Will You Not Add to Our Happiness? A bit of penmanship, a spot of guidance

A mind blowing play with Javier started the weekend on Friday (Shun-Kin, New York Times review here --  while we both struggled with bouncing between the supertitles above the stage and the action on the stage, like the reviewer, to my mind, the reviewer wasn't sufficiently appreciative of the absolute visual beauty of the show, which was ASTOUNDING). Yesterday brought fine bar food at Detroit's Mercury Bar with Ginger and a friend...and today, we have some more picture book noodling to round out the weekend.

Based on positive reception of these signs:

 

I decided that the Cakeasaurus picture book pages which do NOT have words incorporated into their woodblock designs may have hand lettered text added to them and then I'll eventually scan all of them into el trusty computador... I took at a stab at some initial lettering yesterday for the first page of the picture book. It wound up being too heavy handed, so it was back to the drawing board this morning.

This attempt struck me as a bit more successful, though close to the upper edge. The "T" however, was a problem. While I'm more attached to handwriting than some (most?) these days, I can't claim beautiful penmanship, and too long ago to remember I developed the unfortunate habit of mixing cursive and print together. How does one even WRITE a cursive "T"?



What's that? What's that, you say?If only you had a compendium of all things factual, both daily and esoteric, to help you navigate through life! Great point! It was, indeed, time to consult with my COMPLETE LIBRARY OF UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE. Surely it would have a page of cursive letters! It did not disappoint. It was a little long in yielding up a T, but oh my goodness, it had a lot more to say on the subject of handwriting (I beg your pardon: penmanship)...It has drills and notes on technique! Explanations of muscles involved! Benefits yielded from this worthy endeavor -- truly, as with so much in life, the degree to which you commit will surely be matched by life's bounty!

Details from the matter at hand: Each upper hand M should be drawn to a count of four, and 40-60 Ms should be drawn per minute. Ns get shorted by one count, and with respect to the beginning loops, "that part of the letter should take care of itself, but in size and general proportions, the copy given should be closely imitated." The library intones: "...with a slow, dragging or cramped movement, nothing of lasting value can be accomplished..."

More dramatic: "Clothing for the right forearm. As the movement taught is one in which the  muscles of the right forearm play an important part, it is highly essential that these muscles should be so clothed as to permit, at all times, unrestricted action. Many good writers consider this of sufficient importance to lead them to cut off the right undersleeve at the elbow." 

Positioning is important.

It fails to say how many Omens should be written per min. Worrisome.

Instruct with a sense of rhythm: Close em up, close em up!

I can't get with their Qs, much less penning 37 of them per min.

So, after suitable instruction and admonition, I practiced a handful of the foreign looking Ts...
I think it does suit a bit better. Reactions?

On a non-editioned print. The editioned ones are a bit darker.

 After that I just noodled along, as I am wont to do.

Bonus Tip from the COMPLETE LIBRARY OF UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE! Informal letters:

Splendid, I love tally-ho rides!