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A Grip Which Uses No Energy


Renzhe

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Please consider using the grip I introduce below.

 

 

A common way to hold a pen is with the thumb, index finger, and the last knuckle of the middle finger approximately the same distance from the tip, like this:

http://i36.tinypic.com/n6b2w4.jpg

 

I find that this grip is not the most relaxed position. Allow me to elaborate.

 

After playing the piano for 30 minutes, I let my right hand hang at my side, using no energy. Here is my hand at its most relaxed state:

http://i38.tinypic.com/2l8jdrr.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/klvo7.jpg

http://i36.tinypic.com/2cig0eb.jpg

 

Notice that when I use no energy, the fingers are naturally curved, and the tip of the thumb is relatively far from the tip of the index finger.

 

If I put my right hand on a surface it falls into this shape:

http://i36.tinypic.com/20jnzh1.jpg

 

If I put a pen in it, my right hand naturally holds the pen with this grip:

http://i35.tinypic.com/281uhko.jpg

 

I feel that this grip puts the hand in a position closest to the most relaxed state. I can maintain this grip using no energy. The difference between this grip and the common grip is that in this grip, the thumb is placed farther away from the tip. Extending the thumb to where the common grip places it requires energy, and therefore does not yield the most relaxed grip.

 

 

Another thing one may try is simulating a longer nib by gripping higher with one's whole hand, like this:

http://i35.tinypic.com/28rfkmu.jpg

 

This allows one to use less movement to write characters, and also lowers the writing angle.

Renzhe

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Excellent! That's pretty much the grip that writing with the Bamboo taught me. The abrupt change from the barrel to the section makes it uncomfortable to try to put my thumb on the section, so I tried writing thumb-on-barrel and index-finger-on-section and found it to be a very comfortable grip for any of my pens.

 

This kind of grip also makes writing seem like pointing. The marks go on the paper where I point. Not only does that seem more natural, it encourages me not to "finger-write" and instead "shoulder-write" or write by moving my hand over the page rather than by twisting and tilting my hand to form the letters.

 

However, I'd never thought about why it is a more comfortable position. This is great!

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I've got a left handed friend who's always written like that. He's developed a noticeable lump on the side of the middle finger though from the years of writing (it looks like a wart to be honest). Of course, that's with pencils and ball-points, so extra pressure compared to a FP.

 

Just something to think about.

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My grip is as demonstrated in the first photo and

I have a callus on my middle finger.

 

Maybe I just write too much? ;)

 

 

 

I'll give your recommended grip a shot, Renzhe.

 

With my arthritis making writing ever more

uncomfortable it can't hurt to try it.

Current daily users: Pilot VP with Diamine Teal, Waterman Phileas M Cursive Italic with Arabian Rose, and a black Reform M CI with Copper Burst

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Thanks for your post and photos. I monitor my various grips while I cycle through them trying to find the "best" grip and your post provides much help and "data." The arm/hand/finger mechanism is so full of angles and rotations it can get confusing... I have noticed that the angle of wrist rotation also makes a significant impact on my handwriting and ease of writing. The closer your elbows are to your body and the higher the paper surface, the more one has to twist the wrist toward the paper. I've found that playing with the height, distance, and angle of the paper to fit a more "natural" angle -- as your post suggests -- goes a long way toward to goal of effortless penmanship. Just sharing -- and again thanks for your post.

 

Doug

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My grip is like this also. I, too, have a callus on my middle finger, although this is from before I changed my grip. I think it's not so much a callus as just the finger reforming itself (I've had this since the second grade -- I took more notes in second grade than in second year of college).

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for the tip.

I'm always looking for ways to improve my grip and handwriting.

 

Do you also write by moving the arm/hand as well? I've read that is the recommended movement but it seems too unnatural for me.

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  • 7 months later...

Thank you,

I always had pig Latin hen scratch handwriting, which became a pig Latin hen scratch printing, because I could not read my own writing.

 

Having inherited seven or eight very slightly valuable pens, I.e., they were of the lower middle class of pens in their day, like an Esterbrook or an Osmia-Farber-Castell, I've decided to learn to write. I did not learn that in grade school, when I should have.

 

It could be, I was wishing to write too fast, and cram too much on “valuable” paper; more than likely I was just too dammed lazy.

 

Cursive, Everyday or a Business script, or the italic-cursive, are the scripts I am looking at. I am not anywhere ready to try fancy writing. I wish to write legibly for the first time in my life.

 

There have been some 70 pages and more of cut and paste information, that I’d had to fly to an English speaking land, and spent days in a Library to get half of the information I’ve gotten in this com.

 

So keep up the good work.

 

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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Wow, that's incredible. I just tried this out, and not only is it now much easier to write with my arm instead of my wrist/fingers, it also seems like my accuracy with copperplate has improved instantly. I'll definitely have to practice with this some more. Interestingly, it did not have the same instant effect on my regular cursive (perhaps the greater speed is at odds with the loss of fine digital control?), but it feels like there is potential for improvement.

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It's very similar to the grip that may calligraphers use when they hold an oblique nib holder. So I guess great minds really think alike. :clap1:

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Had to pull the 1st and 5th photos to the desktop so I could see them side by side and compare them more closely, but this looks interesting. As one with a permanent bump on the middle finger, I'm anxious to try the new grip. (Just as soon as I get some sleep)

Soli Deo Gloria

 

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Renzhe, this is great. I'm wondering if your recommended position is the one that is advocated in a different topic, which I cannot seem to find now, about a member postulating that pre-ballpoint writers back in the heyday of fountain pens used to write with a different grip. He said to lay your index finger across the top of the barrel and your middle just alongside it. He found it would be easier to flex and to lower the angle of the nib as well. He even went so far as to try to find photographs of people writing from the 30s, 40s, etc. Maybe if someone remembers what that thread is called, he or she can crosspost here. These two threads seem related.

I subscribe to The Rule of 10 (pens, that is)

1) Parker Sonnet 1st gen 2) Pelikan 200 yellow 3) Parker 51 vac 4) Esterbrook trans J 5) Esterbrook LJ "Bell System Property" 6) Sheaffer Snorkel Valiant fern green 7) Waterman 52.5V 8) Parker 75 cisele 9) open 10) open (I'm hankering for a Doric)

 

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To make this messy - I looked at how I hold pens and it looked more like the first image. Then I looked at my relaxed position and it was not quite like yours. Being a statistician I did a little looking around the web and found that thumb length relative to the length of the index finger has a bit of variability. I think you are on to the right concept, just that the "best relaxed" position may be a bit different for each person.

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Being a statistician I did a little looking around the web and found that thumb length relative to the length of the index finger has a bit of variability.

 

There's a very well known "variation" among men -- I've usually seen it called "short index finger", where the index finger is distinctly shorter than the ring finger. This is a spectrum, of course, ranging from index fingers longer than ring fingers (the "norm", and virtually the only condition in women) to those, like mine, where the index finger is half a joint or even a little more shorter than the ring finger. This variation can surely affect the way one has to grip a pen; if I try to grip with a relaxed hand, my thumb and index finger are almost perfectly aligned, as in the "before" photo, while it's very unnatural for me to grip with the index finger extended beyond the thumb -- just because my index finger is relatively short.

 

BTW, the prevailing theory of short index fingers in men appears to relate to exposure to male hormones in the womb, which is why it's rare in women...

Does not always write loving messages.

Does not always foot up columns correctly.

Does not always sign big checks.

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BTW, the prevailing theory of short index fingers in men appears to relate to exposure to male hormones in the womb, which is why it's rare in women...

 

While that is a common thread I found there seems to be other reasons as well. Here is link to the

wikipedia link. They point out the geographic variations are larger than is the the variation between men and woman. So who knows. We can say that the relative length of the index finger will impact how you hold a pen.

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We can say that the relative length of the index finger will impact how you hold a pen.

 

Absolutely non-controversial statement. :thumbup:

Does not always write loving messages.

Does not always foot up columns correctly.

Does not always sign big checks.

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Renzhe, this is great. I'm wondering if your recommended position is the one that is advocated in a different topic, which I cannot seem to find now, about a member postulating that pre-ballpoint writers back in the heyday of fountain pens used to write with a different grip. He said to lay your index finger across the top of the barrel and your middle just alongside it. He found it would be easier to flex and to lower the angle of the nib as well. He even went so far as to try to find photographs of people writing from the 30s, 40s, etc. Maybe if someone remembers what that thread is called, he or she can crosspost here. These two threads seem related.

 

Here is the thread I mentioned. Finally found it!

I subscribe to The Rule of 10 (pens, that is)

1) Parker Sonnet 1st gen 2) Pelikan 200 yellow 3) Parker 51 vac 4) Esterbrook trans J 5) Esterbrook LJ "Bell System Property" 6) Sheaffer Snorkel Valiant fern green 7) Waterman 52.5V 8) Parker 75 cisele 9) open 10) open (I'm hankering for a Doric)

 

<img src="http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png" border="0" class="linked-sig-image" />

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