The Social Experiment

What would it be like to write all your stories, your novels, your letters, with a feather quill pen and ink? In this modern era of computers and email, it's rare to receive hand-written letters, rarer still to write a letter with a quill pen and ink. But in the not-so-distant past, writers used these simple tools. Charles Dickens. William Shakespeare. Jane Austen. Thomas Jefferson!

In my quest to celebrate the traditions of the past, I decided to embark on an experiment. I bought a quill feather pen, a jar of black ink, and parchment paper.

Getting the pen to work and figuring everything out proved a bit challenging. As you can see, I had a few fits and starts with it.

Some of the words are darker than others. I was surprised at how long the ink lasted from just one dip into the inkwell. And there is a certain art to how much pressure you put on the pen itself as to how dark your letters will appear.

I have a friend from college who I discussed this whole social experiment with, and I think he's agreed to join me in it. We plan to write letters, using these tools, back and forth to one another. Our letters, however, will not be "hi, how ya doin'?" type letters, but instead will take on a more philosophical slant. I envision something of a return to the great thinkers and writers of the past who used to exchange letters with each other, discussing their ideas and their thoughts on different subjects.

So here is the letter I wrote him. As you can see, there are a few blotches of ink and some words are bolder than others, which gives the reader the effect of having more emphasis on certain words when there shouldn't be.

The first time I traveled to England, I bought a wax sealing set. Since that was more than 12 years ago, you can see that the wax hasn't held up the best. The seal has my initial, M, on it.

To my delight, the wax still worked, though it took a bit of doing (and a slight burned finger in the process) to get the wax on the parchment. When I was finished with my letter, I folded the parchment and then sealed it. This is how it turned out.

I plan to pop it in the mail tomorrow. I'm sure the postman will probably look at it a bit strangely, but as long as it's got a stamp on it, it should go through the mail system just fine. If not, I'll invest in a few envelopes.

After the first initial "test", I think the neatest thing is the scratching sound of the quill on the parchment. It makes the whole process more...real. And I felt a connection to those writers of the past who used these tools, and admired them all the more for it. It took me a bit longer to write this letter with this method vs. a regular pen, and even longer vs. the computer. But it was the experience that was so wonderful.

I plan to try out a few different quill tips (nibs, I believe they're called) and also try some different colored inks and different types of paper. I also plan to pen a short story to give me an even better feel for the writers of the past and the process they used.

Care to join me?