Making Manuscripts: Quills

#PolonskyPre1200
Did you know that left-handed pens were in use during the Middle Ages? Patricia Lovett demonstrates how to make quill pens from bird feathers.
Explore illuminated manuscripts from the national libraries of the UK and France: www.bl.uk/medi...

[@certifiedsorcerycorp]

But the question is: how tf can I take a goose and get one of its feathers, they have no chill and I will probably die in the process

[@James-en1ob]

Maybe go to a farm and ask them for feathers

[@acninee]

I have read that the tip of the feather was hardened by putting it into hot sand. Is that inaccurate, or optional and just not used by this quill maker?

[@James-en1ob]

They could have aged the feathers for a few months or a year in a sunny environment ( a window perhaps) and then turn them into a pen

[@tom_something]

I feel so silly for never realizing that the top of the feather is cut off. I've always carried a romanticized image of writing with a quill while the brilliant natural morphology of the top of the quill dances along. I'm sure I got this fantasy from portraits, or at least from cartoons, neither of which ever promised to be realistic. I've overlooked the fact that quills were everyday tools, not just instruments of ceremony.

[@hanavesela5884]

Arent you supose to harden the quills in hot sand for few seconds before cutting them? I think I read that somewhere.

[@tocci750]

You must harden it after making the first opening.

[@James-en1ob]

There is another way ,you leave them in a sunny place for example a window and leave them there for a few months or a year and then turn them into pens

[@Isabella-rc1fz]

I read that on wiki how, but I don't have sand xd

[@byattwurns1553]

Incredible video! Best quality one on the internet!

[@sail2byzantium]

Nice set of videos. A demonstration of writing on the prepared vellum, with the vellum, ink and pen now all prepared would be good.
And, on the pen: what about reed pens? I suppose you'd need an appropriate water environment to find those.

[@James-en1ob]

I think they were used before the quill pens where invented

[@harmonyln7]

Does the feather have to be plucked, or can a fallen or dropped one be used?

[@Kiina312]

I watched on segment on qi recently about quills & they said they must be plucked. Can’t remember why though.

[@devranijethanikavillageblo4809]

S

[@Pracification]

I have seen another way of cutting the quill tip - you start the same, with approx 1" cut as above, but then you create the slit on the inside of the cut (so not on the tip created by the very first 1" cut, but in the "bulk") and then continue to remove the first tip and create the shoulders. Supposedly, this keeps the slit straighter than the process above, since the feather can not move sideways as the thin tip can when you create the slit as last.
See here:
ua-cam.com/video/eDbtJOjFv7s/v-deo.html

[@lacecurtains]

Good video but would be useful to show how to load the quill with ink and how to stop inkblots...

[@James-en1ob]

Just Dip it . Ah and using a different ink might (just might) stop the inkblots

[@robertnelson3672]

Fill a small jar to the level that you want to load the nib of any kind to. As you remove the nib or quill wipe the top on the edge of the jar. Ink on the top will cause more blobs than the underside. You can also use a small brush to wipe the ink on the underside. You just have to experiment a little. Don't use fountain pen ink it is too thin or ink with shellac which will coat it in layers which can't be removed although that is more important for metal nibs.
Also remember that every few months you'll have to carefully re-cu the pen end or cut a whole new one. Only metal nibs will last 8 - 10 years.