Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jonella and I am the latest addition to the Nib Works staff. I'm a left-handed underwriter that uses medium to medium/heavy pressure. I'm used to a Rollerball pen. I tend to write fast and furious.

So what qualifies me to help you with your fountain pen needs? Other than the fact that I have a pleasant phone voice and am a quick study, absolutely nothing recommends me to you. I have no previous fountain pen experience. This is where the quick study will apply.

But where do you begin? The history only goes back a little over a century when Lewis Edson Waterman produced the first practical fountain pen in 1883. What could have happened in just 124 years?

The world has changed at an exponential rate during this time and so has the way the world writes.

Andreas Lambrou filled 444 very large, glossy pages with a brief history in his Fountain Pens of the World. This is the beginning of my education. And this is a great place to start. But then what?

Before I even started, I went through www.nibs.com: the past newsletters, the current stock, the writing samples, and all of your testimonials. But as you all know, those are merely images on a screen. The whole point of a fountain pen is to feel the weight in your hand, the nib touching the paper, gaining the feel for the flex of the nib. You know what I'm talking about. And no amount of gazing at a computer screen can give you that. So while the website is full of empirical knowledge, it doesn't lend itself to the experience of a fountain pen.

My first morning in the shop began my real education. I received a tour of the inventory from Danielle. It was supposed to be only a tour of the Auroras, our newest line, but I was already entranced. We quickly went through the Pelikans, Pilot/Namikis, OMAS, Sailors, and finally to the Bexleys. We opened boxes. Held the celluloid up to the light and witnessed the transparency. We admired the skill of the hand-painting on the Namikis. Danielle's tour demonstrated the attention to detail and craftsmanship.

Sharon took me through the shop in a different way. She went to the shelf and immediately took down a Martini Spider, inked it up, and asked me to write with it. Then we took down an OMAS Emotica and did the same thing. There were several pens we did this with. And what fun! Trying things out. Seeing how they work. The actual nuts and bolts of pens and how they write and what does a fine nib feel like compared to a broad?

John immediately jumped into the "training." I have my very own copy of Andy's book, now full of notes in some sections. I've read about the Auroras, the Parkers, the OMAS, and the Pelikans, about guilloche engraving and tempering of metals in vintage dip nibs. But then, like Sharon, John leaped to the practical approach. We worked are from a Mabie Todd dip pen to the full line of Parkers.

This article was begun at the end of my first week. Already how naive I sound to myself. Five weeks later I have run a course of hands on learning that has included filling a non-cartridge pen (yes, I was that clueless) to clogged feeds, bent tines, cracked cap lips, and why it's important not to hold a fountain pen while you're on the phone if you're not actually writing with it. That was a tough lesson. I ended up with Pelikan Turquoise Blue streaks in my hair. (I actually quite liked them and am considering having them done professionally.)

As for the pen world, I am still fascinated. The surface has been scratched and I am still intrigued. There is so much to know, so much history, and people are so passionate about their pens. I look forward to learning from all of you, bit by bit. And if you're new to fountain pens as well, let's learn together.