Can Lefty Bring Out Line Variation From An Italic Nib ?

[Runny]

Hi I am a lefty underwriter and I own a lamy safari 1.1 italic nib and every time I wrote with it I don't see line variation in the letters that I wrote.

However I wrote some letters with my right hand and it seems to bring out some kind of line variation.

 

Thank you for any replies

[The Blue Knight]

You should be able to. The only thing I can imagine that is happening is you are using overly absorbent paper that's masking the variation. A wider point would obviously give you more variation..

[AndrewC]

Rotate the pen so the width of the nib is parallel to the bottom of the page. I am a lefty underwriter and have trained myself so I hold the length of the pen parallel to the edge of the page with the width of the nib parallel to the page bottom. This way I can take advantage of stubs, italics and the like. To do this, I trained myself to pull in my elbow when I write. IIRC, John Mottishaw (nibs.com) has a page that discusses left-handedness and fountain pen usage and the effects of it on different nib types.

FWIW, I have several nibs that are cursive italics or stubs, some even modified to flex, and they provide excellent variation, so if I can do it, I am sure you can. I have horrible scrawl for penmanship.

HTH.

Edited July 28, 2014 by AndrewC

[Runny]

Thank you Andrew C for your detailed information !

[dgturner]

I am a lefty-over writer and I have no problem getting variation. Also, I think Blue Knight has an excellent point about absorbent paper. You should also verify flow, when I had problems with my Monteverde Invincia the problem was usually flow.

[ArchiMark]

Lefty underwriter here.....similar hand position as described by Andrew....

 

Most all of my pens are italic...some 1.1 like yours....no problem getting line some variation...

 

So, you should be able to get it working......

 

[ac12]

I have that myself with my Lamy 1.1 nib.

With some ink/paper combinations, the ink may flow enough that you can't see the line variation or very little.

Watch and take note of the ink and papers you use and where you see and don't see the line variation.

This also is affected by your handwriting. You may have to adapt your handwriting for the stub/italic nib. I have to spread out my handwriting when I use the 1.1 nib, compared to when I use a standard F or M nib.

As was said a wider nib will make the difference more visible. But, what size nib you use also depends on what you are writing. For me a 1.1 is about the max width I can use on wide ruled paper and my cursive/script handwriting. Maybe with practice I can use the wider nibs.

 

Try printing/italic first, you should be able to see the ink line variation easiest. Then you know you can do it.

Then later switch to cursive/script and see.

Edited July 29, 2014 by ac12

[FountainPages]

Left side push here. I manage to get some nice variation, even with ef nibs. My verticals tend to be thin and horizontals wide...the opposite of most other writer positions.

[EFP]

I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread ~ after googling what "lefty underwriter" means, now I know that I'm one. Will definitely keep checking back here for nib tips, as I'm new to FP's.

[Runny]

Glad I made this thread XD

[Algester]

as long as your using the right "typeface" and when normally writing in an underwriter fashion it should bring out some line variation there are other ways but its easily noticable with the under writing method I'm an over writer but I get a hard time getting the line variation right but probably because I'm also still using the wrong "typeface" and that "typeface" would be the Palmer method...

Edited July 29, 2014 by Algester