Spencerian-Copperplate Fountain-pen

---

CHOOSING THE BEST FOUNTAIN-PEN FOR COPPERPLATE OR SPENCERIAN,
WITH A ZEBRA MANGA G NIB FOUNTAIN-PEN:
Use of a Fountain-Pen fitted with a Zebra Manga G nib, is the very latest adaption in calligraphy arts. It applies to the flourished styles of writing, like Spencerian & Copperplate, etc.
A fountain pen used for these styles, means that the traditional dip-nib pen may become defunct, as the continuous flow of ink from a fountain-pen, enable the writer to concentrate fully on the writing details of these intricate, & tricky styles of writing.
NO MORE NIB DIPPING INTO INK !
Generally fountain-pens rarely wear-out when using a hand-writing nib. But this can happen relatively frequently for those who use dip-pen nibs. It is just so with the newly adapted fountain-pens, that now use this flexible sharp-pointed calligraphy dip nib. However the Zebra Manga G nib is very hardy & amongst most other copperplate nibs, it will last a good while before wearing out.

Zebra Manga G Nickel & Titanium nibs

Besides this fountain-pen adaption to traditional dip-pen copperplate, Ornasonova is introducing what can be called the 'Icing on the Cake'.
Here is the reason: A few reviews & forum posts noted that 'even with a Zebra G nib fountain pen, it still doesn't match using a dip-pen on an 'elbow' handle'. This tool of ours updates that problem, adding unique pen handling ability. The thing is, our latest development now allows a Zebra G Fountain-Pen to be used in an 'elbow' angled handle (see the images below). The pen shown is a hybrid, Fountain-Pen with Zebra Titanium nib.
The Zebra G adapted Fountain Pen shown, fits into our adaptable angled handle-holder. Correcting any arguments about the 'excellence of use' of the old 'dip-nib elbow handles'.

In fact, nearly any of the current range of Fountain-Pens that have been adapted to take a Zebra G nib, will fit into our Elbow-Handle adaptor. Besides the John Neal Zebra G model, it successfully accommodates the wide-body Jinhao 159, x450 & x750 models, & others on the market, as the space/diameter of the pens handle can be up to around 12mm maximum. It must be said that some of the pens used with the Zebra G adaption are a bit heavy to hold. So, some support with the underfinger (the middle-finger as shown in the picture above), will help hold up the pen while writing. But this is not so with the John Neal Zebra G, which is really light to hold.
FOUNTAIN-PEN CALLIGRAPHY PRACTISE
SETTING UP A CALLIGRAPHY WORK AREA.
To help you get set up & eliminate any pitfalls during practise or finished work. This next section will show you just how to master your own calligraphy.

(Extracted image from the Spencer family series of books).

FIG. 4. Front position. Arms & paper viewed from above, whilst sitting at your desk/table. (Updated image shows an elbow angled nib handle).

How To Tips: Summary for good results. Expecting results without covering the groundwork, is like the saying 'go to work on an empty stomach'. So for safe & well finished work, 2x methods for guidelines are needed: 1. Always use a sheet of A4 5mm square graph tracing paper, as your stable, bleedproof, learning surface. 2. Printout the angled guidelines page, & with 2x small paper clips, attach both sheets together. Turn the A4 sideways (to landscape), use this for all writing exercises. Scan the finished piece @600dpi, & clean up the image. Then with 2x finished page-files create a professionally written A4 letter.

About the image above: When writing Spencerian or Copperplate with the traditional Elbow Handle & a Dip-Nib, the concept of the Bodies-Centreline, allows the user to retain the sense of uprightness when doing the required ITALIC stroke angle. This maintains the ITALIC angled appearance, along with the skewed paper sheet angle.
It may seem odd to do, but 'THIS IS IT'.
Then when using the newly introduced Ornasonova angle holder with a Zebra G Fountain-Pen, the control of the pen is made with similar results.
Remember: Even the French master copperplater, Jean Larcher, drew up the work area in pencil, with both the horizontal & angle guidelines, before doing the work. Along with some foresight into what the finished artwork, with flourishes would look like.

1.The 2 template pages. 2.Using 2 paper-clips. 3.The angled page skewed to upright, for practise.

SKEWING THE TEMPLATE-PAGES ON THE DESK/TABLE.
Using the angled lined lines as if upright, automatically corrects the writers ITALIC style lettering. It means that you do your calligraphy, on an angle, as shown in image 3 above. So that, although italic was written as if upright, when it is viewed as a finished piece, all italic angles are perfectly the same, throughout the completed work. If using the A4 tracing paper as recommended, be sure to write on the non-graph-printed back-side, not on the graph-printed surface. Writing with the thinish fountain pen ink, is likely to repel & run-off the printed lines & break-up any written line into pieces.
# Jump to see our Fountain-Pen Inks webpage.

# Here is one of the best tips for thickening a watery fountain pen ink. For every 10ml or so of ink add 1 or 2 drips of glycerine (Glycerol BP), & stir well in. You will need to test these specifications with your particular ink brand, to get the ready-mixed ink that works in your pen. So freely adjust the amounts for an improved version of this basic recipe. Many forums & articles on the web mention using this additive, so check them out if you have any queries. (Local Supermarkets stock it).

Print the 'angle-line' page in greyscale mode on a printer, as a backing sheet template. Using it under the tracing paper, allows both normal lines & the Spencerian angled lines to become a guide for your writing. So place the angle-line page behind, align & fit them together with a couple of flat paper clips, as seen in the pictures above.
(Spencerian angle-line page for printing found in:

CopperplateGuidelines-5mmLandscapeVerticals-InPortraitFormat.jpg

Download this file, saving it to your disk & print it out on an A4 size page. Keeping the original image size & ratio the same, so as not to distort the angles of the lines.)
Along with using the 'skewing' of the page for writing on, you should also use the A4 pages sideways for practise work - in 'landscape' mode, this allows a lot of words to be written across the page, without running out of width of available paper. Typically 8 to 10 words can be written per line. As this section is about 'Spencerian' calligraphy, as taught by P.R.Spencer & Sons, in their more than adequate books. You will find all of the reasoning behind how & why this style is done as it is, down to the minutest detail. Even the reasons why? for the creation of the letters basic shapes.
A TEST PAGE TO COMPARE EARLIER & LATER VERSIONS OF YOUR WORK
This image uses the computer font ModernSpencerian.ttf, downloadable on our website for $10.00, for those who wish to get-by with a computing solution, & don't mind cheating their own creative abilities.
Use of this font to write up the following sample text, is what could be called perfect Spencerian letters.

Here is a sample of my latest handwritten version, after learning & practising this style using the same basic wording. This was after 9 months of practising Spencerian, done with my hand calligraphy, from which the above font was created.

# Image April 2023.

---

The following are extracted illustrations from a few of the original Spencerian series of books. The scanned images have been cleaned-up, as the originals are on very old paper with many staines, etc, also a few modern-updates have been added. To get the complete series, visit the IAMPETH website to download them for your own study:
The Spencer Family recommended books: Three books stand out from the number published by the Spencer Family, as follows.
1. "Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship", by H.C.Spencer.
2. "New Spencerian Compendium of Penmanship", by P.R.Spencer's sons.
3. "Theory of Spencerian Penmanship", by Spencerian Brothers.
A download of these books (freely available on the web), will complete an advanced study of this extraordinary development in traditional European Copperplate.

---

ADVANCED SECTION: Making it all a 'Working Model'.

Many terms used here, are things a more advanced calligrapher & desk-top-publisher (DTP) would know, you may need to seek out further details, to get up to speed, over unfamiliar word terminology.

There are added benefits from using the items listed here, for your learning cycle. The same equipment & setup, can be used for professional finished work. Without the old dip-pen techniques of having to rub out pencil guidelines after the ink is dry, & many other old time foibles - like re-ink loading a dip pen.
All that is needed is a scanner attached to a computer, & some good image processor like 'Photoshop' or other similar software.
Beginning with a text file, representing the correctly-spelt wording for the project is necessary. So there is no confusion when writing a layout, i.e;
1. The width of written words per line, generally of 8 to 10 words, for comfortable reading.
2. The correct use of dots, commas & diacritics if used, etc.
3. The Capitals used & a general allowance for their space-eating, flourished nature.
4. With the whole piece (say, a letter) having it's white spacing balanced with the written lettering.
5. When doing the lettering, make the angled line as the 'centerline' & as if upright on the desk/table.
So, here are some specific details to understand, if a sideways-turned A4 page is written-up & finished. These are the results of that written page:
At 5mm for the x-height of lower case letters, Spencerian uses 5x of these 5mm horizontal line spaces for all lettering in the alphabet, including capitals, numerics, ampersands & whatever else, on one just line. A 12 or 13 line finished A4 page, will be the result of correctly transcribing a prepared text file, into lettering on this A4 page. Just 2x of these finished pages will make up a fully formatted A4 portrait page. Making 24 to 26 lines of writing total. This can include any heading inserted at the top, if the said letter needs it.
Now the hand-written lettering original will be approximately 27cm wide & only after processing in the image software, can it be reduced, you should retain the ratio sizes, for the correct aspect of the lettering, so as not to distort the overall image, to fit the WIDTH of an A4, which is up to 21cm wide maximum.
From the colour scanned image, at say 600dpi. The resulting (.tif) image file can use the image-processors 'magic-wand', & select all blue or green coloured lines, used in the printed graph squares, then delete them. With the same deletion of any left over light grey areas, between the now removed printed squares. This will leave the raw black written letters, for any corrections & deletions needed to make the page 'look good'.
Convertion from color to a greyscale is recommended at this point, for a smaller saved filesize. Both original pages can then be joined to make a single A4 portrait page, which image can be adjusted, while keeping the ratio of the original image, to fit well into the A4 page. Then it can easily be used for printing, web use, or whatever use you may have for it.
The use of the guidelines when writing, that is both horizontal from the graph line guides, & the angle guideline page. Should make very presentable lettering, with the correct horizontal & italic angles, that show off nicely styled words. See the previous handwritten finished work.
(The above Webpage started around July 2022)

SPENCERIAN CALLIGRAPHY - in our Modern-Day World.
CHRISTMAS UPDATE 2022-23
Reading & practising the webpage above will make possible a working version of Spencerian style copperplate calligraphy. Doing this, means that your handwriting will be changed forever, & while it can be called 'a challenging endeavour' to complete, the result is more than satisfying. Mind you, it could only be classed straightforward & easy, if having practised other calligraphy arts before learning Spencer's style.
So yes, this calligraphy is a strict-ish learning curve. Here however, we have applied some up to date thinking - about altering how the copperplate style pen works.
Traditionally the  steel dip nib, comes with it's high-demand operations in:
       It's continuous ink control demands.
       It's need of sensitive finger-pressure control.
To ease the ink supply problem, our webpage has added the use of a modern fountain-pen, & with the fixed copperplate nib (see our available equipment for these goods), copperplate calligraphy becomes an easier writing art. So the latest equipment in using a fountain-pen, with it's inbuilt 'tools' simplifies the handling aspect, making copperplate writing a pleasure without traditional irritating interruptions.

But, how about a more entrepreneurial effort, beyond the above-idealized methods'?
All methods discussed so far rely on the nib as the end point to pass on ink to paper, as noted, this involves special care for 'nib-pressure' in expressing each single letter correctly, to satisfy all of copperplates stylistic requirements. Also the paper surface must be specially hard, like a card, bleedproof, or tracing paper.
Removal of the springy-copperplate-nib, would in theory nullify the whole handwritten 'arty' effect. So in using a range of Gel ink biro pens with a width of say: 0.35mm, can we satisfy the variable ink stroke thicknesses needed in copperplate writing? Along with it's unique presentation?
Well that is just what we have done here. It will work for you also - just as long as your level of Spencerian, or some form of Copperplate, has reached an advanced enough level.
With your written words being conformed to these recognisable styles, & no need to study further to get to this new-idea bottom-line.
Try out this modern-day shortcut, & BE SURPRISED BY THE RESULT.
See the following example, that uses the same handwritten style, (as shown here), but with a Gel-Biro pen:

Now you can see what modern-day ingenuity & tools, achieve with little effort. By this method we have:
1.      Eliminated the need of loose bottled ink, both for dip-nib use & as a refiller for fountain pens.
2.      Eliminated the need for finding an ideal pointed nib to use in copperplate writing. Such as the choice of a nib, which is only found by trial & error. With so many variable degrees of springiness to choose from. Generally they are light, medium or strong in their spring action, so that the choice of just one as the ideal nib, is not a forgone conclusion.
3.      Eliminated the need of using a dip-handle to hold the nib, this again includes multiple available handles, & even whether to use an angled-elbow handle, to try to improve the angled-downstroke & the end result.
4.      Eliminated the need of pressure control when writing, for the 'characteristic' broad & thin strokes necessary for expressing good copperplate. This shading is now done like it was an afterthought, a design feature added after the main work is complete, normally only for the Capital letters, as they express greater presence to the writing. This Spencerian style being a refined form of copperplate, nearer to our present day handwriting.
5.      Also this method saves the problem of getting a special writing surface, like 'tracing paper', to stop a wet ink bleeding into it. So, simple A4 photocopy paper will work, of almost any brand, as Gel biro pens will run ok on nearly anything.

So, this new method involves: Using a resource of the same type of Gel-Ink biro pens, say black coloured or gold, & pastel shades are available. 'Switch' pens for a coloured expression in your writing, for fancy greeting cards or for a special event.
Capitals in the Spencerian style, are the main letters that use expressive broad stroke-shading, whereas the minuscules are free from these excessive expressions.
We found it best to use the 0.3mm tipped pens for all strokes, that is for the Capital & thin strokes.
For those Capital letters, generally the flourished (curly-decorative) parts are for the thinner tipped pen (0.35mm), but broad strokes may be added as downstrokes or at the bottom of a stroke. Many examples of shading strokes are shown in teaching forms above.

An EXPERIMENTAL direction is possible using the Gel biro pens
As they come in many exotic colour inks, including Gold, Silver, Copper & White, as well as other interesting Metallic & Pastel shades. Only needing the one size of tip to make the above version possible.
To use Metallic & Pastel shade inks to the best effect, try writing on black or dark shaded papers, for the maximum 'POP' effect.

Methods for a classic straight guideline.
A base line for straight/horizontal written results is still essential, for the outright 'prettiness & harmony' of these old writing styles. So, whereas a 2B lead line in a retractable pencil (I always use an 0.7mm lead), will show up OK on white or light shade papers. The dark paper choice needs another, better idea. Try using a white Caran d'ache chalk/pastel pencil for your lines. Which will rub-out with a standard pencil eraser (when the ink has dried thoroughly), as easily as the 2B lead-lines on lighter papers.
Or better, buying a LIGHT-BOX is cheap nowadays, & available through many local art-stores. Here there is no need for guidelines by pencil or a chalk/pastel pencil, as the underside light shines right through. It's only necessary to place a base guideline paper underneath, to get straight written results on the finished work.

A NEW MODERNIZATION - from a very old writing tool !
First look at this written sample in Spencerian, it has all the features of the original style as laid down by the creators, (the Spencerian family of chirographers). But was done with a Silver Point pencil.

The 'Forever-Pen' has just come on the market, with it's other name being 'The World's Tiniest Pen'. While we don't sell it directly on our site here, see our dedicated webpage for further details & how to get one.

This PEN is a PENCIL, but with a silver based lead, so no more ink is needed ever. Also it is very hard wearing & could easily last a lifetime & write all your notes & letters. The pen is a wonder to read about, for all it's features, but here we have used it with an attached handle to do some classy Spencerian, with capital shading. Proving that it is possible to write copperplate styles with biros or this NEW/OLD tool that has come on the market.

Conclussion
If you really have learned the Spencerian style of writing well, as outlined on our main webpage for the subject, then over time, what was a steep learning curve, will quicken, until there will be no need for the 5 guidelines (per line of written calligraphy), which was used to get your work level & even, with each letter correctly shaped. But here, having learned the style, it becomes automatic & only needs a single base guideline, which every letter touches/sits on. This is all that is needed for good quality lettering. The required angle of each word also becomes an automatic feature, that comes naturally from practise. But adding angled lines to your basic line sheet form, is also acceptable, as it keeps your work 'honest' - to the right angle. So now one comes near to a normalised expression of the best calligraphy, as if it was the most natural way to write words.
These newly outlined methods to update & get-around the foibles of old-style copperplate writing, should bring fresh life to the fine-looking harmony of line work, as found in this art.
We hope this article on modern-day calligraphy will cause a resurgence of the hope of P. R. Spencer, when he stated his 'resolution to rescue from its undeserved obscurity the practical Art of Writing'.
# This new turn to an old style, equals in many ways the recent invention of the 'Pilot Parallel pen' system. These cannot do copperplate or Spencerian, but the pens are excellent for almost all other calligraphic styles, coming in a standard variety of square-cut nib, millimetre widths. Try some for the ultimate calligraphic freedom.

---

April 2023 Update- NEW

It's now around 10 months since learning to correct my handwriting with copperplate inspired Spencerian. My initial effort into this system of writing, is the subject of this Spencerian main article/webpage.

The added-on UPDATE 'Christmas 2022-23' above, contains many MODERN UPDATES to the older ink-pen system, still used by calligraphers around the globe. It's exiting reading, bringing into focus many modern-day inventions & applying them to this 'old-now-antique' style.

Here though: It's now April 2023, & as a review, my latest results & insights are in this 'BLOG' style add-on. These findings & tips may help anyone's queries about daily use of Spencerian style handwriting.

Taking a look at a page of calligraphy, the Capital letters are the first thing a reader notices when seeing it for the first time. So, a set of attractive & readable capitals becomes an up front necessity to anyone's written words. More than any other effort, special care should be aimed at these.

In this capital letter area, creating harmonious strokes of overall similarity, will make the 'beautiful' aspect more prominent.

Looking around among the available capitals written by master calligraphers, you find alphabetic sets of letters that you may like for their attractive look, & those what you might deem ugly. This is a personal thing & is really the subject of this update. After all who wants to stick parrot-like to the strictness of a style. So, we tend to branch from learning line-forming strokes, to develop our own, more settled style. Although this can only come about after having adopted a learning phase, for as long as it takes, (just as the old saying says, 'you can't go to work on an empty stomach'). During this learning period, one would gain insight into the how & why these particular lines are formed & becoming able to create a copy of a teachers original forms. By these means, the basic foundation of the style is well learned. From this point on your personal preferences can develop & merge into the learned strokes. Simply put, this is a form of mastery, of at least this style.

As mentioned earlier, attractive & readable, are central as controlling viewpoints, a capital may look fantastic, but be unrecognisable as a real letter of the alphabet. These added on effects come from excessive swirling strokes, this way & that, & having prominent shading strokes that may unbalance the letters readability. To show this graphically, here is a sample capital of a slightly over embellished capital 'A', made nearly unreadable from the excessive use of support lines/flourishes.

Copperplate "A" from the calligraphy work of Jean Larcher.

To become a well settled series of alphabetical capital letters, it is an ongoing & changing effort over time, while discovering better more suitable strokes, for a set of capital letter choices.

My personal development of what I currently call a satisfactory & attractive series of CAPITALS follows. Here is the ModernSpencerian font copy:

& here is my handwritten example:

These take some time to measure-up in a line of writing with consistent form. So that they are easily recognisable across a page of writing, just as any computer fonts style is.

But, besides the need of effort in this area, this measuring-up & consistency, is a challenging effort that may not apply in many writing situations. Like say, a quick note or message, or business use, rather than the pleasure of a written by hand letter. It was just so in the old days as well, with quicker, easier to write capitals, taking the place of decorative stylistic sets, like that shown above.

So, here is a series based on my decorative set, that serve me for those quick-note jobs that are often needed day to day:

Having a decorated series of capitals that settled all my innovative insights, I can then derive the stripped-down-for-speed set. A number of capitals above are missing, & no doubt readers will be able to innovate all letters for themselves, with a free-hand in their own design.

This same idea was shown originally in the Spencer Brother's copied images above, see the first page illustration from their book, which has a sample of quickly written alphabet Capital's. A few of those shapes in that image, I find a bit discombobulated, when compared to our modern capitals, but I am sure you would get the idea about not using shades or flourishes for the quickness of letter writing.

Coming to the lower case letters, these by comparison are easy to learn, shape & maintain. However here are a few tips that are particular to Spencerian, that are not dealt with much in other styles within the copperplate forms. The range of shapes called 'The 7 Principles' cover much of what is the reality of lower case forms, actually the first 4x of them are needed to be employed in as strict as possible practise, for successful calligraphy. See the first page illustration from their book after my handwritten image, above.

Number one (1) is the straight line, this sets the angle used for all letters, either lower case or capital. Next is (2) the 'right-curve' & (3) the 'left-curve' pair, which allow the joining of each letter in a word. The number 2 & 3 strokes are important as they keep the letter spacing (or kerning as it is called), in a words structure. Without these 2x in working order, a word would start to look like the following: Spe nceri a n, or some other weirdly spaced set of letters. As letters don't exclusively use right-curves or left-curves, the joint lines between the different letters will vary, dependant on which is joined to which. So applying the correct curve will keep the whole word neatly packed together, & so be recognised as a word, & not like the earlier sample (Spe nceri a n). In word expressions choosing the incorrect curve joining stroke can upset the harmony of a words appearance – in it's interior spacing, making it look like 2 words or 3 words…. etc. A primary example of these curve line errors, is the joint between letters like 'a', 'u', when joined to an 'n', or an 'm'. Somehow the gap widens compared to the rest of the word, & the appearance becomes badly stretched & almost incomprehensible.

The 4th Principle is the upright & the hanging loop, such as is found above the base line in 'h' & 'k' for instance, & below the base line in 'g' & 'y'. These are at their best using the straight-line Principle (No.1), at the same set angle it uses for all other letters. Conformity to these steps will make the beauty of a line of words more pronounced, as they all follow the similar angle.

A good test of right application of these details, is found in writing the word 'minimum', prominently using the first 3 principles only to complete the whole word, plus 2x dots for the 'i'.

Written using the ModernSpencerian font.

Written by hand.

The only strokes needed to complete this to Spencer's strict guidelines, are of course his first 3 basic Principles;
1. Named the 'angled straight line',
2. Named the 'right-curve', as it veers to the straight lines right side,
3. Named the 'left-curve', as it veers to the straight lines left side.

Try it out now & test your control of these 3 simple strokes.

This word having the 3x basic Principles in changing order, so simple its almost confusing. The lower-case 'a', 'u' & others have similar internal strokes.

This continuous adjustment to the up & down strokes is really good exercise as a trainer of the simplest movements. The more one studies the intricacies of this unique letter writing form, these 3x strokes appear to govern nearly every letter. Popping up near on everywhere, even through the capital sets. They may vary in overall size of stroke, so a larger 'principal' stroke would be needed for capitals. But the consistency of these 3x basics is a 'harmony maker' through this letter writing art. A closer study of the latest alphabet image above, will reveal how these 3 strokes crop-up in nearly every letter.

---

# BUY GOODS: MAKING SPENCERIAN-COPPERPLATE CALLIGRAPHY POSSIBLE.

John Neal Zebra-G Fountain-Pen. Spencerian.php#JNZG John Neal Zebra-G Fountain-Pen $130.00 each Parcel code 1

John Neal (Osprey Scholar) Zebra-G Titanium nib Fountain Pen. The pens chief feature (making it a hybrid), is the adaption of a classic handwriting pen to use the Zebra-G nib, it can use either the Titanium or Nickel-coated Zebra G nibs. The supplied Titanium nib allows twice the life, compared to the Zebra G Nickel nib - before the need to replace it. Complete instructions are included for when you need to re-fit a new nib & have it up & running. Selling at AUD$130.00, (cheap in Australia), with the Black-Cap & Barrel, including the Zebra Titanium nib, a screw-in ink converter, small ink tester bottle & extra supplies/equipment.

Download the official (Osprey Scholar)-John Neal Flexpert Instructions PDF file.

---