18 Friday Nov 2022
Posted in Pens
July last year I reviewed an unusual urushi finish on a copper pen by a new UK based pen maker and finisher, Ruth Bolton. Since then she has moved on with new designs and finishes, as well as her own on-line store, and has now started to sell her wares at pen shows. Here we have one of her new designs, the Kitsune, an aluminium pen with some interesting elements and a geometric engraved pattern.
Continue reading04 Friday Nov 2022
Posted in Pens
Tags
Once more it is the first Friday in November and an excuse, if ever we needed one, to buy more fountain pens. Now in its 12th year. Keep coming back during the day to see a growing list.
Continue reading14 Friday Oct 2022
Posted in Pens
Last Sunday, the 9th of October, saw the London Pen Show, held once more at the Hammersmith Novotel. Despite the weather forecast being for rain, it proved to be a dry though chilly day, which of course was moot once we were inside and wandering round.
Continue reading07 Friday Oct 2022
Posted in Pens
Want a Kaweco fountain pen with a size #6 nib? Want a Kaweco with a more traditional look and size? Well as of September this year (2022) Kaweco have you covered with the release of the Original. Two versions of the pen providing two nib options, the ubiquitous size #4 Bock made 060 and the much more common size #6 Bock 250.
Continue reading09 Friday Sep 2022
Tags
It has been over two years since I last posted about the pens I was taking to work. February 2020. Not long before the COVID-19 pandemic started to spread with the inevitable restrictions and lock downs we still see in many parts of the world. Times changes. I went from working from home several days a week to full time with the result my pen cases went in to a drawer.
Continue reading02 Friday Sep 2022
Posted in Pens
Tags
A while back I wrote asking when we should expect nibs that work out of the box and who holds the responsibility. This is only partially a follow up, as the idea actually came out of a discussion else where, and this is on what our expectations should be with those nibs not normally associated with every day hand writing. The stub; italic; and flex nibs.
Continue reading19 Friday Aug 2022
Posted in Pens
The fountain pen community was shocked back in November 2015 when the Chinese company O-Luxe announced they were closing one of their brands, OMAS, with the doors finally being shut in January 2016. Later that year, out of the ashes, a phoenix rose. Scrittura Bolognese. October 2017 and the first ‘regular’ ScriBo pen was released. A store only collaboration with Write Here of Shrewsbury.
Continue reading12 Friday Aug 2022
Since Kenro Industries bought the reincarnated Esterbrook they have been doing some good work bringing the brand in to the 21st century while also keeping links to the original company’s past. Late 2018 a new model was brought to the range, the Phaeton 300R, playing homage to the Phaeton 300 pen which was released back in 1964.
Continue reading29 Friday Jul 2022
Posted in Pens
Tags
Let’s be blunt. China has a bad reputation in the pen world for supplying little but cheap blatant clones. It is not the only country to do this, but it is the main offender. This is what spurred me to write my articles on UK sold fountain pens for under a fiver and the follow up post. Recently Ania over at Penchantink has reviewed three Chinese originals, each costing under a fiver. She has now leant me these pens, so here are my views.
Continue reading22 Friday Jul 2022
This is not the first Stipula I have tried, after all I reviewed my personal Etruria Faceted a couple of years back. Their lack of presence is noticeable, not only in the UK, but do a search and you will struggle to find any of their present range of pens available to buy in Europe as well. So what has happened to this Italian pen maker and why am I reviewing one of their present models of fountain pen.
Continue reading
dapprman 