pen which pinched the ink bladder in the pen, thus drawing ink into the pen. The ink wells were probably used when pens had to have the nib dipped into the well to capture the ink. I always felt cheated -- I remember the cartoons showing a boy dipping the pigtail of the girl in front of him into his ink well.

Answer 3

I can remember those pens and ink wells at school.



Nowadays I use a fountain pen when I want to impress or to sign a computer printed letter, and a pencil most other times, for lists, notes, crosswords etc. Ballpoints make my writing look like a sort of inebriated shorthand. When I look back at anything I'd written with pen and ink my writing was so much better - and legible.



Recently I've become interested in calligraphy, at the moment I'm using an ink filled pen but if I get any good at it I may change to bottled ink.

Answer 4

Yes, I can and do. I have several Calligraphy tips and four pens. A few young cashiers have asked what kind it is, and some actually never saw anyone using a fountain pen. Schaffer bottled ink is still around, thank goodness, and recently found a cartridge piston converter which is filled and used in the pen shaft, so it takes one converter per pen. I gave up ball points a long time ago. I make my own greeting cards; the pen is good for sketching and script. As for school days, we used the straight dip-pen with inkwells. Ok, so I'm a dinosaur. New and improved is usually not best.

Answer 5

I haven't seen an ink pen or bottle of ink in many years.



Our school desks did have holes for the ink bottles.



We have a lot of wild geese around here. If I could find some ink I think I'll make a quill and try it.

Answer 6

I can but don't have the right sort of pen at the moment.I loved my Osmiroid fountain pen,the school would only allow certain ones to be used but I also remember stick pens with scratchy nibs & the ink would fly everywhere,often over our school uniforms much to the horror of our Mums.



At school,in the fifties,we took it in turn to be ink monitor & were allowed to very carefully fill the inkwells that sat in the holes on our desks.It needed a steady hand,I remember,as the inkwell holes weren't very big but the container holding the ink was.



The inkwells were made of white porcelain.



A boy in my mixed class got into trouble when he sat behind me & was caught dipping my long plait into his inkwell.



I have fairly weak wrists following a back injury so typing is much less painful as I don't have to sit in the same way as I would for handwriting with ink.

Answer 7

When i was in grade school,back from the early 1960's we had holes for the ink bottles. We first learned with the quill type pen head that stuck in the end and dipped into the well,then went to fillable ink pens,then the coming of the ball point put an end to that .

Answer 8

I sure can but I haven't found anywhere to buy the ink for a long time. Fountain pens were the best for taking shorthand. I have two fountain pens a Westerbrook and a Shaefer. Once you get them broke in to your style of writing you can't beat them. We had a mixture of desks and some did have the little holes in them. Another trip down memory lane.

Answer 9

I still use a fountain pen when writing personal letters, I used it last week. I was Monitor in our junior school and used to be the one who mixed the ink.and we did have ink wells on our desk,but when I started school we used slate pencils,that made a scratching sound.

Answer 10

It was the 1950s when I was in school. Yes we had the little holes for ink in our desks. One hasnt thought of it for years.

Answer 11

Never used pen and ink for years, loved a fountain pen!, and yes my desk used to hold an ink well but there was always some daft person filling them up with Blotting paper!...Guess who?....

Answer 12

Yes. It's a bit shaky now is all. A few weeks ago i did it for a greeting card that I wanted to look special. It came out great.



Never had a desk with ink wells.

Answer 13

When I was a kid we had ink wells in the desks, 1943. Mostly I used them for a place to dunk the pony tail of the girl sitting in front of me. I blonde really looks great with a pony tail that's black on the end.



Yes I can still print quite well. I prefer a fine point felt tip these days.

Answer 14

Not since I was in high school have I used a fountain pen. And that has been since 1963! Yes, our desks in elementary school had ink wells. We didn't use them, though.

Answer 15

yes either fountain pen or ball point. yes we had ink well holes in grade and high school. when I went to business college in 1963 - 1964 was the last time for the pen with real ink then switched to ball points.

Answer 16

YES, but my generation didn't need the inkwells & pens w/nubs.

I remember those desks, until one mastered the hinge, it was some kinda' Trick Desk:

http://www.robomargo.com/IMG_0180.jpg

I wish mine was blue: http://img1.etsystatic.com/003/0/7305632/il_170x135.379882261_1ark.jpg

Remember how, if you didn't know how to manage it, it could get stuck in the "my mouth is wide open" position? Aaaagh.



I write letters, I address with felt calligraphy pens. I have a calligraphy set (ink & nubs -pen tips-) which I'll play with one day. My dad was into cartooning, linguistics & lettering, taught me how to do block letters as a kid...

Answer 17

I still use my Parker fountain pen Roxy mainly on greetings or thank you cards these days.



Yes we had ink wells and scratchy old nibbed pens that made a mess until you got used to them. I loved to see Italic writing but could never master it myself.

Answer 18

Never had ink wells, we had a modern school.

I do use a pen to write letters to several people who like to get hand written letters yet...

Answer 19

Yes I do.



Using a biro ruins decent handwriting.



I use a Schaeffer fountain pen, and good quality writing paper.



I also have my own monogrammed seal and use it with sealing wax on envelopes., a foolproof way of preventing any illegal tampering with the contents.



A dinosaur I may be, but we must maintain some standards in this computerised, anonymous society we have to live in today.

Answer 20

Yes in grade school we did have the little ink well and the wood was varnished.We did not use the ink well though.

http://img3.etsystatic.com/002/0/6250516/il_fullxfull.372610867_rcdg.jpg

Answer 21

Just sold my MontBlanc fountain pen.



Yes, my desk held an ink well..

Answer 22

earlier this morning, i used ink to write my granddaughter. i am the last snail mailer and book lover it seems. our desks opened at the top and had a groove for the pencils.

Answer 23

Yes, I remember thinking the hole was for a glass of juice. I can still write, but prefer not to, as my writing isn't as pretty as my moms was.

Answer 24

Yes, and no holes in my desk.

Answer 25

Always when writing letters.Two days ago.No,we had metal holders with a glass inkwell.

Answer 26

No - I was never good at it when i was in grade school.



too long to recall.



yes - that hole was there.

Answer 27

Yes. 1964. yes.

Peace.

Answer 28

I never could, I can write, but it is illegible.