Messages

1

Introductions / Re: Hello from Belgium

« on: March 19, 2023, 08:33:48 PM »

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Beautiful and impressive note and it is well written with a nice flow!!

2

Introductions / Re: Greetings from Wisconsin

« on: March 19, 2023, 08:29:33 PM »

Hello from London !  I am sharpening my knives too but I am not at all good at getting my knives well sharped and back in right shape.
I guess when you start to use POINTED PENS  some prefer to get their pens very Sharpe..   so that they make their best hair lines very perfect. So you have more chance of mastering that technique  to get the best sharp pens faster than any one else!!!!
Welcome to the Forum !!!

3

Tools & Supplies / Broken "Chic Oblique E-curve" Holder.

« on: March 12, 2023, 09:49:04 AM »

This is what happened to the holder when I tried to remove a Nib.
This holder has no support  pin with the" stem and the Flang" and even seems to have "Friction fitted' and non glued when assembling.
Came out simply and I  haven't even used this pen regularly .
 
It is a bit sad what happened to this nice pen and I am thinking a way to get it fixed. Thinking what  glue could do a permanent joint? Is that Epoxy is best or another non complicated  glue to choose.
Any suggestion
Has anyone had the same problem with this Curve -E pen?? I know many of us are using this pen on this forum.

4

2023 Exchanges / Re: Love Letters 2023 Valentine Exchange

« on: March 12, 2023, 05:50:36 AM »

WOW!!! what a beautiful exchange !!! amazing work. @Erica McPhee and @Starlee this is wonderful work! thank you for share.

5

Everyday Handwriting | Penmanship / Re: Penmanship, Forgiveness and Peace

« on: March 10, 2023, 01:14:16 PM »

Hello Mark, it is a real fun to read your story.
There are many other versions of your stories  that many of us learnt or programmed  into our lives and  we carrying on for the rest of life. So next to our leaning and as the second learning at school will effect and shape of life for the rest of our life.
Thank you for being so brave for  sharing your story and you are not alone.
I also have some thing to share here about myself. I am very bad at counting and numbers. I hate numbers and I failed in Maths and /mathematics and applied maths in my earlier stage of academy.  So I am very weak in accounting etc.
All those things happened when a primary teacher knocked me harder on my Head while we were in a teaching session. He hurted  me on and he was a narcissistic teacher. So that fear was settled into my genetic as a programme. so I was  carring that  fear as a defence to keep the numbers away from me.  I had discovered it roots  only when I was learning about NLP and found out the memory I carry around through  my life.

Yes it is easy to get rid of those memory in our sells of  body/ mind that could adjust" to new thinking or as Programmes to remove any difficulties  and get to where we want to go next. There are so many books on  NLP ( Neuro -Linguistic Programming )  ( As EX.  This book is my recommendation to read. "NLP the New Technology  Of Achievement " just have a a look at those many books and you can get something helpful  to feed and refresh your mind. So you can arm yourself to kick off all your OLD THINKING THAT runs as programme to move your life.
 
There are no side effects of doing something differently reading books.  ACTUALLY WE NEED THE RIGHT SIDE-EFFCT TO CHANGE OUR MIND SET. Just have a try.
 
Just send me a Pm and I can send you some supply Ex. kind of pen/ fountain/ Straight holder/ and some nibs to try. Also a calligraphy book of fun writing/ I have one to give away.  I'll do it free and I'll send it to you  when I am free and when I find time to bundle all together.
I am happy to do that and all you have to do it write some mocking letters  addressing that teacher G and   to showing  by your  own writing to make he / her jealous. ( I think you'll find many ideas From This NLP reading and similar things from some books.

Also if you Have websites/ Face book /Instagrams/ or social media/ to put your written letters someone as  anonymous addressing as written letters your hands will get starting to be easy shuffle and light.  Or you can write the letters and destroy or burn. That works too.
Good luck on learning your wring power and it is not something  given by anyone but gaining by yourself and taming your hand to achieve it.
God is within you  ..     and you have to  find a way tap into  him. Keep writing Mark. 

6

Tools & Supplies / Re: New Hunt 108 Not Inking

« on: March 09, 2023, 08:59:37 AM »

Preparing a nib is a problem for many and once you know how to do it it is just a Fun.
I agree with Erica It is "cute" . I am a potato guy. I use potatoes and I have many potatoes in the fridge in  cool and fresh and Juicy. I guess if your using  potato leave out side it get "harder and rubbery" so that skin is hard and can damage nib while picking. So I prefer to use a fresh one and the fridge will save it's freshness all the time.
I am very careful how I use the with Very EF Vintage Nibs. I do it very gently. Also I use Rubbing alcohol  I have one small Jar ready with my ink jars.   What I do is first I pass into any new Nib and use the potato if it is less effective. Vintage nibs are easy to clean and they are having very less coating. And also I like the " saliva " bath . It removes anything effectively. I use a Paper tissues while I write and when  during writing some times the writing loose it consistency due to the ink flow. So you need to clean the nib with alcohol / Or even with ink and wiping off abundantly. This instant you can use the paper towel Saliva bath.  I also know many used / prepared  nibs re-cleaned as they are not working due to some reason. I think it is  due to the unseen oxidisation of deposits on the  nib cased by moister or ink. So they need whipping off with alcohol or some thing. It is not a big issue. What I do is dip it on the ink clean on a tissue and repeat that several time so the nib is back in action.

I never ever barbecue any nib. Heat is changing the nibs condition of tempering that was done during the original manufacture. If someone over use the heat the nibs original soft nib will change. The people who know how to time it then no problem. But this coating is not anything so hard or severe as we hear. It is just some lubrication to separate the metal with oxygen and sulphur like gazes in the ambient air. Imagine even our body oil will act as those lubricants.   
Some suggest pick your nibs on a potato and leave over night.... again sounds like  Some suggests use toothpaste and brush several minutes. I don't do it either.   

I don't suggest any Vinegar  on any nibs . Unless you want to pickle  them ?     Vinegar is an acid that is very effective on  removing high layers of Rusts . So the nibs. Will ware-out highly than any cleaner.  I think it behaves  something like  Iron gaul ink does. Not very healthy trick.

7

Everyday Handwriting | Penmanship / Re: Calligraphy and the practice of handwriting

« on: March 09, 2023, 05:16:24 AM »

Mike is right. I know a person who is a friend of mine who had very beautiful  Cursive lettering. As I remember He had his casual/ general  writing as 49º/ 50º/ 52º .. I wonder if he knew or learn anything academically to put his writing on to that slant??. He was not a calligrapher. I think some people did found that slant made their cursive interesting.

8

Spencerian Script / Re: My Spencerian Practice.

« on: March 05, 2023, 09:40:24 AM »

Study

9

Spencerian Script / Re: My Spencerian Practice.

« on: March 05, 2023, 09:37:47 AM »

I was studying the Spencerian  Compendium Book 10

10

Spencerian Script / Re: My Spencerian Practice.

« on: March 05, 2023, 09:14:33 AM »

One more drills with a Metronome to monitor the speed counts for a minutes ( 300 to 500 per minutes)
 It is a real fun and Your wonkiness in writing  in slow wring wrinkles shows  identical  evidence in change after repeated exercise  in drills.

11

Spencerian Script / Re: My Spencerian Practice.

« on: March 05, 2023, 08:59:56 AM »

One more study

12

Spencerian Script / Re: My Spencerian Practice.

« on: March 05, 2023, 08:54:33 AM »

One more practice sheet

13

Spencerian Script / My Spencerian Practice.

« on: March 05, 2023, 08:53:01 AM »

This is how my Spencerian  is doing today.

14

Everyday Handwriting | Penmanship / Re: Calligraphy and the practice of handwriting

« on: February 26, 2023, 02:54:10 PM »

Hello dear friends,

It's been a long time since I posted here, but I'm glad to be back with a question!

I'm currently working on a dissertation that will help me graduate and officially become a "graphotherapist".
In France and Belgium, it's the name given to occupational therapists that specialise in problems related to handwriting. We mostly help children and teenagers who have illegible / painful / slow handwriting.

My dissertation is about using the calligrapher's approach of studying and practising a writing style (from the beginning to developing personal variations) to support the rehabilitation process.

So my question to you is: how, as calligraphers, do you approach a new writing style? What are the different steps that you take? And do you think these steps can help learn new handwriting habits?

My own steps are :
- Finding an appropriate model
- Studying the proportions and making guidelines that will support my practice
- Studying and practising the fundamental strokes
- Practice drills to loosen up and acquire a good general movement and rhythm
- Studying the letterforms by groups: this includes the correct letterforms and their variations, but also finding out the limits of what can be done with them, often made mistakes.
- Joined letters (minums and words by groups of letters then mix it up)
- Hard to join groups of letters
- practice at different sizes (with handwriting the goal is to ultimately write with a 2-3mm x-height max)
- practice as much as possible, with various mediums (project ideas?)

For handwriting, speed is very important. From my experience, it comes from regular practice and drills. So I start slow and gradually become more comfortable and I can write a bit faster. Do any of you have any tips to introduce more speed ?

Has your experience with calligraphy helped you in any way with handwriting?

I guess that's more than just one question... But I'd love to know what you think!

@sybillevz  congrats!!!
For me calligraphy is is a long process of another journey.
Whatever way you got into this  It is a long way to go up into writing into many levels and depending on how you do it or what you do with that  it brings you more please or frustrations one might say.
Some people  try it in many ways but fails to achieve what they want to see in their writing. I am one of them. I tried to learn calligraphy during  1985 - 1990. I can remember I bought inks and several Calligraphy broad pen set ( in fountain pens)  I was only interested in gothic /old eEnglish writing. I had a small Manuel in that style. So that Idea faded and died away and I got into photography and became a photographer. I always had a great liking into Typography and layout and stuffs. I love papers  and photo printing too.
Recently I had fallen into Lettering and pen and ink. And again I had those calligraphy pen sets I bought several decades ago safely and on goo conditions. This made me to think about calligraphy once again. Then I go into pens and ink and vintage letters. 
This opened up me to "War time old style writing " ( That is how someone talked about Old Spencerian cursive or American Cursive writing) I was onto the historic writing and this bug got me harder. There on I started to lean about those older tools and how and what they can do. Before I was a writer and my preferred way was printing. Now I am learning lettering and out of many ( hundred  or several hundred forms of calligraphy my favourites ones is Copperplate and spencerian/ business penmanship ) I can see up to what level my writing is changed and transformed. I have a good progress in what I do to learn a different hand in lettering.  So it is all depending on all the commitments. The more you focus and give the more you get in lettering.
Calligraphy is an art. As Manuel writing is a dead art which everyone  do not do today. So if you can do it today into a higher level  you might be able to make a living  out of that tomorrow.  That is what I believe and I am doing it and so far so good.
Is it  expensive? Yes there's a price for everything  and so that apply to this art as well. Time has a big value and it is the main cost.   

" Quote". ---Finding an appropriate model
- Studying the proportions and making guidelines that will support my practice
- Studying and practising the fundamental strokes
- Practice drills to loosen up and acquire a good general movement and rhythm
- Studying the letterforms by groups: this includes the correct letterforms and their variations, but also finding out the limits of what can be done with them, often made mistakes.
- Joined letters (minums and words by groups of letters then mix it up)
- Hard to join groups of letters
- practice at different sizes (with handwriting the goal is to ultimately write with a 2-3mm x-height max)
- practice as much as possible, with various mediums (project ideas?)"

As above exactly as you added ... I am doing this  as a ritual and this my second religion next to photography.
* Only thing that is missing is SELF CRITICISM . Lack of this will lead your enthusism  of getting  to a high level of the learning curve that is what I am working now. 

This method is the modelling/ imitating  of something already available to get into a style you may call a style. I am seeing several possibilities to of my lettering transmuting into a pleasant form.
Thank you for this lovey conversation and the thread you have started here.     

15

Calligraphy Book Reviews / Re: Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy: A Step-by-Step Manual by Eleanor Winters

« on: February 19, 2023, 07:15:56 PM »

I have seen few underestimated notes on this book. But Finally I decided to get this book to compare few other two books I have  on COPPERPLATE. This books is already  an old publication belongs to the year 2000 but  I am very glad I got it. It is one of the best books  that covers more than the basic Copperplate to a next level. It has all you need to know what is copperplate and how you do it. Love the beginning  of the book that gives a short history of copperplate and the origin of English round hand. This is a complete book for beginners Copperplate. This is a contemporary copperplate.