Flourish No. 5

These caps are all built off a clockwise loop. You may keep it as a spiral (open) curl or you may have it cross over.

The W in the top row is a sad tear-drop shape. I left it in so that you could compare it to the others. Avoid the tear drop shape. It is sad and droopy. Keep all your curls nice a fluffy and round. Think of a big fat cinnamon roll. Yum.

Flourish - No. 4

The next set of letters. These all start with a loop that is made counterclockwise. The loop may be open or overlapped.

There is a second variation called a Spencerian loop because it was inspired by Spencerian. It might be the easiest loop of all. but, you should try all of them and see which ones feel the best to you.

This started as lessons in flourishing, but evolved into a set of caps that have some flourish.

Flourish no. 3

Here is a flourish that has a few variations. Choose one that you like and then build 13 capital letters off of it.

The choices at the top are roundish, then oval.
With ovals, you can have them more vertical or more horizontal.
Be consistent with the overall shape of the oval.
If you go round, keep them all round. If you go slanty, keep them all at the same slant.

Keeping the shape and the slant (if there is one) the same allows you one variable and that is size.
You can adjust the flourish to be larger or smaller depending on the letter.

Other choices are if you have a curl that does not overlap. I call that a cinnamon roll. Keep them big and yummy. You can curl them around so they over lap like the first one in the second row. I calls those fish.

Looking at the third row, the second one, overlaps and then curls in on itself. I call that the kidney bean.

And I do not have a name for the second one in the top row. It has that little extra loop inside the major loop. I guess I will call that the *DeLuxe* model. You can't make those until you have mastered the basic ones.

And what are the pit falls. Pig tails. Don't make flourishes that look like little corkscrew pig tails. Unless you are doing something really whimsical. It's a matter of personal taste. I love whimsical, quirky, naive, rustic, outsider lettering. But, it's a little like dessert. Too much of it makes my teeth hurt. Unless I have some good reason to go on a dessert bender. I try to stay away from making any absolute edicts on what looks right.

This page has nice fluid, quickly done without any practice....flourishes.
As every instructor I ever had says...you only make nice flourishes by making a lot of them.
I like to just toss them off.
If I have a job where I am doing a lot of flourished envelopes. The first 25 will be fine. But, after that, the next ones always look so much better -to my eyes.  Nobody else can tell the difference. But I can.

Happy Flourishing

Flourish No. 2

Here is a variation of the basic figure-eight that you can add to the end of a word. Fig. 1 shows a small version. The tiny arrows show that it is nice to balance the amount of depth and height on the flourish and when you are deciding where to stop, aim for the middle of that oval that you created. The tiny word to the right was trying to illustrate that if you keep the flourish to the same size as the letter, it is probably a little too small and crunched. But, maybe you like that look.

Fig. 2 shows a full line drop at the beginning and then swoop up, a full line in height and then after the left loop of your figure-eight is done, be sure you fling an equal distance to the right. The final curve is loosened up, so you do not see an implied figure-eight.

Fig. 3 is the same as 2, but it is a little larger. The sad face is pointing out that if you think about things too hard, you might have an awkward transition from your letter to your flourish. Avoid doing that by making 300-400 flourishes until they just flow spontaneously. Pencil is good for practice.

Fig. 4 shows a more traditional figure-eight up in the air. This is an option if you forget to drop down on your last letter and just have to add it on at the last minute. You can see the implied figure-eight where the dotted line finishes up the second loop.

Fig. 5 shows the size I like to make flourishes. I am much better when I fling a really big flourish and use my whole arm. It takes hundreds and hundreds of flings to get to the point where you can fling them and every single one is pretty. But, the good news is....it's like riding a bike. Once you get the feel for a big loopy flourish, you can't forget it. I was trying to make those two little *bad* examples....and they really aren't as bad as I had hoped to make them. I suppose I could go out on the internet and find examples of *bad* flourishes. But, I really don't want to judge. If someone is just trying to figure it out on their own, with no lessons, I am still happy that they are trying. Some of the quirky, jerky, contorted flourishes are full of happiness and love....so, I refuse to label them *bad.*
They are welcome in my world. If people want to learn some flourishes that are little more refined, that's fine, too.

Flourish No. 1 - Part 2

Hopefully you have done about 100 flourishes on a j, y or g. This page shows how you make the same flourish on a b, h, d, or k. You simply turn the page upside down and do the same flourish.

The l is a little trickier. You have to be pretty careful when you join the stem to the base part of the letter.

Notice the same flourish can be done on a slanted letter as well as an upright letter.

Pulling a pretty cross bar on the t utilizes the same graceful curve.

The second and third y's show how to loop back over - completing the figure-eight and ending in a loop.

Flourish No. 1

If you have The Speedball Textbook, be sure to look at the two pages on flourishing. There are some nice basic flourishes right after the italic pages.

To the right is the first flourish I learned and I used it for about two years before I went on to any other flourishes. It is a figure-eight and it is a good idea to start out on lined notebook paper with a pencil, ballpoint, gel pen, marker or anything that is easy. I would not start out with a dip pen.

The most important thing is to practice large. Fill up at least two spaces, vertically and the width should be at least 3.5 inches wide.
Or 9 cm wide - I think...I am not very good at metric. This will force you to use your whole arm.  I will look for a video online that shows whole arm movement or make my own.

First make layers and layers of figure-eights until you have some nice muscle memory.  Then try just the portion that is shown in the solid line - that also has a dotted line. You can see at the left end of the dotted line that I have a little too much curl on the beginning stroke. Beware of making fish hooks and pig tails at the beginning and end of a flourish. Those are tight little hooks and curls that do not stay close enough to the figure-eight.

Then try pulling a flourish off the bottom of a y or a g or a j. The first amy shows a very large flourish. the second one is a little smaller and the third one is too tight to my eye, but if you are addressing envelopes, you may choose to tuck in a small flourish. In general, you will want to have a little space between the word and the flourish.

Keep the flourish level, for now.
Keep the two halves symmetrical
And do a lot of practice of the one that is layered over and over to create some muscle memory.

Another good tip is to breathe. Students frequently hold their breath as they start a flourish because they are nervous. Holding your breath is not helpful. Keep breathing and pay attention to this next bit of advice...this is a really valuable tip.... make your flourish  IN THE AIR just above the paper....a couple times....to get the muscle memory. After you make the shape a couple times, then let your pen hit the paper and because you have visualized exactly what you want, you will surprise yourself at how close you get.