writing with a dip pen

So, I'm not very good yet.  But I decided the other day that I wanted to try dip pen calligraphy.  More spicifically, I want to write in Spencerian calligraphy and this seemed like a good tool to add to my arsenal.  

It's way harder than it looks.

See

Day one



Day two



Day three



Not feeling like I'm making any improvement yet, but it's only day three.  

I got the practice sheet from the postmans knock.  The site has some great free downloads for practising penmanship.  

My dip pen practices are improving slightly.  

My biggest problem is that my eyes can't see what I'm supposed to be following.  Or more to the point, I can't analyze what I'm looking at.  This is the same problem I'm having with my penmanship practice.  I can trace the letters, but when it comes time to drawing them without a guide, I forget how they go.  Very frustrating and I suspect related to my dyslexia and my slowness to learn to spell/write/read.  It takes weeks dedicated to learning to spell each word and in school, they would 'teach' us 20 to 50 words a day.  That was far too fast.

The next problem - ink feathering/bleeding.  I switched from fountain pen ink to calligraphy ink (which feels more like paint, it's so thick) which has solved most of this problem.  Maybe later, I'll get some better paper.

Today I tried something different since I'm 'writing' in 'paint', I decided to treat my nib more like a paintbrush.  Instant improvement.  

The dip pen is sensitive to the angle and the way we hold it.  It's a lot more like a paintbrush than a pen and remembering that seems to be the key for me to get the hang of stuff.

But I am having trouble with the grip so I'm posting pictures here in hopes of gettins some thoughts on how to improve.

The straight holder is very easy for me to use, but the oblique holder seems to force my hand on its side which makes it hurt.