2020 was a strange year in many ways, but it was a great year for fountain pens. As I sat down to prepare to write this post, scanning back over my Instagram feed and blog to refresh my memory, I was struck by, well, just how many great pens landed on my desk — even… Continue reading
Tag: editorial (Page 3 of 8)
I’ve been struck a few times recently by a kind of pen-related existentialist vertigo. Looking at a turned pen in a fancy resin, I couldn’t shake the thought it’s just a stick of plastic with a nib screwed in the end.
Sure, this is an oversimplification. I know there’s a lot of work involved in… Continue reading
Yesterday I was talking to one of my work colleagues, and this hobby of mine came up. He is not a fountain pen user, and he, like most normal people, thinks it’s crazy how much I’ll merrily spend on a single pen. His favourite and most luxurious rollerballs are £4. I was waving around a… Continue reading
Wow, has it been a wonderful couple of weeks for pens for me. I have been powering through my review queue as quick as I can, but I am just too excited about some of my new arrivals and want to share my first impressions.
Schon shining
Well, they arrived!
My Schon Pocket Six collection… Continue reading
As I have written many times over the years, I am a man with poor impulse control, little willpower, and questionable financial sense.
At times (such as right now) I’ve owned dozens of pens, keeping pens to review in one case, pocket pens in another, my cheaper ‘toy’ pens in another… But at the constant… Continue reading
I can reel off a list of fifty things I look for when reviewing a pen, in several broad categories. I can also tell you about the big dealbreakers that separate a great pen from being a bad one. Plenty are immediately obvious from first unboxing or even from photos and spec sheets (sharp cap… Continue reading
Looking over my pen tray I am often struck by how many pens I have sold, only to later repurchase.
You might well say: if you liked it enough to rebuy it, why did you sell it in the first place?!
It’s a fair question, but I have a few answers.
Sometimes (as the song… Continue reading
I posted back in November that I was taking an indefinite hiatus from the blog. Looking at my published posts count and traffic, that hiatus lasted several months, but I’m back with a vengeance.
But things are not quite the same as they were. Here’s how I’m trying to make blogging work for me, and… Continue reading
I tend not to bother talking about pen boxes when I write a review, unless it’s exceptional in one way or another.
After all, you’re interested in the pen, not the box it comes in. The box is just to get the pen safely to you, right? Not quite.
When you buy a pen, its… Continue reading
Pens from £70 to £2,500 or even £5,000. With steel nibs and gold. Made from aluminium, silver, brass and plastic. From truly oversized to handbag-petite. In all the colours of the rainbow — if the rainbow included black and silver. Hailing from Italy, Germany, France, England, Wales and Ireland. From one-man bands and century-old ateliers.… Continue reading