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Fountain pens are 100% my pen of choice for fine writing, short of calligraphy. They’re smooth and have a bit of unique character in how ink is applied to paper. They take a bit of mastery, but that’s part and parcel of penmanship; it’s like an aid in focusing you in on the art. I learned cursive on fountain pens exclusively in grade school on student pens like Pelikan, which have ink cartridges you insert and pierce themselves as you put the pen back together, but probably my favorite pen I’ve ever written with is an old Parker 51 my Ma found as a boxed set with a matching pencil. It’s probably 50s or 60s, looks stunning, and writes with flair. It can look clean or dramatic and distinctive depending on the way you use it, and no more bent nibs with the Bakelite cover over the nib. It’s expressive, sexy to look at, a pleasure to write with, and all-around just a fine piece.
My first daughter has always had beautiful handwriting no matter what she uses to write with. She learned cursive & calligraphy at a young age in school...
AND practice. Tracing paper, a pencil, and some neat clear lettering beneath to trace. Once you have the forms, keep your spacing and slant consistent.
I write like a doctor and I will start to practice my penmanship. Which is the best pen(s) I should use to assist me with wonderful handwriting?
Good question....I did mention I like Pilot...Also recomend Uniball pens.
I use pens quite frequently in my profession...I monitor critical equipment in a central plant serving a large building-including multiple large centrifugal chillers, multiple air compressors, Diesel/electric Fire Pumps, and backup emergency generators....... and take readings in the central plant..every work night!
Taking hourly readings, for the plant, has made me quite particular about my choice of pen!
For sure, there are better pens than fountains for use doing many things.
I tend to think that if a person wants to learn how to improve their handwriting, or to learn how to write cursively, and has never used a fountain pen, sticking with the type of pen they like best may be better than trying to learn how to write and try to learn how to use a fountain at the same time.
Really a lot of writing clearly and legibly depends on only a few things: the consistency of the letter shapes, their heights, the size, and the spaces between words. All of them are relatively easy to achieve when printing the letters, but they are all harder writing cursively, and it requires knowing how to correctly form the letter shapes first.
There are lots of guides on how to do it on the internet that can be printed out. Keeping one on a paper sheet next to a practice pad would be very helpful. A good practice pad would be a graph paper that's printed in squares, not lines, as it will aid in learning how to keep the letters uniform.
I think using a regular #2 pencil that's kept sharp would be as good a tool as a pen for practice, as pencils all have a little more drag on the paper than pens. That drag acts like a small brake that can slow the hand down, and give the person more feel of the paper/pencil contact. It makes control easier.
Another thing that's important is using the proper grip on the tool. The best grip is the one that allows the least finger pressure to keep the tool under control. (Its also the oldest)
Put the thumb, forefinger and middle finger together at their tips. There should be a tiny triangle where the tips meet.
The pen or pencil goes right there in the triangle. The thumb should never wrap round the others, nor should one finger have the most control.
This grip should be used with as little finger motion as possible. Most of the motion should come from the wrist, with fingers acting as small correctors.
Using this grip takes almost all muscle tension out of the fingers. Only a little is needed to hold the tool. A relaxed hand will naturally make writing easier, and using the wrist naturally tends to make the letter shapes more uniform, as it's the larger joint that's doing the work.
The old adage applies: Use your big muscles first if you want to keep working a long time. Practicing demands a lot of time to improve anything, and handwriting is no exception.
If you use the correct grip, you'll never need any padding on your writing tool. You won't get hand cramping either.
The one thing that cursive does the best is speed. If something needs to be written fast, cursive beats printing hands down. But writing speed also helps a lot when a lot of writing needs to be done too, such as note taking in a demanding class or situation.
Last edited by banjomike; 12-21-2021 at 09:55 PM..
I write best with a fountain pen but they have been asleep in my desk drawer for years now. I especially used to like the cartridge type after so many messy spills with bottled ink.
You really have to try it to see if it's the right one for you though, the thickness, the weight, the balance, not to mention the nib.
Ballpoints--One time I did find one that I liked. It was some kind of Papermate but when it needed refills the store didn't sell them. Where do people get refills now that stationery stores are obsolete?
I write best with a fountain pen but they have been asleep in my desk drawer for years now. I especially used to like the cartridge type after so many messy spills with bottled ink.
You really have to try it to see if it's the right one for you though, the thickness, the weight, the balance, not to mention the nib.
Ballpoints--One time I did find one that I liked. It was some kind of Papermate but when it needed refills the store didn't sell them. Where do people get refills now that stationery stores are obsolete?
Amazon. Where else?
But you have to buy a LOT of ballpoint refills at once. JetPens might sell them in lesser quantities.
I also love the Papermate Joy (I think that's the name!) gel pens in a million different colors.
I write best with a fountain pen but they have been asleep in my desk drawer for years now. I especially used to like the cartridge type after so many messy spills with bottled ink.
You really have to try it to see if it's the right one for you though, the thickness, the weight, the balance, not to mention the nib.
Ballpoints--One time I did find one that I liked. It was some kind of Papermate but when it needed refills the store didn't sell them. Where do people get refills now that stationery stores are obsolete?
As was said, Amazon and eBay have every kind of ink refill imaginable, but there are a growing number of pen-specialized stationery stores on the internet too.
Some of them, like Fahrney's or the Pen Hospital have been around since the 1920s. The Pen Hospital began as a fountain pen repair company only, but now, it sells as more new pens than it repairs.
Others are younger companies that have always used the internet for sales, formed as the mom & pop stationery stores began to disappear.
There are now some ink bottle designs and devices that cut down on the refilling mess considerably.
All the Lamy ink comes in bottles with both a very good design and a roll of blotter paper that's built in.
All you need to do is just dip your pen in and fill it up. The Pineider pen company makes a little metal snorkel you can drop into the bottle and refill a converter that allows you to get every drop of ink out of the bottle. But any bottled ink can still spill, so care must be taken.
The biggest advantage a bottle-fill only pen has over the others is the amount of ink the pen can carry. Sometimes that's 2-3 more times more ink than what's in a cartridge. For someone who writes a lot every day, that can make a big difference, especially when the pen can be re-filled in about the same time it takes to drop a cartridge into another pen.
All the companies that make fountain pens always have most of the models designed for cartridges, which are the easiest and cleanest, and for converters, which allow the use of bottled ink.
What's most interesting is the best pen makers almost always offer their finest of their top range pens in bottle fill only.
Fountain pens are one of the last writing instruments where more cost still goes directly into the pen.
If anyone who has never used one was to actually see, hold, and write with a pen that costs $15.00 and another that costs $315.00, the differences in materials, workmanship, ergonomics and ease of writing is instantly apparent.
Fountain pens reached their technological apex a long time ago. It was always a specialized industry that demanded a lot of hand labor, so when the cheap ballpoint pens took over the low end of the pen market, the only way the fountain pen makers could compete was to build more impressive, more expensive pens made with much higher quality than was acceptable in the past.
It's a lot like buying a really good Swiss-made mechanical watch or an American-made guitar now. The quality costs, but the goods deliver in spades when used.
The pen industry always skated the thin line between utility and luxury in its top of the range offerings. Some of the most expensive appear to be quite plain, with little ornamentation, but took 6 months to make by 2 or 3 very skilled craftsmen, while others are made of solid gold that's highly engraved and carved. At the top of the top, either can cost $25,000 or more.
Nowadays, the best fountains are as valuable as collectibles as they are writing instruments, as there is a huge international collector's market for them.
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