Unlike many here, I had atrocious handwriting as a student. Spelling and penmanship consistently stood in the way of good marks in school. Sometime in high school I ended up with a Sheaffer calligraphy pen, which led to a whole set of Speedball calligraphy pens and ink. I still have the fishing tackle box I used to hold all of them. I taught myself a modicum of broad nib calligraphy. I was never excellent, but good enough to make signs and even had an envelope gig right after graduation from high school.
In college I got degrees in Asian Studies and Chinese Art History and so studied Chinese calligraphy, which is quite interesting, and traditionally considered the highest art form (above painting, literature, music, etc...) as it most illuminates the artist's character. In Chinese calligraphy, the nature of the materials (brush, ink on paper or silk) allows the viewer to follow the "performance" of the writing: starting of the stroke here, more pressure there, a quick lift and flick over here... This all demonstrates the character and virtues of the artist.
Along the many years since, I've dabbled here and there, periodically pulling the pens out and doing the envelopes for our wedding, or a quote for someone. I made name tags for all of the people who reported to me at a previous job (set us apart from the hoi polloi in surrounding cubicles). About 15 years ago I started to discover fountain pens and enjoyed those, but then we moved and I packed most away. About a year-and-a-half ago I found the box and re-discovered fountain pens. I also decided to improve my horrible handwriting. I had stopped writing cursive in eighth grade and had printed ever since. I began again last year and have definitely improved since then. I didn't try anything formal like Spencerian, mainly because of innate laziness, as well as having never heard of Spencerian. Then earlier this year I purchased an old Conklin crescent filler fountain pen with a nicely flexible nib. That started me down that path, which led to flexible dip pens.
I remembered having been given a small box of old, pointed dip pens when my Great Aunt died when I was in high school. ("he uses those dip pen thingies, give them to him") I dug out the box and that was the start. It included some really nice old nibs including a few Spencerian No. 1's, some very flexible old Hunt nibs, some bank pens, etc... She used to teach in a small, rural school and probably used these to teach penmanship back in the 20's. Some, I'm sure, are from the late 19th-century.
I still do some Copperplate exercises but mostly I'm studying old hand-written materials from the 19th-century and looking at their various letter forms. I'm still interested in improving my penmanship and I'm looking at the century-before-last for inspiration. I mostly write exercises, quotes, random things I hear on the television while I'm practicing, and letters and postcards. I wouldn't call it calligraphy, per se, but it is interest in the form of written characters.
