Today is the final post of my 12 days of fountain pen bloggers Christmas series, and I hope you have enjoyed the whole series. It was the first time I was doing something this significant for On Fountain Pens, and I am really grateful that all the bloggers who contributed have been such wonderful people to work with! Here are links to their blogs, in order of the day their posts have been published. Do pay them a visit and support them too! Bloggers: Janet – Ink2Pen || Parka – Parkablogs || Sandra – Life Imitates Doodles || Lito – Palimpsest || Pete – Pete Denison || Elizabeth – No Pen Intended || Cary – Fountain Pen Day || Nicholas – Inky Passion || Junee – Alt. Haven || Joe – The Gentleman Stationer || Ana – The Well-Appointed Desk As we turn a new page into 2015, On Fountain Pens is also going to have some changes and additions this year, what I would like to call “expansion packs”. I’d like to take the opportunity of this post to announce some of the exciting things that are coming up at On Fountain Pens! EXPANSION PACK 1: NEW WRITERS In 2015, On Fountain Pens will be transitioning from a “I” into a […]
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SFPL stands for the “Singapore Fountain Pen Lovers”, and we are really a bunch of fun and cool fountain pen enthusiasts indeed! If you had been following my Twitter account, you may have noticed that I posted a tweet about the pen meet that was going to happen on 7 December 2014. Well, the meet turned out awesome, and we had so many more people than expected! Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure: When we had to confirm the booking of the room, responses had been slow, and we booked a room that could fit about 40 people. In the end, about 60 or so people actually turned up! Yes, many of them had no chairs, and I feel apologetic as the room was indeed a little cramped and just full of people everywhere. Everyone seemed really happy and engrossed in talking about their pens, inks and accessories. The room was bursting, not only with people, but also with all the chatter and energy! Despite the gloomy weather and rain outside, everyone seemed cheerful. Now for the items. We had Renover Life Notebooks as the door gifts in 3 different colours and styles (grid, ruled, and blank). The […]
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Today’s delightful pens are from the Namiki Chinkin collection, and it’s the first time On Fountain Pens has the honour to feature Namiki pens here! Chinkin means “gold inlay” and it is the technique used to create the wonderful designs on these beautiful pens. These pens have just been launched in November 2014, fresh out of the oven from Namiki. There are 4 designs in the collection, namely: Namiki Chinkin Yukari Cranes (Tsuru) Namiki Chinkin Yukari Pine Tree (Matsu) Namiki Chinkin Yukari Silver Grass (Susuki) Namiki Chinkin Yukari Cherry Blossoms (Sakura) These pens come with a two-toned 18K gold nib. In Japan, Chinkin and Maki-e are two popular ornamental lacquering techniques. For those already familiar with the Maki-e Yukari pens from Namiki, these Chikin Yukari pens are similar in size. Also, Namiki had previously launched their more premium, signed Chinkin series, which are available in Yukari Royale (Squirrel and Owl) and Emperor (Peony, Tiger, Hawk, and Dragon) sizes. In the Chinkin technique, the pen is coated first with a Roiro lacquer finish, and the designs are carved on the lacquer layer with a chiselling tool specialized for this work. Only can only imagine how much willpower and concentration is needed to […]
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I’m getting sleepy as it is night here, but I’ll just show a fountain pen at random (probably a new category for me to open up! I’m using a hashtag called #pendelight and it will be showcasing a random pen that I have spotted and want to share with you all about. Look at the Kaweco AL-Sport stonewashed black design! The AL stands for aluminium which is the material of the pen. Clearly it is slightly heavier than the plastic Kawecos, but it’s not a big deal! Doesn’t it look nice lying in a bunch of Kaweco stickers?! It also lives up to its name being “stonewashed” due to the weathered look, and the cold touch! I love the button on the caps of Kaweco pens so I took a picture of this pen’s button too: Voila. What a pretty pen! If you’re thinking of getting it, it’s not difficult as you can find it in a variety of places. There are the blue ones which also look really nice too! You can read up about my review of the Kaweco Skyline (not classic) Mint fountain pen. I hope this pen writes as nicely as how it should look! What is your […]
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For those who don’t know SFPL, it’s an acronym for “Singapore Fountain Pen Lovers” and it is the Facebook group of fountain pen enthusiasts in Singapore. Clearly, I am part of it and even an administrator there, and recently I had done up some hyperactive chat sessions tagged #PenTalkFriday to get the group a little more involved (although it’s not like people aren’t already posting and commenting a lot around there already!). Soothing inks In my first #PenTalkFriday session, I asked members to share which inks (brand and colours) they found the most soothing. We received a swarm of answers in just a few minutes and the conversation continued even till the wee hours of Friday night! My personal favourite soothing ink colour is the Pelikan 4001 Blue, but then again I haven’t tried enough inks to make the best judgement! On the chat thread, it seemed like many found some colours in the Iroshizuku, J. Herbin, and Noodler’s ranges of inks most soothing. I have never tried a single Iroshizuku, have only 1 bottle of J. Herbin, and 1 bottle of Noodler’s. That’s a pretty sad thing for a fountain pen user who is in love with colours. Anyone […]
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EDIT: This post has been hiding in my drafts folder for the longest time and came up as I was looking for Danitrio information to link to. It’s time to get it out and publish it. Silly me! I had always thought it is already published before… When I got invited to be the MC for the very first Danitrio Maki-e event in Southeast Asia, I can bet all my best fountain pens that I was delighted as a child on her birthday. Okay, I take it back. I’m not going to bet all my best fountain pens. But believe me, being busy and tired all the time from work, this was a very welcome “spice” in my life! My job was not so difficult, basically I needed to appear looking presentable, and I have a script that I’ll need to read from to introduce the event and the owner of Danitrio, Mr. Bernard Lyn. I had the script, a nice dress, an excellent mood, and I was good to go for the exhibition! This was a closed event so clearly I felt even more privileged to be part of it. I knew some of my SFPL friends were going […]
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I got informed that Fook Hing Trading Co. in Bras Basah, Singapore, is having an exclusive showcase of Pilot Capless pens! I like Pilot pens and I own a couple of them myself, but never got down to buying a Capless. There has been so many occasions where I could have owned a Capless for myself, but I never clicked the “buy” button. Today, I wonder why. And it makes me annoyed that I don’t even have a photo of the pen to put up here. 🙁 A Capless, also known as a Vanishing Point, should make writing fast and convenient, as you do not need to pull out or unscrew a cap. There are a couple of mechanisms such as the “revolving” type and the “knob” type where, like a ball point pen, the nib is pushed out when you revolve or push the knob. I have heard and read reviews of the Pilot Capless pens and they were mostly, if not all, positive. Here’s an example: The Pen Addict’s review of the Pilot Vanishing Point. I should put that on my Christmas Wish List. 😀 Fook Hing is going to showcase both the new models as well as […]
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One evening after getting back home and feeling bored, I visited the Singapore Fountain Pen Lovers Facebook group and found a bunch of folks as bored as I was! A thread full of brand wordplay! I love wordplay so I joined in the fun too. Note 1: This post is not meant to ridicule anything, just having fun, alright? FUN. Not suitable for those who don’t have a sense of humour. Note 2: Some of the language inside, especially sentence structure and grammar, are colloquial. After all, it IS a group for Singaporeans. To protect the privacy of the members, I have blurred out their display pictures and covered up their names. Well. There you have it. A bunch of fountain pen lovers having too much free time on their hands… MaybellineI am the founder of this website. Chemist by day, slacker by night, fanatic of stationery all the time. I write with my left hand, but can also do the same with my right hand – it just won’t look very pretty. onfountainpens.com
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One of my readers wrote to me to tell me about her Monteverde pens. Here’s what she said: I have been using fountain pens all my life. This year in May I received a Monteverde Prima for my birthday (brown swirl). Even though I normally like thinner pens this has an excellent ink flow and is fun to write with. When I went online to register it @ Monteverdepens.com – I saw that they had a clear barreled Monteverde Arista rollerball. Because you could purchase colored ink cartridges I decided to check that out. Wonderful! I also cut a small portion of cherry blossoms from a Hiroshige print from a small calendar and customized my pen by putting the print inside the clear barrel (my sister drew a black & white design for her pen). Fun! Well, Sando, thank you for writing in to share about your Monteverde pen! I’ve seen them around but haven’t gotten down to buying one yet (or request for samples). I should go take another look! Want your comments/reviews to be shared in a blog post? Write to me at write@onfountainpens.com! MaybellineI am the founder of this website. Chemist by day, slacker by night, fanatic […]
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I literally rubbed my palms in glee as I received an invitation to the Sheaffer Centennial celebrations in Singapore. Well actually, I saw the event being mentioned on the Singapore Fountain Pen Lovers Facebook group, so I quickly contact the organizer to send me an invitation to this event. How could I miss it! And so, I happily went down after work on 22 May to attend the Centennial. Oh, and by the way, the event organizer also invited me to make a speech as a pen collector/blogger at the event as well. What an honour! It was my first public speech on fountain pens so naturally I was nervous. The palms I was rubbing in glee earlier were now clammy. Fortunately, it was a fine evening and the place I was going to is pretty (MICA building near the river). After checking in and getting a “Media” tag for myself, I went eagerly around the exhibits to snap shots of them. You know, the only thing I regret from this event is that I don’t have a proper camera. I was only equipped with my smartphone, so the quality of the pictures taken is… hmm… not ideal. The […]
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