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Leftys And Fountain Pens


PenJockey

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Hello everybody,

 

I am right handed and have recently started getting into fountain pens. As with all things, my 7 year old son wants to participate. Unfortunately he is a lefty and it has been difficult to teach him how to print let alone cursive and fountain pens.

 

Any advice you could lend to help me teach him as a lefty and any suggestions for a cheap starter fountain pen for a lefty would be greatly appreciated.

Edited by PenJockey

Jesse http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

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I feel your pain. My son is a 25-year old lefty. He has the worst, most abysmal printing and cursive I have ever seen. Hell, HE can't even read it! I wanted to get him into fountain pens but am now thinking that he is better off with ballpoint or rollerball.

 

I'm going to get popcorn, sit in my favorite chair and watch this thread unfold. :lticaptd:

Edited by NastyPirate
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Start by reading this- http://www.nibs.com/Left-hand%20writers.htm

 

Try to train him to bring his hand under the line and write from there. (It took me a month to learn it, and I was 43-ish). Have you shown him how letters are formed? I drew out the letters for my kids with arrows showing direction of line, and numbers for the order they were made. It helped them quite a bit.

About 10 lines per day per letter for printing to start. If he uses the strangler grip, get him a fatter pen. Otherwise, and stiffer nib with decent flow and M or F. Pilot Plumix, Metropolitan, Pelikan makes The Twist pens. Oh, Pilot Preppys, and the indestructible Pilot Varsity, which has one of the best nibs for the least money ever. Noodlers has some cheap pens as well.Look at Jetpens, ISellPens, Goulet Pens. Finding him something he can pick ink colors for might be a good motivator. Master your printing, you can have some ink! Goulet Pens has a sample program that is hard to beat, plus interactive tools for comparing colors.

Some people say they march to a different drummer. Me? I hear bagpipes.

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That is a great article and really good advice. I got him a preppy for Easter but he had some trouble keeping the ink flowing which I found strange but he wouldn't put that pen down. I think I need to help him improve his printing with it first but your incentive idea with ink colors would be perfect for him. Of course ink is my real downfall as well.

 

It really is sad that they no longer teach cursive in schools here anymore. His printing isn't terrible when he is supervised, but when he is off on his own it's.........questionable. LOL The boy loves writing already. He got last months Loot Crate with the coveted secret agent field notes notebooks, and he has nearly filled them both already with thoughts, drawings, and tons of notes. He has the desire and drive, it is just hard for me to teach him when I can't write like he does if my life depended on it.

 

Thank you AndrewC, You gave me a great place to start with him. I hope to nourish a love of writing in him that I didn't have until I got older.

Jesse http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

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Lamy Nexx with left hand nib and a converter. It survives. Also, drop into LindaMedley's CMYK ink thread regarding ink mixing :). A fun 'sciencey' project for a 7 year old. It's seriously awesome to have your own custom ink as a kid.

 

Lefties develop their own writing style and may reverse some letters. After trying to learn to write left handed, I've agreed wholeheartedly with my son (at 10 years old, now 11) re the direction and form of some of his letter formations. It is interesting that although the print in Australia is designed to lead into a linked script/cursive, he's more comfortable writing some letters in print one way and then uses an alternative when writing cursive (he just started learning cursive at school at the end of last year).

 

Agree with keeping hand below the line if possible... Just tilt the page slightly. This is so ink (or any other medium) doesn't smear, and means that hand/arm/shoulder fatigue from other grips (eg hooking) doesn't prevent him from keeping up with his peers.

 

Getting those ascenders and descenders straight with my left hand is still beyond me :). Mind you, I've been trying Spencerian and am rapidy coming to the conclusion I need to start with a less strikingly angled style!

 

Edit: a note on grip. It's half the reason I got the Lamy. (The other was the left hand nib.) I taught him the correct grip for this pen, and it's now the one he adopts when using it.

 

The left hand nib with its oblique angle ensures he has a better chance of getting ink on to paper ;). My son has never had any trouble with that nib but has a little more difficulty with my regular nibs.

Edited by Intellidepth

Noodler's Konrad Acrylics (normal+Da Luz custom flex) ~ Lamy AL-Stars/Vista F/M/1.1 ~ Handmade Barry Roberts Dayacom M ~ Waterman 32 1/2, F semi-flex nib ~ Conklin crescent, EF super-flex ~ Aikin Lambert dip pen EEF super-flex ~ Aikin Lambert dip pen semi-flex M ~ Jinhao X450s ~ Pilot Custom Heritage 912 Posting Nib ~ Sailor 1911 Profit 21k Rhodium F. Favourite inks: Iroshizuku blends, Noodler's CMYK blends.

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Absolutely love the ink mixing idea and will definately do that with him as well.

 

We will start working on his grip and writing and hand position while doing his homework for the next couple weeks and do some writing projects on the weekends.

 

I will look into the Lamy Nexx for him and find a left handed nib. He can write for a little while with the Preppy but always seems to have problems keeping the ink flowing. Thank you all, from what I had read it sounded like it would be like tourture but I think starting at 7 will be much easier for both of us.

Jesse http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

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I'm a leftie and I have been writing with fp's for the past 40 yrs or so. I'm an underwriter, which is quite ideal four fp use. Might I recommend a Lamy ABC, M nib for your son? Sturdy pen and ditto nib. The ABC's gripsection implies you need a leftie pen, but I've never had any problem with round gripsections, once he's used to underwriting, just give him a random pen.

Can't give any recommendations on cursive...I don't write cursive. I do start writing letters reverse, let him try what suits him best.

 

Best of luck,

 

Hugo

Edited by dojocho

Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.

 

 

Eadem Mutata Resurgo.

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My daughter is a lefty and enjoys using fountain pens for writing and drawing. I've let her work on the way she writes so that it's a natural feeling. I've worked with the kids to create a tripod grip to reduce the pressure on the section of the pen. And the important lesson is the lack of pressure required for the nib to lay down a line on a piece of paper. With the correct grip and no pressure on the paper, the writing will follow. The last part I learned for myself is that I should slow down and focus on the formation of letters. The result has been better logic, better grammar, good spelling, and a draft I can actually read. Sometimes you have to slow down to go fast.

 

Buzz

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PenJockey, I just recalled an interesting phenomenon that has occurred with quite a few primary children when they have used my fountain pens for the first time. Their 'natural' pen position has been far more vertical than I expected - I theorise it is due to their first pen experiences being limited to dodgy biros that are hard-to-impossible starters at lower angles. I also suspect that some grip the pen very close to the nib in order to establish sufficient control of their writing instrument which has a tendency towards hard starting/difficult continued application of ink to page.

 

When transferred to fp use, this style has led to less ink being able to contact the page through the fp nib. The beauty of fps is that they require less effort = less fatigue.

Edited by Intellidepth

Noodler's Konrad Acrylics (normal+Da Luz custom flex) ~ Lamy AL-Stars/Vista F/M/1.1 ~ Handmade Barry Roberts Dayacom M ~ Waterman 32 1/2, F semi-flex nib ~ Conklin crescent, EF super-flex ~ Aikin Lambert dip pen EEF super-flex ~ Aikin Lambert dip pen semi-flex M ~ Jinhao X450s ~ Pilot Custom Heritage 912 Posting Nib ~ Sailor 1911 Profit 21k Rhodium F. Favourite inks: Iroshizuku blends, Noodler's CMYK blends.

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During the past few years I was a member of the board of a small elementary school in central California, and noted a number of left-handed students. Also a lack of formal penmanship (or pencilmanship, for that matter) instruction in the curriculum. Being a lefty myself, and having been saved from being forced to switch hands in elementary school almost 60 years ago (thanks Dad!), I started looking around for some way to begin to address the issue.

 

http://www.lefthandedchildren.org/left-write.htm has a pdf file (not free, but tossed in when I picked some writing practice books for left-handed students) that prints to an a4-size "Left Write Guide" (and a matching "Right Write Guide". I had a number printed off on to coated a4 stock, double sided, for the kids to use. They've been received pretty well.

 

Anyway, some resources for the OP's use, and best of luck with your son's learning.

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When I posted this I never expected so many great people to reach out with tips, tricks, and advise. Thank you all so very much. He loves his preppy and as he gets better I will need to get him a new and maybe more than one pen.

 

Buzz,

This is something we have worked on for a long time. S L O W D O W N little man. He is just now starting to realize that if he slows down it will take less time than having to go back and fix grammar, spelling, and handwriting errors. His writing is pretty decent if he slows down but when he's in a hurry it gets bad fast. Being 7 is a super busy job these days.

 

Intellidepth,

I was noticing that yesterday that he was holding his FP very close to the nib and very vertically. We have been working on his pen handling primarily and it is improving. I tried to show him how to be an underwriter and he got a good laugh at my left handed handwriting. LOL. It's funny because tonight when he was writing he had much better control and was holding the pen at an angle and had backed off. I think his trial and error is teaching him more than I am. I am hoping that learning to use a FP will help him lessen the pressure he writes and draws with other mediums.

Jesse http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

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During the past few years I was a member of the board of a small elementary school in central California, and noted a number of left-handed students. Also a lack of formal penmanship (or pencilmanship, for that matter) instruction in the curriculum. Being a lefty myself, and having been saved from being forced to switch hands in elementary school almost 60 years ago (thanks Dad!), I started looking around for some way to begin to address the issue.

 

http://www.lefthandedchildren.org/left-write.htm has a pdf file (not free, but tossed in when I picked some writing practice books for left-handed students) that prints to an a4-size "Left Write Guide" (and a matching "Right Write Guide". I had a number printed off on to coated a4 stock, double sided, for the kids to use. They've been received pretty well.

 

Anyway, some resources for the OP's use, and best of luck with your son's learning.

This is fantastic! Thank you so much. I will purchase a guide or two for me to help teach him properly and the mat will be immensely helpful. :D

Jesse http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

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http://www.lefthandedchildren.org/left-write.htm has a pdf file (not free, but tossed in when I picked some writing practice books for left-handed students) that prints to an a4-size "Left Write Guide" (and a matching "Right Write Guide". I had a number printed off on to coated a4 stock, double sided, for the kids to use. They've been received pretty well.

Superb. I wish my son's school had had these.

 

Edit: I've just shown my son the links at the bottom of that website page - he really wants a leftie ruler because it's far harder with a rightie ruler apparently. He reckon's he's fine with a rightie sharpener.

Edited by Intellidepth

Noodler's Konrad Acrylics (normal+Da Luz custom flex) ~ Lamy AL-Stars/Vista F/M/1.1 ~ Handmade Barry Roberts Dayacom M ~ Waterman 32 1/2, F semi-flex nib ~ Conklin crescent, EF super-flex ~ Aikin Lambert dip pen EEF super-flex ~ Aikin Lambert dip pen semi-flex M ~ Jinhao X450s ~ Pilot Custom Heritage 912 Posting Nib ~ Sailor 1911 Profit 21k Rhodium F. Favourite inks: Iroshizuku blends, Noodler's CMYK blends.

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Hi, there:

 

I've been a lefty since crayon days, and have been on the fountain pen binge since early high school. We do occasionally have problems with particularly finicky nibs, but there's no reason a bog-standard starter pen wouldn't be great for him.

 

I'm a big fan of the Pilot Varsity. It's my go-to pen for turning others, especially young others, onto FPs. They come in some lovely ink colours, too -- purple and turquoise may get your son going. As another poster already mentioned, the quality of the nib on such a cheap pen is quite something.

 

They've also got quite fast-drying ink, so he won't ever have the problem of his dragging left hand smearing the lines he's just laid down.

 

Hope he continues to be fascinated!

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Pelikan's Pelikano is a children's FP that comes with a nib for lefties.

 

Would that help?

 

I'm left-handed and don't find FPs a struggle, but I avoid spiral bound notebooks these days.

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My parents were pretty cool and simply let me find my own way as to which hand was for which, as I emerged as a left-handed writer. I do most everything else right-handed; no clue why my brain decided to map writing to the left hand, but...here I am.. IIRC, my parents made it very clear to the school that I was not to be hassled about writing with my left hand. It's probably no longer an issue for schoolkids now, but thought I'd weigh in on the importance of parental support.

 

I am what I think is called a "hook" writer, and it works for me. If I want to truly exploit flex nibs, I have to rotate my left hand about 90 degrees counter-clockwise, and for me that is one tough move. But, I feel that I will be able to gradually incorporate that because I'd really like to be able to get that smooth modulation of thick/thin.

 

I do not believe I'll ever be a rightie, and no need for it really..

Franklin-Christoph Stabilis 66 and Pocket 40: both with Matsuyama CI | Karas Kustoms Aluminum, Daniel Smith CI | Italix Parson's Essential and Freshman's Notator | Pilot Prera | Pilot Metropolitan | Lamy Safari, 1.1mm italic | Muji "Round Aluminum Pen" | Waterman Phileas | Noodler's Konrad | Nemosine Singularity 0.6mm stub | ASA Nauka, acrylic and ebonite | Gama Hawk | Wality Airmail | Noodlers Ahab | TWSBI GO | Noodlers Charlie | Pilot Plumix |

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Yeah I believe support is important in all things when you have kids. I let my little man use what hand he feels is right for whatever he does. He throws right handed but writes all things with his left. I have more control when I drive with my left but I do everything else with my right. You are who you are.

 

I saw the Pelikan Pelikano at the art supply store where I bought his Preppy and they had the left version. Perhaps that will be his next pen. The Junior model should fit his hand better and is a cool blue color.

Jesse http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

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This is fantastic! Thank you so much. I will purchase a guide or two for me to help teach him properly and the mat will be immensely helpful. :D

You're welcome.

 

I should note that I passed on to a couple of the students a Varsity or Preppy each. Which they took to using with gratifying enthusiasm. Hope it lasts.

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My parents were pretty cool and simply let me find my own way as to which hand was for which, as I emerged as a left-handed writer. I do most everything else right-handed; no clue why my brain decided to map writing to the left hand, but...here I am.. IIRC, my parents made it very clear to the school that I was not to be hassled about writing with my left hand. It's probably no longer an issue for schoolkids now, but thought I'd weigh in on the importance of parental support.

It's called "mixed dominance" and is pretty common, especially with lefty writers. For example, I write and eat lefty, throw/bat/kick righty, and I'm right-eyed (makes a difference in shooting sports and photography). One daughter is very lefty, but right-eyed, the other is very righty, but left-eyed.

 

No idea why we all turned out that way, but there you go.

 

And again, eternal thanks to my father for going to my school the day after he found out the teacher was trying to switch me to right-handedness and telling the staff, quietly but very firmly, to "let the kid alone".

 

Turns out he started out lefty, and was forced to switch in elementary school. I guess it annoyed him more than a little.

Edited by Water Ouzel
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