Lost handwritten font (?)
February 2, 2016 2:26 PM   Subscribe

Can you help me find an example of a particular style of decorative handwriting? It was endemic among girls and young women in the Deep South in the '80s and '90s.

The letters were made with paint pens, usually in pink or purple, or perhaps SEC school colors. They were written in a very simple, childlike print, and each endpoint on each letter had a bubble with a tiny contrasting highlight on it. The letter "y", for example, had three bubbles.

Little girls wanted toyboxes with their names personalized like this; big girls got their plastic cups or thermoses done. I'd like to put a name to this style if it has one, and maybe find a free image example I could use.
posted by Countess Elena to Writing & Language (16 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
I know what you're talking about but I can't find a good clear picture of it. The toy store Learning Express does all of their personalization in this style. I'm on a phone, but maybe their desktop site will offer up an example for you.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 2:37 PM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Yeah, those are all over teacher stuff. I never use it, but every teacher font pack comes with some dot fonts.

With the highlights, though, doesn't sound familiar. Something like this?
posted by Huck500 at 2:40 PM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


Like Gretoon highlight?
posted by the Real Dan at 2:40 PM on February 2, 2016


Response by poster: ABC Bubble Letters is pretty much Teacher Font with highlights added, and that's exactly what it looked like. Thank you!
witchen, you are absolutely right, "sorority cooler decoration 1990s" is the exact aesthetic.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:43 PM on February 2, 2016 [4 favorites]


Huh, I always associated it with cheerleaders and, to some extent, really bubbly teachers. Was it strictly a regional thing, though? I encountered it in the South too, but assumed it was more universal.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:40 PM on February 2, 2016 [2 favorites]


We called them bubble letters in the Midwest in the 80s and 90s (high school and then college). They were all over bags and notebooks and plastic candy jars and whatever else we could write on.
posted by cooker girl at 5:17 PM on February 2, 2016 [2 favorites]


I see this is solved, but for anyone searching in the future, I'd like to throw in another possible search term: Happi-Names Font!

In the mid- to late-80s, there was a place in the mall (Hickory Ridge Mall, Memphis, TN), that sold all sorts of plastic junk as folks are describing above -- pen holders, drinking tumblers, candy "jars," etc. (and def. stuff that could be associated with sorority-types), and everything had to be paint-penned with this bubble font.

I went to college in Florida and no one knew WTH I was talking about when I said "Happi-Names font!" So glad this thread came along to revive my memories.
posted by easement1 at 6:20 PM on February 2, 2016 [3 favorites]


We called them bubble letters in the Midwest in the 80s and 90s (high school and then college). They were all over bags and notebooks and plastic candy jars and whatever else we could write on.

And now I'm wondering how much of the development of bubble letters correlates with the popularity or availability of paint pens in the 80s. The kind I remember don't seem to be available today -- or at least the ones I'm finding online look different than what I remember. But I remember that at some point in the 80s, they were everywhere. They were big fat pens with a retractable felt tip. When you pressed down on that tip, you'd get a bubble of paint. Really smelly, dizziness-inducing paint. You almost couldn't help but do the bubble letters with those paint pens. Chicken, or egg?

Anyway, let me tell you, many a jar was decorated my friends. Many a jar.
posted by mudpuppie at 6:58 PM on February 2, 2016 [3 favorites]


If only I had kept more childhood things I would be able to show you the lunch pail I had with my name written on it in the font you're describing.

I knew Etsy would have to have at least one example!
posted by MsMolly at 7:34 PM on February 2, 2016


We called them bubble letters in the Midwest in the 80s and 90s (high school and then college). They were all over bags and notebooks and plastic candy jars and whatever else we could write on.

Also for future search results, bubble letters in the late '90s in the Midwest where I was were not this. They were like this, blown up like bubbles, or sort of like this, single lines that were very rounded with exaggerated bubble curves and hearts over the I's.
posted by limeonaire at 7:56 PM on February 2, 2016 [3 favorites]


bubble letters in southern Ontario in the 80s were also as limonaire links to -- like letters which had been inflated like letter-shaped balloons all squished together.

the hearts, however, were optional and not often advised.
posted by jb at 9:23 PM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


also: all of the instructions online are wrong. No one bothered making a thin frame - you just shaped the letter directly against the previous. It was a fast and somewhat ingenious method - because they were so round and curvy, even a child without great motor control could make a font that looked cool. Whereas printing elegant square letters is very challenging.
posted by jb at 9:27 PM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


Those paint pens definitely still exist, mudpuppie! I have a stubby white one in my toolbelt. We order ours online, but any art supply store that caters to graffiti folks will carry them.
posted by mollymayhem at 1:12 AM on February 3, 2016


Interesting. I associate this type of font with my mom's crafting hobbies in the 1990's. It was used a lot in rubber stamps (usually with some ultra cutesy saying), and other decorative objects. See this example from Etsy of some stamps from 1995 (the "Hee Hee Hee" stamp). This was in central New York state, so definitely not unique only to the south.
posted by katyggls at 4:17 AM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


I saw this writing on plastic Rubbermaid-like containers that were sold by Storables in Portland back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The writing was done by the employees upon request (so that customers could have a big box that said SOCKS or whatever in this typeface).
posted by blueberry at 7:07 AM on February 3, 2016


I encountered it in the South too, but assumed it was more universal.

It definitely was. There were places on the NJ boardwalk that sold caps and souvenir boxes, etc, with this style as personalization.
posted by Miko at 5:58 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


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