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Pick your champion. These are my three favorite pens below a small writing sample. Which do you like the most?
The top one is a Waterman 52 with a flexible italic nib. This particular pen was purchased in 1899 and is 121 years old!
The middle pen is a new Pilot Custom 912 with FA nib and hand modified, the nib was ground to a needlepoint and extra flex was added.
The last one is a franken pen I built. It has a flexible nib from another Waterman 52, this one made in 1910 and has an extra fine point. I added to the body of a modern TWSBI Diamond replacing both the nib and the feed. I am using an ebonite feed so it has no trouble keeping up.
#calligraphy #handwriting #pen #pens #fountainpen #copperplate
@penny
Aww :( this makes me sad. You shoukd get one!
@penny
You will need it. Calligraphy takes a while to perfect. But its so rewarding imo.
@BoxerTheDog
My penmanship isnt always that nice. But if i keep practicing im getting there. Thanks though.
One is really nice for its history, but being a broad italic nib it can be tricky tonuse with many styles, especially copperplate.
@BoxerTheDog Well that depends. There are books that take you step by step through the process including practice sheets where you start by trying to replicate basic shapes and as you master each part you move on to combining them in different ways or introducing new skills. If you want to be a proper scribe who can replicate scripts nearly perfectly then this is the way they recommend you learn.
For me, I'm not really going for that level of perfection. As long as I see my handwriting get cleaner and prettier over time I am happy with my progress. Typically as I write I can see my errors, they stand out on the page. I also tend to write with an exemplar in front of me if I'm practicing that has a nice zoomed in demonstration of the ideal letter forms of a particular script.. I just just practice the same letters over and over again each time trying to improve on the mistakes of the last one. Over time you improve.
Usually in my writing I have specific letters in specific scripts that dont quite look right (for example my upper case B in copperplate right now). I will often just pick the letter I struggle the most with and focus on that for an hour sometimes.
You sure know your pens @freemo. I have to ask: how much writing work do you have to do these days - outside the hobby part?
My favourite nib from this incredibly fine selection, if I have choose only one, is the 1899 Waterman. With the right ink, and the right paper, I am certain, what it writes may well last for centuries - well beyond anything digital, or anything we have on social media.
@madhur I am not a scribe for hire, nor are my skills sufficient to be one if I wanted to be. I just like fountain pens and have been trying for 2 years to improve my handwriting and try to study historic scripts to replicate them in my writing.
Outside of playing I use my writing for really only two practical purposes 1) To keep a journal, which helps me in self growth and accountability 2) to write people letters as a way to add an extra personal touch so that people feel more appreciated.
With that said I do have some friends who are professional scribes. They make an entire living off of their calligraphy. They make money by teaching classes in hand writing and by taking work which often entails things like writing lettering for store fronts, for example.
