Must a fountain pen user write in cursive?

[NickKH]

Hi I'm a newbie in fountain pens and am puzzled at handwriting improvement.

I bought an ordinary fountain pen (those hard nib with an iridium point) and found that many people switch to cursive when they start to use their fountain pen.

But I want to write in manuscript (that is one letter by one letter), as i find it hard to read and change to cursive after so many years of writing manuscript.

 

So, is it possible to attain handwriting improvement with fountain pen in manuscript rather than cursive?

 

And i am interested in those chisel nibs (1.1mm, 1.5mm, 1.9mm etc). Are those nibs suitable in daily handwriting?

 

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[J English Smith]

Yes, it's do-able, though perhaps FPs are a little bit more suited to cursive. Get a fine nib FP for the best "lettering" experience, such as a Parker 51 or Parker 45 or a Vanishing Point.

 

I think you would find the larger italic nibs uncomfortable for lettering. A .6 to .9 italic or stub would be better if you will not be writing in cursive. Be sure to get a smoother nib so that the nib edges are not too sharp. One of Binder's custom ground VP nibs might be just what the doctor ordered for you.

[JakobS]

It is very possible to attain better manuscript or print handwriting using a fountain pen, as a fountain pen needs a lighter touch to lay down a line on paper and thus can generally flow over paper far easier than ballpoints, rollerballs, and gel pens. You do not need to switch to cursive writing to use a fountain pen in the least, but the same aspect of flow makes writing in cursive easier with a fountain pen. Many people may switch to cursive, though I don't think this is universal, when using a fountain pen because this is the one type of fancier handwriting they learned at some point in their life, but fountain pens can be used for most any type of handwriting you wish to do, some exceptions are with scripts that need a very flexible nib in which dip pens would be needed.

 

As far as your interest in Italic nibs (Chisel) they are best used for cursive italic, italic, or scripts that need very fine line variation like uncial, foundational hand, Roman, Gothic Black Letter, Running Book Hand (my favorite), and numerous others. For daily writing I would go with the 1.1mm as you will be able to make your letters flow easier and sized more similarly to that which you would use for letters, notes etc. in everyday life. Using a cursive italic hand would probably be the quickest hand to use with this nib, but that depends on how easily you catch on in using the others, I know that book hands are used by some here in daily writing, and even a uncial derived one too I believe. The larger sized nibs 1.5mm, 1.9mm ets. are great for practicing new scripts initially, and for broader, larger lettering tasks, you probably won't be taking copious notes with them. They have a daily use if you do calligraphy work everyday for practice, gifts, or as a profession as a calligrapher, or artist. Some great pens for the smaller sizes 1.1mm to 1.9mm are the Lamy Pens (Studio, Safari, Joy) with italic nibs. The nibs are very affordable($11-15), and easy to switch from one nib to another if different sizes are needed. The Rotring Art Pens are great for capturing some of these smaller sizes as well as the bigger 2.3mm sized italic nibs. Hope this helps!

 

P.S. I agree also with using a .6mm-.9mm italic or stub nib will be the most daily user friendly. How thick of a line that you want depends on if you like finer or broader nibs in your daily writing of course!

Edited October 25, 2009 by JakobS

[jmkeuning]

I actually do not know anyone who writes cursive with a fountain pen. At least they have not done it while I've been around them.

[limesally]

I don't write cursive. Well, I write in italic cursive, I guess it's called now, which is a sort of joined-up printing, but not the Palmer type style people to tend to mean when they refer to cursive.

 

you can certainly use an italic nib (what you refer to as chisel nib, I think) for everyday writing, however, it's much easierfor me if

1) it's a bit on the narrower side, less than 1 mm, for me.

2) it's not knife-sharp. So more of a stub nib, with slightly rounded corners, rather than the really crisp italic.

 

I would personally only use a wider, sharper, nib if I was actually practicing calligraphy. But not for everyday notetaking and writing.

[henrico]

In all those years that you wrote in manuscript, what pen did you use?

 

Not totally sure what you mean by "manuscript". One definition of manuscript is "anything written by hand" which would include cursive. Also, a manuscript is a book or pages containing writing. Cursive means different things to different people but I am sure that you can write cursive with almost any pen.

 

If by "MANUSCRIPT" you mean medieval script, then it is likely that success depends on an italic or stub nib. A straight round nib will not give the varying thicknesses found in most ancient scripts.

 

Different scripts require different nib widths. The larger the script, in terms of height, the wider the nib needed.

 

You can fit a fountain pen with almost any type of nib. For daily handwriting, a 0.5mm italic nib would be a good starting point. Here, you are looking for the right proportion of nib width to letter height. One nib will not be suitable for all scripts and all heigths. So, you need to test nib widths against you style of writing.

 

Henrico

[ethernautrix]

Yes.

 

 

I mean, no. No.

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2498/4043831279_160fd93e57.jpg

[MidnightBlue]

You write however you like. I will add though that much is said about quality handwriting. Anyones writing improves if you put in the added effort, and it has nothing to with the use fountain pens.

Thanks

[Kabe]

The more you write with fountain pens, you will realize the lubrication of the ink in the paper favors cursive and cursive-like writing, as the pen flows much easier in one movement all over the page, and the cursivity (!) will come by itself.

[Mrsal]

i have always written in cursive, and this did not change when i swithced to fountain pens as my daily writing instruments. if i let a friend borrow one, the still print, so i guess you can just do whatever

[NickKH]

Thanks for everybody's reply!

 

I got some ideas now.

I think i'll not go for cursive at the moment (though as Kabe said, the cursivity may come by itself )

In fact i have just started learning italic hand (not cursive italic, yet) with a 1.5mm Pilot Parallel pen but it is too large (and probably not designed) for daily writing.

So i'm going to a pen store to find an italic nib pen (largest 1.1mm) to replace my original FP.

Is there any brand of FP that any of you would recommend? So far i just know Lamy Joy has italic nib and the Rotring art pen is not available in my area.

 

Thanks again!

[jimk]

I will be a little radical and say that fountain pens actually work better with italic hands rather that with the roundhand - Spencer - Palmer category that is commonly called "cursive".

 

Either one of these two broad categories can be written with a monoline writing instrument, a simpler pen that just makes one width of line. Such a simpler instrument is always going to be a bit easier to control and more practical for day-to-day informal use.

 

Both broad categories also provide calligraphic opportunities, especially through the use of a varying line width. In general, roundhand and Spencerian have thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes. This width variation is achieved with a pen whose line width changes with writing pressure.

 

Italic, and other older hands such as uncial, have line widths that vary with the direction of the stroke. This variation is achieved with an edged nib.

 

I believe that edged nibs are more suitable with fountain pens than are flexible nibs. A fountain pen is an expensive item. A flexible nib is inherently more delicate than is an edged nib. An edged nib will generally last a lot longer than a flexible nib, and thus preserve the value and utility of the significant investment represented by the fountain pen.

 

William Henning's book An Elegant Hand is a glorious celebration of the flowering of Spencerian calligraphy. The subtitle of the book provides the range 1850-1925 for the time of that flowering. That period coincides with the peak of dip pens. I think that Spencerian is really tied to dip pens with steel nibs. They give fantastic line variation, and they're inexpensive so it's no big deal if one gets bent out of shape.

 

Good and inexpensive italic nibbed fountain pens are not very easy to find! You can still see the old U.K. made Platignum sets around - scoop one up if you see it! I got a set of Pelikan Script fountain pens - I think they were 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mm. They work really well! I found mine a few years ago at a Michael's craft store.

 

Unless you live in a big city, you'll likely be better off looking on the web for an italic pen. But certainly support your local supplier if they carry such things!

[caliken]

Is there any brand of FP that any of you would recommend? So far i just know Lamy Joy has italic nib and the Rotring art pen is not available in my area.

The 'Manuscript' range of fountain pen sets are good value and are worth considering. They are quite cheap and come with a range of italic nibs.

Edited October 26, 2009 by caliken

[Johnny Appleseed]

I don't write cursive. Well, I write in italic cursive, I guess it's called now, which is a sort of joined-up printing, but not the Palmer type style people to tend to mean when they refer to cursive.

 

I think you are safe calling your cursive-italic writing "cursive". It is only in North America that people think that cursive only consists of heavily looped roundhand styles, and even that is contested (EG. Getty-Dubois call the joined variations on their italic-based style "cursive").

 

Not totally sure what you mean by "manuscript". One definition of manuscript is "anything written by hand" which would include cursive. Also, a manuscript is a book or pages containing writing. Cursive means different things to different people but I am sure that you can write cursive with almost any pen.

 

If by "MANUSCRIPT" you mean medieval script, then it is likely that success depends on an italic or stub nib. A straight round nib will not give the varying thicknesses found in most ancient scripts.

 

"Manuscript" has come to mean the same thing as "print", particularly in certain educational circles. EG - http://www.drawyourworld.com/handstyle.html

[thebeesknees]

I find pens with drier nibs are more suitable to printing then wetter nibs.

[Mrsal]

I find pens with drier nibs are more suitable to printing then wetter nibs.

 

yup, and i find the wetter nibs are easier for me to write in cursive with.

[penspouse]

I print and use cursive with all my fountain pens.

[dvorak]

I used exclusively engineer's hand all caps printing for several decades. But as I started to learn more about fountain pens, I started experimenting with cursive handwriting, partly out of desire to doodle with new pens and inks. Now I have a pretty respectable everyday cursive, I even default to it on occasion, when I'm in the mood.

 

-Brent

[troglokev]

There's no particular reason not to print using a fountain pen.

 

It's simply that cursive is the lazier option, just as printing is the lazier option with a ballpoint.

 

With a ballpoint, the friction encountered is reduced by lifting the pen, so printing is preferred. When I was a kid learning to write (using a Bic stick), cursive was physically harder work than printing, so I avoided using it. I printed all the way through school, until I discovered fountain pens at University.

 

With a fountain pen, the effort of raising the pen off the page is greater than the friction encountered by moving the pen across the page, so cursive starts looking good. I found that my writing naturally joined up, and that if I adopted the cursive from I'd learned in primary school, it became more legible.

 

My experience, at any rate.

Edited October 31, 2009 by troglokev

[DAYoung]

I'm not sure what this is, but I'm certain it isn't pretty.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/images/fountain_p_m1799709.jpg