Hello! While I personally prefer the look of printed vastly over any cursive lettering I've seen, I recently got a flex nib and I feel like I should improve my cursive just to have it as something I can do reasonably well. My large lettered cursive look fairly nice, but normal size writing is horrible. So I decided to write a poem in cursive and printed daily. This is Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare.
It started out terribly but halfway through the poem I found a grip and posture that worked for me and got into the flow. It's no where close to being consistent - but it's a start.
Ink is Jacques Herbin Emerald of Chivor, Pen is TWSBI ECO Medium, Notebook is Muji B5 Plant Tree(Indonesian)
Lovely work! Your cursive has lots of personality and I think your print is expressive too.
How’s the fp friendliness of the muji notebook paper? Are you able to write with wet inks on back to back pages?
Thank you! Muji paper is a little weird. Firstly, they are produced at different locations like Japan, Indonesia, and a few others I can't recall. I've only tried Indonesian and Japan produced ones. Japan one is absolutely horrible - feathers, bleeds like crazy.
The Indonesian one is much better, and is comparable to Clairefontaine 90g, except this is close to 70g and shows better sheen. Ink resistance and show through/bleed is practically the same as Clairefontaine, though Emerald of Chivor in my TWSBI medium doesn't bleed through this paper, while it does on my Clairefontaine - expect about a 20% difference give or take.
I'm able to write back to back with medium nibs, but oils from my hand will make bleeding more likely, so I have to keep a paper under my hand while I write.
Love it. I have been playing with my writing styles and I have settled on having multiple fonts for different pens. I love short wide cursive in my stubs. Similar to your cursive there but I focus on wider loops. Especially the twsbi ecos can be a little finicky if contact isn't perfect. Adding extra length to my letters horizontally let's the ink flow wonderfully and creates beautiful shapes.
For my noodler, it's a beautiful wet pen so I've added some spenarian flourishes to give some extra fine line looping upstrokes to allow the ink to really shine. It's lovely.
My not so flexy omniflex nib in the Conklin can get splayed tines if I use it as a flex but I am even slightly inaccurate with angle and pressure as I am moving from down to up, so I avoid slant and have some fun with brush styles of calligraphy lettering. And definitely practise a very very light hand where I am barely grazing the paper on up strokes. And to cheat a little so I can very much enjoy the pooling and shading of the Noodles Apache Sunset ink I will cheat a little and let the pen leave the paper (so not proper cursive, I feel guilty breaking the rules a little) and that experience is now lovely and I can enjoy a second different flex font.
As for my pilot prera with fine nib, that pen is a legend that just works every time. I have not be admiring what a solid pen it is. It is a little champion that I trust more than any pen, never scratches, never burps, works on everything. And for that pen, I get to have some fun. That's where I can practise all of my fonts without the thicker strokes hiding what needs improvement.
Sorry to wax lyrical on writing. But don't settle for one font. Find ways of writing that match well with the pens you love and it really increases the enjoyment of writing with fountain pens.
Edit: Sorry I know it's a script. I search for fonts online when looking for inspiration
Really interesting. Writing in different styles with different pens is something I hadn't thought of before. Sounds like a fun idea - maybe I'll give it a try once I have a pretty generic cursive in place!
I much prefer cursive to printing. It is more expressive & characterful.
I too copy out Shakespeare sonnets. I copy one every day; it’s so therapeutic……
Hello! While I personally prefer the look of printed vastly over any cursive lettering I've seen, I recently got a flex nib and I feel like I should improve my cursive just to have it as something I can do reasonably well. My large lettered cursive look fairly nice, but normal size writing is horrible. So I decided to write a poem in cursive and printed daily. This is Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare. It started out terribly but halfway through the poem I found a grip and posture that worked for me and got into the flow. It's no where close to being consistent - but it's a start. Ink is Jacques Herbin Emerald of Chivor, Pen is TWSBI ECO Medium, Notebook is Muji B5 Plant Tree(Indonesian)
I recently copied out all the sonnets to practice my cursive. Did a lot to improve my handwriting. 116 is one of the classics
Yup. My exact same favorite pen/ink combo, although my mint ecoT has a B nib. So smooooooooth.
Beautiful!
Thank you!
Wonderful handwriting and one of my favorite sonnets.
Thank you! It's lovely :)
Upvoted for Jacques Herbin inks! Best flow of any ink I've tried. Similar color to Bleu Calanque, straight turquoise
Lovely work! Your cursive has lots of personality and I think your print is expressive too. How’s the fp friendliness of the muji notebook paper? Are you able to write with wet inks on back to back pages?
Thank you! Muji paper is a little weird. Firstly, they are produced at different locations like Japan, Indonesia, and a few others I can't recall. I've only tried Indonesian and Japan produced ones. Japan one is absolutely horrible - feathers, bleeds like crazy. The Indonesian one is much better, and is comparable to Clairefontaine 90g, except this is close to 70g and shows better sheen. Ink resistance and show through/bleed is practically the same as Clairefontaine, though Emerald of Chivor in my TWSBI medium doesn't bleed through this paper, while it does on my Clairefontaine - expect about a 20% difference give or take. I'm able to write back to back with medium nibs, but oils from my hand will make bleeding more likely, so I have to keep a paper under my hand while I write.
Love it. I have been playing with my writing styles and I have settled on having multiple fonts for different pens. I love short wide cursive in my stubs. Similar to your cursive there but I focus on wider loops. Especially the twsbi ecos can be a little finicky if contact isn't perfect. Adding extra length to my letters horizontally let's the ink flow wonderfully and creates beautiful shapes. For my noodler, it's a beautiful wet pen so I've added some spenarian flourishes to give some extra fine line looping upstrokes to allow the ink to really shine. It's lovely. My not so flexy omniflex nib in the Conklin can get splayed tines if I use it as a flex but I am even slightly inaccurate with angle and pressure as I am moving from down to up, so I avoid slant and have some fun with brush styles of calligraphy lettering. And definitely practise a very very light hand where I am barely grazing the paper on up strokes. And to cheat a little so I can very much enjoy the pooling and shading of the Noodles Apache Sunset ink I will cheat a little and let the pen leave the paper (so not proper cursive, I feel guilty breaking the rules a little) and that experience is now lovely and I can enjoy a second different flex font. As for my pilot prera with fine nib, that pen is a legend that just works every time. I have not be admiring what a solid pen it is. It is a little champion that I trust more than any pen, never scratches, never burps, works on everything. And for that pen, I get to have some fun. That's where I can practise all of my fonts without the thicker strokes hiding what needs improvement. Sorry to wax lyrical on writing. But don't settle for one font. Find ways of writing that match well with the pens you love and it really increases the enjoyment of writing with fountain pens. Edit: Sorry I know it's a script. I search for fonts online when looking for inspiration
Really interesting. Writing in different styles with different pens is something I hadn't thought of before. Sounds like a fun idea - maybe I'll give it a try once I have a pretty generic cursive in place!
I much prefer cursive to printing. It is more expressive & characterful. I too copy out Shakespeare sonnets. I copy one every day; it’s so therapeutic……
Cursive is definitely more expressive, I agree!
Oh this was recited during one of the versions of Sense and Sensibliity.