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« on: June 16, 2014, 05:13:07 PM »
Hi Everyone,
Being naturally reticent to post on the internet (I may be the only one without a Facebook or Twitter account), I've been gently encouraged by one of the forum's wonderful participants to join in the fun here. I've had an interest in hand written letters for most of my life, and studied roundhand a bit in 1991(?) after I saw someone in a department store writing Christmas cards for gifts bought in the store. My inspiration was Bickham's Universal Penman. Such beautiful writing. After a few lessons from the Christmas card writer, I pretty much concentrated on copperplate for a year or two and pretty much put aside pen and ink when things got busy, as life can. I'd address my Christmas cards, and ultimately my own wedding invitations (in 1999) but not much skill remained. Still it was fun. My other hobbies, particularly photography and running, took up most of my spare time. About 10 years ago, I began admiring examples of Spencerian done by the masters. Oh, what skill and beauty. I collected a few books, some original examples, looked into Iampeth and all they had to offer. Not being too quick to pull the trigger, I decided to take a stab at Spencerian myself in 2012. What's to lose? With a little encouragement from Michael Sull (and an exemplar from him), I bought all of his books and proceeded to massacre paper with a pointed pen. I'm still very much of a beginner, a slow learner, and legions of trees still give their lives to support my addiction (writing Spencerian). Today's deadline for the Summer letter exchange prompted my delurking at this point in time today. Nothing delights me more than a hand written letter in the mail. Let's have some fun.
Mike