I just have to put it out there. I’ve got to admit it. It’s been eating me inside for weeks, months! I’m not a fan of many Lamy pens. That being said, I am a fan of the Lamy Nexx! Read on to find out why…. Also, be sure to check out my personal blog for more exclusive content! The Pen BoffinWe, The Pen Boffin love pens! Who doesn’t, right? We are a blog currently run by Ali Abbas Panju and Oliver Jack Bennett, and are committed to reviewing fountain pens, writing opinion pieces about fountain pens, and all other paraphernalia! Please check out our main blog for exclusive posts, and follow our social media to keep up to date! Feel free to contact us, and as always, write on. thepenboffin.wordpress.com/
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My fountain pen story, like many others’, is a story of constant development, learning,fountain pens, and hopefully, this may well help you get a head-start on your fountain pen journey! Be sure to check out my own blog for more exclusive content! The Pen BoffinWe, The Pen Boffin love pens! Who doesn’t, right? We are a blog currently run by Ali Abbas Panju and Oliver Jack Bennett, and are committed to reviewing fountain pens, writing opinion pieces about fountain pens, and all other paraphernalia! Please check out our main blog for exclusive posts, and follow our social media to keep up to date! Feel free to contact us, and as always, write on. thepenboffin.wordpress.com/
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Stabilo Singapore has provided me for a review their EASYbirdy fountain pen, one of their first fountain pens which they have launched this year. It is an interesting pen with a feature that I haven’t seen before in other fountain pens – the nib angle can be adjusted using the red tool in the picture. The red tool is actually a device where you can plug into the cartridge area and unscrew the nib part of the pen, after which you can adjust the nib angle in 3 different places to find your preferred one, and then tighten it again. To explain the mechanism better, I have made a video introducing the pen and its special nib adjusting mechanism, as well as a brief review of the writing experience. Oh, and I should mention that this particular version that I received is a left-handed version, which means that the ergonomic grip on the pen section is shaped nicely for a leftie to use. That’s kind of them! Although, to be honest, I am so lazy that I don’t actually bother to change the writing posture of my hand. 🙁 If you’re looking to give a fountain pen to a child […]
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Everyone does ink logging in different ways. I have come across a variety of interesting ways that people record their inks. Some techniques may be good representations of ink being laid down on paper when writing with a fountain pen, some may not. For me, my method is not perfect, but I like it anyway. Here’s sharing with you the procedure by which I log my inks. Materials used: Memo word cards, 90mm x 38mm Round paper stickers (Sun Flower Brand Labels, #1013) Cotton swabs Kitchen towel, cut to desired size (mine is about 25mm x 50mm) Plastic dropper/pipette (for inks and water) Inks (here I am using the Rohrer & Klingner Viridian Green) Water Dip nib holder and dip nib (I use a WM Mitchell Pedigree Fleetwing #0528) The Process Step 1: Dip the cotton swab into the ink and let it soak for 5 seconds or so. This is to ensure that the cotton is well saturated with ink. If you do not soak it well enough, the swab may turn out paler than what it’s supposed to be. Step 2: Perform your swabbing on the word card. I do it from left to right and trying not […]
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Finally, I’m writing a post dedicated to fountain pens for beginners. Let’s get started on fountain pens in the economy price range, which, by my definition, is below 20 USD. That would be approximately 25 SGD or 15 Euros. In the eyes of many non-fountain pen users, fountain pens seem to be luxury items that are valued at a full month’s salary or more. Well, it is true in certain cases, but let’s not go there today. If you are just starting out on fountain pens, you’d probably prefer to invest in something that has decent quality but does not cost a bomb, and most likely not something that you’d spend even a tenth of your salary on. Many questions may have come to your mind when you consider that purchase. You may wonder if you will actually like fountain pens at all, since you’ve spent all your life using ballpoint pens, pencils, and rollerballs. You may have walked past a fountain pen store or a Montblanc boutique, and got a little freaked out at the 3- or 4- digit price tags (and probably with multiple zeroes at the back, if we are talking currencies like the Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, or Indonesian rupiah) on the […]
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Warning: Many photos in this post! Sometimes we all get a little tired of seeing beautiful, sleek, serious, high-end fountain pens, and it’s about time we explore the lower end, cutesy fountain pens, just for fun. Thanks to two members of the SFPL group, I have in my possession two cute fountain pens which are clearly very suitable for children (or adults who like cute stuff, like me sometimes). In terms of pricing, both pens cost $3 (SGD) or less, which is pretty amazing, and you will know why later. I will go into details of each pen one by one. CELLO FOUNTAIN PEN (DISNEY – SNOW WHITE) Cello Writing Instruments is an Indian company that manufactures stationery products. This fountain pen has been offered to me by Burhan from Jalalpen, a Singaporean pen company that has emerged recently. Even though I received this for free, my review is only of my honest opinion of the pen. The colours on this pen are bright pastels, which at first glance looks like something that children will be attracted to. In addition, the barrel has a printout of Snow White, a Disney character. There are also other pens with other colours that feature other […]
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Did you know that it is World Stationery Day today, and that this week (27 April – 3 May) is National Stationery Week? That means it’s time to get out and celebrate with some stationery. I have started a series of “Get Started On” posts consisting of only one post so far, so I thought it is the best time to write another one to get people started on things. Being a fountain pen blogger and a stationery fanatic, I would like to get you started on fountain pens, if you haven’t done so yet! 3 Reasons Why You Should Start Using Fountain Pens I will keep it simple and to the point, but I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on why you should get started on fountain pens. Note that this list definitely isn’t exhaustive, but I hope you can identify with at least one of the pointers listed below. “Green” Going green is a big thing as one may probably wish to do a little on our part to reduce waste and protect the environment. Using a fountain pen itself may not be fully environmentally-friendly, but if you compare it with using cheap […]
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I met Maybelline at a Sheaffer event where I was talking about using fountain pens for drawing. So I thought maybe I’ll write about the same topic. I use a variety of pens for drawing, mostly technical pens and fountain pens, and to a lesser extent, ballpoint pens. Technical pens are my favourites because I like the uniform strokes they produce. And for that reason, I also prefer fountain pens that produce uniform strokes. The sketch above was drawn with the Faber Castell Ambition (review). However, there are also fountain pens that are capable of producing more than uniform strokes. The advantage fountain pens have over other pens is the ability to choose your own inks and nibs. And with different inks and nibs, you can get different effects. Here are the points to take note of when choosing the fountain pen, nib or ink for drawing. Nibs The standard fine, medium and broad nibs are going to produce uniform strokes. They are great for technical works where details are required. In addition to the standard nibs, there are also the specialty nibs such as the fude, music, calligraphy, flex, falcon, zoom, Spencerian and many more, some of which you can see […]
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By the generous sponsorship of Frank from Fontoplumo, I received this cute little Kaweco Skyline Sport fountain pen! One can never have too many Kaweco Sport fountain pens, I think, and I had been trying to decide between the original Classic Sport in Bordeaux or in white… In case you haven’t heard, I’ve already reviewed the Kaweco Classic Sport some time ago, and although my picture shows many Sports together, I effectively only owned one of them – the clear version. The Bordeaux would have been a rich addition to my Kaweco collection, and the white a very elegant looking one. But who would have expected that I would have a chance to get a MINT coloured Kaweco?! 😀 Mint is not a common colour for fountain pens, and this is definitely my very first mint-coloured pen. Nice idea, Kaweco! Besides the colour, there are a couple of differences between this Kaweco Skyline and the good old Kaweco Classic range. With the Skyline, Kaweco has brought to its range a new version of the Classic Sport, in which the golden coloured parts have all been changed to silver! For those who dislike gold, this can be a very welcoming change indeed and […]
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I know I’ve reviewed this pen before, but since I have grown very fond of it, I felt that my anecdotal previous post hadn’t given it enough justice. Those had been the days when I did not even have a proper camera (not that I have one now – my photos are all taken using my smartphone with a nice quality camera). I was just starting out in the realm of fountain pens and hadn’t known very much what to take note of in a fountain pen. So this time, I would like to bring this pen up to the surface again and appraise it once more. These pens have got to be one of the best affordable fountain pens I ever owned, but although I had mentioned in the initial review that it is dirt cheap, I realised after a new search today that it costs a bomb in Amazon, and more expensive than I imagined from other places. Nevertheless, the price point remains low for a hardy pen like itself, and while it is not as cheap as a Platinum Preppy, I do consider it very affordable (perhaps in the range of the Pilot Kakuno?). To be honest, even […]
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