Availability: | In stock |
Learn a skill from the early days of America, and imagine what life was like in the past, when young girls and boys learned many useful skills to contribute to the family.
Pen comes from the Latin word "penna" meaning feather, and if you lived in early America, your pen would have been a feather. The youngest school children wrote with a slate pencil. At age nine, children were considered old enough to handle a little folding knife called a pen knife and begin making their own quill pens by cutting a tip for writing.
Quills made such good pens that they were used for hundreds of years, from the 7th century, when they were first made, through the 19th century. In all that time, nearly everything written in Europe and the colonies was written with a feather. Steel nibs gradually replaced quills because the tips lasted longer.
This kit provides you with materials similar to those available in early America, so find a cozy place to work with a friend or parent and learn something new from the past.
Here is all you need to write your own piece of history- powdered ink, a pre-sharpened quill, and a hardwood inkstand that safely holds the glass ink bottle. Lined guide pages, a complete calligraphy alphabet, blank paper, and quill trimming instructions complete the set.
Designed and assembled in the USA. Recommended for ages 8 and up.