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"steadying" Effect Of Italic Nibs On Cursive Writing?


Cursive Child

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Posted this on some older topics, but no responses.

 

I don't have great handwriting, and write cursive. Have been writing with round, smooth, wet nibs mostly.

 

When I started using a (0.6 mm JoWo #6) stub on a weighty (Nemosine Fission) pen, noticed my handwriting is much better. In particular, the slant of my lettering is more consistent. I will try a controlled experiment with the same pen and round nib, but my thesis is that the stub is forcing my hand to write at a more consistent angle. Others have expressed writing better with stubs too, perhaps for the same reason.

 

Does the reasoning follow your experiences, or some other reason I am missing? Certainly, some feedback, as I get with other or finer pens helps to improve the waywardness of my letters, but this stub is very smooth and wet.

 

I am thinking of getting my new Pelikan M805 Fine ground to Cursive Italic - will it give me the same type of benefit?

 

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I haven't noticed the effect you describe but I think you'll really enjoy the cursive italic grind although the effect would be more pronounced with a broader nib.

Posted this on some older topics, but no responses.

 

I don't have great handwriting, and write cursive. Have been writing with round, smooth, wet nibs mostly.

 

When I started using a (0.6 mm JoWo #6) stub on a weighty (Nemosine Fission) pen, noticed my handwriting is much better. In particular, the slant of my lettering is more consistent. I will try a controlled experiment with the same pen and round nib, but my thesis is that the stub is forcing my hand to write at a more consistent angle. Others have expressed writing better with stubs too, perhaps for the same reason.

 

Does the reasoning follow your experiences, or some other reason I am missing? Certainly, some feedback, as I get with other or finer pens helps to improve the waywardness of my letters, but this stub is very smooth and wet.

 

I am thinking of getting my new Pelikan M805 Fine ground to Cursive Italic - will it give me the same type of benefit?

 

...............................................................

We Are Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

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Yes, I think writing with an italic nib improves my handwriting, largely because I tend to write more carefully with those pens. I had severe tendonitis in my right wrist a couple of years ago, and when I could write at all again, my handwriting had suffered almost as much as the wrist did. But using an italic nib always produced the best results. I still find this to be the case, even though my wrist has recovered fully.

"Life would split asunder without letters." Virginia Woolf

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I don't think a Stub or Italic nib physically forces my hand to do anything it wouldn't or couldn't otherwise do with a round-tipped nib, in terms of the movements (as opposed to the observed outcome on the page).

 

I do think my cursive writing in English look better with a fine Stub nib, but that's because I find the shapes of the marks forming the letters and words more pleasing aesthetically. Writing the same text, using the same handwriting techniques and movements, with a nib of similar width but with an "architect's grind" will also produce line variation, in a way that I personally find less pleasing.

 

One thing the use of a Stub nib will do is give you immediate visual feedback on the page if you have rotated the nib away from a fixed orientation. I usually write with a Stub or Italic nib such that the plane of the nib body is in line with the entrance/connecting strokes for my cursive minuscule 's', and if I inadvertently rotated the nib away from that orientation, then those strokes will no longer appear with the width of a hairline. However, it isn't the nib doing anything to prevent me from rotating the nib; I'm still the one who has to be on the constant lookout, and correct myself as soon as I see (the effects of) the nib being rotated off-kilter.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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Agreed. I also think it is mostly a matter of visual feedback. Coupled to a more pleasing look in line variation that reinforces positively better writing.

If you are to be ephemeral, leave a good scent.

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I think it's a combination of visual feedback + having a lot more control over the nib with a wide and steadying amount of tipping pressed onto paper. It's a bit more like using a tripod. Usually having nibs that are not glass smooth on paper helps further with neater and more controlled writing. A glassy smooth extra fine nib is pretty hard to control on smooth paper compared to a cursive italic nib, regardless of paper. A lot of people prefer glassy smooth for quick writing, and it doesn't help with handwriting--I know when I scribble quickly, my handwriting looks embarrassingly bad.

 

Also, the extra flair of line variation gives writing an attractive "calligraphy" look, which can enhance the appearance of even bad handwriting. It masks imperfections. A person with good mastery of calligraphy will make beautiful writing with any nib type, but for the average user, line variation will give more aesthetically pleasing results.

“I admit it, I'm surprised that fountain pens are a hobby. ... it's a bit like stumbling into a fork convention - when you've used a fork all your life.” 

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I think it's a combination of visual feedback + having a lot more control over the nib with a wide and steadying amount of tipping pressed onto paper. It's a bit more like using a tripod. Usually having nibs that are not glass smooth on paper helps further with neater and more controlled writing. A glassy smooth extra fine nib is pretty hard to control on smooth paper compared to a cursive italic nib, regardless of paper. A lot of people prefer glassy smooth for quick writing, and it doesn't help with handwriting--I know when I scribble quickly, my handwriting looks embarrassingly bad.

 

Also, the extra flair of line variation gives writing an attractive "calligraphy" look, which can enhance the appearance of even bad handwriting. It masks imperfections. A person with good mastery of calligraphy will make beautiful writing with any nib type, but for the average user, line variation will give more aesthetically pleasing results.

 

When I started relearning cursive I found it very difficult to maintain control with really smooth nibs. A nib with a little bit of tooth or feedback made it much easier to hold a steady line. A few years later, and pretty happy with the state of my cursive, I still prefer nibs with a touch of feedback.

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  • 5 months later...

I think I know what you mean I found this very significant,

 

My first stub was a very broad Pilot 78. It forced me to write slower. My biggest problem is writing too fast.

 

 

So it was Stubs and Italics for about five years, progressing to some nibmeisters’ and Japanese exquisite nibs...

 

 

And then...

 

Got a few round medium nails. Pelikan Toledo 900, Waterman 100 and Edson.

 

I missed the line variation, but I found my cursive “opened up” and was quite legible, and the smooth physical sensation was delightful.

 

It’s all good.

 

YMMV

Cheers,

 

“It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness

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