This summer I was running a guest house for the first time. Summer by the seaside is a busy time and in between cooking bacon and servicing rooms the beach and the sea calls to you. I spent little time luxuriating in different fountain pen nibs and interesting inks and instead got down to basics […]
The Stylos Color is a pen I backed on Kickstarter, designed by a gentleman called Kostas Metaxas. Although, as far as I can tell, it isn’t available to buy anywhere, Kostas has just finished his fourth Kickstarter campaign on a variation of this pen (all but the first one being successful) so there’s a fair […]
In 1919 a gentleman called Hermann Böhler left Kaweco to form a company named Osmia. Faber-Castell began to acquire Osmia in 1935, finally buying the company outright in 1951. During this time, and into the early 60s, Faber-Castell continued to use the Osmia name and logo. The 663, however, was produced in the 60s using […]
Updated on 28 April 2017 Lucio Rossi, the man behind Venvstas, got in touch with me soon after this review was published and we’ve exchanged several emails. He had undertaken to replace all the original Carbon V pens with an updated version and made the same offer to me. The new version is better. The […]
I only bought the Sheaffer Intensity because it was on offer. It turned out to be one of those lovely occasions when a pen exceeds your expectations. However, don’t jump to buy one just yet. Price: around £50 (seems to be hard to find this particular version anywhere but Amazon or eBay); however I paid […]