Can a subtle change in hand position improve your penmanship?

[@ajc4762]

I love that tip about hand placement to fix slant issues. I have the most slanted writing ever and I noticed an immediate difference.

[@PerfectBiscuits]

Nice!

[@HABXKD]

I experienced that too

[@rurico45]

Great advice will try it

[@lindasue8719]

I really appreciate in your different videos that you discuss being flexible with hand position. I'm trying to learn spencerian style, and I can do the arm movement no problem and I can keep my wrist up... But I have a heck of a time with the position of the hand. Especially the 3rd and 4th fingers they're just kind "there" and in the way. Sometimes I feel like I've sprouted 8 extra fingers that are just fumbling and messing up the position. Although I like to be a stickler for technique when learning something new, I'm wondering if I should just go back to a modified version of my regular grip, which I guess would be with the hand slightly tilted rather than trying to keep it flat (and I can still do the arm writing without resting on the wrist). I'm kind of a noob so I'm wondering if I'm giving up too soon and whether I should stick with it for a while. Your thoughts?

[@PerfectBiscuits]

Hmm, I'd have to see a video of you writing to get an idea of whether or not your hand position is causing any issues with your movement. It's possible you could be writing with your wrist off the table, but still not really using your arm to drive the movement.

[@DieyenDualPen]

Very insightful David! What nib are you practicing with?

[@PerfectBiscuits]

Hey Diego! This is my trusty Esterbrook 1000. It's a vintage nib, so not super easy to buy. There's really nothing special about this nib, but once you write with it for a while it develops a smooth, bold point. You can get a similar result with a hunt 22.

[@leosperling4112]

I wanted to ask if the Palmer Method can be done with an italics nib? The only fountain pen I have is a Lamy Joy with a 1,5 mm tip. It seems very hard to get ink out of this pen to write, I feel like the angle has to be 100% perfect. This is especially hard for drawing the ovals. Sorry if you already made a video about that, didn't find one about that topic! I hope I've used the right nomenclature.

[@PerfectBiscuits]

Leo Sperling sounds like there is something wrong with your nib if ink isn’t flowing out of it readily. Sometimes ink will dry up in the nib and you need to clean it out to get it flowing again. That said you could write palmer method with an italic nib, but that’s not really what it was meant for. If you’re writing italic script, there’s really no reason to use palmer method, it’s just not the right movement for the script.

[@leosperling4112]

@@PerfectBiscuits I am not writing italic script, but I guess I will just use a different pen to do the job then. I also cleaned the nib, but there was no difference. Maybe you could try it yourself, to see if you can get the ink readily flowing with a 1.5 mm nib in your hand position you showed in the video :-)

[@PerfectBiscuits]

Leo Sperling it’s not the hand position, but every fountain pen has a sweet spot, so you might need to hold the pen flatter/steeper to hit the sweet spot.

[@monkey_kang]

i didnt know a quarter can be placed on your hand in textbook position. pretty sick!

[@PerfectBiscuits]

I heard that somewhere, don’t remember where.

[@lindasue8719]

😀 like strict piano playing position