Merry Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas!

Have you been lucky enough to get some money from Father Christmas? If so, below I suggest some fine places where you could spend it. But first, some thank yous.

I started this site back in August and right from the start Brad Dowdy has supported and promoted Pens! Paper! Pencils! on his weekly Ink Links in a way that the material here didn’t really deserve. I’m not sure this pen community would be quite what it is if it wasn’t for Brad’s enthusiasm and generosity. It was his early support that encouraged me to keep going and to improve what I was doing so that this site would deserve the attention his links were sending my way. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person that Brad has supported in this way!

The original incarnation of this site was only on Tumblr. I wanted something quick and easy because I wasn’t sure anyone would be interested in my random pictures of pens and sketches. I built up a reasonable following there but it was episode 84 of the Pen Addict podcast that spurred me on to move it over to WordPress and do the whole thing properly. So thank you to Myke Hurley (and Brad again) for The World’s (Actual) Greatest Podcast. Since making the move less than a fortnight ago the number of readers has quadrupled. I’d say that makes the advice they gave rather good advice.

Ed Jelley was the guest on that episode and, again, he was a great help and encouragement when I made the change. He has a great site and is an inspiration to us all.

I also need to thank Stuart over at Informal Scribble for swapping some lovely inks with me and for making me feel a little less bad about the amount of money I spend on pens. He also does the best ink reviews.

Finally, thank you for visiting this little website and taking the time to contact me on Twitter or in the comments. I’m continually trying to improve the quality of what I put here so that it can deserve your time and attention.

Spending some money

The world is full of people who want to sell you things but the pen world is full of really lovely people who want to sell you things they’re passionate about. Some of them are listed here. None of them have asked me or paid me or blackmailed me into recommending them, they are just places that either make great products and provide great service or sell great products and provide great service.

If you’re looking for a good fairly cheap fountain pen then the Kaweco Classic Sport or Faber-Castell Basic are good choices. If you want to spend a little more then try the TWSBI Diamond 580 or Pilot Prera. If you want to spend even more then spend some time looking through reviews here, here, here or here before making a decision.

For inks you can’t go wrong with Diamine or if you want something a little more luxurious then one of the Pelikan Edelstein range.

If you live in the EU

To buy a great pen try Cult Pens.

To try something from a huge range of inks try The Writing Desk.

If you live anywhere else

To buy a great pen try Jet Pens.

To try something from a huge range of inks try Goulet Pens.

Wherever you live

Buy a beautiful handmade leather Field Notes (or Calepino) notebook cover from Davis Leatherworks.

And also buy a beautiful handmade wooden pen holder from The Clicky Post.

What are you planning on spending your money on? What might you suggest I spend my money on (if I had any left)?