I started by cutting off a piece of the feather shaft at an angle, using a very sharp craft knife.

Next, I trimmed it into a neat point, then cut a tiny piece off the end, to form the nib. I didn't split it lengthwise (like a metal nib), because the material of the quill is quite flexible and this split would splay under even the most gentle pressure.

I didn't have any proper ink, so I made some - by taking a tablespoonful of bilberries, boiling them up in the microwave and crushing with a teaspoon, to release the juice.

Then it was time to try it out - writing on a piece of spare mounting board.

I'm no calligrapher, so it wasn't easy at all - it's necessary to dip the quill into the inkwell at least once for each letter, only taking a tiny amount each time - if the nib is overloaded with ink it will just make a mess.

So my first bit of writing with my natural quill pen was, perhaps quite predictably, not beautiful, but the process works - practice would probably improve the output quality a bit.

Interesting thing about the bilberry ink - it starts off a deep maroon-purple colour, but dries to the dark navy-blue seen here.

Bilberry juice can also be used as a crude PH indicator - on contact with acids, it turns light pink and in the presence of alkali, grey-blue - this effect is often observed when hand-washing dishes that contained a purple-staining fruit such as bilberries - when the juice residue comes into contact with the mildly alkaline dishwashing solution, it darkens quite noticeably.

Connecting With The Past

Little projects like this are a great way to appreciate history - in a way that impacts more than just the intellect - by recreating bygone crafts and technologies, it's possible to feel history and tradition, rather than just to know about it.

Using A Quill Pen

Both of my kids had a go at using the quill pen I made - they were both able to produce legible writing with it, but it's very clear that writing this way requires a great deal of care and concentration - and this was my experience too - I wonder how this must have affected the cognitive processes involved in writing...