Turning A Feather Into A Pen - Historical Writing Series Part 1
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- Опубліковано 8 тра 2024
- A special thanks to Brian Allison for sharing the expertise with us!
See Brian's website here ➧ brianspastpresence.com/
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These people are so excited and happy to share their passion. It’s hard to not smile the whole time. 🙂
MJ Lyco DID YOU LIGHT ONE UP BEFORE WATCHING? 😋
@@seka1986
That's my secret, I'm always lighting one up.
@@seka1986 Before and during, thank you very much. I have taken it literally and think the op must be a little freaky. Imagine someone just smiling at a UA-cam video for x minutes straight while home alone.
I loved how proudly he said “I’m a professional historian” that’s so rad
@@seka1986 I used laid 100% linen paper to roll it
As a Lefty who grew up with ink on my sleeve, I feel even more connected to history now that I know there are RIGHT-HANDED AND LEFT-HANDED QUILLS. This was an amazing note that you don't realize without living history demonstration. Thank you!
Except in those days being left handed wasn’t permitted. Left handed people had to learn to write with their right hand.
I find it odd that he is using his right hand to cut if he is actually a lefty.
@@joelmarshall1032 sometimes your off hand is better for some things. Like how a right handed guitar player is doing more intricate work with his left hand than he technically is with his right hand which is strumming.
@@sorrenblitz805 as an alto sax player, someone who can type quite well with both hands, and writes left handed, you can become efficient with both hands if needs must. I also cut with scissors with my right hand. I hold a knife in my left hand and eat with my right when I need to cut my food.
@@sorrenblitz805 For me it's kind of opposite: my off-hand is worse at strumming and picking the strings so it's best to use that for handling the fretboard. I think it could be possible to use my main hand on the fretboard, but picking and strumming requires more finger strength and more precision with the wrist, which are both hard to do with my weaker off-hand.
Adding nutmeg to the paint makes your calligraphy look so much better!
Hahaha I almost fell for this...then I remembered the channel
LatteLoverPT Oh, you are so bad. Lol
Most underrated comment.
This made me laugh so hard 😂😂
Ha I almost laughed but then I remembered I didn’t get it lol
Oh you!!
Interesting side note: In German, the nib of a fountain pen is still called the "Feder" to this day, which means "feather" and is also the word used to describe a quill.
That's actually how I remember the word!
I love language!
Growing up we always referred to a pen as a "pluma" (Spanish). Referring to the plume of a feather / quill.
@@wmluna381 so in Spanish it's the entire pen, regardless of what type it is?
Or is it regional/age-related?
@@Krawurxus As I understand it, and in my direct experience, the term references the entire pen.
But if you wanted to be literal about it, the plume / pluma would be the actual feather part.
That was one of the best Historical Demonstrations I have ever seen! Thanks Jon! THANKS BRIAN! Wonderfully engrossing stuff...
Thanks - I'm glad you enjoyed it!
agreed, brilliant! 😃
Def agreed, a little corner of history that has never even crossed my mind.
Engrossing! Was that a calligraphy pun?
Granddaddy Hunt couldn't read or write more than his name in capital letters, but he taught us kids how to make quill pens when we were small. Polk berries made free ink 😃
We've come full circle. Now most kids can't sign their names. They can type it. They can print it. But they can't do cursive to actually make a traditional signature.
@@wk3820 I can do very basic cursive. I had to teach myself, as they stopped teaching it the month I was supposed to learn it.
I''ve been putting incoherent scribbles everywhere and have found no problems yet.
@@wk3820 Signatures are slowly becoming obsolete. Electronic commerce, pin numbers, smart cards and eliminating the need for signatures. When I bought my new car last month it was all electronic including the signature.
@@wk3820 Personally, my name is too long with too many irregularities in the letters (if you want each letters to be recognisable) to sign in cursive... So I just basically sign my initials in cursive. But then again, that's for if I have to sign my name multiple times in a row.
For my actual cursive signature, I just write it fully and it ends up looking not all that great.
Cutting a quill was much more difficult and involved than I knew. Very interesting.
No it really isn’t it just turns out better if you do it well
For a channel where John is normal in his "commoner's attire", we have two very classy gentlemen today!
NothingXemnas not overly classy. Just another time era
Srirra Cha Yes, even the very common folk dressed far “fancier” then we do today!
Yes, small jack knives are called pen knives for a reason.
interesting tidbit thanks
Brilliant!
Dude, you just filled in a blank!
Yusss they were also kept very sharp and used for nothing else.
We should stop doing that.
Oh man I gotta write this info down.
Where's my pen?
Oh well, I'll just write it next year.
or NEVER haahah
Gotta catch a goose first
A can of hot sand is apparently all you need so you should be fine.
@@t.swaggit629 Or a Turkey.
@@t.swaggit629 in England, is it swans?, they all belong to the Queen! They're a separate group & live in a specific area. It goes back to the Middle Ages!
I remember seeing, on the History Channel, re-enactment actors dipping the ends of feathers in pots of ink -- and then smearing blobs of ink across a page. (They didn't cut the quills before trying to write.)
Yeah, the Ancient Aliens channel tends to not do anything historically accurately any more.
@@lyllydd did they ever do anything historically accurate? Lately it seems the whole channel hasn't really tried too hard for accuracy
@@talosheeg They did have a few shows that were about actual history back in the 90's, including a show by Terry Jones.
Television! We use ours to watch old movies. The remakes are usually awful. We pulled the plug after 9-11, but I was laughing, at the time, as we were spending $50/MO & all I did was listen to music. I hear satellite has gone up in cost. If I'd been smart, I'd have taken that money & put it in my piggy bank. 😉
@@lyllydd oh I loved Terry Jones' medieval series. He was my favorite Python. Medieval studies was his major in University, and one of the reasons Holy Grail was so funny. I'm so sad he's left us.
Don't you love it when loveletters had so much meaning back then.
So much craftsmanship went to creating it.
Randy Watson Now people text abbreviations. So much for love letters, right?
@@kathyyoung1774 I think we should bring it back
@@JewelBlueIbanez Good luck with that! I wish. I read a funny poem years ago that was a takeoff on a famous poem:
Lives of great men all remind us, As their pages o'er we turn, That we often leave behind us, Letter that we ought to burn.
@@kathyyoung1774 Both have their ups and downs
i'd assume that back then receiving a letter took time. sometimes you just want to see your s/o's face or text them more often especially if you're dating an over-thinking, they might think that they dont love you anymore if you dont keep in touch often
and im sure forbidden love existed too and it's more probable that their parent would find the letter if they didnt send it yet or they received it and their parents found it then it is to text on modern day phones right? i mean, change the password every one in a while and your texts will almost be safe
but obviously, writing a letter takes more effort and i'll give it that. needless to say its beautiful
my point was, dont have to bring one down to raise another
The courtesy, mutual respect, and male camaraderie between the two gentlemen is a refreshing memento of how good manners and love of culture can really make a difference in our lives.
Penmanship and letter writing were highly appreciated skills. People would often proudly read letters they received especially from their children to relatives and friends to show off how articulate and "genteel" they were.
i just realized i met this guy at travelers rest when i was 11 on a field trip.
That takes me back. Hope you enjoyed the field trip...even the candle dipping and the Virginia Reel.
Has he aged at all?
@@healinggrounds19 he has aged well ;)
I grew up in Franklin, and I think I had the same experience at the Carton plantation!
@@nnicollan he must be a vampire!
You can tell Brian's been a historian for 20 years. He's got that calm, soothing museum voice.
He sounds hoarse most likely from speaking alot, but I absolutely love his soothing voice.
I happen to have a bunch of 18 or so month old turkey feathers. I was able to produce an ugly, imperfect, rough-but-usable pen on attempt three! Lots of fun, looking forward to practicing more.
Yay! My father taught me how to do this in high school and it is so good to see it done at a historic site. My biggest pet peeve at sites and museums is incorrect and historically inaccurate writing implements.
I literally just found some primary feathers from some wild turkeys, and was wondering what to do with them - and now I come home to find this. Thanks for the timely post! Looking forward to the rest of the series.
Perfect timing! My turkeys have been dropping some really nice feathers and I’ve been thinking of making some quills 👍🏼
For me too. The snow geese have been chilling in the shade at my local park and they've provided an enormous amount of potential pens.
Rich medieval Europeans kept Peacocks to eat. Cookbooks even into the 18th century have roast peacock or peacock pie recipes. They're good apparently. Dunno if they used them for quills, but why not? They loved showing off.
Apparently they used to skin the peacock all in one piece, roasted the body, then put the skin and feathers back on so that it looked alive as decoration. Medieval rich people were weird.
Peacocks and Peahens are BIG BIRDS!
the circumference of the quill on a peacock isn't as big as it is on a goose. That's because peacocks don't fly very well, being ground birds, while geese are built for long distance migrations (at least until we domesticated them). That, plus the fact that they would have been kept by only the noblest of households, means that they probably weren't used much. There were probably other, better, uses for their feathers, and who would bother making a quill from them for something as pedestrian as writing? Geese were raised in large numbers for meat and eggs and feathers, it makes sense that their feathers would be preferred for writing, given how relatively cheap they must have been.
I'm wondering how the practicalities of it worked. Did the end user go through the entire business of drying and cleaning up potential quills themselves? I expect that a large office or government building would go through enough quills to employ an office boy to do it in big batches as a part of their maintenance duties like refilling inkwells and such.
Frederick Barbarossa I can tell you firsthand roast peacock is delicious. escaped pets established invasive populations here, and my neighbor caught one and roasted it. Kind of like turkey but more tender
Now all we need to do is turn a pen into a feather.
Is that a Jojo reference?
Even in the 18th century we find you here.
@@inisipisTV They really are everywhere.
He’s even here dammit
Lol
I had gone to rendezvous down in Deer River, Minnesota (White Oak) about 20 years ago and attended a workshop specifically on quills and writing. The fellow that taught us had a little different technique of cutting but did get the same results. Then we went into writing techniques and that was a real challenge! This brought about some fond memories!
Beautiful hand writing fills me with glee.
Dearest Augustine, I do hope this latest damp has not aggravated your grey lung.. dip dip dip dip dip.
Hey! it's 4 in the morning, come to the bed!
@@AhmedBalalo Marital concerns continue to bedevil me
@@AhmedBalalo lol 😆
@@Prookles lol 😆
@@AhmedBalalo ... I actually AM up at 4 in the morning watching this.
its people like this humanity must not lose! So full of knowledge and keeping skills going.
"Thus friends absent speak," brilliant! Such marvelous information. Thank you for creating this remarkable series, what a treasure trove.
Such an excellent demonstration. I feel like I could actually DO this finally! I do calligraphy as a hobby and have tried making a quill pen before with disastrous results, now I know WHY! Bravo! I look forward to watching all about ink and paper and writing techniques with a quill.
Using the hot sand method works best for me. And it shortens the wait time.
Ages back, when I first subscribed, I remember thinking
"man, if only these guys did more than just cooking, this is great!"
So thanks for making that a reality. I still love the cooking stuff! but I'm loving the new direction the channel has taken.
Wow! The manual dexterity that Brian displays is absolutely masterful. It's a beautiful thing to watch. Thank you for the great demonstration.
I started watching this channel because of the cooking shows but I became addicted (he said while drinking from his Nutmeg Tavern mug). 😊
I especially enjoyed this video because I have loved writing with dip and fountain pens since I was (probably) 13. I am looking forward to the future video segments you mentioned regarding inks and papers. 👍
A few weeks ago, I happened across a good number of goose feathers in a local park. The molt was on, and it really made me wish, with handfuls of primary flight feathers from both wings, that I had a good way to temper the pinions and make quill pens. But the cats certainly enjoyed the feathers I ended up taking home!
The goal of this as I understand it is to make a tip which both wets appropriately and wicks ink to the tip at a consistent rate. Reminds me of soldering, maybe a soldering iron with a concave tip the shape of a quill will work better.
Where is the gun that those hooks above the mantel were made for? They are definitely made and placed to hold a rifle or fowler: wide, padded (looks like leather for padding) hooks mounted unevenly so that the barrel would be more or less level when placed on the hooks. The butt of the stock would rest in the lower hook on the left, while the muzzle would be in the right hand hook.
Thanks. Have shared this with a friend who runs a letter writing event where you write a letter as a fictional persona to another fictional persona. You get a reply from someone in the room in character as the person you have written to and have to answer someone else's letter as the person they wrote to, is called "The Dead Letter Club".
This is so awesome, why he does it etc. In my country we have 1300 yo or more old runestones that tells us what happened with the family's and their dead and loved ones. And some artifacts 3k-6k yo old. History is truly amazing.
I'd have never thought quill cutting would be so interesting! Thanks Jon and Brian!
Oh my, what a great video. I certainly learned a lot and have so much more appreciation for the simple quill pen AND the maker! Can't wait for the ink episode. Good stuff!!!
I get reminded why the steel point was invented. That is hard work to get right. But I've heard it is so worth the effort.
That was a lovely presentation, thank you very much Jon.
Thank You Kindly! I have learned script writing over the years. It first started when my Grandfather giving me family letters from the 19th century. He himself was born in 1892 and was a school teacher. He could write with both hands well. This was the result of him being left handed and a grade school teacher who made him write with his right hand. He could actually write with both hands at the same time, which greatly impressed his students as he wrote on the chalk board. With my great interest in the past I began to practice script writing. I used steel tipped pens for the thick and thin lines. I tried making quill pens many times and now I know why they didn't work well. I have many friends who hunt wild turkeys and given lots of wing feathers. Tomorrow I will begin the process of tempering the quills. Can't wait to try and write with them. Thanks Kindly again! Love, Light, Peace and Learning more about our past! DaveyJO in Pa.
Daveyjo Weaver wow so interesting about your grandfather. That’s awesome!!!
I'm not saying it's nice or particularly correct, but I have made many pens with dyed turkey feathers from a craft store, trimmed with scissors, and scraped out with an opened paperclip. My fifth graders always liked doing this when we talked about signing the Declaration of Independence. It obviously didn't make for thin, consistent writing, but as a quick, fun activity with kids during class, it was one of my favorites. The hardest part was containing those ink splatters😉
I love this channel so much. Prolly in the top 10 most quality UA-cam channels. Thank you for all the work you do
Fantastic video ! I could spend ALL day with these two guys, I love history, and these guys really make it come alive ! Thank You so much.
ok this was cool. I love fountain pens and now I understand the history of their shape.
Great topic and beautifully photographed (especially considering the fact you are trying to shoot something translucent and delicate). I love doing calligraphy, and I'm definitely going to try this out! Thanks so much - looking forward to the next episode!
Could you see what he was doing ? I couldn't. Excellent instruction. But no close up of what he was doing. Many people need to see a finer detail of how it's constructed. Hand movements. Positioning of tools. Delicate or forceful. These intricate details are what you would only see up close.
I absolutely love these demonstrations! Thank you for posting these videos!
What a great topic. I look forward to watching the rest of the series.
Judging by that band-aid on Brian's thumb, looks like that quill knife got him.
Excellent video, thanks Jon and Brian!
Your guess is correct.
Because of this I looking into Brian. Wow the guy is knowledgeable. Great stuff as always Jon Thanks!
I love these videos so much. John is such an enthusiastic learner, and Brian is such an interesting teacher. Great combo.
This was a great video, Jon. Very instructive. I've searched UA-cam for quill pen making and this is by far the best--he explains things no other person has. Many thanks!!
A 17th century instruction (I downloaded a copy) says to boil the tip. Let it dry then put it in hot ashes to temper it. Then pull the material out of the center of the barrel.
Thank you! That helps me to document that technique back further than I have it now...do you remember the name of the source?
I would love to see the link to that. Thank you!
@@BrianA-dq7gv North Carolina Historical Re-enactment Society according to the site, "The method for cutting your quill pen was described in 1618 by Martin Billingsley in a handbook for the writer called The Pens Excellencie: or, The Secretaries Delighte."
@@anthonyz7000 The North Carolina Historical Re-enactment Society
@@reconphil Thank you, I appreciate it. I've seen that article and it is solid, but unfortunately a lot of the methods for hardening aren't well cited. Working from primary sources, the earliest I can actually document the hot ash method (Dutching) is the 18th century, and the hot sand is first mentioned in the early 19th according to what I can find.
The cutting method, on the other hand, hasn't changed much from the 17th century onward, and Billingsley's method is little different from the one mentioned by Diderot in the 1750's.
I’ve been researching making quills for two weeks and finally my favorite channel has just what I need!! Thank you so much
I like this video very detailed description I have been wanting to make one of these for quite a while!
Great stuff, cool interview with Brian. Dude knows his craft for sure.
What a fantastic video! Thanks Jon and Brian, this has been very educational and the crafty side of me loves the skill that goes into making a quill pen.
Mr Allison is a left hander like our beloved Jon! 💖
Thank you! I Love this! It’s becoming a true lost art form!
One of the better ones right there. Thoroughly enjoyed that.
THANK YOU for taking time to do these...very educational !!
I learned from this channel every time I watch .
Nevermind the time, 'technology' is not necessarily 'simple.' I would never have imagined how complex the feather pen making process needs to be. "A special knife: the pen knife!"
James E- This vid was so informative! I am slightly embarrassed that for so many years of my life I just accepted the word "pen knife" without truly researching what it meant, although i did have somewhat of an idea, but never confirmed my suspicion...Also noted here is the Latin "Penna" for Quill...again for the same number of years, i accepted the word "Pen" for the implement, not having a clue about the origin of the name.... Learn something new every day? Nope...Today i learned two things😀 Edit: Actually i learned THREE things: How to MAKE a quill pen, i had an idea, but this vid explains the fine points (ha! no pun intended)
gosh, this is simply wonderful. Fascinating and informative. Thanks so much for sharing your knowlesge and passion with us
Fascinating stuff. Always great content in this channel!
I remember we used to do this in school as a history project in the 80s.
W K yes
Mesmerizing demonstration. Much respect for the artisans of everyday life in the 18th century.
I want to Thank You for these forays into the past ,giving me a REAL understanding to life in those time....your video's are a treasure trove of info
I so appreciate those who teach history and self-sufficiency, you are an encouragement and a blessing.
This is a bit uncanny! I was just going to write with the suggestion of doing a series on how people used to communicate, including letters, printing press, etc. I'm new to calligraphy & this is a great help.
Be careful: when you get into using quills and dip pens - whether metal nibbed or glass - sooner or later you NEED a fountain pen. They become addictive. A friend has six and he changes fountain pens for everything each month. I have two. You'll love calligraphy - so beautiful!
Brian has a wonderful video presence, you should do more with him! This vid was great
This was fantastic. Thanks so much for posting!
there is sooo much good stuff in these historical episodes -- Bravo
Fantastic video! I love pens and calligraphy so I'm looking forward to more videos on this subject :)
Wow. Young Ted Cruz doing history at Townsends this week
Always something new with this channel ;-)
My wife said the SAME thing!
He looks like The Count from Sesame Street
@Guss Ruffee *thunder* "HA, ha ha ha ha ha!!!" *lightening*
He is not as dorky as Ted Cruze.
Tedd Sounds like a Dork. This guy's voice is like of a war hardened US trooper from the Vietnam era
Great video and all this time I had no idea the work that goes into making a feather pen. Thank you for the wonderful content as always!
Liking this series! Can't wait for the next episode
Nice to see another lefty, just wished today's writing implements were left hand friendly.
There IS a way to learn to write left handed. I teach Calligraphy Copperplate handwriting and have had many "Lefties" in my classes. I teach using an Oblique Dip Pen. If you want more info please email me at StephenWGorman@yahoo.com
Back then he probably be made to learn to write with his right hand
Btw, Mead makes a spiral-bound notebook with the spiral on the top and a stiff back, the spiral doesn’t get in the way of your writing whether you’re right- or left-handed. Amazon has them
I just write starting at the bottom of the letter and up
@@stiannobelisto573 😄😄😄
Russians still call small pocket knives "перочинный ножик" (small quill making knife). While in my native Latvian a modern pen is called "pildspalva" (a filled quill), since ink is in it.
We call small pocket knives penknives.
This is fantastic! I'm really looking forward to the rest of this series :)
Jon is SO excited for the guy to tell us about the building, made me smile.
Loved your workshop at the Jane Austen festival 2019!
and my hands cramp up just typing on a keyboard. good work bran keep this knowledge going
That's because you have spent too much time with Jon at the Tavern!
Glitchy Chip
Writing with a quill is said to be easier on the hand than writing with a steel (or plastic) pen. When steel pens (as opposed to quills, with or without a metal nib) became commonplace, writing cramps also became a lot more common.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video! The passion that goes into such a “bygone” skill attracts me more than any of the technology I have access to as a science presenter. Your videos on early technology, such as ink chemistry and this one demonstrating cutting quills, are some of my favorites you have done and I’ve shared them with many, many young students. Please keep up the incredible work! We love you guys!
So interesting, something I would have never thought of to look up. As always, amazing channel, keep up the great work.
In modern Italian "penna" still means both pen and feather.
In Spanish, "pluma" means pen/feather as well!
I wonder if the english word 'pinion' for feather shares the same root?
More writing things! I wish there was more close up camera shots of him cutting it to see the technique.
Excellent ... thanks Jon and Brian
oh, this is exciting! Thank you for this lovely writing video!!!!
He's left-handed! No smudges, either. It is so hard being left-handed in a right-handed world.
Seriously, I can't even write with a ballpoint pen without smudging the paper!
Was about to mentionn that....years ago I salvaged a very nice fountain pen... too late I realized that it was terrible for left handed writers
Im left handed 😍
Ha! I just bought a quill yesterday. Serendipity.
I've been waiting for this for so long!
Fascinating demonstration! Thanks for sharing!
I recently made some goose quill pens and then used them to do a bit of writing, mostly my signature. I knew that the quills have to be tempered by heating in sand or the oven, but was not able to do that. The pens did work pretty well, but would probably wear much faster. It takes a really sharp knife (X-Acto type). It did not take me 10,000, but the learnig curve is pretty steep, it is a skill to be learned.
I am wondering how the words of today, most of which are written and saved on a computer, will find their way to the future.
Would be cool to have a video on your technique.
Writing is just being transferred to typing at this point,letters still have a place in this world
Letters do have a place, but few of us still use them. The big issue for historians is the paper. Our common wood pulp paper is acidic, and will yellow and fall apart. It may not last even the first 100 years.
The handwriting during this era was art.
I just made my first of hopefully many quill pens. I have yet to test it out, but it looks great! Thank you Jon for sharing this wonderful video, and thank you Brian for sharing your historical knowledge with us.
Writing, especially with a quill, made you slow down and really think about what you were committing to paper.
this was so interesting and informative, i actually want to try it! And your guest is handsome lol
Jon looks dapper in that green tailcoat. Add a top hat, and he'd be right in style.
@@kevinbyrne4538 I agree! His attire is always amazing ❤
Both of them are handsome! Just look at those smiles at the end of the clip lol
@@berry4532 lol I agree, and I just adore Jon
interesting but you could of zoomed the camera in more to see what he was doing with the cuts he made
Try to track down a copy of Writing & Illuminating & Lettering by Edward Johnston, it has very useful diagrams for cutting both quill and reed pens.
Brilliant, and simple explained , well done.
Wonderful, thank you! I'm going to love this series.