Terrible Handwriting Into Beautiful Handwriting ?

[oneill]

Att Helen; what I failed to mention is that the paper we used was out of an

exercise book as it was called and this all happened in the middle ages 1940!!! in the North of England, to the best of my knowledge all schools used such paper as

it was so good for regulating ones writing I am surprised that it appears noto be in use these days.I think I may have told this story before but what the heck.A

relative in the 1940's was unemployed and was required to sign on for to receive .the Dole as it was then called, His handwriting was so beautiful that the boss of the Dole office invited him in to show his colleagues and gave him a job on the

spot and he went on to become Manager of the Branch and worked long enough to

retire from it.

[oneill]

Att Helen; what I failed to mention is that the paper we used was out of an

exercise book as it was called and this all happened in the middle ages 1940!!! in the North of England, to the best of my knowledge all schools used such paper as

it was so good for regulating ones writing I am surprised that it appears noto be in use these days.I think I may have told this story before but what the heck.A

relative in the 1940's was unemployed and was required to sign on for to receive .the Dole as it was then called, His handwriting was so beautiful that the boss of the Dole office invited him in to show his colleagues and gave him a job on the

spot and he went on to become Manager of the Branch and worked long enough to

retire from it.

I find also that if I write with a pen and Italic nib my writing is so

much better, the reason being that the pen has much more control with the Italic

nib IMO plus if one is using the kind of paper I was talking about earlier good

handwriting seems easier to achieve.

[Helen350]

I do find writing with a 1.1 stub nib helps my handwriting to be a bit more legible. My handwriting is larger, and I prefer broad & stub nibs. A medium nib is as small as I will go. I remember the old exercise books from my elementary school days with the Esterbrook school pens. Brings back many good and stressful memories learning to write cursive!

[oneill]

I do find writing with a 1.1 stub nib helps my handwriting to be a bit more legible. My handwriting is larger, and I prefer broad & stub nibs. A medium nib is as small as I will go. I remember the old exercise books from my elementary school days with the Esterbrook school pens. Brings back many good and stressful memories learning to write cursive!

Being Catholic it was no fault of Brother or Sister if you didn't write

well cos standing over you with a Cane certainly improved ones writing over time.oneill.

Edited June 10, 2016 by oneill

[sidthecat]

About three years of solid practice and my handwriting is reasonably pleasant to look at now. Wrecked my thumb, but you can't make an omelet....

[Inkquest]

Beautiful, no. Legible, clear, and something I'm content with? Yes.

 

...

 

Same here. I had a serious problem reading my own handwriting after a period of time passed and the topic was no longer fresh in my mind. I had finally had my fill of that when some important notes I had taken years earlier were virtually useless. I bought this book entitled Write Now and switched from that standard, whatever it was, taught in the early 70's school system that I had utterly failed to legibly master to cursive italic. Nothing I'd deem beautiful by any wild stretch (holy moly, the samples in this very thread are borderline unbelievable to me) but rather completely and unambiguously legible. It didn't take very long to make the change really, less than a couple of weeks of practice and anyone could read my scribbles without some Rosetta deciphering key. After a couple of months, it was ingrained though not perfected (still isn't if truth be told). I've been told by many non-initiates that my writing is beautiful, however, that's only because they are unfamiliar with the style including how easy it actually is to use in lieu of any real artistic talent, and they haven't witnessed those accomplished artists who can lay down some truly gorgeous lines on paper.

[sidthecat]

My sister complimented me on my handwriting when she was down this holiday. She's no slouch herself, but her instrument is the technical pen, and she will not be shifted.

[tjchervy]

I was also taught by nuns - and my penmanship was atrocious. In high school (1979), I was in a 1900s era musical and wanted my writing to look authentic - so I looked up Spencerian and Copperplate forms. It forced me to pay attention to my letter forms, and my penmanship improved so much so quickly, that my maternal grandparents commented to my parents.

 

I've continued to practice, and I have Spencerian and Copperplate elements to my writing, but do not strictly follow either form. Current day, I'm complimented about once a month on my penmanship, and it is nowhere near as nice as what I've seen here - I write legibly with some nice elements.

 

I'm now working my way through the Spencerian books - I need a more consistent slant to my letters, and my d needs help - it changes based on the preceding letter.

 

Of interest - I was recently given a letter written to me by my paternal grandfather. He was born in 1892, taught school, and wrote this letter in 1969 (when I was 4). It is a beautiful example of Spencerian. His pen must have run out of ink in the last sentence because it switches from green ink written with a fountain pen to blue ballpoint. The other fun thing about the letter is the beginning of the letter is darker green and it gradually lightens throughout the letter. The envelope is also a joy to look at - and probably wouldn't be delivered by the post office today.

[Piper 987]

At first, I thought that the only way I was going to turn my terrible scrawl into beautiful handwriting was to vastly lower my standards. But my scrawl was descended from reasonable good handwriting (back in school) that slowly deteriorated from decades of hasty writing, getting it down on paper as fast as I could to get onto the next task at hand.

 

Remember how you learned to write back in primary school? Do it again.

[ParramattaPaul]

I have to agree with Piper. While much of my poor handwriting is the result of being left-handed in a right-handed world I will easily admit that having to write notes at the speed has only made things worse. The bad habits accrued over some 40 plus years are not easily lost. Learning to take my time and write neatly requires effort. At least, it has for me.

[Klvn_170]

My handwriting isn't that beautiful I cant even write a proper legible and clear handwriting back then, but i kept on practicing with grided paper, i dont know what is the correct naming for the paper but i think it helps me to practice a legible and clear handwriting,

Edited January 6, 2017 by Klvn_170

[Andreas Weber]

1994:

This is the handwriting I got from the German school system of that time.

 

2015:

This I taught myself. Notabene: I consider myself lazy.

[Nullis]

I'm not so sure about beautiful, but my handwriting has definitely improved. I decided my childish scrawl had to go back in May and started practicing regularly. Since then, my pen addiction feeds my obsession with handwriting practice (I practice because I want to use my pretty pens) and vice versa. The progress shot is my cursive in June compared to my cursive today. There's still some distance to travel, but I'm very happy with the direction I'm moving in.

 

http://d.pr/i/daWw.png

[ac12]

Helen350

I'm not very far behind you. I qualify for senior citizen discounts.

If I can do it at my age, you can as well. You just need to set aside time, and dedicate yourself to it. And PRACTICE.

It is no different than learning to play a musical instrument, or learning to paint, or learning to . . .

 

And you don't have to start from scratch.

- Take your handwriting and look critically at it, and decide what needs improvement, then fix that.

- Then look for the next thing that needs improvement, and fix that.

- Keep on going a little bit at time.

You might get some BIG improvements from a few of these items, and you are improving with each item you fix.

 

BTW, I used a trick to get me to practice more than I otherwise might have. I wrote a daily journal; ANYTHING that I felt like writing, what I ate, what the weather was like, things to do, thoughts about the news, silly ramblings about nothing, etc, etc, etc. It developed into a habit/addiction. If I did not write in journal everyday, I did not feel right. Rather than watch TV or snack other activity, I would pick up the pen and notebook and start writing. Even today, long after my relearning to write, I still keep up with my journal writing, though not at the number of pages that I used to do.

 

gud luk in your journey.

[MRose]

This is very inspiring for years I've been wanting to improve my handwriting and now I know where to start, since I've got new fountain pens and ink I've started using my cursive handwriting again. But I've learned when I was only a kid at school and I don't use it often cause I've never like it and plus being a lefty is sort of like a challenge some times. Anyway thanks for this post! I will keep you updated...

Edited February 14, 2017 by MRose

[Inkquest]

I'm not so sure about beautiful, but my handwriting has definitely improved. I decided my childish scrawl had to go back in May and started practicing regularly. Since then, my pen addiction feeds my obsession with handwriting practice (I practice because I want to use my pretty pens) and vice versa. The progress shot is my cursive in June compared to my cursive today. There's still some distance to travel, but I'm very happy with the direction I'm moving in.

 

http://d.pr/i/daWw.png

 

Excellent progress, Nullis! It's looking very nice! I could actually read the left (which is far better than mine was - after a week or so, I'd have to figure out what I had written based on subject, nearby content, etc..), but the right is a vast improvement in 'pretty'

[dinvincible]

This is my first post on this wonderful forum. I have learned a lot of things in last few days while going through old threads.

 

I want to learn Italic with a speed in vicinity of 140-150 letters per minute.

 

I am attaching two images. First is of my current handwriting with a pilot v5 tech point pen and second is of me trying to write Italic with a Pilot Metropolitan fine nib.

Current state of my handwriting is terrible and I hate it more and more every time I make same old mistakes. I need your valuable suggestions and inputs regarding how I can achieve my goal.

Thanks

 

Never mind. Failed to upload images. There must be some problem. Sorry.

Edited February 20, 2017 by dinvincible