26 Saturday Jan 2019
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I think most of us of done it. Looked at a pen case and wondered if the interior material will micro-scratch our pens, or if elastic/leather securing hoops will leave the pens loose and knocking against each other. Occasionally a picture will be posted online of pens touching resulting in responses of horror and counter responses of teasing. Continue reading
19 Saturday Jan 2019
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During this review, and overview I will be covering both of my pens made by John Twiss.
John has been a stalwart of the UK pen show scene for many years. Starting as a hobby, either before or after he took early retirement from IT, he hand makes his pens from a workshop at the Sherwood Forest Art and Craft Centre, near Nottingham in the UK, selling both on line and through pen shows. With the latter, not only is he an attendee, but also helped restart the Newcastle Show in 2018. In addition to his own pens, he also sells other brands through his (joint owned ?) TwiCo shop.
11 Friday Jan 2019
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A quick post on what I’ve got coming up.
From Kickstarter I have three pens due. A Wancher True Urushi Dream Pen, which I will review after around a month of use. The Edge by Venvstas/utopos-design, which I may review though it’s a low cost potential one off by Lucio Rossi, Reason for reviewing it will because Venvstas (Lucio) does produce a range of architectural engineering influenced pens. Finally there is a Franklin-Christoph 31 with Jonathon Brooks material under the P.I.F. campaign. I do need to review my F-C pens, will be an interesting challenge as I feel like I’m a little bit of a fan boy.
I’ve two more pen purchases planned (one is already ordered), though I’m keeping quiet about those at present (one is a substantial cost for me). Hopefully the first of these will be reviewed in February/March.
For my next couple of reviews I’m going small scale British. I’ll be reviewing pens by John Twiss then Powerful Signature next. Hopefully I’ll be able to borrow a Italix Parson’s Essential from a pen club buddy, leaving just (a far as I’m aware) the Worcester Pen Company (does anyone have one of their pens I can borrow?) to cover.
10 Thursday Jan 2019
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A sad piece of news emerged yesterday. As many of you will already know, Bureau Direct have now ceased trading. Always a good source for stationary, inks, and to a lesser extent, pens, they will be missed. Here is the news in their own words from their final Wednesday newsletter. From Dominic:
“As of now we have ceased trading. Sadly the difficulties of surviving in these turbulent times has claimed another retail victim, one that will never hit the headlines or be discussed on Newsnight, but maybe should because so many similar stories will occur and affect so many people but never get heard.
So that’s 23 years of Bureau, almost to the day, 15 of them spent online. That’s a lifetime for many. As always the ride has had its ups and downs, but what I would like to say is a personal goodbye to all Stationery Wednesday readers. Over the years I have had so many nice replies that it has eased the stress of writing an original email each week. Stationery Wednesday often came after Stressful Tuesday!
The other great pleasure over the years has been the staff who have worked here. It really has been like an extended family and it was especially sad saying goodbye to Des, Monica and Faisal at the end. Days you hope you won’t repeat. But despite everything there has been an overwhelming sense of warmth towards us, the business and what we tried to do from the staff, customers and suppliers. So thank you. I’m sorry it didn’t work out in the end.”
and from Jo:
“It is hard to put into writing how it feels after 23 years to have to walk away from Bureau: It has been our life after all. But, along with all the other retail casualties of recent times, we have been sunk by the uncertainty and the discounting that seems to stalk the high street – online is not immune either.
We have tried so hard this year to hang on, hoping it would get better, but despite the support of so many of you it just got harder. I can only say it leaves me quite broken and I am in tears as I write but I really do want to thank you all.
Some of you we talked to on the phone, some we chatted to on email, some we only knew by the names that popped up so regularly on the orders. But we felt we knew you all. In the end the real pleasure of Bureau was not really the stationery but the fantastic staff team, both past and present and all of you – ever loyal, often funny and always with an eye for a nice pen or notepad.”
I know we all wish them and their staff well.
04 Friday Jan 2019
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The Scala is an often overlooked pen in the Lamy range, as at launch it competed with the Studio, and in more recent times, with the LX and Aion. Price wise it is the most expensive of the bunch, both in standard steel nib form, in addition to the gold nibbed special/limited editions. I actually purchased this pen before any of its rivals in February 2017, first being attracted to its looks, then finding the pen in a sale at a good price. While the review here is for the specific model, much applies to all versions of the Scala fountain pen, and virtually all to the other gold nibbed versions.
The model is part of the range of limited editions created for the 50th anniversary celebration of Lamy. At the time there was criticism of the cost of the dark amber 2000 model and the higher pricing seemed to filter down as this pen was around £10-20 more than comparable Scala models at launch. Over time the prices started to come down to around £165, the more normal price then for a gold nibbed Scala (steel ones were and still are about £85).
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