No6 The Death of the Handwritten Script?...

Reflective Journal Entry No6 13/06/11

http://ilovetypography.com/2007/10/22/so-you-want-to-create-a-font-part-1/

I have been giving more thought to the hand crafted script of my handwriting, and will thinking about this wondered if there could be explored both a left and right handed version? In the last few years I have become increasingly interested in the development of left handed tools, implements and pens, having spent my early school years in Manchester resisting the pressure from my teachers to write 'right hand only', I just took for granted that I would just get used to right only equipment, to such a level of use, that even now using a left handed scissors feels strange to use.

This line of exploration is in its early days and not sure if this will be fully developed in the coming weeks. I do hope that it will form some part of the final educational resource of materials? Again not sure if this is going to fully explored to the level I wished back in September, but the aim is to pull together all the finished components of 1st and 2nd Semester materials and have them play a part in the 'proposed resource kit'.

The link included in this latest entry outlines how you can create a font from your own handwriting, this is one of the ideas which has been running around my mind for the last couple of years. Yes it is mainly digital in after conventional creation, but this serves up a platform from which I will draw upon to create larger installation pieces either for a final piece or as part of an ongoing practice?

No5 The Death of the Handwritten Script?...

Reflective Journal Entry No5 13/06/11

As stated in No4, I want to challenge myself with this chosen subject and I feel that there is a very real area here to explore. Modern digital technology has brought about some significant changes in the last 5 years alone, and I would certainly be a false statement, 'if I said this for me was very much a welcome thing', especially as my Professional practice both teaching and direct client work has benefitted enormously over the last 10 years alone. This morning I have been working through thoughts sketching out ideas, studying through a practical exercise how my own handwriting looks over scale and using different pens, these examples will be posted next after I have photographed them.

What this exercise proves to me, is that I don't have one defined style to create this family of fonts I want to create. Tony my tutor at college said to me very early on, 'that many factors shape the way we write, how we hold the pen, how we were influenced in learning to write and the type of pen, brush or even quill we use'. He also made an interesting comment that because I'm also 'left handed' I immediately rotate the implement I'm using differently. For many years I was never really able to use a right handed fountain pen, why I hear you say? Well it's down to the nib and how it's machined, because I'm using the nib against its grain it will tear the paper I'm writing on, which is why the nib has to be machined in the opposite direction.

This link shows a number of examples of how left handed people hold the pens.

http://www.nibs.com/Left-hand%20writers.htm

A quote from this site states,

While there is a common perception that fountain pens are problematic for left-handers, the truth is that lefties love fountain pens. In fact, left-handers tend to own fountain pens at a higher rate than their percentage of the population might otherwise indicate...