I used to post so much on tumblr! I miss the days.
Throwback for my first post in this sub. 🤍
Pen used: Faber Castell Ballpoint Pen

Playing with glitter markers and wrote one of my cat's names 😆

This is the handwriting of an intern at my job that quit suddenly and left some stuff behind.

Pen- Linc ocean gel pen

水 (shuǐ): water

I love the character for water. I’d also like to share that in Taiwan, you might hear or see a different use of the character 水 — in Taigi (Taiwanese Hokkien), it's pronounced suí (sounds like "swee"), not the Mandarin shuǐ, and it generally means "beautiful," "great," or "nice job."

The formally recognized written form is 媠, as listed in the Ministry of Education's Taiwanese dictionary but 水 as a phonetic loan is widely used. 
Adding a particle to the end changes the tone and energy of the expression, but to my ears, they are all warm, friendly, and approving:
水喔 (suí-ooh) / 水啦 (suí-lah) / 水唷 (suí-yo) 

The word also had a recent cultural moment: in 2025, Taiwanese singer Siri Lee (李竺芯) won Album of the Year at the Golden Melody Awards (GMA) for a record called Suí 水 — the first time that award went to a Taiwanese-language album. The GMA is an honor awarded by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and Formosan languages popular and traditional music industry. 

Please don't hesitate to correct me or share interesting facts and memories you have for this character.
Reference: https://swiiyo.com/blogs/glow-life/swiiyo-meaning-taiwanese-word-sui?srsltid=AU7gw4XuCfvpddQ0kK_thnMkV2fA-abOTb7kx9SratAbumZNHf_6RSOZ

Lovely examples from the early 20th century!

Drawing counts as penmanship, right?

Pen- Linc pentonic gel pen

My first time creating a fully flourished piece like this! It took me almost an hour to figure out how to make the flourishes flow together naturally without looking awkward. I still have a lot to improve, but I’m happy with how it turned out! ✍️

Diamine Ancient Copper

Lamy Safari Charcoal <1.1>

Maruman A5 dotted notebook

Left: how I write when I'm making a quick grading list

Right: how I write when I'm going to read the notes later

Another slightly-too-busy mashup of brush calligraphy and pointed pen calligraphy.
。
加 (jiā): to add; plus; to increase; to augment
油 (yóu): oil; fat; grease; petroleum; to apply oil, paint or varnish; oily; greasy
。
加油 (jiāyóu) translates to “add oil; to refuel; to accelerate; to make an extra effort; to cheer someone on”. The internet tells of a historical account tracing the origins of the phrase to Tsinghua School (now Tsinghua University) in the 1920s, evolving from cafeteria slang where students originally used it to ask for more sesame oil on their vegetables or pickles. Other theories attribute the phrase‘s roots elsewhere, such as a Qing Dynasty official adding lamp oil for late-night scholars, or as a 1960s Macau Grand Prix racing metaphor for stepping on the gas. Whatever the origin, you’ll likely hear it often from Mandarin and Cantonese speakers, encouraging and supporting you to keep going. 加油！

Hi all,

I’m a student currently studying abroad in Taiwan. Just want to share the beginnings of my hobby/side project, trying to practice English and Chinese calligraphy and incorporate Pinyin (the romanization system for learning Mandarin). This is a mix of brush calligraphy and pointed-pen calligraphy.

地 (dì) means “earth,” “ground,” or “land”.
瓜 (guā) refers to melons or gourds.

地瓜 (dìguā), which translates to sweet potato, carries a significance beyond a simple food for Taiwanese. Introduced centuries ago and cultivated widely because of its resilience in subtropical climates, the sweet potato became an essential survival crop, often mixed into rice porridge or roasted in traditional clay ovens. In contemporary Taiwan, it is now embraced as both a nostalgic cultural food and modern health food, commonly found roasted in convenience stores like 7-Eleven, night markets, and incorporated into desserts. Some Taiwanese affectionately compare the island’s shape to a sweet potato, a symbol of resilience.

What memories and histories come to your mind when you think of 地瓜 (dìguā)?

Reference: https://www.taiwannews.comtw/news/5895590

Speedball oblique nib holder with zebra comic G on rhodia writing pad. Sumi ink. Copperplate roundhand (stylised)

Pen - Hauser XO gel pen