How Long Will It Take To Make A Huge Change In Grip?

[Snoutmol]

http://i.imgur.com/Io9aDxR.png

http://i.imgur.com/z849Kf6.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/EdCFw0d.png

 

This is a big grip change and I'm holding the pen from literally a whole new direction. The new grip makes my hand ache, as I'm using new muscles, and I'm guessing that will go away. I already like the new grip because now I know what it means to be less "heavy handed." Before when I tried to be light handed, that was nothing compared with how effortless this new grip can be. I can already feel that my muscles are more dextrous with this grip and I've only been doing this for ~2 days.

 

Still, there are issues. I am wondering how long it will take for me to learn back combined speed and neatness with the tripod grip? Heretofore I've used my weird grip. I should've been a better kindergarten student

[Randal6393]

Practice a bit every day and don't worry about how long. It will take as long as it takes. Just have fun in the process.

 

The slow evolution of one's hand is a satisfying process but does take time and patience. I had to learn to write for the fun of it. Over the years, my writing gradually evolved to a daily practice. When I stopped worrying about the script, I found I had the confidence to make my script better without thinking about it.

 

Best of luck,

 

PS: Yoga and Zen help a lot.

[cellmatrix]

your new grip looks great. I found the book modern business penmanship by EC Mills to be especially helpful in learning to grip the right way (similar to how you have it now) and it has a lot of great exercises designed to reinforce this grip.

 

http://www.iampeth.com/pdf/modern-business-penmanship

[Chrissy]

The 'after' looks so much better than the 'before'

 

Ouch that poor Lamy 2000 trying to write in that 'before' grip made me shiver all over.

[ac12]

The pix looks like a finger over grip, similar to what is in the Palmer and similar instruction books.

 

I would back up on the grip, a bit farther back from the nib.

Not that you have to follow me, but I hold my fingers 2.5cm back from the tip of the nib, and my thumb 4cm back.

I found it difficult to write when I grip close to the tip/nib.

 

As Randal said, practice EVERY DAY, for about 15-30 minutes. But STOP as soon as you get tired, or you can't seem to write. You need to practice the way you want to hold the pen, not regress back to what you used to do. Having said that, my answer would be 'in depends.' It could take some people a few day, and others several weeks. Your muscles have to get used to writing with the new grip, and forming new muscle memory. When I went from finger writing to arm writing, it took 3 months, until I could write with my arm and not think about it. Then it took many more months until my handwriting look decent.

 

I suggest looking at and doing the excercises in the Palmer instruction books. That will help you get the muscles trained to get your writing back into shape.

 

And while you are doing that, you might look at the letter shapes of the Palmer books and see if you don't want to learn that also.

 

gud luk

And hang in there, it will be a long haul, but the results will be worth it.

Edited January 8, 2016 by ac12

[cellmatrix]

I suggest looking at and doing the excercises in the Palmer instruction books. That will help you get the muscles trained to get your writing back into shape.

 

And while you are doing that, you might look at the letter shapes of the Palmer books and see if you don't want to learn that also.

 

gud luk

And hang in there, it will be a long haul, but the results will be worth it.

 

Have you looked at the exercises in the Mill's book? They are quite good, just as extensive as Palmer's and I think that the Mill's handwriting is more elegant appearing than Palmer's.

[ac12]

 

 

Have you looked at the exercises in the Mill's book? They are quite good, just as extensive as Palmer's and I think that the Mill's handwriting is more elegant appearing than Palmer's.

 

 

I have, and actually I should have said, most ANY of the instruction books.

I used Palmer more as a general term than a specific style. As I recall, there were several different variations based off Palmer (Mills, Chapman, etc.), hence my logic.

I looked at several of them when I relearned cursive to clean up my MESS of a handwriting.

[Snoutmol]

Hi guys, thank you all for the tips and encouragement!

 

I actually ordered the Spencerian theory and copy books and some French ruled paper today, so I'm excited to practice the grip and Spencerian once it gets here. In the meantime I'll look at that Mill's book. I definitely want to reinforce this grip.

 

It would be difficult for me to regress fully back into the claw one, though, as I'd have to rotate the pen all the way back around. That said, I do often find myself tempted point the pen off to the right. The video I watched emphasized that the pen should point back to your shoulder, so I kind of unnaturally twist my wrist to make it so. Currently I write better from the side, as that's similar to my old grip. I don't know if it's worth switching to the complete proper way, with the pen pointed at your shoulder, but I'm trying.

 

No matter what, I don't think I'll ever go back. Just looking at my hand hold a pen in the weird grip makes me squirm. The tripod grip is so very unfatiguing and effortless.

[ac12]

And make sure that you do not grip the pen TIGHT.

I did that in college, and my hand would cramp in less than 30 min. And I was shaking my hand after than to keep the cramp under control.

 

One thing about Spencerian, is the upper case letters. I think those are rather fancy for daily use. In fact Michael Sull, in his class, said that he does not use Spencerian, for daily writing, he uses "American Cursive." Take a look at Palmer, Mills, et.al. to see what the upper case letters look like, then pick from there.

 

gud luk

Edited January 9, 2016 by ac12

[Snoutmol]

Don't worry, my grip isn't tight at all, or at least that's what I think comparing it with my old grip.

 

For the Spencerian capitals, I may as you say resort to other forms for practicality, but I'm curious about what it offers for A, I, N, Z, and J, as I don't particularly like the American cursive versions of those.

[Abner C. Kemp]

I switched from the dynamic tripod grip to a standard tripod grip a couple years ago. It felt really weird for the first week, slightly weird for the first month, and pretty normal from then on. At this point, trying to grip the pen with my old grip feels weird. The brain adapts quickly. My suggestion would be to simply write out a few letters or long journal entries with the new grip and try to force yourself to use it as much as possibly in day to day situations.

 

I agree with others as far as the spencerian goes. It is a beautiful script but not very practical for everyday use. Also, in order to get the line variation you see in many examples you are going to need a much different pen than a Lamy 2000. Trying to write spencerian capitals with a Lamy 2000 will almost definitely result in a sprung nib.

[Snoutmol]

Yeah, I guess I won't do the drastic line variation.

 

Switching from the dynamic to static tripod grip isn't as big of a change as what I'm doing, but the brain does adapt quickly.