Ornamental Penmanship Links & Lessons

      Charming and fascinating are the graceful and harmonious curves produced, when, wielded by some trained and skillful hand, the pen becomes an instrument of beauty. As by the power of speech, men may pass from the common tone of conversation up to the melodious strains of music, or may soar in flights of oratory into the sublime, until the multitude is entranced; so the capabilities of the pen are not limited to the common uses of life, but may take on forms of beauty in elegant outlines of bird, or landscape, or graceful swan or bounding stag.

From The Book of Ornamental Alphabets.

      Ornamental writing is not a practical art, and has no connection whatever with the practical business of life. It is in the realm of poetry. The imagery of graceful outlines must first be seen by a poetic imagination. While the great masses may acquire a good style of plain, practical penmanship, few have the necessary conception of mind, combined with the skill and dexterity of hand to become successful ornamental penmen.

      The ornamental pages which follow are given, not as models for imitation or practice by the learner, but merely to show the possibilities of the pen in the hand of a master, and as a fitting closing to this, our chapter on penmanship.

From "Monograms and 
Ciphers" by Turbayne.

      To any one who may have an artistic quality of mind, and delights in beautiful lines and harmonious curves, these pages of ornamental penmanship will serve as models for practice and imitation, and every attempt at such an exercise as the one on this, or the following pages, will give greater strength and freedom of movement, and better command of the pen, so that it will conduce to an easy, flowing and elegant style of plain business writing, while affording a most pleasant and profitable employment in the cultivation of the taste.

      Various beautiful designs or pictures may be made with the pen, in the hands of one that possesses the skill of a penman and the eye of an artist.

• Cursive Practice Sheets: Practice Your Penmanship: For young students
• Visit The Grimm Scriptorium for High School and Adult Leveled Lessons  
• For related art lessons for elementary students see the Alphabet Index

More Exceptional Collections of Ornamental Letters:

•  Initial Letters from British Children's Annuals
• Rise of the Living Type
• Decorative Alphabet Collection by onetwentyeight

Master Penman Michael Sull demonstrates Spencerian and Ornamental Penmanship

Ornamental Penmanship Art Lessons:

• Architectural Letters by Blick
• Complementary Color Names at Crayola
• Illuminated Letters 2012 versions
  

Hieroglyphics or Picture Writing

       As a change from ordinary letter-writing, "Hieroglyphics" are amusing and interesting to make. The best explanation is an example, such as those given below, the subject being in two versed from a favorite nursery song.

First half of "The Owl and The Pussycat" hieroglyphic.

Second half of "The Owl and The Pussycat" hieroglyphic.

The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

Wrapped up in a five pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar,

"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are,

What a beautiful Pussy you are."

Pussy said to the Owl "You elegant fowl,

How charmingly sweet you sing.

O let us be married, too long we have tarried;

But what shall we do for a ring?"

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the Bong-tree grows,

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood

With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.

Create A Manuscript to Cursive Chart

      During my student teaching program, I developed several art lessons integrating cursive writing. Many of my second grade elementary students did not know how to read or write cursive because it was no longer being taught in that particular district. It was necessary for me to create a chart that students could refer to as they created picture designs with cursive letters. This chart was very large and could be easily seen from any table in my classroom. 

      The students loved learning the old form of writing and the second grade teachers were very pleased with the inclusion of the lesson in our art classroom as well. Unlike some homeroom teachers, art teachers in Missouri are free to integrate penmanship projects into their lesson plans without constraint. 

      I am of the opinion that no English speaking country should neglect teaching students to read their own language, if they can possibly help it. It is entirely irresponsible on the part of any state to exclude cursive reading and writing, even though it is not used nearly so much in our time.  For if we neglect to pass down obvious knowledge, our children will become easy to control and be easily manipulated by those who may not have their best interests at heart.
      You cannot imagine the grief that I felt, when I discovered that so many of the high school students that I taught during my student teaching program could not read any kind of text. Then after being placed into a wealthier district for elementary training, I discovered that well over half of those young students could not read or writer a cursive letter. How easy it will be to control the minds of these American students. The parents, politicians and teachers have endangered the futures of these children in my opinion. (My heart is very sad over this.)

      Illiteracy: The Downfall of American Society It is a chronic crisis of huge proportions, one that keeps millions of Americans living in the shadows.

Restored Antique Alphabet Prints

      These restored antique alphabet prints would look charming in a child's nursery/bedroom or a homeschool classroom. I've cleaned and restored them for your next alphabet craft. Enjoy and read the Terms of Use before printing them out.

The above image for pinning please.

A was and Apple, an Archer, an Arrow. B was a Bird, Bear and a Barrow.

C for Cat and D for Dish, E for an Elephant, F for a Fish.

G for Goose and Ha for Ham, I for an Inn and J for Jam.

K for Kite and L for Light. M for the Moon and N for Night. O for Owl and P for Prattle,
Q for the Queen and R for Rattle.

S for Ship and T for Tap, U for an Urn and V for Vat. W for Windmill, for Watch & Wren,
 X stands in English for no word but ten.

Y is for Yew, for Youth and for Yeast, Z is for Zebra a beautiful beast.

More Restored Alphabet Print by Kathy Grimm:

• A Bible Alphabet from Thrifty Scissors
• A Noah's Ark Alphabet at Easter Egg Crafts
• Animal Alphabet Flash Cards at The Crayon Palace

Alien Name Cursive Exercise

      Cursive, also known as script, joined-up writing, joint writing, running writing, or handwriting is any style of penmanship in which the symbols of the language are written in a conjoined and/or flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster. However, not all cursive copybooks join all letters. Formal cursive is generally joined, but casual cursive is a combination of joins and pen lifts. In the Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic alphabets, many or all letters in a word are connected, sometimes making a word one single complex stroke.

      While the terms cursive or script are popular in the United States for describing this style of writing the Latin script, this term is rarely used elsewhere. Joined-up writing is more popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. The term handwriting is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

      Cursive is considered distinct from printscript, in which the letters of a word are unconnected and in Roman/Gothic letterform rather than joined-up script. Printscript is also commonly called "manuscript", "block letter", "print writing", "block writing" (and sometimes simply "print" which confusingly also refers to mechanical printing).

      A distinction is also made between cursive and "italic" penmanship, in which some ascenders and descenders of cursive have loops which provide for joins and italic which is derived from chancery cursive, which mostly uses non-looped joins or no joins. There are no joins from g, j, q or y, and a few other joins are discouraged. Italic penmanship became popular in the 15th century Italian Renaissance. The term "italic" as it relates to handwriting is not to be confused with typed letters that slant forward. Many, but not all letters in the handwriting of the Renaissance were joined, as they are today in italic.

      In Hebrew cursive and Roman cursive, the letters are not connected. In the research domain of handwriting recognition, this writing style is called connected cursive, to indicate the difference between the phenomenon of italic and sloppy appearance of individual letters (cursive) and the phenomenon of connecting strokes between letters, i. e., a letter-to-letter transition without a pen lift (connected cursive).

      The origin of the cursive method is associated with practical advantages of writing speed and infrequent pen lifting to accommodate the limitations of the quill. Quills are fragile, easily broken, and will spatter unless used properly. Steel dip pens followed quills; they were sturdier, but still had some limitations. The individuality of the provenance of a document was a factor also, as opposed to machine font.

      In the following exercise, students write their first or middle names in cursive across a folded 8 1/2 x 11inch, white piece of typing paper. They may use a pencil to start with and then trace over their name with a black marker. Then allow them to turn their paper over and trace their cursive name on the back side of the folded paper in order to shape an "alien" outline. They will need to do this tracing either on a light table or a window. Students may then spin their names around and decide which vertical application will look best as an alien.

The names, Natalie and Hannah written in cursive.

The finished aliens found in the girls' names. Add fins, tails, teeth, antenna, and giant eyeballs to decorate your cursive alien names.

More Alien Name Art Lessons:

• Name aliens from We Heart Art
• 4th Grade Symmetrical Name Designs
• Cursive Cut-outs
• Name Aliens... Bugs... Whatever!
• Alien Names from Art Projects for Kids
• Monsters and Aliens
• Aliens! Name Aliens!

What's In a Name?

      A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name (surname). A given name is purposefully given, usually by a child's parents at or near birth, in contrast to an inherited one such as a family name. A given name is sometimes legally changed through a name change.

      Given names are often used in a familiar and friendly manner in informal situations. In more formal situations the surname is used instead, unless it is necessary to distinguish between people with the same surname. The idiom "on a first-name basis" (or "on first-name terms") alludes to the familiarity of addressing another by a given name.

      The western style of having both a family name (surname) and a given name is far from universal. In many countries it is common for ordinary people to have only one name (a mononym).

      In most European (and Europe-derived) cultures, the given name usually comes before the family name (though generally not in lists and catalogs), and so is known as a forename or first name; but the family name traditionally comes first in Hungary, parts of Africa and most of East Asia (e.g., China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam). In China and Korea, even part of the given name may be shared among all members of a given generation in a family and the family's extensions, to differentiate those generations from other generations.

      Under the common Western naming convention, people generally have one or more forenames (either given or acquired). If more than one, there is usually a main forename (for everyday use) and one or more supplementary forenames; but sometimes two or more carry equal weight. Beyond preceding the surname there is no particular ordering rule for forenames. Often the main forename is at the beginning, resulting in a first name and one or more middle names, but other arrangements are quite common.

      The term Christian name is often used as a general synonym for given name. Strictly speaking, the term applies to a name formally given to a child at an infant baptism or "christening".
       I've included below a handful of decorated names by young students in the school where I work. An introduction to illuminated manuscripts usually proceeds this kind of an art project. These decorated names were drawn by second graders.

Addie.

Alexis.

Leo.

Olivia.

Carlos.

Sarah.

Aetani.

Erica.

Riley.

Losan.

Atharv.

Bronte.

A Terrible Horrible Cursive Exercise

      This cursive exercise demonstrates just "how" teachers may integrate a
reading exercise with a penmanship project. Students can draw a picture of
themselves having a terrible, horrible face and then practice cursive letter
patterns over and over around their aching heads! Oh, how horrible! This
repetitive drawing helps develop motor coordination, pattern making, and
includes kinesthetic learning too!

     Cursive, also known as script, joined-up writing, joint writing, linking, running writing, or handwriting is any style of penmanship in which the symbols of the language are written in a conjoined and/or flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster. However, not all cursive copybooks join all letters. Formal cursive is generally joined, but casual cursive is a combination of joins and pen lifts. In the Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic alphabets, many or all letters in a word are connected, sometimes making a word one single complex stroke.

      While the terms cursive or script are popular in the United States for describing this style of writing the Latin script, this term is rarely used elsewhere. Joined-up writing is more popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, and linking is more popular in New Zealand. The term handwriting is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

      Cursive is considered distinct from printscript, in which the letters of a word are unconnected and in Roman/Gothic letterform rather than joined-up script. Printscript is also commonly called "manuscript", "block letter", "print writing", "block writing" (and sometimes simply "print" which confusingly also refers to mechanical printing).

      A distinction is also made between cursive and "italic" penmanship, in which some ascenders and descenders of cursive have loops which provide for joins and italic which is derived from chancery cursive, which mostly uses non-looped joins or no joins. There are no joins from g, j, q or y, and a few other joins are discouraged. Italic penmanship became popular in the 15th century Italian Renaissance. The term "italic" as it relates to handwriting is not to be confused with typed letters that slant forward. Many, but not all letters in the handwriting of the Renaissance were joined, as they are today in italic.

      In Hebrew cursive and Roman cursive, the letters are not connected. In the research domain of handwriting recognition, this writing style is called connected cursive, to indicate the difference between the phenomenon of italic and sloppy appearance of individual letters (cursive) and the phenomenon of connecting strokes between letters, i. e., a letter-to-letter transition without a pen lift (connected cursive).

      The origin of the cursive method is associated with practical advantages of writing speed and infrequent pen lifting to accommodate the limitations of the quill. Quills are fragile, easily broken, and will spatter unless used properly. Steel dip pens followed quills; they were sturdier, but still had some limitations. The individuality of the provenance of a document was a factor also, as opposed to machine font.
      Locating projects and ideas in teacher's manuals about the instruction of cursive or penmanship is becoming a thing of the past. However, with a little ingenuity one can develop some very diverting ideas that promote the teaching of the subject on the internet. I will include in this journal a collection of ideas and original projects that I will design to promote the teaching of cursive writing.

"Renowned author Judith Viorst reads her beloved children's book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC, as part of Bookmarked 2010! a celebration of reading with children, produced by the Lucy Daniels Center for Early Childhood. For more information about Bookmarked! visit www.lucysbookclub.org."