Travels with pens: prepping for Miami — and a few fabulous new arrivals

Tomorrow morning I'm off on my next travels: a few days in Miami. Waiting for me there is my new Wahl Decoband Jade and Karas Re-Entry with Ti nib, so I'm travelling pretty light: just three pens, in my Franklin-Christoph "glasses case". Here's what I've picked: Conid Kingsize, F Ti, Graf Burned Orange Conid Regular, …

Boiling a frog

I'm not sure when it started to feel OK for me to spend £500+ on a pen, or when I started to think of a £100 pen as "cheap". I definitely remember agonising about buying a £70 pen, not that long ago. But somehow my brain has gradually acclimatised to higher and higher prices, just …

13 hard-learned lessons from a veteran fountain pen addict

(Enjoy the blog? Please consider donating – there's a PayPal button at the top right of the site!) Over the past several years of spending far too much time and money on stationery, I've learned a thing or two — about mistakes I make over and over, about what I like and why, and what …

10 alternative section shapes to find the most comfortable pen for you

I believe that the shape of a pen's section is probably the single biggest determinant in whether the pen is comfortable for you or not. Other major factors include the length of the nib and the weight/balance of the pen, but ultimately the section is where your fingers sit. If it's too small, too wide, …

12 inks for 2019: progress report and substitutions

If you remember way back to the start of the year, I set myself a challenge of using only 12 inks for my daily use in 2019. My only exceptions were to be for reviews and other 'one off' uses. So, three months in, how am I getting on? In short: much better than I …

Friday snippets: Conid, Conway Stewart, Leonardo, Edelstein Star Ruby and more…

It's been a quiet week on the blog, but a busy week in my mailbox. Here're the headlines. The return of the Conid In my review of the Conid Regular you may remember me complaining about the slippery Delrin section. A friend on Instagram recommended that I order a separate titanium section, which would solve …

What’s on my wishlist?

I can't help it. No matter how many pens I sell, or how recently I've bought wondrous pens like the Visconti Medici and Onoto Magna... there's always something else. Here's what I've got my eye on today. Aurora 888 Nettuno Aurora releases a million special editions, particularly in this, its centenary year. I normally don't …

UPDATED: more pens for sale!

I try to maintain a one-in, one-out policy for pens. I'm not very good at it, but I try. Here is a new batch of pens for sale, updated 17th March 2019! All prices include UK shipping and are based on payment by bank transfer or PayPal friends and family. Oldwin Art Deco 'Rouge Sang …

An undeniable classic: the Onoto Magna

First impressions count Onoto sure know how to create a sense of occasion. I purchased this Onoto Magna Classic prototype from the London Pen Show, but I wanted it with a gold nib and the optional brass weight added to the barrel — so it went away to the workshop instead of home with me. …

Bored of the mainstream? Four ways to reboot your love of pens

It's easy to get fatigued by all the new pen models that hit the market every month. Most new releases by Lamy, Sailor, Aurora, Conklin and co, let's face it, are just the same pens in different colours, and they often run to the same basic designs, the same foundational principles, the same stock nibs. …