Your Handwriting Quality?

[ralphawilson]

I've been working on my handwriting for the last few months (coincident with a recent fountain pen obsession). I finally found a role model in a sample of Abe Lincoln's writing -- a style I like that isn't too fussy. (I even like his cross-outs and inserts.) Hopefully I can adapt it, and modernize it for my needs. I think I'm making progress. For some reason, finding a style to emulate makes the whole learning process more fun.

 

Now, if I could only match his prose...

 

 

[MYU]

Solitaire,

 

I used to be a member of SIH but lost touch many years ago.

 

I have been trying to find a copy of "Dance of the Pen" for some time, without success, as it is out of print. Do you know where I can obtain a copy?

 

caliken

Caliken, were you able to obtain a copy? I'm curious to know if indeed Gordon has access to more copies.

[KateGladstone]

Solitaire,

 

I used to be a member of SIH but lost touch many years ago.

 

I have been trying to find a copy of "Dance of the Pen" for some time, without success, as it is out of print. Do you know where I can obtain a copy?

 

caliken

Caliken, were you able to obtain a copy? I'm curious to know if indeed Gordon has access to more copies.

 

If you can't find it on Amazon, contact the calligraphic books-and-supplies store "John Neal, Bookseller" at http://www.JohnNealBooks.com -- or the similar store "Paper & Ink Arts" at http://www.paperinkarts.com -- ask for John Neal (at the first store) or Brenda Broadbent (at the second store) and please tell them that I referred you.

 

To rejoin SIH, you can find its current e-mail address and other contact-info under the heading "Calligraphic Bodies" at the web-site of its current secretary, Nick Caulkin, at http://www.nickthenibs.co.uk -- again, please tell Nick that I referred you.

[caliken]

Solitaire,

 

I used to be a member of SIH but lost touch many years ago.

 

I have been trying to find a copy of "Dance of the Pen" for some time, without success, as it is out of print. Do you know where I can obtain a copy?

 

caliken

Caliken, were you able to obtain a copy? I'm curious to know if indeed Gordon has access to more copies.

I finally made contact with Gordon through Nick Caulkin and am awaiting delivery of my copy.

caliken

 

[caliken]

Solitaire,

 

I used to be a member of SIH but lost touch many years ago.

 

I have been trying to find a copy of "Dance of the Pen" for some time, without success, as it is out of print. Do you know where I can obtain a copy?

 

caliken

Caliken, were you able to obtain a copy? I'm curious to know if indeed Gordon has access to more copies.

 

If you can't find it on Amazon, contact the calligraphic books-and-supplies store "John Neal, Bookseller" at http://www.JohnNealBooks.com -- or the similar store "Paper & Ink Arts" at http://www.paperinkarts.com -- ask for John Neal (at the first store) or Brenda Broadbent (at the second store) and please tell them that I referred you.

 

To rejoin SIH, you can find its current e-mail address and other contact-info under the heading "Calligraphic Bodies" at the web-site of its current secretary, Nick Caulkin, at http://www.nickthenibs.co.uk -- again, please tell Nick that I referred you.

Kate

Thanks for the information which I am sure will be of use to others who are trying to locate this book.

I have bought a copy and am awaiting delivery.

 

caliken

 

[lferg]

I have the worst penmanship on the planet. Thats why I haven't made the leap into FPs yet. My hand writing is deplorable no matter how hard I try.

[KateGladstone]

Sometimes, just the right fountain pen will help quite a bit with a deplorable handwriting. Go to the nearest pen counter and test-drive everything they've got!

[Reese]

I always admire beautiful handwriting, though I do not have it. Since getting a fountain pen and a brand new journal, I have committed to improving my penmanship (and my relatives will rejoice). I have not yet had much success, though. Maybe after some improvement I'll post a sample. In the meantime, I work on it when I can. FPN is great inspiration!

[aNONIEmous]

When I was elementary school, everyone had to use a fountain pen. In high school, however, ballpoint pens were the norm but I found them very slippery and hard to control after years of using a fountain pen (FP). I also had trouble holding them vertically enough so the ink/writing point was making contact with paper at all times. However, after years of being faced with a flood of ballpoint pens and hardly any FP around--not to mention running out of ink cartridges or not having my ink bottle handy to refill a reservoir--I succumbed to the pressure to use ballpoint pens for convenience's sake. Indeed, it's been years since I used a FP but you'll all be relieved to know I'll soon put an end to this blasphemy as I have every intention to get one soon. But I would love to be able to switch from using a FP to using a ballpoint pen without difficulty or awkwardness.

 

My question to all you veterans of fountain pens is: do you only ever use fountain pens or dip pens? And do you find that after writing with fountain pens for a long time, writing with ballpoint pens seems difficult because of the hold necessary, especially with a fine-point, to ensure that the writing tip keeps contact with the paper?

[ToughHouseRook]

Wanting to improve the appearance of my handwriting is the whole reason I stumbled upon this website! Once I get the book I ordered in I plan on spending a good bit of time practicing and working on improving my penmanship.

[caliken]

My question to all you veterans of fountain pens is: do you only ever use fountain pens or dip pens? And do you find that after writing with fountain pens for a long time, writing with ballpoint pens seems difficult because of the hold necessary, especially with a fine-point, to ensure that the writing tip keeps contact with the paper?

 

I use only fountain pens or dip pens. I consider myself lucky to have been at school in the 1940s when dip pens were used exclusively, so good habits were formed then.

 

I have a very light touch, so I avoid ball point pens like the plague - they require far too much pressure to ever be much good for attractive handwriting IMO. Fibre tips are OK but they are a bit mechanical and unresponsive.

 

caliken

Edited October 4, 2008 by caliken

[aNONIEmous]

I use only fountain pens or dip pens. I consider myself lucky to have been at school in the early 1940s when dip pens were used exclusively, so good habits were formed then.

 

I have a very light touch, so I avoid ball point pens like the plague - they require far too much pressure to ever be much good for attractive handwriting IMO. Fibre tips are OK but they are a bit mechanical and unresponsive.

 

caliken

 

 

Thanks for your response, caliken. How interesting! No wonder those years before our time are called the "good ol' days".

 

Fountain pens were a must in elementary school so I too learned the light touch. Only I would have a hard time when writing checks that had a carbon copy. Or say hand-addressing a Fedex Airbill and needing to have the writing go through several layers of sheets and show up clearly on the last one which is what actually stays on the package. How do you get around that, caliken?

 

I imagine once I go back to using fountain pens, I'll probably have a hard time returning to ball point pens. (Initially, I'd get a cramp from having to press down so hard when using a ballpoint. Even to this day, my ballpoint writing has very faint spots here and there, an apparent struggle between using a light touch and applying enough pressure for the writing to show. )

[caliken]

I would have a hard time when writing checks that had a carbon copy. Or say hand-addressing a Fedex Airbill and needing to have the writing go through several layers of sheets and show up clearly on the last one which is what actually stays on the package. How do you get around that, caliken?

Fortunately, we don't have "Fedex Airbills" in the UK.

If we did, I suppose I'd be forced to use a ball point pen.........but only in disguise, at the dead of night, when nobody was watching!!

 

caliken

Edited October 4, 2008 by caliken

[aNONIEmous]

Too funny, caliken!

[The Bantam Scribbler]

My handwriting is almost completely illegible to everybody except myself. Heck, who am I kidding...sometimes I can't even read it.

 

I would work on improving it, but I've always heard that it's more or less impossible to change your handwriting in any substantive way once you've reached adulthood.

[judge]

99.9998% is typed - signatures are only required and my signature shows that out of chaos there is some order or more likely that out of order there is chaos

[Titivillus]

I've been working on my handwriting for the last few months (coincident with a recent fountain pen obsession). I finally found a role model in a sample of Abe Lincoln's writing -- a style I like that isn't too fussy. (I even like his cross-outs and inserts.) Hopefully I can adapt it, and modernize it for my needs. I think I'm making progress. For some reason, finding a style to emulate makes the whole learning process more fun.

 

Looking at some of the letters they seem to be very similar to the Zaner-Blosser my daughter is learning right now. Especially the 'f'.

 

Kurt

 

[someonesdad]

My handwriting for all of my professional life has been pretty bad. I can usually read it, but sometimes others can't. Part of this no doubt came from the attitude that pretty writing taught in grammar school didn't matter. It was likely exacerbated by the need in school to furiously take notes to get ideas down. My "cursive" handwriting devolved into a combination of cursive and printing that was no doubt my unconscious optimization to get things down quickly.

 

Now, sitting on this large pile of chronological scat, I feel a bit differently about things. One, your handwriting does communicate something about you. For example, if we see sloppy handwriting, we might think the person doing the writing is a slob. I'm not saying this is objective; it's just an observation about people in general. Second, I've become more interested in having my descendants read the things I've written.

 

Both of these feelings have caused me to start taking more care in my handwriting (and to use good paper, inks, and FPs to write). I also recognize how much I wish my parents and grandparents had left writings behind -- we have virtually nothing of them, mostly photos (nice, but nowhere near the whole story, especially as us descendants don't know who many of the people are in the photos). In the last few years, I've set a personal goal of writing down family history, memories, thoughts, daily diaries, etc., so that my descendants might learn something about me and my parents and siblings they otherwise wouldn't know.

 

Here's one validation of this idea. I have a small composition notebook labeled "Travel" that I started about 20 years ago. It was intended for handwritten notes when we went camping. I left it on the counter one day and my daughter grabbed it. Later she told me it was fascinating reading -- she got to read about events that she remembered when she was younger and see them through my eyes. She loved it. My wife and I went back and read the whole set of notes -- they allowed us to relive some of these events in ways pictures would never have. Truly worth the effort!

[Pensee]

"when I have Time" is the key. I can almost tell what time of the day I filled out intake forms, progress notes, etc.

 

In the morning it's nice-- mind my p's & q's-- by the end of the day it's starting to look like hen scratch.

 

But I will not use a computer for someones health care information. A handwritten chart is hacker proof!

 

--Bruce

[teadragon]

I voted for "somewhat important." My handwriting is legible and reasonably attractive--I wouldn't call it beautiful, but it does occasionally edge into pretty. If I'm just writing a grocery list, I use something halfway between print and joined letters; I'm the only one seeing it, so I don't mind if it's missing the niceties that I put in fancier writing (I do still make sure it's legible). Handwritten notes and letters are more likely to get pretty treatment; I spend more time on them, and I try to make sure that my flourishes don't get in the way of legibility.

 

Writing is, above all, a form of communication. I treat my handwriting much as I treat my accent: it must be understandable, and I prefer that it be pretty. I keep my handwriting from being sloppy because sloppiness gives an unfavorable impression, and because I don't want to read something sloppy. Writing with a good pen makes me more aware of how I'm writing, so the final appearance is nicer.