There's an old truism in business that you only really earn your customers' loyalty when things go wrong. Customers (generally) accept that mistakes happen; if you step up and solve the problem, they can actually be happier with their overall experience than if no problem had happened in the first place. This week I really … Continue reading Failure is the best test
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My Top 3 pens
It's been going on a while, but Joost from Appelboom's 'top 3 fountain pen' video series has just landed on my radar. The premise is simple: ask pen-celebrities like Figboot, Azizah, SBRE Brown, Scrively and Brad Dowdy to record videos talking for about 15 minutes about their top three pens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HphQ-Tqi508 I wasn't invited to … Continue reading My Top 3 pens
It’s not you, it’s me
Update: I've added to my for sale page as I start to wind down. Time for contemplationI'm just coming up to the third full year writing UK Fountain Pens. I started the blog because I had things I wanted to say about stationery and my journey through it, and all the things I was learning. … Continue reading It’s not you, it’s me
So much for my global shopping?
Warning: rant ahead. I love this worldwide community of stationery that we live in. WordPress tells me that this blog is read in more than 150 countries (shout out to Vatican City), and I'm just as excited to discover an inspiring new maker, whether they live here in the UK or in some farflung part … Continue reading So much for my global shopping?
Sometimes what’s good for you feels bad
In case you missed it, I'm selling some pens again. A garage full of supercars — which Ferrari would you sell? I've long since passed the point of selling the pens I've bought but don't get on with (although there are always a few of those); I'm mostly selling pens I really enjoy, that write … Continue reading Sometimes what’s good for you feels bad
True grails
I love the term "grail pen". It conjures such great mental images of cathedrals and warm-glowing gold, of Indiana Jones on a quest, of the ultimate sacrifice for eternal salvation. A Lamy 2000 doesn't quite measure up, does it? Depending on your financial means, a Lamy 2000 may be your ever-out-of-reach ideal pen — but … Continue reading True grails
15 types of pen addict
(edit: this post is getting a hell of a lot of traffic from Facebook. Would someone mine telling me where it's been discussed, or tag me there? Thank you!) (Double edit: it looks like someone has translated my list into Swedish!) After careful research, I present a true and accurate dissection of our community. The … Continue reading 15 types of pen addict
How I do ink swatches
When you have 200+ inks, it's all too easy to find yourself picking up a bottle and having no recollection of the ink at all. You uncap it, and all you see is some dark, shiny liquid. Hmmm. If only there was some way to keep a a record of how each ink looks on … Continue reading How I do ink swatches
The simple joy of mucking about with pens
I had a joyous, pen-heavy day today. I joined a few folks for a beer at my local pen meet (and got to play with a 1.9mm F-C music nib!) ...reinked a couple of pens with fresh beautiful inks, did my version of adult colouring by writing up a Currently Inked on an A3 sheet … Continue reading The simple joy of mucking about with pens
Quantifying greatness: going deep down the rabbit hole
A while back I made an attempt at a scoring methodology for pens. It was a way for me to take a bottom-up, step-by-step approach to working out what I liked and disliked about the pens I owned, and to see whether the cumulative total resulted in a ranking that actually reflected my gut preferences. … Continue reading Quantifying greatness: going deep down the rabbit hole
