The handwriting of everyday

[1930artdeco]

I found a bottle of Quink ink from Parker and though I would give it a try. So I filled up my 'Cheap' 1940's plastic fountain pen and it writes very well. If anyone ask to borrow a pen I give them a ball point. If they ask to try the fountain I will give them a short tutorial and let them try it out.

Mike

 

[Dm101]

It's often said that a bad workman blames his tools. What's never mentioned is that (s)he is quite right to do so! Learning to select the right equipment for the job, in my view, is central to every art and technical discipline.

Back to topic, I must admit to having tried and failed more than once Palmer's advice to write with the shoulder and upper arm. Only my fingers seem to have the precision required to form letters. Am I missing something?

I, also, cannot write by moving my whole arm. It is suggested that for calligraphy, this is the best method...and there may be some truth to it. However, I write far too small to employ this particular methodology.
I specifically grind all of my fountain pen nibs to XXF so that I write microscopically small, but still flex them and get a wide/Broad swath of ink when I want to flourish. However, I cannot write BIG enough with my personalized pens to use my arm as the main movement factor.
I always write with my hands/fingers...and small-regular.

 

[Dm101]

 

[1930artdeco]

I just looked and found that Quink is still available! about $10 a bottle from the amazon. Now I am going to have to try it and compare it to my original bottle of Quink.

Mike

 

[GHT]

When I can get someone to show me how my printer/photocopier works in reverse, I can work it from computer to printer, but not the other way around, but when I can, I will write out a page of A4 in italics for you.

As yet I still cannot fathom how to photocopy and transfer to the computer but I can still give you a sample. Thank goodness for phone cameras.

 

[Artifex]

As yet I still cannot fathom how to photocopy and transfer to the computer but I can still give you a sample. Thank goodness for phone cameras.
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That lettering is beautiful!

I wonder why the Royal Mail would scrap Saturday deliveries, when there is such demand for express parcels these days. Can't the same staff and vehicles handle letters as well?

It's funny: the more I learn about computers and modern communications, the more disappointed I am with the state of the art. Granted, your smartphone is a wonder of precision manufacturing, but it also packed with lazy, underhanded and counterproductive design choices.

Getting the best out of pen and paper takes skill and attention, but perhaps that's why handwritten letters feel so genuine.

 

[GHT]

That lettering is beautiful!

Thank you for the compliment. Tidy handwriting comes with practice, a lined page underneath keeps each line on an even keel. But so many give up easily. Thirty years ago, most men wouldn't have a clue about a querty keyboard but today they know it with their eyes closed. Added to that, mistakes, as in spelling, are auto corrected, sometimes with hilarious results. Here's another example of my version of Italic script handwriting:

 

[Edward]

I've been learning more and more about how these pens operate since I picked up this Noodlers Ahab.
I think I've finally found my favorite pen. This thing is completely serviceable from tip to cap!
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There's a certain joy to be had in finding a cheap pen that really hits the spot, and then having multiples of it so you're unafraid to take it out and use it. I fear I went a bit mad in recent years and have now a couple of dozen Wing Sung 601s, in several variants. There are a couple of exposed nib versions, but the main one - and my favourite - is basically a MkI Parker 51 clone with an improved, piston-type mechanism. European and US dealers will charge about GTBP30 / USD40 for one, but buying direct from China on Aliexpress or eBay, you'll get them for about GBP10-15 / USD 15-20. Cracking pens - I've been using them since Summer of 2019, I think, and of about two dozen I've only had one that was a leaker (the seller, seeing photos, agreed to send me a new one - and I have the leaky one for 'spares'). Like your Ahab, easily dismantled and fiddled with. Also available is a demonstrator model. Close enough the P51 to have that joy, but not totally interchangeable parts-wise, so not a source of repairs. An excellent substitute, though, with P51s being so pricey these days - event the aerometric models.

I found a bottle of Quink ink from Parker and though I would give it a try. So I filled up my 'Cheap' 1940's plastic fountain pen and it writes very well. If anyone ask to borrow a pen I give them a ball point. If they ask to try the fountain I will give them a short tutorial and let them try it out.

Mike

Quink is great, especially if you want a quick dryer. Generally cheaper than most alternatives too. I mostly use, for day to day, cheap Chinese fountain pen inks from the Wumart at around ten to thirty pence per 50-60ml bottle. Hero is the common brand. Used to have a real favourite which was a brand in mandarin characters only with a man in a brimmed hat drawn on it - smelled glorious, really floral. Alas that seems to have disappeared wherever I buy ink. Not bought any in '20 and am unlikely to in 21 owing to teaching in Beijing being online until post-pandemic, but looking forward to getting to it again.

That lettering is beautiful!

I wonder why the Royal Mail would scrap Saturday deliveries, when there is such demand for express parcels these days. Can't the same staff and vehicles handle letters as well?

They've been privatised over the last few years, which as a general rule means service will be compromised. I'd have been surprised if, as the legacy national provider, there weren't all sorts of limits. Telephone services were privatised in the UK in the early eighties, but British Telecom (which replaced the state provider GPO telephones) to this day has all sorts of limits placed upon it in terms of minimum pricing and service obligations (competitors can choose which areas to serve, BT are obliged to provide a phone line anywhere in the UK at standard rate - even if it ends up costing them money) to foster competition (though that only *really* took off with the mainstreaming of mobiles just over a decade later). That said, the post office has had competition from the private sector for a long time now (whereas GPO Telephones was a monopoly provider), so there may be fewer limits placed on them. In any case, it's inevitable that quality of service provision will slowly drop now that the profit motive has been introduced over providing a public service. Sad, but that's the way of the world.

It's funny: the more I learn about computers and modern communications, the more disappointed I am with the state of the art. Granted, your smartphone is a wonder of precision manufacturing, but it also packed with lazy, underhanded and counterproductive design choices.

Getting the best out of pen and paper takes skill and attention, but perhaps that's why handwritten letters feel so genuine.

I think it's horses for courses, really. The only thing I dislike about the convenience of email is how easy it makes me to reach for other people, which has created all sorts of new norms in terms of expectations of response, of with added work attached....!

 

[HudsonHawk]

I agree, Edward. I have a very high-tech job, but still take a lot of hand-written notes -- with a fountain pen, of course!

Working at Big Oil Company, I also take a lot of notes, pages and pages per day. However, we have not only been discouraged from handwriting them, we have been told it may reflect negatively in our performance evaluation, and it will greatly reduce our ability to get promoted. They want notes taken on a laptop or tablet, where it is easier to read, easier to file, and easier to share with others. I still write in cursive with a fountain pen because it’s faster and easier for me, but occasionally have to type them on a laptop when in a meeting, so as not to appear to resist the future. And I type pretty fast too. But for the younger generation, they simply do not write well. Most cannot write in cursive (though they can read it) and few can read their own handwriting the next day, regardless of the style.

Which is why cursive and penmanship is no longer taught in schools: it’s just no longer a practical skill to have. It’s like a slide rule. When I was a youngster starting in the working world (where you had to wear a suit and could smoke in your office, both of which are even more shocking to the kids today), the old scientists and engineers were saddened by the fact that few, if any, of the younger generation knew how to use one, and decried our reliance on a calculator (I actually sort of know how to work a slide rule). I doubt any engineer today under the age of 40 has ever seen a slide rule, let alone know what it’s for or how it works.

 

[GHT]

Following on from HudsonHawk, the week before Christmas I saw an industrial property where the loading area and car park was being prepared for tarmac surfacing. One fellow had a short 'T' Bar device. Curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask what it was he was using. It turned out to be an industrial protractor. He explained that although the finished surface would look level it was in fact a series of peaks of just one and a half degrees. This is designed thus so that rain water will run away and not flood the area. It made me smile to see that his clipboard had all his calculations in mathematical order, all written in pen and ink, not a calculator in sight.

 

[Harry Gooch]

Working at Big Oil Company, I also take a lot of notes, pages and pages per day. However, we have not only been discouraged from handwriting them, we have been told it may reflect negatively in our performance evaluation, and it will greatly reduce our ability to get promoted. They want notes taken on a laptop or tablet, where it is easier to read, easier to file, and easier to share with others. I still write in cursive with a fountain pen because it’s faster and easier for me, but occasionally have to type them on a laptop when in a meeting, so as not to appear to resist the future. And I type pretty fast too. But for the younger generation, they simply do not write well. Most cannot write in cursive (though they can read it) and few can read their own handwriting the next day, regardless of the style.

Which is why cursive and penmanship is no longer taught in schools: it’s just no longer a practical skill to have. It’s like a slide rule. When I was a youngster starting in the working world (where you had to wear a suit and could smoke in your office, both of which are even more shocking to the kids today), the old scientists and engineers were saddened by the fact that few, if any, of the younger generation knew how to use one, and decried our reliance on a calculator (I actually sort of know how to work a slide rule). I doubt any engineer today under the age of 40 has ever seen a slide rule, let alone know what it’s for or how it works.

Good points, Hudson. My hand-written notes are definitely for my eyes only -- all others get typed.

 

[Steepleman]

Working at Big Oil Company, I also take a lot of notes, pages and pages per day. However, we have not only been discouraged from handwriting them, we have been told it may reflect negatively in our performance evaluation, and it will greatly reduce our ability to get promoted. They want notes taken on a laptop or tablet, where it is easier to read, easier to file, and easier to share with others. I still write in cursive with a fountain pen because it’s faster and easier for me, but occasionally have to type them on a laptop when in a meeting, so as not to appear to resist the future. And I type pretty fast too. But for the younger generation, they simply do not write well. Most cannot write in cursive (though they can read it) and few can read their own handwriting the next day, regardless of the style.

Which is why cursive and penmanship is no longer taught in schools: it’s just no longer a practical skill to have. It’s like a slide rule. When I was a youngster starting in the working world (where you had to wear a suit and could smoke in your office, both of which are even more shocking to the kids today), the old scientists and engineers were saddened by the fact that few, if any, of the younger generation knew how to use one, and decried our reliance on a calculator (I actually sort of know how to work a slide rule). I doubt any engineer today under the age of 40 has ever seen a slide rule, let alone know what it’s for or how it works.

I am studying to become an engineer (and am definitely below the age of 40). At university (not an apprenticeship, sadly) we are learning the geometric methods with compasses, ruling pens and steel rules. I try to write out my notes and calculations by hand, but definitely won't be using trig tables any time soon. We do use φ and N tables though, so I suppose that's something the calculator-makers haven't included yet. Probably there's an engineering programme which does do it though.

I have a slide rule, but I have to say, calculators are much, much better. Possibly it's not lubricated well enough, but it's very tedious lining things up accurately. It's an interesting conversation-starter, if I may say that, but not very good in practice. Possibly it would be good for when significant figures are only two or three, but even then, it's too inaccurate for modern engineering.

As an aside, at school I learnt to use an abacus as well, but never got to a speed greater than just doing the calculation by hand.