Absolutely worthwhile! As a teen, I found several of the workbooks, already completed, in an abandoned house in New Hampshire. I taught myself and my teachers in grade 8 were very impressed, possibly jealous as some of them could barely print!
In addition to other millions things that you got right, the most impressive feat you have acheived is that you have gotten the part absolutely right where most you-tubers mess up completely-that is, choosing the correct music, the right melody and the right volume- not too loud, not too low- just the right kind of music, in the right amount and volume. I hate the videos where they play loud disruptive music while they talk. Yours is the only one I have thoroughly enjoyed. The music never interferes with or distracts from your speech , in fact complements it. Awesome job!!! And of course your explanations and tutoring is awesome too. Thanks a lot. :-)
Thanks so much for this comment! I'm glad you find everything works together; it really means a lot to me to know that the time I spend editing and fitting everything together is worth it. 😊
This is fascinating! In my career I have come across a few old Business letters that were written before typewriters. I noticed that they all had this same script. It was Elegant yet legible. I am so excited now to know it has a name and it’s some thing I can learn. Thank you for sharing this information!
Yes! I think they suit a specific personality type, I like putting on a podcast and just relaxing into the drills. It's like Zentangle but you have better handwriting at the end of it.
I just purchased these since my cursive is atrocious. I think what I'm going to do is go through half of all the exercises in every book. When I finish, I'll go back and do the remaining half...I think this method might help reinforce the skills much better.
@@joshuasoccer500 It was going really well, except I stopped before completing due to a lot of other things that happened. Ill probably start again when I get the time,
i find that i can "draw" spencerian quite well. i have allways been drawing a lot and i can control the pen well. however learning the arm movement has really humbled me. its like learning to walk again. im writing like a todler
My mother took penmanship from these books in the early 1900s. My sister used her old book in the 50s and has beautiful perfect handwriting. I love these books, but I have not progressed. I really think you have to be somewhat artistic to write like this.
I started these books and lost my confidence on p. 13, the small letter "r". One big thing that bugged me was that all the samples and lines were set at 5 mm for small letter height, which is quite large, because most handwriting of small letters is done at 2mm (try it yourself). So I kept thinking, "Even if I get through all these books, I'll learn how to write large Spencerian script, which is not very useful for my letters and correspondence." The book doesn't address this at all, so I guess we're supposed to assume that after months of training this way, all of a sudden we can "downsize" from 5mm to 2mm without any difficulty. So that bothers me. But it still is a beautiful script and worth imitating. And congratulations on staying dedicated and going so far! I see you have an angled nib-holder, which is great for shading. You are an inspiration to us all!
Thank you very much for the recommendation. I have just come by this book; however, I thought that it was not practical at all, just by leafing through it online. Your video changed my perspective. I will definetely use it to practice my handwriting!
VERY nicely presented. I’d never heard of those books but they’re worth investigating. And if that was an example of you using that pen, your time has been well spent. Also……..nice choice of background music! Wonderful match. It appears you’ve trained your ear somewhere along the road. Too many presenters haven’t figured out that music should compliment the message, not intrude upon it. Gosh……..I’m thinking about proposing marriage…………….😉 Keep up. The great work.
I'm always shocked to find that I was the only person that writes in cursive in the entire grade level (except the teachers ofc) and I'm seeing if I can switch to spencerian after sticking with D'nealian. But my hand wouldn't budge and now my handwriting is sort of a hybrid now. Good luck changing your way of writing ! :)
I got these from Amazon last year but haven't gotten around to starting them yet! Whenever I looked through them when they arrived I will admit it seemed pretty full on with the technical descriptions. How long did it take you to really start to pick it up?
Hello, Liked your comments and your progress is beautiful penladyship! Ha! But didn’t see where you purchased these workbooks. Thanks for sharing. After ordering Yes they helped me. But Honestly those who can’t afford them can as I did learn watching the unlimited UTube tutorials.
Hi! i have been considering buying these copybooks and the theory book a while now! And i was wondering how long did it take for you to have an elegant handwriting by practicing with these books? :)
Hi Nah! It depends on your dedication and how much time you devote. I believe if you consistently practice 10 minutes a day your writing will improve in 1-2 months; certainly by the end of finishing the first book you should see considerable improvements.
Hi. Watching the video again, but now I got myself the books, by Amazon, here in Brazil. Could your make a video "differing" or comparing, the hand movement with the whole arm movement in Spencerian? I'm a little (to much) lost in here. Thanks!
Your pen grip is nothing like what the book instructs. That being said, you write very well! The drills seem to be doing their job. Did you try to modify your grip though? And it's normal for things to progress slowly, true mastery takes years. I've literally just started but I know what's ahead of me in terms of practice and time investment :)
Will you recommend using a mechanical pencil instead? Because it has the same pointy end and we don't have to sharpen the pencils very frequently? I am just wondering..
Do you always make the straight line as a downstroke? I noticed you made the curves on upstrokes. I think it was palmers book that says always make downstrokes straight and upstrokes curved. This doesn’t seem possible with Spencerian.
Love this. This is just what the Doctor ordered. WHERE CAN I GET THIS/. I have been looking 3 years for this exact same thing. Where can I get This. Thanks, Bo********
Great video, am starting on the workbooks. I learned this script in gradeschool in the 1960's or perhaps it was more Palmer penmanship. Is there a huge difference and can they be compared in terms of better or worse ( probably Palmer is business style ). Thanks !
There are many components to improve handwriting . One plan I discovered that succeeds in merging these is the Secret Smart Scripter (check it out on google) definately the no.1 remedy i've seen. Look at all the great information .
I've been through a version of the same books ( mine look different in terms of the words mainly) and I worked on these and photocopies of grid lines for about a year... Still not happy, my letter forms are close but no improvement at All... I still use these books for practice about 3 times a weeks or more ... So what can I do to get more consistency and elegance in my letters and words?
I need your help. It seems like you don't use the grip suggested in the Spencerian theory book...I am so discouraged because I can't get the letters right and consistently correct. What grip should I use? Should I continue trying with the suggested Spencerian grip or can I use the grip I have used since childhood...? I have done some research and have seen suggestions to use either one. Help!
Could I use a fountain pen to practice in the books? or would you suggest starting out with pencil? Just wondering because I'm about to purchase this online and I might as well get a fountain pen if you think it's a good idea...
Victor Jason Yeung I’ve gone through almost the whole first book with a fountain pen. I’m just getting into them and I enjoy it. The paper isn’t the best quality so if you use a broader nib or write slower you might get some bleed through to the other side of the page. But it hasn’t been unbearable for me. It’s nice to try out different colors of inks too to see what they look like.
i'd suggest with a pencil, but later on you can definitely go over with a fountain pen, but as the others have said the paper quality isn't the best. I use a pilot metro in medium nib (still very fine) and in x-feather and it doesn't bleed through. Once I switched to a Lamy medium it started bleeding and ghosting.
There are quite a few different types of handwriting, especially in different countries! For example, an Austrian friend of mine learned Kurrent at school: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ausgangsschrift, I learned New American Cursive. Jack is correct, there's also handwriting based off Italic letterforms. As for the kit or workbooks, I'm not sure about ones for things other than Spencerian; it would be interesting to know.
On Italic, there's a series of videos on Italic by Lloyd Reynolds on RU-vid here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-v22dewR4izg.html, and there's also an accompanying workbook available freely online, although he uses a broad edged pen so it's not strictly handwriting. Googling gives me the Getty-Dubay book (sample here: www.handwritingsuccess.com/images/sample_pages/Write_Now_samples.pdf), which looks pretty workbooky. I guess the ones made for children (as the Spencerian workbooks were) always have nice fill-in-the-blank spaces!
Sarah Hall Check out this series and just sit with a notepad and a broad edge pen. Excellent stuff! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-v22dewR4izg.html
This book proves how you one can create art with just three basic strokes mastered to perfection. This book set has been kept alive by enthusiasts eager to preserve the dying skill of penmanship. Hope this gem of a bookset never goes out of print.
Hey Anita - I practice with a sharp pencil as I work directly in the workbook and find the pages quite thin to write with pen. If you have an oblique holder and a nib that you are comfortable using, then I would practice on a separate sheet of paper - filling in the workbook with pencil and then doing some exercises separately on a sheet with your oblique holder so you start to get used to using the pointed nib for Spencerian. Hope that helps!
Christina L. - I hope you were joking. Speed NEVER plays a part in practicing calligraphy. Every letter regardless of the script has to be DRAWN slowly and carefully to achieve proper letter form. Speed is meaningless in the world of calligraphy.
@@sammysmith586Four years late but Spencerian isn’t calligraphy you dunce. It’s handwriting. Speed is the explicit goal of Spencerian. That’s why it replaced the then common Copperplate.
I ordered these books and they arrive tomorrow. I'm a lefty, my hand writing is TERRIBLE. I also take part in civilwar reenactments which makes me interested in this script specifically. SO I'm going to use these books to learn from the ground up RIGHT HANDED. This is gonna be a fun time. Can't wait to switch writing styles depending on which hand I'm using ;)
@@Channel-kc7rz I already find it working and I've barely scratched the surface of the first book. When at work doing inventory tallies, I use my right hand now O_O