Acquiring
a Formal
Hand:

(2) Methods

thick H

vertical

thirt stroke В

horizontal

mb car at ^

OF 70 DEGREES

\ % ANGLE
XTO SHAFT"

Fig.

42-

Horizontal

Line

oblique angle1 to che shaft, so that, while the shaft
is slanted, the edge of the nib is parallel with the

horizontal line of the
paper, and will there¬
fore produce a hori¬
zontal thin stroke and
a vertical thick stroke.
For example: if the
shaft is held slanted at
an angle of 70o with
the horizontal, the
nib is cut at an angle
of 70o with the shaft
(fig. 42). The angle of
the nib with the shaft
may vary from 90o (at
right angles) to about
70o, according to the
slant at which the
shaft is held (fig. 43).

If the writer pre¬
fers an extremely
NIBS CUT AT VARIOUS ANCLES slanted shaft, to cut
Fig. 43. the n'b correspond¬

ingly obliquely would
weaken it, so it is better to counteract the slant by
slightly tilting the paper (fig. 44).

To produce the horizontal thin stroke, therefore:
The slant at which the shaft is held,

The angle at which the nib is cut, and
The tilt which may be given to the paper:

1 If the edge of the nib were cut at right angles to the shaft,
obviously the horizontal stroke would not be thin, and the true
thick and thin strokes would be oblique (see “slanted pen"
writing—figs. 9 & 11).

32

must be so adjusted, one to another, that the chisel Acquiring

edge of the nib is parallel to the horizontal line of a Formal

the paper. Before Hand:

writing, make trial (2) Methods
strokes on a scrap of
paper to see that this
is so : the vertical
thick strokes should
be square ended and
the full width of the
nib, the horizontal
strokes as fine as
possible.

HORIZONTAL
SHAFT, (Ac.—The
pen shaft is held approximately horizontal. This will

*The desk is
shewn here, with л
a siepe of about

Fig. 45.

be found the natural position for it when the slope

33

Fig. 44.