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?
Not being British, I was fascinated a while back to learn that green ink is considered the medium of the lunatic fringe in the UK.
That little bit of lore became even more interesting recently when I heard that it is a long and continuing tradition for the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service to sign all documents in green ink. [Read more…]
There are thousands of different pens available to buy, made by numerous pen manufacturers and this can be very confusing. When buying a new pen how do you decide which one when they all look very similar?
Do you know what type of pen that you are currently using? Is it a gel pen, ballpoint pen, biro, liquid ink pen or something else? [Read more…]
The U.S. president signed the historic health care bill last week using a different pen for each portion of the letters in his name. The Washington Post reported that it took Obama, a left-hander, about 90 seconds to complete the signature and that he used 22 pens.
And what kind of pens was President Obama using? According to the Post’s secret source, they were black Cross pens, customized with the presidential seal and the President’s signature. [Read more…]
The town of Janesville, Wisconsin is speaking up about the future of the Parker Pen archives.
You might remember we mentioned last month that the iconic pen company was closing down its Newhaven manufacturing plant and shifting everything to France. Pen collector Tony Fischier, who runs ParkerCollector.com, has launched an online petition to keep the company’s extensive archives of pen designs and classic Parker writing instruments in Newhaven. [Read more…]
For our American readers, a pen is usually just a pen. But those of you in the UK know that cheap ballpoints are often referred to as “biros.” If you’ve ever wondered about the reason for that, it’s this:
The first ballpoint pen, utilizing a steel ball bearing held in place by a socket, was developed in the late 19th century by a man named John Loud. Unfortunately, his invention didn’t work too well on paper and was used mainly for marking leather, according to a report from the BBC. [Read more…]
