cedarfieldway
Handwriting · Calligraphy · Lettering

Slower strokes, clearer letters.

CedarFieldWay is a reading collection about the mechanics of better handwriting and the craft of decorative lettering. The articles cover pen and nib types, stroke drills, and the script styles most people meet first, with practical detail rather than slogans.

A hand writing a line of cursive script on paper
Cursive practice on lined paper. Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC0).
The articles

Three places to begin

Each article stands on its own and links to the others where the topics overlap. Read them in any order.

A fountain pen writing on paper
Handwriting

Foundations of Better Handwriting

Posture, grip, letter forms, and short drills that make everyday writing more legible without retraining from scratch.

Close-up of a two-tone fountain pen nib
Tools

Calligraphy Pens & Nibs

How dip pens, fountain pens, brush pens, and broad-edge nibs differ, and which tool suits which kind of lettering.

A sample of Copperplate script written with an oblique penholder
Scripts

Script Styles & Stroke Practice

Italic, Copperplate, and brush lettering compared, with the basic strokes that build each style.


What the articles cover

Practice, not theory alone

The focus is on what you do with paper in front of you: how the hand moves, how the tool meets the page, and how repeated strokes turn into readable letters.

Stroke drills

Short, repeatable exercises — ovals, parallel downstrokes, and entry strokes — that warm up the hand before full letters.

Tool matching

Notes on which nib width and ink flow suit beginners versus flourished scripts, with terms defined as they appear.


Contact

Send a note

Questions about a technique, a correction, or a topic you would like covered? Use the form and include enough detail for a useful reply.

General inquiries: editor@cedarfieldway.org

Pick a script and start a page.

Read about script styles