Do You Find Your Handwrting Changes A Lot With Different Pens?

[Bluey]

Of course, people will write differently when they write in a broad compared to how they write in an extra fine, but I notice that my handwriting is markedly different between different pens with similar size nibs.

 

With the Pilot Decimo(fine) my handwriting is all over the place and a little uncontrolled where with the Falcon(extra fine) it is much more controlled and precise. The clip on the Decimo doesn't bother me because I hold the pen close to the nib on either side of the clip so I don't even notice that the clip is there, but there is something about it which doesn't give me a feeling of control over the way I write. Both nibs are very stiff.

 

I find the TWSBI 580 Al extra fine slightly uncomfortable in the hand because the section has a loose part which spins around so subconsciously it feels like a pen that I'm holding together to prevent falling apart, which is a little telling really. This causes my handwriting to be a little like writing with the Decimo.

 

The Pilot Custom 74 has a really soft fine nib with a nice bouncy feel and I find that the rhythmic bounce almost encourages small attractive embellishments.

 

There's different handwriting signatures with my other pens too.

[jar]

Yes.

[gryphon1911]

Yes, and unfortunately it has to do with a ton of factors.

 

Including but not limited to one or a combination of the following:

• grip size
• nib smoothness
• paper smoothness
• ink viscocity
• pen weight
• pen balance
• user fatigue
• hand fatigue
• emotional state

[Biber]

 

Yes, and unfortunately it has to do with a ton of factors.

 

Including but not limited to one or a combination of the following:

• grip size
• nib smoothness
• paper smoothness
• ink viscocity
• pen weight
• pen balance
• user fatigue
• hand fatigue
• emotional state

 

 

Yes indeed, and then some...

[Brioche]

Oh my gosh, yes! I'm a forward slant writer but give me a stub nib and I'm an up and down writer. A pen that I can choke up on the nib, like a 51, gives me smaller writing, sometimes eetsy teeny. A long nib, like a MB, increases the forward slant of my writing.

 

Then there are my reverse obliques that give me a whole 'nother kind of writing. They somehow give me the freedom not to follow the way I think I "should" write and to let go and write any old wacky way I desire.

 

At this point, I think I'm best with a heavy, balanced pen with a not-too-long nib and paper with feedback.

 

I have handwriting differences also with wood pencils, mechical pencils, ballpoints, rollerballs, and gel pens. My worst handwriting of all is with a rollerball.

 

Should a mod move this thread to handwriting?

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Not so much.

 

I might write smaller with a narrow nib, and vary the row height/spacing according nib width, but my hand remains much the same.

 

My personal practice closely resembles that seen in my Ink Reviews, which show the influence of various nib widths.

 

Perhaps my writing mechanics are terribly inflexible, which may explain why flexi nibs are so challenging. (?)

 

Bye,

S1

 

__ __

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN%20Stuff%20-%202011/Ink%20Review%20-%20Diamine%20Denim/2c67695f.jpg

Edited April 15, 2016 by Sandy1

[AAAndrew]

Besides the pen-independent factors of tiredness, mood, barometric pressure, whatever, it's the section and the nib.

 

If the section is too big or too small, it affects my handwriting adversely. Shiny metal sections get too slippery and I lose control.

 

With nibs, it's about feedback. Too little, and I get that glass-on-oily-glass feeling and have no control. My hand goes all over the place. I need feedback. (maybe that's why I write best with dip nibs).

 

I've gotten very use to spring since writing with flexible dip nibs. Before I started writing with dip nibs regularly, a springy nib often could throw me fairly easily off my rhythm. Now, I'm used to the bounce, the extra dimension of up and down when writing.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Of course, people will write differently when they write in a broad compared to how they write in an extra fine, but I notice that my handwriting is markedly different between different pens with similar size nibs.

 

With the Pilot Decimo(fine) my handwriting is all over the place and a little uncontrolled where with the Falcon(extra fine) it is much more controlled and precise. The clip on the Decimo doesn't bother me because I hold the pen close to the nib on either side of the clip so I don't even notice that the clip is there, but there is something about it which doesn't give me a feeling of control over the way I write. Both nibs are very stiff.

 

I find the TWSBI 580 Al extra fine slightly uncomfortable in the hand because the section has a loose part which spins around so subconsciously it feels like a pen that I'm holding together to prevent falling apart, which is a little telling really. This causes my handwriting to be a little like writing with the Decimo.

 

The Pilot Custom 74 has a really soft fine nib with a nice bouncy feel and I find that the rhythmic bounce almost encourages small attractive embellishments.

 

There's different handwriting signatures with my other pens too.

 

SHOOT yes! For all reasons mentioned in this thread and more. It's amazing, really.

[Leeuwenhoek]

Yes for the regions already covered. One of the factors I think is most important for me is the distance from the nib tip to my grip. However the other factors of the pen determine where you grip so you end up holding different pens at different distances. Maybe just me.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

There are differences in style, certainly. With italic nibs (which I use rarely), I go more slowly, and my handwriting has less of a slant (and of course there's the line variation). With very fine nibs, I seem to emphasize some loops and flourishes more, not really sure why. I tend to write fairly large for any given size of paper, but with some pens I seem to write smaller than normal, again without being quite sure why.

 

But I think that my handwriting remains perceptibly the hand of the same person, despite these variations. If I can't control a pen after a moderate amount of practice, then I don't use it. Even with a decent ballpoint or rollerball my writing looks much the same.

[Buzz_130]

I also find a difference in my writing style based on the fountain pen I'm using. I've certainly settled on favorites, and they enable me to enjoy (and later even be able to read!) my handwriting. Some pens are just too cumbersome for me to get past the pen to get the words on paper.

 

Buzz

[sharonspens]

Yes. I have seven pens inked right now, and just used all of them in a two page letter today. My writing definitely changed between the seven, which included an ink roller, a fine, two medium, a cursive italic, and two stubs. I think part of it was ink, but most of it has to do with the handling of the various pens in my hand.

 

Sharon in Indiana

[Raif79]

The simple answer is yes. There are many posts above me that explain why. I just flipped through my journal entries for this year alone. I have used close to 20 different pens to make entries. My handwriting is very different from page to page. I could see the same style when I wasn't rotating pens. This is the main reason why I started writing with fountain pens in the first place. My handwriting with ballpoint was atrocious. It still is with a few of my pens (which makes me sad). Other pens make my handwriting look so neat and stylized.

 

I've been beginning to try calligraphy, but I am not trained in any classic script. My penmanship is based on generic schooling. So it's not as if I'm changing the font.

[Renly]

It doesn't really change for me on Decimo/Metropolitan but it does on Falcon because I'm trying to create line variation so it's much slower writing.

[sandy101]

Only some pens for me. My springy (and light) Platinum pen gives me a differrent hand than my Parson's Essential, by my Parson's sits in my hand like a comfortable cat curled up by the fireside. Apart from stubs, I don't see much other difference.

[Tas]

DEFO!

Not just my handwriting but my sketching style too.

[Orthostylos]

Oh my, yes. It is almost like a completely different person is writing.

For me, using a standard European medium nib is a challenge. Very poor handwriting. Same with some fine rollerballs, where it defaults to printing.

Yet if I use cursive italic < 0.7 mm) it's like an aspiring calligrapher, well formed letters, right spacing, tend to exaggerate the ascender and descenders, like night and day.

 

It makes a big difference for me.

[senzen]

Oh yeah, I just got a Faber Castell Ambition in pearwood, it's taking a little effort to get along with it.

 

The Pilot Penmanship always throws me off if I haven't used it in a few days, but it's probably that needle nib.

[flipper_gv]

Yes. Since the nib stiffness, writing width, tipping shape, distance between grip and paper, smoothness, length (of the pen), capped or not, balance, etc... changes from a pen to another, all of this has a small impact on how I write.

[ac12]

Yes it is different, not always a lot.

It comes down to how well the pen feels in my hand (see gryphon1911's post), and how I feel that day. If everything is clicking, the pen becomes an extension of my hand. When the pen does not 'fit,' it becomes a struggle, and you can see it in the ink line. What is sad is I have pens that I want to like, but they just don't fit my hand, and I am not particularly pleased with how the writing looks.

 

Flip over to my pens that have line variation; CI, slightly flexy Lamy joy, flex dip pens. Here the difference in how my hand looks is VERY different from that when writing with a ball tip pen. I have to write larger and wider with the CI nibs than my normal EF/F nibs. With the flex nibs in an oblique dip pen holder, I flex the down strokes. With the joy, it looks like it flexes a bit, but that might simply be more ink flow than tine spread. The flex effect is there, but not in the same places as with the oblique holder, as the nib angle is different.

Edited April 21, 2016 by ac12