Safety razors to fountain pens? How did this happen?i

[razorector]

Hello everybody. After a bizzare series of events, i find myself a bit disoriented and unsure of how i got here. But here i am. I've decided to get a fountain pen and improve on my hand writing. (hopefully my spelling and grammar too.) I've been trying to find a suitable writing style for me to learn i would like to learn something a step up from the standard cursive i was taught yeas ago in grade school. Is there somewhere i can find a list of examples? Maybe more suitable for a beginner? Even with google and the search here on the site i am still finding it hard to find what i am looking for. Also i am left handed, so if there is any info or tips that could help me, i would appreciate that as well. I suspect it could present some dificulty. I understand leftys 'push' alot rather than pulling and that doesnt workout so well with a fountain pen. It has never posed a problem for me in the past with pencils or regular pens, but my writing hasn't been the neatest either.

 

[kyrilson]

You should check out the Spencerian Penmanship exercise books. Good for learning old style writing, which is really nice to look at. You can find these on Amazon.

 

[badgerstate]

Your first source for all things Fountain Pen should be the FPN (Fountain Pen Network) http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/ . Down in the Creative expressions section you will find the penmanship forum. My earliest school memories are of being scolded for bad handwriting. They didn't know about ADD back then. Now after years of idiosyncratic abbreviations, short cuts etc I have begun to try to clean my handwriting up. Good Luck to You!

As for being a lefty, I know that Lamy makes lefty specific pens and others must as well. The FPN will answer this.

Sadly, the area I live in now has stopped teaching cursive writing in the public schools. Years from now all these journals we're keeping may not be readable except for specially trained scholars...

 

[strop]

Spencerian script, formal calligraphy, etc. is a lot of fun, and takes some practice. I would for now, simply start in with what you remember from the early school years. As you get morecomfortable with that, you can try your hand at the specific styles such as Spencerian, or you can begin to modify things a bit to come up with your own style, which is what I've done.

I'm sure some of the lefty's here will chime in, but it seems that most do not use the special lefty nibs. I suspect the only nib that would really give you fits would be a crisp italic, which would dig into the paper with the pushing motion.

Welcome to The NIb. Have fun, and enjoy your newfound AD! Lots of people here to help spend your money!

 

[the_edski]

Lefty here. I don't have a problem with any FP nibs, haven't used a crisp italic, but then again I don't want to, so I can't speak on that. I've read somewhere (maybe the Goulet mailbag) that lefty nibs don't actually have an advantage and are a waste of time and money. If you do smear through writing, you can google writing styles for lefties: hooking your hand or tilting the paper.

I'm sure some of the lefty's here will chime in, but it seems that most do not use the special lefty nibs. I suspect the only nib that would really give you fits would be a crisp italic, which would dig into the paper with the pushing motion.

Welcome to The NIb. Have fun, and enjoy your newfound AD! Lots of people here to help spend your money!

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

Welcome to the nib! Stay out of the cafe before you find yourself getting a vaccum pot or chemex or french press and definitely stay out of the Brown Leaf before you buy a pipe.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Welcome. Don't listen to JohnBoy, you are safe in the Brown Leaf. The Haberdashery, however, is another story. I only pop in there occasionally, and now I NEED an automatic watch.

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

Welcome. Don't listen to JohnBoy, you are safe in the Brown Leaf. The Haberdashery, however, is another story. I only pop in there occasionally, and now I NEED an automatic watch.

I can stay away from the watches somehow. Cordovan shoes on the other hand...

 

[oc_in_fw]

I can stay away from the watches somehow. Cordovan shoes on the other hand...

Lots of good stuff going on over in that subforum. I have always had a thing for watches, though. I plan on getting an Orient M-Force for my birthday. My dream watch is an Omega Speedmaster Pro. I did anything that was connected to the Apollo program.

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

I like my Seiko Titanium... light enough I can do about anything in the kitchen with it still on and I can wear it with a suit and not think twice about it.

 

[DunEdinRanger]

Resistance is Futile.

 

[N2theBreech]

Unfortunately, you fell right into the trap. Traditional shaving is the gateway drug for fountain pens. There is also a post over on FPN that says fountain pens are the gateway drug to traditional shaving. Go figure.

Now you only have two choices:

1-Get out, now! Stop while there is still time!
2-Hang around and open up a whole new interest. Collect more pens than any one person has a need for. Start writing with any one of the 600-700 types of inks. Develop handwriting that others envy. And so on...

As for developing a new hand, a really, really good caligrapher created a thread in the Penmanship Forum on FPN to showcase different hands you may want to try. He calls himself Caliken. Here's the link. Also check out IAMPETH.com. It's layout is a bit dated, but there is a wealth of info.

If you want something other than cursive, you could look at some of the italic scripts. Caliken published a book on italic script, but if you ask him, he'll recommend everyone else's book but his. He's that kind of guy.

Welcome, and good luck.

 

[razorector]

Thanks for all the the replys, info and links.. The spencarian script looks like it may be a good start but starting off practicing what i already know probably good advice. Ive always felt the lefty pens were a bit of a gimmick, a pen is cylinder shape so it shouldnt matter what hand they are held with, lol. I do hate right handed scissors though. I didnt know there way lefty nibs but i will take your advice and avoid those as well. That is strange how traditional shaving leads to fountain pens and vice versa. I have had no luck finding any fountain pens at local office supplies, i may have to order online.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Unfortunately, you fell right into the trap. Traditional shaving is the gateway drug for fountain pens. There is also a post over on FPN that says fountain pens are the gateway drug to traditional shaving. Go figure.

Now you only have two choices:

1-Get out, now! Stop while there is still time!
2-Hang around and open up a whole new interest. Collect more pens than any one person has a need for. Start writing with any one of the 600-700 types of inks. Develop handwriting that others envy. And so on...

As for developing a new hand, a really, really good caligrapher created a thread in the Penmanship Forum on FPN to showcase different hands you may want to try. He calls himself Caliken. Here's the link. Also check out IAMPETH.com. It's layout is a bit dated, but there is a wealth of info.

If you want something other than cursive, you could look at some of the italic scripts. Caliken published a book on italic script, but if you ask him, he'll recommend everyone else's book but his. He's that kind of guy.

Welcome, and good luck.

i can see it working both ways.

 

[Liberty_2112]

For me, vintage fountain pens was a gateway into vintage razors. Many, many similarities in the hobbies.

Razors, pens, blades, inks, bottles, aftershaves, paper, preshaves, notebooks, brushes.....

For me, it comes down to quality over disposable quantity. Nobody ever cared one bit about their ballpoint Bic pen or their disposable Gillette razor.

Here is one of my favorite vintage pens for a Lefty:

 

[razorector]

Bit of a delayed response, i'm sure that parker is nice, but i couldn't find anything on that model. I still haven't bought a fountain pen yet, i have been practicing my handwriting and trying to learn spencerian with just a parker jotter ballpoint. The more i search online the more i'm unsure what i should get. My local staples didn't have any fountain pens so i will have to order online. I want to keep it inexpensive and so far ive been thinking about parker vector, pilot metropolitan, chineese pens like baoer and hero, i'm also considering calligraphy sets or even speedball dip pens that way i could try out different types of nibs at a low cost. The pilot parallel seems neat too. I'm pretty indecisive.

 

[syngent]

Where abouts in ontario are ya razor ? Maybe I can show you my goods and a thing or two about a few calligraphy styles I've learned... I'm by no means an expert but I cam certainly help you get started on a few things and show you a few different pens and inks

 

[razorector]

Where abouts in ontario are ya razor ? Maybe I can show you my goods and a thing or two about a few calligraphy styles I've learned... I'm by no means an expert but I cam certainly help you get started on a few things and show you a few different pens and inks

That is very kind of you to offer to share your knowledge with me in person. I would definitely take you up on your offer if you were closer. I'm across the lake in St. Catharines though.

 

[syngent]

Do you hang around the mess hall at all?

 

[jumper]

Resistance is Futile.

All your base are belong to us