Fun With Handwriting Practice

March 11, 2013

I'm sorry, Mr. Mills, I was just having too much to do your drills...

:embarrassed_smile:

March 11, 2013

I'm sorry, Mr. Mills, I was just having too much to do your drills...

:embarrassed_smile:

Hi.

I am also practicing business writing since almost one year. I shall post pre-chicken-faecal-scatter and post-okay-okay writings here to begin with. And I am using E.C Mills too.

March 11, 2013

I am also practicing business writing since almost one year. I shall post pre-chicken-faecal-scatter and post-okay-okay writings here to begin with. And I am using E.C Mills too.

Yes, please do! It's so much more fun if a bunch of people join in, especially so if you've found a nice addition to the regular drills, shapes and letters.

For instance, the best effect sketching or doodling has for me, is a relaxed grip and whole arm movements. I worry less about precise control that way.

March 22, 2013

Hello. Logged in after a very long time. I am glad to see this thread still active. Will try to participate.

Regards

Ihtzaz

March 22, 2013

Hello. Logged in after a very long time. I am glad to see this thread still active. Will try to participate.

Regards
Ihtzaz

So nice to see you on board again! Looking forward to your contributions.

April 7, 2013

I'm trying to practise as often as possible, and still prefer a morning session before breakfast. I still find it difficult to transfer skills from practice to daily note-taking, but I do believe that I'm making progress. Instructions, as before, from EC Mills' Modern Business Penmanship.

edit: Montblanc 136 steel EF nib, Parker Quink Blue, cheap but pretty good notebook from local warehouse.

Edited April 7, 2013 by pmhudepo

April 10, 2013

Wow! I love looking at everybody's writing. I'm still very new to this, so it

does a lot to inspire me by seeing all of this great writing!

Keep up the great work!!!

January 30, 2014

I know this is an old topic, but since practice is an ongoing process, I figured one more contribution won't hurt. "Modern Business Penmanship" by Edward C. Mills is still my go-to book for drills and study of letter forms. I have been taking a peek at Spencerian (compendium and theory) as well as Ames' Guide to Self Instruction. I find writing practice a great way to start the day, even if I don't write every day, and my daily note-taking continues to improve, if every so slowly.

I try to move away from drills and exercises, and this morning I decided to copy out the Credo. (I was listening to Bach's Mass in B minor.)

Montblanc 244G extra-fine, MB Black ink, Rhodia pad. "Credo": Pilot Parallel 2.4mm, Pilot Green ink. Watching videos of LLoyd Reynolds teaching italic writing is also very interesting and perhaps one day I'll add a nice cursive italic hand to my repertoire.

You can find the materials I mentioned, and much more, on the IAMPETH website, section Rare Books.

January 30, 2014

If you're not in the mood for sentimentality this morning, then don't read my post. My adventure in handwriting starts during the period of the Civil War. My great-great-great uncle, John Kemp, was a Captain in the Confederacy. When I was in high school, I happened upon copies of his letters that he had written by fireside from various camps. His penmanship was beautiful, without flaw. I was so inspired that I decided I would learn this penmanship. So, after homework was done, (usually), I got out his letters and copied them, and copied and copied and copied again, until I could mimic his writing. I didn't use the writing in school assignments, lest I draw attention to myself. But as time went on, my handwriting became something of a hybrid between his and mine.

Years passed and I forgot all about it. But then I acquired, at very little cost, the antiquated dip pen. As I wrote with it I thought that had John Kemp lived, this is the kind of pen he might have written with. And so once again I began my journey into Spencerian writing.

Every year, I give my family members and close friends poems that I have written for Christmas. Usually they came off of the ink jet printer, but this year they were a project of me, "Old Bess" (as my pen came to be called"), and the spirit of John Kemp. I learned on Christmas Day that in the Battle of the Wilderness he had been shot eight times and cast into a mass grave with 30 other young men. And so those poems were in memory of him. And when I practice my penmanship, it is in memory of him and all the others whose voices were silenced, whether Northern or Southern. It matters not.

If I am able I will attempt to post a picture of "Old Bess" and a sample of my handwriting. It is nothing great. But it is what it is.

Averett

January 30, 2014

Hello Averett: I'm so glad you joined FPN and shared this story. Please do post a picture of "Old Bess" and your writing. Perhaps even a fragment of a letter from your great-great-great uncle? It would be great to have a bit of inspiration from days long gone, in fact right from the last days of Spencer, if I'm not mistaken.

Edited January 30, 2014 by pmhudepo

January 30, 2014

Many thanks for your comment. Unfortunately, another member of my family is in possession of those copies, and I don't think I'll see them again in my lifetime! Also, I don't know how to post pictures. I can take pictures with my camera and put them on my computer, but I have not a clue as to how they get onto this thread. Oh, I see a little download icon in the bottom corner. I may succeed yet!

Averett

January 30, 2014

I want to post my handwriting samples, and I will, but feel very humbled by the handwriting samples presented on this thread. They are gorgeous! They are an inspiration to me to take my own handwriting more seriously! Thanks to all!

Averett

March 28, 2014

Every now and then, I sit down before breakfast and work, and do some practice. Photography is taking up more time lately, but I think I will not soon tire of the simple pleasure of improving my handwriting. Here's this the result from this morning.