The pen is only mightier then the sword, if you have the right pen.

I have done a few practice runs with my persona hand. I am kinda surprised how well I am doing. I don't mean that I mastered it and everything looks perfect, but on some of the letters, it is pretty close.

After these three tries writing every letter, I was able to get some feedback from two scribes in my Barony, the first telling me that the second is the person to talk to about learning this hand. She told me while the felt flat tip pen I was working will do the job, everything will look much better if I go to a metal nib pen, dip or fountain. I had to wait a few days to be able to buy it, but when I did, I went to my local Michael's. They had mostly sets of nibs in varying type and withd. Now, what I was told to get was a nib about the same size. 

...

Did you know there is a difference between a flat nib and a "round hand" nib and they look pretty close to each other? I do now. Yes, I picked what I thought was the right set of nibs, that came with a handle, and a bottel of ink, and headed home to try it out. "Why can't a get a straight line?" My mom, who use to do calligraphy and did my wedding invitations, noted that I got the wrong nibs. rrrrr. I KNEW I should have waited one more day and had gone to Art Media. 

Round hand nib

And today, while out doing some other errands, we were able to stop by. My husband was able to get himself some brushes for his woodworking and I learned that they sell sets and individual nibs also. So I got two sizes; one just a bit bigger, and one a bit smaller. I like the smaller nib for everyday writing. 

The second thing the scribe told me was to just practice I and O, as the three strokes it takes to write those two letters are what are used for all other letters. O I have down much more then I. 

Next, I am going to have a lesson with her to see where else I need to focus. I have to say, this is more fun then what I have thought. I always thought calligraphy was going to be very boring and that since I have never had nice penmanship, I would suck at it.

I also learned something very important. When opening your ink bottle, make sure to take that foil wrapper off the opening AWAY from your cloths. Thankfully, I was wearing a dark gray shirt so it will not show up too badly. Have treated to hopefully get the rest out.