06 Wednesday Mar 2019
Posted in Pens
As this hobby can be a combination of Aladin’s Cave and black hole, from time to time I may look to sell a number of my pens. At present it’s not going to be very often, but who knows what the future holds. After all selling pens is a great way to justify buying new ones, and we’re all like kids in a candy store in this hobby.
All pens will be tested and cleaned.
02 Saturday Mar 2019
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There are several things to note about our hobby. First we tend to like shiny things, second we see lots of nice shiny things on blogs and YouTube. Third we play with shiny things at pen clubs. As a result there seems to be a list of pens many of us get (and then sometimes sell), almost as if by very gentle peer pressure, and then later wonder why. Here’s a list of those I’ve observed, many of which I seem to have as well. Feel free to reply with any you feel I have missed off or your views.
22 Friday Feb 2019
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It’s been almost two months since my last daily carry post. As can be seen below there are a couple of changes from the last time. Continue reading
17 Sunday Feb 2019
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One thing Luca Baglione, CEO of Srittura Bolognese (ScriBo) is keen to point out is, while he and many of the staff came from OMAS after it’s closure, ScriBo is not a phoenix or a restart, but a new company which is built upon the DNA of the former company (along with some of the manufacturing tools). Initially we first saw a new pen materialise as a store specific limited edition for Write Here in Shrewsbury, UK, a new looking pen using the OMAS specified Bock nibs we saw and loved from the latter days of OMAS. During the summer of 2018, post a couple of high end collector models, ScriBo announced a new consumer model, the Feel, which I saw at the London Writing Equipment Show. My first impressions were captured here (note I’ve since found out the nibs are now produced by Scribo themselves using the old OMAS machinery, and not by Bock) and also in this video of myself and Penultimate Dave interviewing Luca. There are two versions, one in the ScriBo corporate colours of blue/grey, and the other a dark blue. Both look very smart and could be used in any business environment as well as casually. The pens are made from resin, as are those from a number of top German manufacturers, and each one is turned by hand from an individual rod.
11 Monday Feb 2019
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We’re now at that quiet time of the year when we’re getting over the start of 2019, with the associated blues. The weather is poor and transportation tends to break. Visiting the London Fountain Pen Club at the start of the month it was noticeable with only nine of us attending. Low numbers but I seem to remember it was the same last year. Certainly the winter blues had hit a few people but it was still a good sociable meet up. The photo of the day must have been the Platinum Preppy alongside the Pilot Kakuno by me on Instagram, two great pens and a fraction of the cost of others we generally see. Actually the Kakuno, with its smiley face, is probably an ideal February pen with a warm coloured ink loaded up in it. I can see one being added to my collection.
03 Sunday Feb 2019
Posted in Pens
I first came across Rob van Nigtevecht and Powerful Signature on a UK based Facebook fountain pen group, where he posted pictures of pens he was making in various stages of creation and assembly. In early 2018 he produced a dark blue pen with appropriate roundels on both finials to help celebrate the centenary of the RAF. This attracted my attention and stirred me on to look at his website. I think by then both RAF pens may already have been sold, but he also had a Marine edition, made from Conway Stewart rods which caught my eye and the rest, as they say, was history.
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
Posted in Pens
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
Posted in Pens
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.
dapprman 