Learning Spencerian...

[Tasmith]

You might also try these onilne generators:

 

http://shipbrook.net/guidelines/

 

or

 

http://www.allunderone.org/calligraphy2/calligraphy.php

 

I personally prefer the second, but the first has more built in things to make it faster and easier to create spencerian guidelines.

Thank you for sharing!

[mvarela]

Playing around with some cheap chinese stick ink I mixed up the other day. Not really sure what I think of it, but it's my only ink at the moment, so it'll have to do.

 

Here's some pics:

 

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/DSC_0176.jpg

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/DSC_0172.jpg

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/DSC_0171-1.jpg

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/DSC_0167-1.jpg

 

I'm using one of Brian's (Musinkman's) holders, and I love it!

 

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/DSC_0184-1.jpg

 

Joe

 

Nice hand!

The chinese ink looks a bit light to me. I also have a cheap stick and stone I got from scribblers, and after some trial and error found that doing between 200 and 250 small circles with the stick on 5 to 7 drops of water gives a good starting point. I then add water drop by drop until it flows ok (this depends a bit on which nib I'm using), and of course re-wet the thing as I write, since it evaporates pretty quickly.

[Apprenti]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of it. Unfortunately, it's all I can afford at the moment! It's really cheap stuff, doesn't grind properly at all!

 

I'd love to try walnut ink, but it'll be a while before that I'm afraid

 

Still, it'll do for now

[mvarela]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of it. Unfortunately, it's all I can afford at the moment! It's really cheap stuff, doesn't grind properly at all!

 

I'd love to try walnut ink, but it'll be a while before that I'm afraid

 

Still, it'll do for now

 

Don't give up on it. It must be pretty much the same I have, and it's workable!

[Apprenti]

How do you grind yours? Doesn't it takes HOURS to fill a bootle if you're doing five drops of water at a time?

 

Thanks

Joe

[Apprenti]

Also, if I grind such a small amount I can't seem to tip or syringe it out of the grinding stone.

[mvarela]

Also, if I grind such a small amount I can't seem to tip or syringe it out of the grinding stone.

 

I use a brush to lift it from the stone and load the nib. I don't store it, actually, but grind "on demand" while writing, and then wash the stone at the end. I've no idea if that's the right way to go, but it seems to work

[Apprenti]

 

I use a brush to lift it from the stone and load the nib. I don't store it, actually, but grind "on demand" while writing, and then wash the stone at the end. I've no idea if that's the right way to go, but it seems to work

Noooooo! I think I'll just do some serious grinding and suck it up bit by bit with a syringe. Will see how it goes

[mvarela]

Noooooo! I think I'll just do some serious grinding and suck it up bit by bit with a syringe. Will see how it goes

 

You're a more patient man than I am, Joe!

[Apprenti]

Yep, spent just under an hour grinding with my right hand and browsing the web with my left. I've now got my ink to a really nice dark black colour and I'm happy with it

[smk]

I'm not sure how well stick ink would keep in a bottle once dissolved. It is supposed to be ground for each use. The process of grinding ink, when properly done, is meditative and is supposed to put the scribe in the right frame of mind for his work.

 

I would be very interested in knowing how the ink behaves over a period of time.

 

- Salman

[dhnz]

You can keep it in the fridge overnight but generally it's not advisable to keep it for longer than that. It goes off and starts to smell badly.

[Apprenti]

Playing with my Nakaya. Wanted to see how quickly I could write/draw the different majuscules and reminding myself of the differences between Ornamental and Spencerian

 

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/Majuscules.jpg

[Tashina]

The last few days, I have been reading this thread in its entirety (not done yet, but getting there). I have made a beginning towards learning Spencerian. My nib choice is the Nikko G in a straight holder with Higgins Eternal ink. I'm using the Mott Media reprint of Platt Rogers Spencer's 19th century exercise books ("Spencerian System of Practical Penmanship") working on Michael Sull's guidesheets instead of in the workbooks themselves. I also have Sull's "Learning to Write Spencerian Script".

 

At present, I am partway into the 2nd (of 5) books of the P.R. Spencer set.

 

I learned Palmer method in school, beginning in the 3rd grade and continue to employ it though over the years it has evolved into a very upright style with mostly printed capitals. Quite legible, really, but nothing elegant or attractive about it. Because of the radical differences between it (as employed by myself) and the Spencerian, it hasn't interfered with the learning of the new script.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Tashina

[mvarela]

The last few days, I have been reading this thread in its entirety (not done yet, but getting there). I have made a beginning towards learning Spencerian. My nib choice is the Nikko G in a straight holder with Higgins Eternal ink. I'm using the Mott Media reprint of Platt Rogers Spencer's 19th century exercise books ("Spencerian System of Practical Penmanship") working on Michael Sull's guidesheets instead of in the workbooks themselves. I also have Sull's "Learning to Write Spencerian Script".

 

At present, I am partway into the 2nd (of 5) books of the P.R. Spencer set.

 

I learned Palmer method in school, beginning in the 3rd grade and continue to employ it though over the years it has evolved into a very upright style with mostly printed capitals. Quite legible, really, but nothing elegant or attractive about it. Because of the radical differences between it (as employed by myself) and the Spencerian, it hasn't interfered with the learning of the new script.

Nice to see someone else taking Spencerian up

Looking forward to seeing your posts!

 

A question, tough... why the straight holder? An oblique will surely make it easier (unless you're a lefty, maybe)

 

Cheers,

Martín

[Tashina]

Nice to see someone else taking Spencerian up

Looking forward to seeing your posts!

 

A question, though... why the straight holder? An oblique will surely make it easier (unless you're a lefty, maybe)

 

Cheers,

Martín

 

No, not left handed. My choice is based on the aesthetics of the pen. I'm just used to the straight pen. That is what I have seen in pens all my life. In other words, I just like the look of the straight. So it's habit.

 

I do presume that once I learn Spencerian using a straight holder, if I subsequently decide to switch to the oblique, that it would be a seamless switchover and not like changing from a QWERTY keyboard to a different keyboard arrangement.

[Mickey]

 

 

No, not left handed. My choice is based on the aesthetics of the pen. I'm just used to the straight pen. That is what I have seen in pens all my life. In other words, I just like the look of the straight. So it's habit.

 

I do presume that once I learn Spencerian using a straight holder, if I subsequently decide to switch to the oblique, that it would be a seamless switchover and not like changing from a QWERTY keyboard to a different keyboard arrangement.

 

It might be a seamless switchover, but there will be some price and you would make much faster progress with an oblique holder. Copperplate is fairly possible with a straight pen or holder (though still more challenging than with an oblique holder), but I don't think decent shaded Spencerian is. Personally, I like the look of forks, but they're not all that useful for eating soup.

 

For the record, I learned Spencer with straight pens, Binder modified Falcon and Pelikan. I hit the wall with what was possible with those pens rather quickly and then didn't make much progress until I acquired the proper hardware.

[Anne-Sophie]

Since we are talking about Spencerian, I am really curious about his daughter Sara Spencer Sloan method.

 

She was ready to publish a book about this alternate hand and nothing came of it. I guess, I should get Michael Sull's book.

 

Sara Spencer Sloan is/was a fascinating woman, it would be lovely if her book was finally published.

[mvarela]

 

 

She was ready to publish a book about this alternate hand and nothing came of it. I guess, I should get Michael Sull's book.

 

 

I haven't used Sull's book, so I can't comment on it, but there are a ton of free resources on the IAMPETH site and some more on Joe Vitolo's Zanerian site. I found this: http://zanerian.com/OrnScript.html (you can find a PDF version of it on the IAMPETH site) to be a very good guide.

Edited March 19, 2014 by mvarela

[Tashina]

It might be a seamless switchover, but there will be some price and you would make much faster progress with an oblique holder. Copperplate is fairly possible with a straight pen or holder (though still more challenging than with an oblique holder), but I don't think decent shaded Spencerian is. Personally, I like the look of forks, but they're not all that useful for eating soup.

 

I picked up my oblique penholder (from Michael Sull) yesterday and gave it its maiden voyage. Oh my, was that interesting!

 

I should say that, prior to actually inking it up, I read Dr. Vitolo's article "Demystifying the Oblique Penholder" so that I was holding the pen with the long axis of the nib properly aligned on the slant angle.

 

It was much smoother (same Nikko G nib) and generally seemed a lot easier to write with as well exhibiting, or so it seemed to me, a slightly faster flow. The only problem I had was inking up - the inkstand I had been using with the straight penholders was barely wide enough to accommodate the oblique style. That has now been remedied as I am now employing a wide-mouthed inkstand.

 

I was right about one thing; the transition to oblique style from straight was totally seamless (once I read Dr. Vitolo's article).

 

I am using Michael Sull's Handwriting Practice Sheet A, for the moment writing the lower case letters in the larger spaces (x height = 4.0 mm) to match the spacing in the Platt Spencer Exercise books.