Bringing you Pen and Pencil News, Reviews & Tutorials
This is the place to find out what the latest news is from the wonderful world of pens pencils and stationery. It’s also where we will include anything interesting that grabs our attention such as did you know that the head of Mi6 signs documents with the letter C in green ink and is associated with what is fondly known as the loony brigade. Or how far will a ballpoint pen write? and which ones write the furthest. You would be amazed to find out the crazy things people do with sharpies.
There is also the answer to questions such as can I get ink poisoning from a pen? or lead poisoning from a pencil? Speaking of poison do you know where the phrase the poison pen comes from? We all know that the Brits are a little bit quirky, but do you know why they call a ball pen a biro? Or have you seen the hilarious Bic Crystal pen reviews on Amazon? Which are rivaled in hilarity by the spoof ads for Bic’s complete and utter marketing disaster the Bic for Her range of pens?
Other things that may be of interest that you can find in this category are what you write and the way you write it. Have you ever wondered about what your handwriting says about you? or when you are writing your signature does neatness count? With tablets and smartphones taking over the world is handwriting now obsolete?
If you’ve been trying to get yourself motivated to write more letters, then February is the perfect month for you.
Two different events challenge people to spend February reviving the habit of communicating the old-fashioned way, with ink and paper. [Read more…]
Have you ever wondered how click pens work? So did I there have been many a time that I have sat at my desk idly clicking my ballpoint pen and passing the time away musing over how it makes its click.
I personally like the clicking noise a Parker ballpoint pen makes. When you press the button on a retractable Parker Jotter it has a reassuringly firm action and produces a distinct clicking sound. Anyway, I thought I would find out how a retractable pen works and was quite surprised at the amount of engineering that has gone into making a pen’s refill extend and retract from the barrel of a retractable ballpoint click pen.
I feel bad for the people who have to make Bic pen ads.
They just can’t seem to get it right when it comes to women.
Remember the “Bic For Her” campaign a few years ago? The French pen brand launched a version of the classic Cristal with pastel colors and a thinner barrel it said was supposed to fit a woman’s hand. [Read more…]
When we think of the loss of handwriting as a common skill, we tend to think of it in terms of English handwriting.
But the Chinese are experiencing a similar issue with regards to traditional Chinese calligraphy. And now, as fewer and fewer people learn the painstaking handwriting craft, a core group of traditionalists are working to keep calligraphy alive. [Read more…]
A funny little bit of irony at work here: Apparently calligraphy is hot on social media sites like Instagram and Tumblr.
First, there was an article by Business Insider about how calligraphy gets a lot of attention on Tumblr. The article cites the “in a brush” Tumblr and the 13K+ notes on one widely seen example of hand-lettering. [Read more…]
