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Hello and Hi! New member of FPN after several years of reading different posts while searching the web on different fountain pen topics Finally decided to stop lurking and join. I've been collecting pens on and off for the past 20 years of so. I started collecting on eBay and in those days it was hard to find anyone to repair an older fountain pen. I have a small collection of pens and I use most of them at one point or another. I like vintage pens that look for to me and are also easy for a lefty to write with. In general pens from the mid 1920s until the 1960s. I'm beginning to explore soft and semi flexible nibs, and what to branch out to other nibs as well. I just saw that the Maryland Pen show will be in less than a month, and I'm looking forward to attending. BLF49 In case you wonder, the 49 is my year of birth. Yup - 70 this year, but I'm not willing to discuss the date or time of year.

For 76 years as a lefty I have been looking not only for shortcuts in the right handed world, but for methods that let me imitate the rest of the world. On my 76th Birthday I decided I would learn (note I do not say TRY to learn) Calligraphy. IN the past three months I have spent more time on the net looking for tools, books and methods on the net than in teal practice, although my day to day handwriting has progressed from 5th Grade delinquent to Sixth Grade needing practice. In a search for literature on the printed page I have only found two offerings that look at least basically beyond "then mirror the right handed movements. Both are by Margaret Shepherd whom I have e mailed with no success in gaining an answer during these holidays. I have found her two titles are both beyond my means in the used market, unless I skip a bunch of meals over a couple of months and use my community food bank to get basics, like pasta. The first book is "The Basics of Left-Handed Calligraphy" Which I have not found for under $80 andsecopnd is "The Left Handed Calligrapher," which seems to be a collections of alphabets adapted for we lefties. It runs over $40 in used condition. HAS ANYONE READ OR USED THESE BOOKS (left handed, but truly sinister or or not in modern parlance) and care to share an opinion on one or both as they might relate to an elderly inexperienced person with a desire to learn and practice, but not go into pain (either physical or emotional) or emotional because "It just don't work that way." I would like to know before I have to go on a severe diet of pasta and beans to get them -- or whether I should continue to muddle through my current no result producing frustrations. Thank you Gregg In Tucson, AZ where ink dries FAST!

At age 76, I decided to learn Calligraphy starting with trying to make my left handed script look less like that of a fifth grade delinquent in a bad school. My current hand took a while to develop in grammar school as they first tried switching hands for me, then thought the serial application of at least three different hand writing systems, then switching me back to printing would work. None did. At the end of eighth grade my mother and father made sure I could use, at least with six fingers of two hands, and gave me a wonderful Parker fountain pen to use in high school classes. With the pen I could almost make clear Xs inside the boxes used for multiple choice tests, but little else. The family typewriter was needed to get me though anything longer than writing (hahaha) my name. Meanwhile I was aware that Mom used a beautiful Spencerian and dad had a solid, but rushed, copperplate. Both were righties. Leaving for college my folks got me a portable typewriter that produced a script (Olivetti Scriptwriter) and I started signing things with a ball point illegible but distinct scrawl. A good memory and mind meant I did not have to take a lot of notes -- and earned me a failing grade in one class where turning n a notebook was required. By the time I was in the Air Force electric typewriters were available but I had to I supply my own. The most of my work as an editor only required pencil circles, a line to the margin, and a few diacritical marks on copy along with words spelled out in hand printing to be delivered to a typesetter. It was at least 20 years before I got a computer -- but I only printed and scrawled by hand. My 76th birthday, I decided enough. Lefty or not I would write cursive well enough to learn Calligraphy as a year plus project applying the patience I have learned with age. That was three months ago and it is a project I hope to master before I die sometime in the future. At this writing my script hand is now up to a sixth grade level. Along the way I have spent some time learning of pens and the history of writing - and have been sidetracked a little trying to make a Frankenpen of a Jinhao 750 and Zebra G Nibs. It almost works. I purchased and received several inexpensive pens from India, one of which flexes well and fit the last of my budget. (I am retired on social security only.) I have one working pen for cursive. I also got a set or PIlot Parallel pens because on You-Tube Blackletter looked fairly easy. BUT -- A BIG BUT -- is that the clips showed everything being done by a right hander. The two exceptions I found were, first working at 90 degrees on the paper and lettering from the now top to bottom of the paper making the letters (expertly) sideways. The second example was demonstrated with large pauses between strokes, strokes in various orders to avoid smearing , but often constructed with specific letter strokes starting right to left, offering spacing problems. Being a Sinister Sider (lefty) has not left me without an ability to problem solve, especially using the library and net. So I looked for books that were based upon left handedness. The only two I found with any depth are by Shepherd and are out of print. The used copies (in only good condition) run $75 and the alphabet example book is another $40. The total is much more than my meager income allows -- so back to the net. On the net, the materials are mostly for righties or very repetitive by well meaning lefties who describe the basic problems and few solutions. They are clear on three types of hand positions (over, under and sideways) but do not recognize the limitation of wrist control this imposes, of lack of movement in the whole arm. I also here have looked, but found few correlated presentations of various hints, ideas and solutions for lefties...but great general information. I have also wondered why we do not have a separate area for lefties to correspond on ideas and tips. I do not know if, as a newbie, I should say "we" but as a representative of under-represented and misunderstood lefties everywhere -- I feel a little justified. My first entry was under Nibs asking about the left handed nibs in use -- and decided it was finally time to write an intro to myself. Gregg Chmara Curmudgeon Tucson, AZ USA Where Ink Dries Fast

Brand sparkling new to the FP arena. I am Left handed, and write below the line, mirroring my right-handed friends Where i live no shop have; fountain pens, ink or cartridge. So i have FP and ink on the way by mail. The style i like is "overhand cursive" that might change. Now i am looking for some paper i can print out with the alphabet in the margin. Cheers Post script: While waiting for my pen and ink to arrive, i use a pencil when learning to write "overhand cursive".