How Do You Write With A Fountain Pen?

[Cast]

Jet Pens has an article “Calligraphy Tips: Solving Common Problems”.

 

https://www.jetpens.com/blog/calligraphy-tips-solving-common-problems/pt/931

 

Under the section NOT ENOUGH STROKE VARIATION

There is a picture of the standard tripod grip. Next to it is a picture of the forefinger on top.

The article says all you have to do is rotate the wrist.

 

Teach Handwriting has a series of videos including warm up exercises, as well as

How to hold a pen in the Tripod Pencil Grip

 

Sarah McClure has a video for teaching children proper pencil grip, that may be helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSdNHjR0-nE

[Dmact]

Dmact do try the forefinger up way of grasping a pen.....for me grip means hold hard like a ViceGrip plier, and grasp equates to being with in my grasp....ie easier. Has nothing to do with reality, but grip can have a connotation that is well used in Death Grip.

 

Help! How Do You Hold Your Fountain Pen?

Lol i've tried... My hands are REALLY REALLY long. My jinhao barely touches the web of my thumb and forefinger unposted... I've knocked posted caps off pens before trying to learn that method. I also have to pull my middle finger out of the equation or else hold the pen mid barrel to get the nib to the paper. It just doesn't work for me. Plus i loose any and all control over my writing and cant activate flex... My grip LOOKS like a death grip but its actually extremely loose... But if i dont bend my forefinger almost in half the pen just doesnt fit in my hand unless its a dip nib holder with the crazy long tail

[inkstainedruth]

I'm wondering if you should be using a different size pen. I have small hands, and my understanding is that a lot of Jinhaos are fairly large and heavy pens, so I've mostly avoided them (other than a Jinhao 599 which someone gave me, which is a knock-off of a Lamy Safari or al-Star).

Maybe if you upload photos of the pen in your hand, people can give you better advice (the Upload button at the top of the page will get you to a tab where you can attach images from off your computer and then copy and paste one of the link options into another post; it will tell you what formats can be used, and IIRC the maximum size per image is 2MB, so you may have to crop and/or resize the photo before uploading it).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Dmact]

Yeah uploadings a right pain in the rear lol. I have pics but i'll need to run them through photoshop to reduce their size first.

 

The jinhao is a bit of a monster, i'll post my whole collection for comparison.

 

I'll try to get them croped and up here tomorrow so you can see how rediculously E.T. like my hands are lol

 

ETA:

It also doesn't help any that I write fairly small... A pilot EF nib can easily fill in my "e" and look very "c"-like. Complicated arm based movement quite a bit... I generally have to be doing copperplate at over 1/2" height before I can comfortably move my arm to form letters. I'll post a sample of some writing as well.

Edited August 15, 2019 by Dmact

[Dmact]

OK so here are some pics to help demonstrate my frustrations with trying to hold a Jinhao x750 using the method outlined by Bo BO Olsen. With my fingers in the position shown by his pics i end up with a gap under my nib of about 1cm.

 

To close that gap I can either bend my wrist uncomfortably to raise the butt of the pen up OR pull my middle finger off to the side, but then I can't really grip the pen and if I attempt to add flex to my writing I end up dropping the pen or it just slips and ruins my lettering.

 

Note how far down the cap sits on the web of my hand. Unposted the butt of the pen barrel will just barely rest in that web and it's pretty uncomfortable.

 

 

I THOUGHT I had a picture of holding the pen uncapped but I'm sure you get the idea there LOL.

the Jinhao is a fair bit larger than all my other pens as you can see.

 

and here you can see that I really need a considerable bend in my index finger to get the pen resting comfortably in the web. It may look like a death grip, but my hand is actually amazingly relaxed and I can activate flex with either a little pressure from my fingers or from the elbow.

 

and here's some handwriting using my normal grip with a few pens... (the jinhao takes a good amount of pressure to flex so I don't really do it, I normally only flex my dip pens... at least until I buy a flex nib for the Jinhao or find a decently priced vintage, the Dorec would be nice but $400 bucks is a bit salty for my broke behind).

[praxim]

Compared with my practice (I seek to say nothing authoritative) then I think you are holding your pen too low, too close to the nib in all pictures, and with insufficient angle in the earlier. Try holding toward the top of the section, nearer 45°. This will also pull the pen further up on the web, without creating a death grip. Your last picture is a little deathly, as you say. Your forefinger should be more extended and relaxed, the thumb higher on the pen than the finger and lower around the circumference. Merely my experience.

[Dmact]

Holding farther back exaggerates the whole "pen barely reaches web" experience. The jinhao has a weakish posting cap so it gets quite rattly... Also balance becomes an issue and the whole thing feels extremely ackward, and unposted is impossible holding much farther back. I need to grip almost 3/4 inch farther back to make up that 1cm+ gap, unposted the pen wont even hit the web.

 

Pic #1 is EXTREMELY comfortable but for the lack of contact with paper. My hands are 8" from tip of middle finger to base of palm though... If only my index finger would glow we could remake an 80's classic!

[DonM]

I can't imagine writing with a grip like that shown in your first three pictures. I tried it and I have no control of the pen. I have to curl my middle, ring and little fingers to provide hand support on the page. The pen barrel rests on my middle finger just above the first joint, similar to your last photo.

[Dmact]

Yeah, i'm just not a fan of it LOL It took me all of about 30 seconds to learn to just relax when i write and i dont ever worry about my nibs.