favourite fountain pen related blogs?

[pica pica]

What blogs/bloggers you find interesting, follow and could recommend? Thank you!

[top pen]

My favorite is Joshua's Pelikan Perch blog. I find his articles very interesting and are well written. I think what makes a pen blog interesting which I don't see often anymore is when I have the ability to relate to the blogger. Most start off like this however have to buy stuff for review so they have new content.

One others I like are mycoffeepot.org as it is feels more independent then most other's and he reviews some interesting pens.


http://mycoffeepot.org/
http://thepelikansperch.com/

It would be interesting to read other's thoughts on this matter.

[pica pica]

My favorite is Joshua's Pelikan Perch blog. I find his articles very interesting and are well written...

i
Top pen, thank you for sharing! Indeed the Pelikan's Perch is well written and researched. I've never owned a Pelikan before and maybe it is time to start looking and saving for one. Mycoffeepot is also great but doesn't appeal to me that much. I'm not sure why.

I think I can understand what you mean by the commercialization. The idea of professional (paid) blogging is still hard for me to accept, but on the other hand, it must be possible to be paid for something and still stay independent and impartial.

My favourite one, estilofilos.blogspot.co.uk, tells the story of Japanese pens. It's the first blog of which I have read every single post and keep coming back to read them again and again. One reason for this is obvious: I'm fascinated with Japanese pens. However, it's also about the way the author writes; historical facts, plenty of related and background information and the entertaining form of a short story for each topic/post. The second blog I truly enjoy, goodwriterspens.com, is somehow similar but deals mainly with Western pens. There are of course plenty of others I visit more or less regularly.

[top pen]

My favorite is Joshua's Pelikan Perch blog. I find his articles very interesting and are well written...

i
Top pen, thank you for sharing! Indeed the Pelikan's Perch is well written and researched. I've never owned a Pelikan before and maybe it is time to start looking and saving for one. Mycoffeepot is also great but doesn't appeal to me that much. I'm not sure why.

I think I can understand what you mean by the commercialization. The idea of professional (paid) blogging is still hard for me to accept, but on the other hand, it must be possible to be paid for something and still stay independent and impartial.

My favourite one, estilofilos.blogspot.co.uk, tells the story of Japanese pens. It's the first blog of which I have read every single post and keep coming back to read them again and again. One reason for this is obvious: I'm fascinated with Japanese pens. However, it's also about the way the author writes; historical facts, plenty of related and background information and the entertaining form of a short story for each topic/post. The second blog I truly enjoy, goodwriterspens.com, is somehow similar but deals mainly with Western pens. There are of course plenty of others I visit more or less regularly.

I will have to check out some of those ones. I've never owned a Japanese pen or vintage however both look like great reads.

Here are a few others which are worth checking out;

http://www.pencilcaseblog.com/

http://www.wellappointeddesk.com/

http://penpaperpencil.net/

https://inlovewithjournals.wordpress.com/

http://penpaperinkletter.com/

There are some very general pen related articles on this next one http://blog.tigerpens.co.uk/

From a review point of view I tend to prefer articles written by FPN and FPGeeks members. As I find they are more likely to have used the pen for an extended period of time so will provide a more useful outlook on how the pen writes in the long term.

[inlovewithjournals]

Thank you for the shout out Top Pen, and I agree with all of your other choices as well. I review pens that I buy or I receive as gifts from friends and family; I have never been approached by any pen companies to review their items. I have been approached by one notebook company and I was very up front in my post about how they sent me a free notebook but that did not affect my review (I genuinely liked their notebook). I have lost interest in the "sponsored" sites/youtube channels as well.

[inlovewithjournals]

Oh I forgot to mention this one that hasn't been mentioned so far: https://fromthepencup.wordpress.com/. Excellent site.

[sargetalon]

I appreciate the support top pen. There are some great blogs listed here. My site is now 7 months old but I have worked very hard on it and really try to keep it informative and helpful. So far, I'm happy with how it has come along and it makes it worth it to hear that people such as yourself are enjoying the content. I agree with your disdain about the commercialization of blogs and it is a turn off to me as well. I plan to keep focused on my Pelikan niche which is my passion and I think that guides me well and keeps me grounded. I have wrestled with how to keep the blog objective and decided that the only way that I will accept a sponsorship of sorts is directly from Pelikan International. This will give me an opportunity to review pens that I otherwise do not have access to, such as the M805 Stresemann (the first pen to be loaned to me). These are only loaner pens which have to be returned to the company and my review is not subject to outside critique so I believe that will keep things unbiased and non-commercialized but still allow me to generate relevant reviews on available products for the community. I hope that you will agree.

As for the OP's original question, I like Dries' The Pencil Case Blog which has been mentioned here.

[Ste_S]

I like

Deb's Goodwriterspens blog
http://goodwriterspens.com

Matt Armstrong's Pen Habit. He can be guilty of Kaweco-syndrome, but mostly reviews pens and inks he's bought himself. Entertaining videos and good quality production
http://penhabit.com

Fountain Pen Economics
http://www.peneconomics.com/blog/

and then the afforementioned Pelikan's Perch and estilofilos.blogspot.co.uk

[inlovewithjournals]

I like

Deb's Goodwriterspens blog
http://goodwriterspens.com

Matt Armstrong's Pen Habit. He can be guilty of Kaweco-syndrome, but mostly reviews pens and inks he's bought himself. Entertaining videos and good quality production
http://penhabit.com

Fountain Pen Economics
http://www.peneconomics.com/blog/

and then the afforementioned Pelikan's Perch and estilofilos.blogspot.co.uk

Forgot to mention how much I enjoy Deb's Goodwriterspens blog. I'm in love with her assistant!

[Robert]

I don't think this has been mentioned on this thread, but for those looking to poke around pen blog sites, try: http://pennaquod.net

It lists about 75 different blog sites. Some you already likely know, but there are many you may not know (yet).

[Pencilcaseblog]

Hello everyone,

First of all, thanks for the mention Top pens and sargetalon! It makes me really happy to see that people actually like what I scribble over at my blog!

Next I would like to answer to Top pen's reaction here, about the commercialization of blogs nowadays. Of course I'm a blogger myself, so you'll hear my side of the story, but nevertheless I completely understand people when they say it's wrong for bloggers to be paid for reviews! Now I don't actually get paid for doing reviews, even I think that's a bridge too far, and I won't go there. I do, however, get sent free products (yes, kaweco stuff too!). (I wrote an article about this topic lately btw!) In my article I sort of explain what and why. But I'll explain some more here. I'm a student, so i have money, but not like people with a job do. Once every few months I can purchase a nice pen, but that's it! Pretty much all my money Goes to new pens and related items, but even then I only have enough material to do maybe one review every month. Obviously I've been a collector for quite a while before I started blogging, so I had a reasonable reserve of products to review, but after a while (faster than I expected!) i ran out of interesting things to blog about.

Because blogging is kind of addictive, and you always stribe to get better posts, and more views, more followers (or at least I do, I'm quite a competitive person), I wanted to continue doing at least one post per week. So Yeah, you probably notice the problem here: running a blog with reviews funded completely by myself soon became quite difficult! That's why I started reaching out to different Brands, which would allow me to continue blogging the way I wanted. Some of the products I get sent have to be sent back, some don't. It's always nice to receive something for free, and it might slightly influence bloggers, but I always try to mention every aspect of a product, be it good or bad.

I don't know how other bloggers experience this, but I actually think I got harsher in my reviews, being more direct and honest when something is not as it should be (I don't think I was this harsh a year or so ago). I feel like, now that my blog is starting to grow bigger, i have more responsability towards my readers, since my reviews might encourage people to actually spend money. On the other hand, I try to keep my reviews (sponsored or not) balanced, I try to mention both good and bad, and I end with a conclusion on what you should keep in mind if you buy a specific product, or for who the product would be most suited.

Summed up in one phrase: I personally accept products from Brands and retailers because I want to provide a stready stream of good quality reviews, which is almost impossible without help from these companies.


Phew, I guess that's enough rambling for one post! I think this sums up about everything I have to say about it (at least for now), although it's an interesting topic that can lead to many more interesting discussions. If you want to ask me a personal question about this, or any other matter, feel free to ask, i'll be happy to respond!

PS: Hey Fpgeeks, as you might notice I'm new on this forum (yes I actually signed up just because I wanted to react here!)! I'll definitely try being around on this forum every now and then!

Kind regards,
Dries Bleus
Thepencilcaseblog
(www.pencilcaseblog.com)

[Pencilcaseblog]

Oh and because I went completely off-topic in my previous post, here's a few of the blogs I like most (you can go check my blogroll on my blog for more):

Thesebeautifulpens: www.thesebeautifulpens.blogspot.com (Pure pen p0rn, her collection is A-mazing)

Edjelley: www.edjelley.com (he does get free stuff as well, but his reviews are very down-to-earth, great photography)

And of course as mentioned earlier, thepelikansperch is a great site if you're specifically interested in Pelikans,

[Ste_S]

I think there's a few problems with reviewing the 'for press' pens

1. It tends to discourage negative coverage. If someone has given your previous product a bad review, are you likely to get sent their next pen ? Of the top of my head, I can only think of two negative reviews. Matt Armtstrong's (Pen Habit) Parker IM review and Dan Smith's Visconti (Mosquito Typhoon ?) review.
I'm sure there are others, but there are an overwhelmingly number of positive reviews out there with some bloggers not wanting to review bad products

2. Everyone reviewing a press pen makes your blog blend into all the others. I remember when the Karas Kustoms Ink was launched it seemed as though every blog had a review up for the pen. See also Kaweco.

[Potter]

Some useful links here, can I just mention a trio of my pen pals who put together good blogs:

http://penpaperpencil.net/
http://afoolwithapen.com/
http://www.gorgeous.ink/

Ian, Gary and Paul put together some interesting stuff, I understand the concerns some have with creeping commercialization, but as long as the blog informs me of the loan/gift I'm hopefully smart enough to bear that in mind.

Also must mention Deb's site for a fix of the vintage stuff, thankfully no sponsorship here:
Deb's Goodwriterspens blog
http://goodwriterspens.com

[Pencilcaseblog]

I think there's a few problems with reviewing the 'for press' pens

1. It tends to discourage negative coverage. If someone has given your previous product a bad review, are you likely to get sent their next pen ? Of the top of my head, I can only think of two negative reviews. Matt Armtstrong's (Pen Habit) Parker IM review and Dan Smith's Visconti (Mosquito Typhoon ?) review.
I'm sure there are others, but there are an overwhelmingly number of positive reviews out there with some bloggers not wanting to review bad products

2. Everyone reviewing a press pen makes your blog blend into all the others. I remember when the Karas Kustoms Ink was launched it seemed as though every blog had a review up for the pen. See also Kaweco.

With al due respect, but I think you're generalizing it too much! Not ALL reviews are always positive. Also, a review might be positive in general, while still mentioning the negative aspects (perhaps the negative side doesn't affect the overall thought about a product) And like Potter mentions below, if you know that a review was sponsored, and you think it's too good to be true. Why don't you keep that in mind, and go to the nearest B&M store and try the product out for yourself? In the end, you will never be 100 percent sure if you'll like a product before you actually used it yourself!

While indeed some manufacturers spread out massive amounts of review samples, this remains limited to just a few exceptions. And even then, isn't it useful to have more than one opinion about a product? If you can compare multiple thoughts about one product, it'll give you a way better general idea.

(I'm sorry for rambling on about this, I think we might need a separate thread for this... Anyways, I just want to clear out some things, as I notice that some people's idea about a good review isn't realistic)

Also, bloggers shouldn't be blamed for being positive. We do this as a HOBBY, would you like your hobby if it was depressing and negative all the time? Just sayin' ;-)

Kind regards,

PS: I'm sorry for pointing this directly at you (Ste_s), it's more of a general idea.

[Ste_S]

Unfortunately not many of us are blessed with having a local shop to try out fountain pens before buying.
As such I'm very much reliant either on my own experiences for brands and/or pens I know, or for online reviews and forums for the brands/pens I don't. The community is an essential knowledge base.

My comments are more directed at those who don't review bad pens, as buyers we equally need to know what to avoid. As we often know, QC with pens can be variable. One reviewer may have a positive experience with a pen, another two might have a negative one but don't write about it as they don't do negative reviews. A buyer needs to know about those negative opinions just as much as the positive ones.

Another take on it here :-
http://www.peneconomics.com/blog/201...eview-bad-pens
I'd also recommend Pen Econmics to the recommend blogs list, it touches on subjects that most other blogs don't.

[Scrawler]

Thanks for all of these blog links. Both entertaining and informative reading.

[Deb]

Thanks to those who included my blog. I try to avoid commercialism in the blog – I have a sales site for that. There are essentially two things that I try to do. One is to get a mention of really uncommon pens on the web so that anyone buying that brand will have something to refer to. The other thing I do is to write about pens that I love and admire. There are a lot of them!

[Scrawler]

Thanks to those who included my blog. I try to avoid commercialism in the blog – I have a sales site for that. There are essentially two things that I try to do. One is to get a mention of really uncommon pens on the web so that anyone buying that brand will have something to refer to. The other thing I do is to write about pens that I love and admire. There are a lot of them!

I like your blog. I have learned about pens I have never heard of and more about my favourite, older English pens from it.

[Pencilcaseblog]

Unfortunately not many of us are blessed with having a local shop to try out fountain pens before buying.
As such I'm very much reliant either on my own experiences for brands and/or pens I know, or for online reviews and forums for the brands/pens I don't. The community is an essential knowledge base.

My comments are more directed at those who don't review bad pens, as buyers we equally need to know what to avoid. As we often know, QC with pens can be variable. One reviewer may have a positive experience with a pen, another two might have a negative one but don't write about it as they don't do negative reviews. A buyer needs to know about those negative opinions just as much as the positive ones.

Another take on it here :-
http://www.peneconomics.com/blog/201...eview-bad-pens
I'd also recommend Pen Econmics to the recommend blogs list, it touches on subjects that most other blogs don't.

Indeed, without a good B&M store, things get tricky. It's a pretty sad thing to see these stores dissapear and make room for more online shops. Nothing is as informative and indulgent as dipping a new pen in your local store! Even I as a blogger don't always fully trust the internet. If I do research on a pen I want, I make sure I read at least three reviews or articles on it before I decide wether or not I'll buy it. you never know if the person who reviews thinks the same way about what's good and bad, so I think comparing a few reviews is the best thing you can do. If you shop online, I'd make sure the shop's return and repair policy is foolproof, so that if something is wrong, or it turns out you don't like it anyway, you can always get it sent back.

I actually don't know if I'm the kind of blogger who only reviews products he likes. I mean, I like most things I review, but that's just because I tend to reach out to the brands I like. And of course if I buy a pen, it's something I really want! I never explicitly denied reviewing a product, which I know some bloggers do. Downright denying a product is indeed a bit weird and annoying for the readers.

Kind regards,