Pen Position

[Chaseut]

Could it be possible that I have been holding my pen incorrectly for all these years?

[Vlad72]

It looks correct enough to me.

I tend to lean the section against the middle of my extended thumb: I know that isn't considered very correct, but my thumb would hurt otherwise.

[BrandonA]

I hold my various pens in different positions. Depending on how small or larger font I want to write I may also mix it up with a single pen. Also depending if I'm writing at the top or bottom of the page may change my style (being leftie I find it awkward to write at the bottom of the page). My point is that as long as the pen is the right way up there everyone has their own preference.

[imleftyoureright]

Bo bo Olsen has a post somewhere showing the exact "correct way" to hold a pen, but unless you are having issues I wouldn't suggest changing anything. You hold the pen in a similar manner to how I hold mine and I've found the technically correct grip to be uncomfortable. If it's causing issues I believe the accepted "correct" way is to rest the pen on your middle finger.

 

Unless it's causing you issues or a gray haired woman is slapping your knuckles for hold the pen "wrong" I don't see a reason to change.

[I like mango cheesecake]

here you go:

 

http://www.google.ca/search?q=how+to+hold+a+pen&nord=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=LV3LU_zYBOaziwKbxoD4Dw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=654#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=oUC7e6TiScb2HM%253A%3BppjivUOP3pzYNM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F0.tqn.com%252Fd%252Fdrawsketch%252F1%252F0%252Fr%252Foverhand_up.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fdrawsketch.about.com%252Fod%252Flearntodraw%252Fss%252Fhowtoholdpencil.htm%3B400%3B287

[Nick7]

The way it is shown on google is also they way I learned it in school when I was taught how to write (they were really critical about that), but I can't see any problems with how you hold your pen. Especially if thats a comfortable grip for you.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'd not say my way is the 'exact correct way'. It is a variant of the 'classic' three finger tripod.

 

Those who really write mostly favor the Classic Tripod; but will admit what I call as the 'forefinger up' method was used by past masters in the dip pen days.

I find the classic tripod allows one to slip into the 'death grip' (50 years of it ), and even they claim it takes months of effort to learn to grip a pen lightly.

The 'forefinger up' method of grasping a pen, gives one a light grip with in three minutes.

 

A fountain pen floats along on a small puddle of ink, and needs no pressure to do so. Hold the pen like it is a featherless baby bird, and don't make baby bird paste.

 

I do suspect Chaseut's grip as leading to the dreaded "death grip", and he defiantly has the killer 'kung fu' thumb press.

 

It looks awkward.

 

It appears to be exactly at the big knuckle or even before it....very pencil or ball point.

 

I let a pen seek it's natural degree of hold, with out striving to hold it at one point only.

It would be hard to have the pen at 45 degrees right after the big index knuckle, much less at 40 degrees at the start of the web of the thumb or 35 degrees in the pit of the web of the thumb.

As the weight of the pen demands or if posted the balance point is found. I don't force a pen to be held at only one place behind the big index knuckle.

 

Having the pen further back in the grip allows the angle of the grind of the 'iridium' to come into play; on the then larger puddle of ink. The pen skips less when held in back instead of forward at or before the big index knuckle.

 

It looks like a stub, CI or vintage '50's Pelikan nib with a tad of flex would not work well for you, held so high and tight.

[Chaseut]

I just find it fascinating that for all these years that I have not held a pen in a conventional manner.

 

It may explain my handwriting though.

[jar]

I just find it fascinating that for all these years that I have not held a pen in a conventional manner.

 

It may explain my handwriting though.

Were you ever formally taught how to hold a pen, pencil, crayon?

[Charles Rice]

Yup, your hold looks fine to me. I suppose I hold my pens in the "correct" way, but that has never resulted in a good hand. One of the best examples of handwriting I have ever seen is by a woman who holds her pens in the most awkward position I can imagine. Bottom line - it works for her.

[Chaseut]

Were you ever formally taught how to hold a pen, pencil, crayon?

 

I was taught like many others in the school system, can't say I recall ever having any feedback on how I hold a pen or pencil.

 

It has been a very long while since I wrote cursively and I am practicing it now. I'm holding the pen in a more conventional manner so I figure I can kill two birds with one stone. It's interesting because I never did like the Lamy Safari, but holding it in the tripod form, it now has a nice feel to it and I use it almost exclusively to practice my cursive.

 

That being said, I'm really enjoying what has been a lost art to me for a long while now.

 

Who knows, maybe I'll go back and relearn grammar or even try to become fluent in French again.

[crbrown]

Hold the pen like it is a featherless baby bird, and don't make baby bird paste.

 

I'm holding the pen in a more conventional manner so I figure I can kill two birds with one stone.

 

...or one hand!

[I.M.]

Bo bo Olsen has a post somewhere showing the exact "correct way" to hold a pen, but unless you are having issues I wouldn't suggest changing anything. You hold the pen in a similar manner to how I hold mine and I've found the technically correct grip to be uncomfortable. If it's causing issues I believe the accepted "correct" way is to rest the pen on your middle finger.

 

Unless it's causing you issues or a gray haired woman is slapping your knuckles for hold the pen "wrong" I don't see a reason to change.

 

+1

 

Do what feels natural. Even the world's top violinists have their own unique way of holding their instruments when playing, despite having had countless hours of strict tuition.

[william2001]

I hold it a little differently.

My middle finger's side is touching the pen, not the tip.

-William S. Park

[hbdk]

Chaseut are you by any chance a surgeon? I have seen one of my friends (orthopedic surgeon) demonstrate how to hold a scalpel; it looks exactly like the way your are holding the pen (oh - and you very tight cut fingernails). Just a thought

[I.M.]

I think most people pick up pens before they pick up scalpels, but that's an interesting thought and observation you have there hbdk

[Chaseut]

Alas I'm not a surgeon, never had the marks.

 

As for the finger nails, I do need to keep them very trim.

[lynxcat]

there's probably no one true correct way to hold a pen; the question is whether your way works for you.

 

your way wouldn't work for me, but i'm not you. your way seems too tight, too likely to cramp up; i have troubles enough keeping my grip loose with the much more open pen hold i practise. but, again, that's me. i have one acquaintance i'd not even try to introduce to fountain pens, because he literally makes a fist around his pen --- i have no idea how he gets that to work for him, but he does.

[Beckwith]

I used to hold my pen like that when I was in elementary school, but I found it started to hurt my ring finger for the type of extended writing I had to do later-on in my education. So I switched to the "proper" grip since the pen rests against a fleshier part of my middle finger instead of against the knuckle of my ring finger - but like everyone has said, if it works for you then you're holding your pen correctly.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Beckwith

[zap210]

If it works for you...

 

If you want to learn more about finger, hand, and arm positions for writing in different styles take a good caligraphy course. When I was learning to write in school we had a very good caligraphy teacher. We used primarily speedballs, but we also learned how to cut our own quills, design our own signatures, and so on. We all had black fingers.