PRACTICE AND ACTUAL WRITING
Note: I will use my own Chancery cursive (italic) handwriting as the model. It is based on that of Bernardino Cataneo (circa 1550) however, the letterforms are ubiquitous to classic Chancery cursive writing.
I subscribe to Edward Johnston's postulation: "Useful practice is the making of real things". In other words, you learn by actual writing -- concentrating on good letterform construction -- rather than performing endless repetitive letter formation exercises and alphabet renditions. Of course, beginning students -- or those adopting new hands -- will require sufficient alphabet practice to be able to render the essential letterforms with confidence and reasonable consistency. However, once that is accomplished -- and as soon as possible -- they should be refined by using them in "making real things" (i.e. in written renditions).
The goal is to develop and perfect good letter forms in written renditions -- not to become skilled at rendering beautiful alphabets!
It is important to use fairly wide nibs when rendering practice alphabets in order to examine the essential letterform characteristics as illustrated in the following exemplar of an Italic handwriting alphabet rendition:
I often include a freely rendered alphabet in the form of gloss on exemplars and correspondence in the same way that renaissance writing masters did -- with didactic and decorative intent as illustrated by my following exemplar :
I do test (and adjust if necessary) the nib smoothness and ink flow of the pen using the folded guard paper immediately prior to commencing writing. I also use the guard paper to write out a very brief passage from the rendition I am about to undertake in order to establish the letterform size, weight, slope, spacing, etc. -- and obtain a relaxed, comfortable, writing position and pen hold.
Of course, I use the same pen/nib, ink and paper for this brief pre-writing activity that I am going to use for the actual work.
Edged nib fountain pens with their copious "on board" ink supply are the writing implements of choice for rendering practical everyday Italic handwriting. However, fountain pens with appropriately narrow edged nibs are hard to use well.
In consequence, many newcomers discover that the italic writing they can render comfortably and well is too large for everyday writing applications -- correspondence, greeting/congratulatory/condolence cards & envelopes, diary/journal entries, etc. -- but that their letterform quality deteriorates when they use narrower nibs. Well, narrow edged nibs are hard to control -- only practice & experience using "wide" nibs and, especially, exercises using double point writing devices will cure the problem.
I use square-cut, chisel edged, nibs of appropriate width by preference for my italic handwriting. I use the same nibs for all of the writing hand letterforms I currently employ -- Roman capitals, humanistic small roman, Rustic Roman capitals, Uncial, half-uncial, Johnston "foundational", Carolingian, textura (gothic black letter), Chancery (Italic), et al. Of course, I do adjust my pen hold and nib angulations to suit the writing hand I am using.
My own writing instrument of choice for rendering practical everyday Italic handwriting is the Rotring Art (fountain) pen -- the contour and length of the shaft and the profile of the edged (stainless steel) nib are -- to me -- so very reminiscent of my cut quills and the balance and feel of these pens in my hand are such that I don't want to write with any other. I use hand cut quill pens, reeds and reservoired dip pens for formal display calligraphy.
The narrowest Rotring Art pen nib commonly available is 1.1 mm wide which is too wide for practical Italic handwriting and so I reduce mine to .5 to .8 mm -- ideal for my everyday letterforms (I use Rotring Art pens with unaltered 1.5 mm & 1.9 mm wide nibs for bold headers, envelope addressing, etc.).
Most individuals will probably feel more comfortable hiring the services of a reputable "nibmeister" to accomplish nib narrowing, profiling and polishing rather than attempting these delicate operations themselves.
Note relating to double line writing devices:
I make these up using pencils, ballpoint pens or crowquill pens taped together as illustrated in the following photograph:
I tape them together like these two BIC Stic BP pens held together with masking tape, occasionally using the inner "cartridges" only, for narrow spacing. I sometimes do a similar thing with pencils, shaving away the wood until the desired line spacing is achieved. Writing is very easy using these devices -- as long as you let "the pen rule the hand" and maintain the points consistently at the correct angle to the line of writing and keep them in contact with the paper throughout the letter formation. The very ends of the letter form strokes have to be finished carefully using one of the points. This methodolgy of letter form construction provides for detection of errors and deficiences.
The following essential minuscule letterforms were rendered using a double line writing device. The letterforms produced by these devices are perfect for study and error detection:
Useful practice is the making of real things -- Edward Johnston
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