<edit>Penmanship update #1</edit>
Recently I’ve noticed that my penmanship has gotten really bad. Well, really bad for me. I used to have beautiful writing. Well, maybe not beautiful. But compared to my peers, my handwriting has always been very nice. Not just legible, as it still is legible, but neat and even and…nice looking. Not anymore. I wrote some letters these last few days and I took a good look at my writing. It looks terrible. Terrible for me. Let’s just get that clear right now. My standard for my handwriting (read: the standard my mother ingrained into me) is rather high. So while my handwriting is perfectly legible still and probably a lot better than my colleagues’ at work (as they are guys with fairly stereotypical guy writing), it annoys me that it has deteriorated into the state it’s in now. I’m disgusted.
So, I’ve been poking around on the internets some to see how best to start improving my penmanship back to what it was and maybe even better. I think I would really like to have the ornate script of ye olden times. I’m not sure how practical that would be though. If I’m writing something by hand, I often still need to be fairly quick about it. Drawing in extra loops and flourishes may look quite nice on paper, but I’m sure it slows down say, your notetaking, considerably. I don’t like that idea at all.
Interestingly though, I found a tidbit online that suggested that people take a calligraphy class to help with their daily handwriting. I suppose that makes sense. Learning the skills and techniques of calligraphy could easily transfer into your normal, daily script. You could leave out all the flourishes.
Now then, I have no intention of taking a class. I hardly have the time to breathe, let alone try and find time to take a class. I would really like to…but again, not practical. I am the personification of practicality here. Ok, not really. I might be the personification of carpal tunnel syndrome. But that’s also arguable. Anyway, I can’t find the time to take an actual class on calligraphy, but I do have a calligraphy book that I bought some years back when I wanted to take it up and I do have a set of simple calligraphy pens. I would really like a dip pen and a set of interesting nibs with interesting inks, but that will have to come at a later date. What I have now is more than adequate to start out.
So, the plan is to start working my way through the book in earnest. I will start with the foundational hand and work my way through the hands provided. I’ll probably provide a sample of my work from time to time and maybe even do some of the projects they suggest in the book. Hopefully, my penmanship will start creeping back up to my ever-so-lofty standards I set for it. Hopefully.
Random moosages as I see fit. 