The Beauty of Spencerian Script

I cannot tell you enough how the beauty of Spencerian script, especially those written by the masters, always takes my breath away. During Master Penman Michael Sull’s workshop in Singapore a few years back, he had some historical work posted on the wall. The strokes of Spencerian Script are timeless and elegant.

Spencerian originated in the United States and was used from approximately 1850 to 1925. The penmanship style was developed by Platt Rogers Spencer, hence the name. Contrary to Copperplate (which originated in Europe), it is meant to be written quickly yet legibly for business and personal correspondence.

I wasn’t a fan of Spencerian from the start. I started dabbling in modern calligraphy and have always been inspired by the works of Maybelle Imasa. I realized I wanted to expand my horizons soon after and started learning Copperplate Script from Eleanor Winters through her book and in-person workshop.

I found Spencerian Script to be unnecessarily fancy back then. The strokes were too wispy to the point where I could hardly read the words at all. I don’t know for sure what changed my mind, but by 2018 I have already attended classes by Michael Ward and Master Penman Michael Sull.

I’ve had some old reference books downloaded and printed from IAMPETH and I’ve tried practising as often as I could. There is still way too much room for improvement, but calligraphy is a learning journey and it’s a journey I enjoy taking every time. Eventually, I saw the elegance in the wispy strokes of Spencerian Script, and I fell in love with the swirls of its capitals.

In this blog post today, I’m sharing with you a piece I wrote using Spencerian using my favourite tools:
• Leonardt Principal EF nib
• Coliro Rose Gold ink
• 300gsm black card stock

I love the the thin upstrokes I can create using the Leonardt Principal EF nib. When using normal black card stock, I normally use my favourite sparkly pearlcolors from Coliro.

My next post will be reminiscing about the time when it wasn’t de rigueur to wear masks and in-person workshops were something we normally go to (and in my case, teach!). I will be sharing about one of the Spencerian Script workshops I had the pleasure of attending. So many things to write about. Hope to see you back here soon!