Learning Spencerian...

[schin]

I have been practicing hard and feel I have more consistency now. But as much as I try, I find it so hard to write exactly on the lines (I am not used to it), so it still makes my letters shaky and unsure. Keeping that in mind, I will write another copy and post it and see.

 

 

Btw this is a beautiful love letter by Napoleon for his Josephine.. it always makes my heart melt

 

Brown mccaffery's ink on rhodia, Leonardt Principal nib

Edited March 23, 2013 by schin

[schin]

Here is the second try.. this time on a different rhodia, and black maccafferys ink and the same nib. But this time I cleaned the nib more often between sentences.

 

[MusinkMan]

WOW SCHIN!!! You go girl. I've been messing with a little Spencerian, but I'm not about to post it up after you guys' stuff. I just don't see how you get those beautiful flowing flourishes to surround your text so perfectly. I guess it's just intuitive genius (something I surely don't have)!

[mvarela]

The end of today's (too short) session... A nice quote by the great Wilde:

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8379/8600317101_2fb5dfe5d9_b.jpg

[vp31]

Exactly my thoughts;))

 

@Schin - Amazing work!! Its a inspiration for amateur like me:)

 

 

WOW SCHIN!!! You go girl. I've been messing with a little Spencerian, but I'm not about to post it up after you guys' stuff. I just don't see how you get those beautiful flowing flourishes to surround your text so perfectly. I guess it's just intuitive genius (something I surely don't have)!

[picopox]

Scribble scribble

[MusinkMan]

Dang it, picopox. LOL! You're just too good man. Walnut ink looks incredibly good...could pass for an antique. The Spence itself is just magnificent, bro.

[schin]

Lately I have been copying old letters, scanning them and (this step is particularly painful) comparing them side by side with the original.

Somehow scanning and viewing on a computer makes it easier to pick out the mistakes and see how things can be improved. But oh.. it hurts..!

 

[caliken]

Your lines are closer together than the original, which gives your writing a cramped look - otherwise, a first-rate copy IMO.

 

Ken

Edited April 11, 2013 by caliken

[schin]

Thanks Ken, I will work on my spacing more.. I do tend to cramp everything together. I also noticed the lines on the original are more spaced apart and the letters are so small in comparison. The spacing on my Rhodia is smaller and I would have to write a lot smaller to compensate for the space.. which is too difficult. I will make another attempt with bigger spacing and see how that goes. I value your comments and crits and please don't hold back!

[Jamesiv1]

Lately I have been copying old letters, scanning them and (this step is particularly painful) comparing them side by side with the original.

Somehow scanning and viewing on a computer makes it easier to pick out the mistakes and see how things can be improved. But oh.. it hurts..!

 

 

Wow schim. Very impressive!!

 

Have you seen the Madarasz guidesheets? I ticked the spacing on some Madarasz originals at the IAMPETH convention, then created the spacing in Word. On the IAMPETH website "guidesheets" page scroll down and look the ones by Ron Tate.

 

These are the ones I made from the originals:

 

Three-eighths blue line (Adobe pdf file)

Three-eighths black line (Adobe pdf file)

Half-inch blue line (Adobe pdf file)

Half-inch black line (Adobe pdf file)

Five-eighths blue line (Adobe pdf file)

Five-eighths black line (Adobe pdf file)

 

Guidesheet page:

http://www.iampeth.com/lessons_guidesheets.php

[schin]

Wow James, thank you! I must try these now. Unfortunately most of my Rhodia paper is lined so I will try these on other kinds of paper.. but it is very exciting. I will post my progress soon.

[schin]

So I did print out many of the guidesheets, but I don't write as well on printed copy paper. I have ordered some blank Rhodia tablets and will print the IAMPETH guidelines on them and hopefully that will help with my letter copyings.

 

Until then, here is a lovely familiar poem. Still trying to get it to look even and consistent..!

 

[Jamesiv1]

ahhh... yes. I should have mentioned that.

 

Standard copy paper is terrible for pen and ink. Find a nice, blank paper you enjoy writing on, then run that through your printer (or copier)

 

Nice writing!

 

james

[Piper]

I'm on board too! Picking up some exercises this week!

 

Nothing like a good support network to motivate you!

[Stompie]

So I did print out many of the guidesheets, but I don't write as well on printed copy paper. I have ordered some blank Rhodia tablets and will print the IAMPETH guidelines on them and hopefully that will help with my letter copyings.

 

 

 

schin, Caliken uses Mondi IQ prestige 100gsm paper and it is for printers. I bought some and it is great paper for pointed pen work or any pen work where there is a lot of ink laid down! It is also very smooth!

On a lot of Calikens videos where he does huge swells etc it is on this paper and he has no trouble with it.

[thang1thang2]

So I did print out many of the guidesheets, but I don't write as well on printed copy paper. I have ordered some blank Rhodia tablets and will print the IAMPETH guidelines on them and hopefully that will help with my letter copyings.

 

 

 

schin, Caliken uses Mondi IQ prestige 100gsm paper and it is for printers. I bought some and it is great paper for pointed pen work or any pen work where there is a lot of ink laid down! It is also very smooth!

On a lot of Calikens videos where he does huge swells etc it is on this paper and he has no trouble with it.

 

It's also for the Europe region, as it uses EU sizes (a4, a5, etc). Which is fine, except that I'm from the NA, and I believe Schin is too.

[schin]

Yes, I'm located in US, but I don't care what size it is as long as it is good I will see if I can find it here, thanks!!

[mvarela]

Yes, I'm located in US, but I don't care what size it is as long as it is good I will see if I can find it here, thanks!!

 

I've tried some Staples brand copy paper (here in Europe, but it's an American brand...) and it's decent (not good, but decent) for pointed pen work. It's quite smooth and doesn't bleed much. Surely it doesn't compare to nice Rhodia paper, but it's a good option for daily practice.

[schin]

Here are two that I wrote last night