Ian Hedley, Author at The Pen Company Blog

Faber-Castell Ondoro fountain pen review

June 7, 2017 ♦

Expert Advice & Product Reviews, Fountain Pens

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I’ve been a fan of Faber-Castell since very early on in my fountain pen obsession interest. The Ambition was one of the first fountain pens I bought and it remains, many years later, one of my favourites. Since then I’ve acquired examples of all their modern range, finally completing the…

Lamy Z55 14K bi-colour gold nib review

August 3, 2016 ♦

Expert Advice & Product Reviews, Fountain Pens

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6 Comments

One of the lovely things about Lamy pens is they all (except the 2000) use the same nibs and these nibs are very easily swapped (simply pull one nib off and push another one on). Lamy produce a wide variety of stainless steel nibs and they’re generally pretty good. They…

Sailor 1911 brush pen review

February 9, 2016 ♦

Expert Advice & Product Reviews

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1 Comment

A brush pen needs to have good flow and good line variation while maintaining a crisp line and allowing lots of control. How does the Sailor Brush Pen stack up? The Sailor 1911 Brush Pen has the same barrel design as Sailor’s 1911 fountain pens. It’s quite a wide barrel…

Diamine Shimmertastic Purple Pazzazz: Fountain Pen Ink Review

December 1, 2015 ♦

Expert Advice & Product Reviews, Ink

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0 Comments

This is one of Diamine’s sparkly inks, and this one is as over the top in colour as it is in name. Purple with gold sparkles, it’s my daughter’s dream combo. This ink does not do subtle. To get the best out of this ink you need to use it…

Diamine Shimmertastic Night Sky: Fountain Pen Ink Review

December 1, 2015 ♦

Expert Advice & Product Reviews, Ink

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0 Comments

Night Sky is one of Diamine’s new range of shimmery inks and it’s quite a tasteful one. The sparkle isn’t too in your face and, against the dark ink, really does look like a pretty winter’s night sky (not an English night sky though – they’re usually very cloudy.) You…

Tombow Zoom 101 Fountain Pen Review

August 17, 2015 ♦

Expert Advice & Product Reviews, Fountain Pens

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0 Comments

I was very pleased to have a chance to try the Tombow Zoom 101 fountain pen from The Pen Company. Tombow make some of my favourite art supplies and are famous, in particular, for their pencils, but they are not the first company you tend to think of when considering…

Lamy Linea Fountain Pen Review

February 26, 2015 ♦

Expert Advice & Product Reviews, Fountain Pens, Pens

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3 Comments

The Lamy Linea is an aluminium-bodied fountain pen with an interesting herringbone pattern. It takes standard Lamy converters and cartridges, and standard Lamy nibs. This pen has many similarities with the Pur, the ST and the Logo, so let’s start there before going on to the differences. All but the…

Lamy Logo fountain pen review

October 31, 2014 ♦

Expert Advice & Product Reviews

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0 Comments

The Lamy Logo is a stainless steel fountain pen. It’s available with a wide range of nibs and will take Lamy’s proprietary cartridges or converter. It costs £29.50 from The Pen Company. As with all Lamy pens, the Logo is beautifully constructed. The cap pushes on firmly and with a…

Lamy Studio fountain pen review

July 15, 2014 ♦

Expert Advice & Product Reviews, Fountain Pens

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2 Comments

This Lamy Studio is an all-metal fountain pen with a shiny metal grip and a soft lacquered brushed metal barrel and cap. As is typical with Lamy pens, the construction is extremely high quality. Nothing wiggles or wobbles and the cap both closes and posts with an extremely satisfying pop…

Sailor Jentle Apricot and Grenade inks

April 7, 2014 ♦

Ink

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0 Comments

These are two beautiful inks from Sailor. They both behave well, show some shading and have decent dry times. The bottles are lovely and have a little ink reservoir to help you use up every last drop. Sailor Jentle Grenade This is a rich dark plum colour. It reminds me…