Spencerian is a handwriting system developed by Platt R. Spencer in the mid-1800s.  After Spencer's death, his children and colleagues continued his work to further develop and standardized Spencerian script as an educational model for teaching handwriting in the United states.  Spencerian continued to flourish during the later half of the 19th century and became the underlying blueprint for the development of other American scripts such as Ornamental Penmanship and Business Penmanship during the Golden Age of American Penmanship (1850-1925).

 

In this workshop, students will closely examine the timeless Spencerian Standard majuscules and the characteristics and nuances that make Spencerian both beautiful and practical. Although this class is open to all skills levels, a good foundation on Spencerian minuscule letters is highly recommended.

 

Lesson 1: Basics, Basics Basics

• Materials

• Writing Zone

• Rules of Spencerian

• Basics Strokes

• Drill Exercises

​

Lesson 2: Letter Groups

• Direct-Oval Capitals

• Reversed Oval Capitals

​

Lesson 3: Letter Groups

• Reversed-Oval Capitals (continued)

• Stem Capitals

​

Lesson 4: Variations

• Exploration of variations