Spencerian Workshop Report

Dear Members and Followers,

Valerie Keevers introduced us to the Spencerian Script in July, firstly with an Introduction at our Calliarts afternoon followed by a full day workshop a week later.  Valerie gave us a brief history of Spencerian, which is the American version of Copperplate, developed by Platt Rogers Spencer in 1840.  It became the preferred hand for business and schools in America until 1925 and a simplified version is still used in American schools.

The main difference between Copperplate and Spencerian is that Spencerian is lighter in weight, with minimal heavy down strokes.  Valerie provided us with guidelines and suggested we start practicing our letters with pencil, which for those of us used to writing Copperplate was very sound advice because it made us write the letters with a light touch.  Once we felt confident writing with pencil, we moved on to pen and ink, using either an elbow nib in a straight pen holder or a straight pointed nib in an oblique pen holder.

The capital letters proved a challenge but we persevered.  Valerie then gave us an exemplar of hand drawn leaf letters which had been adapted to suit Spencerian.  A beautiful versal for the start of a name or piece of work.

Valerie then gave us each a small bundle of cards that she suggested we use for sampling various tools and materials we can use for Spencerian:  pencil, various brands of pointed nib, different inks, gouache and even monoline pens such as gel pens.  The idea was then to put the strips of card together to make a reference book.  Because we had to rule lines on the card Valerie provided us with a triangular piece of card with the hypotenuse cut to the correct slope of 52^o.  This is a great little aid, making the ruling of slope lines so easy.  I must remember to make one for Copperplate.

Thank you, Valerie, for introducing us to such a beautifully elegant script.

Glenis