Introduction to Fountain Pens, a Free Mini Workshop

We've been thinking about this for a while, and we're finally getting our act together: every once in a while, we're going to host a free mini workshop, Introduction to Fountain Pens, here in the shop. The first workshop is Saturday, May 20th, from 10:30 to 11:00. It'll be before the shop opens, so there's space and room to move around and try out everything before customers start coming in. This short and friendly workshop is for complete beginners, or people who used to use fountain pens "a million years ago" and want to try again. If you have a fountain pen that was passed down to you or that you've never used, please bring it along! (Our staff can do some light troubleshooting if your pen isn't working right now, but if your pen is vintage, we likely won't have any replacement parts or be able to take apart your pen fully for cleaning.) Topics that we're going to cover include:

1. How to fill fountain pens with ink
2. How/when/why to clean your fountain pen
3. How to choose a fountain pen ink
4. How paper qualities vary
5. Higher end fountain pens

But it's really going to be a bit more of a hands-on kind of a workshop. Participants will get a chance to fill and clean fountain pens for themselves, as well as test out different nibs and try writing on different papers - and hopefully ask lots of questions! This is also a really terrific workshop to attend with a friend who is completely new to fountain pens! You are more than welcome to attend with a friend who maybe is sort of a stationery nut but hasn't quite caught the fountain pen bug, or someone you just want to introduce to the pen world. With the new spring weather here, it's a fun Saturday morning, and you can browse around the shop at after, as well as around Leslieville for brunch or shopping. We'll have treats to eat (in addition to the treats to write with), and coffee as well. Space is limited, so we ask that you RSVP by emailing, calling or visiting the shop. The details are also available on the workshops section of our website here. If you can't make it, we ask that you let us know as a courtesy so we can open up the spot to other people. If you can't make the May 20th date, we'll be posting more dates for the future. We're aiming to have a workshop once a month, depending on how much interest there is. And of course, you're always welcome in the shop for a crash course on fountain pens any time as well!