What Does Your Handwriting Look Like

[byronss]

Worked up enough to attach my chicken scratch.

Current handwriting sampe

Love the style!

[byronss]

I hope nobody minds that this is my first post here. I have enjoyed going through this thread and envy many of the writing styles I've seen. I think my handwriting is terrible after years of writing in tiny spaces on medical charts. Here's my sample (first one in J. Herbin Bleue Pervenche with a Merlin 33 semi-flex nib, the second in J. Herbin Violette Pensee with my new Noodler's Creeper Flex, and the last in Private Reserve Sepia with a Waterman eyedropper pen with a flex nib c. 1903)

Your handwriting is lovely! No idea why you said it's terrible! I have had a thing for brown ink for as long as I can remember, but the violette sample looks very smooth.

[topaz]

Your handwriting is lovely! No idea why you said it's terrible! I have had a thing for brown ink for as long as I can remember, but the violette sample looks very smooth.

 

I like the PR Sepia a lot- it has gold undertones but my favorite brown is Tom Norton's Walnut. My mother has my great-grandma's journals from the 1920's and I went to a little local shop where a man restores pens telling him I wanted a pen that would write like her's. He sold me a Conklin Crescent filler with a No 3 flex nib and some of the walnut ink to copy the beautiful tones that he black ink had faded to. Sadly, I do not have her seemingly effortless combo of Palmer and Copperplate. I can mimic it if I write very slowly and focus but my own writing usually starts sneaking back in.

 

There was a time I would have tuned my nose up at a new pen, and never would have touched a steel nib. My thought was if I want to write with an old-fashioned pen, I wanted to hold history in my hand. Plus, I'm very tactile and writing with anything scratchy gives me cold chills (even the sound of pencil on paper makes my skin crawl). The Noodler pen is not scratchy in the least and very comfortable in my smallish hands.

 

I can't say I find any of the samples here "bad" or "chicken scratch." I have to decipher doctors' orders every day at work. I swear the majority of them don't actually write letters. They write in shorthand and just don't admit it so they can laugh when we try to read their writing!

[imahawki]

I've a fairly plain cursive but have been working to develop more consistent letter size, spacing, etc.

Edited April 29, 2012 by imahawki

[JamesTheBard]

I've a fairly plain cursive but have been working to develop more consistent letter size, spacing, etc.

It looks good, the work is paying off! I tend to work on mine daily trying to fix specific parts or to add new things to it that I see from other people. Plus, it a boon in at work with a mix of engineers and fellow computer folk.

[byronss]

There was a time I would have tuned my nose up at a new pen, and never would have touched a steel nib. My thought was if I want to write with an old-fashioned pen, I wanted to hold history in my hand. Plus, I'm very tactile and writing with anything scratchy gives me cold chills (even the sound of pencil on paper makes my skin crawl). The Noodler pen is not scratchy in the least and very comfortable in my smallish hands.

 

I went straight to the internet to try to find a Noodler's pen, which I've done many times before. I have plenty of their ink, but I find them really expensive here (Australia), and to find a Noodler's pen without it ending up nearly double the cost with freight, is nearly impossible. Am on a limited income these days and have to watch what I buy.

 

I know exactly what you mean with scratchy pens. Have thrown more in the bin over the years than I care to tell you. I could argue that a non-scratchy fountain pen is one of life's necessities, but I think I wouldn't win. Strangely, one of my favourites is a very cheap Stypen. Twice now, I've bought a batch of 10 of them off eBay (cheap local freight) to find that one or two suit me quite nicely.

 

Will keep looking for that Noodler's pen - I really want to try one.

[TMLee]

Wonderful thread.

 

Many beautiful examples. :clap1:

 

Desk writing height is crucial to comfortable handwriting.

I remember from somewhere that your elbow shouldn't be lower than 2inches below the writing surface.

 

Anyone here can vouch for this ?

Like does your handwriting become noticeably nicer when the desk height approaches the right height?

[beak]

.

Anyone here can vouch for this ?

Like does your handwriting become noticeably nicer when the desk height approaches the right height?

 

Certainly in my case. And it has been noted here many times.

 

Opinions seem to vary a little about the correct relative heights, but in general desks are too high, I believe. My preference is for the desk surface to be at the same height as the elbow, and blocks for chair legs or thick cushions are simple fixes for the problem.

 

Writing slopes make a difference; they alter the effective relationship. Fold-out writing boxes often increase the height of the writing surface dramatically in cases where the sloped part has a thickness of up to 2 inches (50mm) or more.

Edited April 30, 2012 by beak

[mboschm]

What do you think about it?

 

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/5266/dsc0007xv.jpg

[florg]

http://i52.tinypic.com/2pq1frq.jpg

 

Chris

 

This thread really makes addictive. Your handwriting made me respond spontaneously. It has lot's of character and is quite legible despite of strong simplification of certain characters which goes well with the broad nib. I like it very much!

[Ownfir]

Hi everyone!

 

I recently just purchased a fountain pen about two weeks ago, and have been working on adjusting my writing daily. While I'm nowhere near I'd like, it is getting better I think! I'm 19 years old, and am in college, so I'm looking for a handwriting suitable for note taking thats still legible! What do you guys think? I'd love some advice. so far I know I need to work on getting an even sized slope and getting the size of my letters consistent.

 

Sorry for the bad quality!

Before: http://i.imgur.com/TnVSJ.jpg

 

After: http://i.imgur.com/OLkJu.jpg

[Spidy]

Hi everyone!

 

I recently just purchased a fountain pen about two weeks ago, and have been working on adjusting my writing daily. While I'm nowhere near I'd like, it is getting better I think! I'm 19 years old, and am in college, so I'm looking for a handwriting suitable for note taking thats still legible! What do you guys think? I'd love some advice. so far I know I need to work on getting an even sized slope and getting the size of my letters consistent.

 

Sorry for the bad quality!

Before: http://i.imgur.com/TnVSJ.jpg

 

After: http://i.imgur.com/OLkJu.jpg

 

Amazing change dude.

 

Keep it up.

[JamesTheBard]

Hi everyone!

 

I recently just purchased a fountain pen about two weeks ago, and have been working on adjusting my writing daily. While I'm nowhere near I'd like, it is getting better I think! I'm 19 years old, and am in college, so I'm looking for a handwriting suitable for note taking thats still legible! What do you guys think? I'd love some advice. so far I know I need to work on getting an even sized slope and getting the size of my letters consistent.

 

Sorry for the bad quality!

Before: http://i.imgur.com/TnVSJ.jpg

 

After: http://i.imgur.com/OLkJu.jpg

Wow. That is amazing. Looks like the effort is definitely paying off!

[mboschm]

Hi everyone!

 

I recently just purchased a fountain pen about two weeks ago, and have been working on adjusting my writing daily. While I'm nowhere near I'd like, it is getting better I think! I'm 19 years old, and am in college, so I'm looking for a handwriting suitable for note taking thats still legible! What do you guys think? I'd love some advice. so far I know I need to work on getting an even sized slope and getting the size of my letters consistent.

 

Sorry for the bad quality!

Before: http://i.imgur.com/TnVSJ.jpg

 

After: http://i.imgur.com/OLkJu.jpg

That's what I call a nice change! Keep it up! I'm also a college student, and fp has helped me lots with my handwriting (take a look at the bottom of page 17).

[dzacca]

Here's my current handwriting. (sorry, it's in italian )

 

The first two are written with a Lamy Safari with stub nib; the first one is a 1.5 the second one is a 1.1, both with black prink ink.

 

The third one is written with a cheap waterman fountain pen (don't know the model) with a medium nib and black-blue waterman ink.

 

The first two are example of my current daily handwriting. Still a lot of work to due, but I'm quite satisfied of my current handwriting, especially I only started with italic in february and my previous handwriting was totally unreadable.

 

The last line is a recent attempt to start back using cursive, based on spencerian. I haven't been writing in cursive for something like 20 years, so it's pretty strange for me. I really love italic and recently discovered spencerian. I'm currently waiting to receive nibs, holder and ink to start practicing spencerian; I saw it only a few weeks ago and almost felt in love with the beauty of this penmanship. I practiced spencerian with copybooks for about 4 days now (monoline with my waterman) and hope to improve with more practice.

 

Any comment and suggestion is more than welcome

 

--

Diego

[nickapos]

Here's my current handwriting. (sorry, it's in italian )

 

The first two are written with a Lamy Safari with stub nib; the first one is a 1.5 the second one is a 1.1, both with black prink ink.

 

The third one is written with a cheap waterman fountain pen (don't know the model) with a medium nib and black-blue waterman ink.

 

The first two are example of my current daily handwriting. Still a lot of work to due, but I'm quite satisfied of my current handwriting, especially I only started with italic in february and my previous handwriting was totally unreadable.

 

The last line is a recent attempt to start back using cursive, based on spencerian. I haven't been writing in cursive for something like 20 years, so it's pretty strange for me. I really love italic and recently discovered spencerian. I'm currently waiting to receive nibs, holder and ink to start practicing spencerian; I saw it only a few weeks ago and almost felt in love with the beauty of this penmanship. I practiced spencerian with copybooks for about 4 days now (monoline with my waterman) and hope to improve with more practice.

 

Any comment and suggestion is more than welcome

 

--

Diego

 

Beautiful Diego,

don't worry about the Italian script I have posted in Greek, and my writing is nothing when compared to yours

[ethernautrix]

Here's a partial page from my notebook:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7122/7132270283_ff4dc9bcaf_z.jpg

 

 

Pens & Inks:

Pelikan 140 (ca. 1950s), semiflex EF, Platinum Mix (SP:SY 1:1) (red)

Montblanc 100-Year Historical, EF, Noodler's Black (with a drop of Noodler's Old Manhattan Black to make it a touch darker)

Danitrio Komori, EF, Noodler's Walnut (mix)

in a Markings by C.R.Gibson journal (a Moleskine lookalike) with narrow rule.

 

Quoting Jonah Lehrer in his How We Decide, a very interesting book about thinking about thinking and how emotions and reason influence how we make decisions.

 

 

 

[byronss]

Here's a partial page from my notebook:

Absolutely LOVE the style of your writing! No neat, consistent and legible too! I wish I could write like that!!

[ethernautrix]

Absolutely LOVE the style of your writing! No neat, consistent and legible too! I wish I could write like that!!

 

Thank you, byronss.

 

I'm tempted to "steal" some of the handwriting styles I've seen here -- you know, incorporate a certain letter from here and from there. Too lazy -- I've been writing like this for so long now... decades. My handwriting used to be more curvy, more slanted forward. And before that, more round overall.

[Zopiac]

Absolutely LOVE the style of your writing! No neat, consistent and legible too! I wish I could write like that!!

 

Thank you, byronss.

 

I'm tempted to "steal" some of the handwriting styles I've seen here -- you know, incorporate a certain letter from here and from there. Too lazy -- I've been writing like this for so long now... decades. My handwriting used to be more curvy, more slanted forward. And before that, more round overall.

 

 

I've been stealing letters from everywhere since elementary school! I just recently stole a cursive style of 'f' and 'x' from watching sbrebrown's fountain pen reviews. I give them all my own character, though, of course.