Beginner Spencerian practice

[ash0kgiri]

Terrific piece of work @Janne Junnila. Superb !

-Ashok

[AndyT]

What size do you ladies and gentlemen usually write in?

2mm; sometimes 1.6mm (roughly 1/16").  For Spencerian to be practical on ordinary sizes of paper you need to keep the size down, although to be fair 2.5mm is close to the height suggested for correspondence in the New Spencerian Compendium, and a little smaller than what's referred to as "standard".  (Relevant illustration attached).  My handwriting has always been small.  For easy legibility an average of about six words per line seems sensible.

[Janne Junnila]

2mm; sometimes 1.6mm (roughly 1/16").  For Spencerian to be practical on ordinary sizes of paper you need to keep the size down, although to be fair 2.5mm is close to the height suggested for correspondence in the New Spencerian Compendium, and a little smaller than what's referred to as "standard".  (Relevant illustration attached).

Thanks for the illustration! I find it interesting that Ladies hand has been suggested so much smaller x-height than the correspondence version. Also, I'm a bit surprised at how small the capitals would be at this size, since I've been imagining quite large arm movements for producing them (especially in ornamental penmanship). This is good food for thought and calls for further study.

[Rednaxela]

Perhaps the smaller x-height for Ladies Hand is to compensate for the longer ascenders and descenders?

[Rednaxela]

P.S.: Your latest upload is gorgeous! Really excellent work.

[AndyT]

Capitals can be made a great deal bigger than the x-height would suggest.  I seem to remember the figure of 14x x-height coming up in conversation as an upper limit (seriously!) for Ornamental Penmanship, and without going berserk there's certainly scope for scaling the capitals up.

You are right to imagine large, decisive arm movements from the shoulder for OP, but textbook Spencerian is a more restrained affair and you won't find much emphasis on it in the Spencer Brothers books - it's the muscular movement resting on the forearm with some finger movement which they promoted as the most useful for speed and accuracy.  Which is to say that although the big heavily shaded capitals are dramatic, it's by the lower case and plain penmanship that you'll make your living 90% of the time. 

Perhaps the smaller x-height for Ladies Hand is to compensate for the longer ascenders and descenders?

That would be my guess.

[AnasaziWrites]

What size do you ladies and gentlemen usually write in?

Well, it depends what I'm writing, of course. For cards and letters, on unlined paper where I use guidelines and a lightbox, usually 1/18th inch x-height (1.4 mm) and sometimes 1/16th inch (1.6 mm). For practising letter forms or words like "Snowbird" on the interior of a 5x7 card, 1/8th inch. For lined paper or opaque envelopes, no lightbox, around 1.5 mm. I say "around" because my x-height does seem to wander when writing quick notes especially. The capitals are mostly larger than 3x the x-height.

[Janne Junnila]

Thanks a lot for the picture @AnasaziWrites , highly appreciated! (Although my name ends in e, but nevermind. )
Based on the replies from you and Andy it's clear that I should be able to shrink my writing by a non-trivial amount. I think I'm going to aim for around 2 mm to begin with.

Capitals can be made a great deal bigger than the x-height would suggest.  I seem to remember the figure of 14x x-height coming up in conversation as an upper limit (seriously!) for Ornamental Penmanship, and without going berserk there's certainly scope for scaling the capitals up.

You are right to imagine large, decisive arm movements from the shoulder for OP, but textbook Spencerian is a more restrained affair and you won't find much emphasis on it in the Spencer Brothers books - it's the muscular movement resting on the forearm with some finger movement which they promoted as the most useful for speed and accuracy.  Which is to say that although the big heavily shaded capitals are dramatic, it's by the lower case and plain penmanship that you'll make your living 90% of the time. 

Great info, thanks! I'm picking up some Leonardt Principals from the post office tomorrow - hopefully I won't go too berserk with the shades.

[AnasaziWrites]

Thanks a lot for the picture AnasaziWrites, highly appreciated! (Although my name ends in e, but nevermind. )

My apologies. If I had a blackboard I would send myself to it and properly write your name 100 times. And clap the erasers.

[Janne Junnila]

My apologies. If I had a blackboard I would send myself to it and properly write your name 100 times. And clap the erasers.

Wow, you're harsh on yourself - now I feel like I shouldn't have mentioned it at all. Anyway, since you decided to proceed with it on the paper, I figured out I should write a short reply, too.

I'm writing for the first time with the Leonardt Principal nib, and I must say it's a much more delicate thing than my previous ones. I can already see that it will be great once I learn to use it and regain my consistency, however.