I’m moving the sales site to a new host and in the process having some of the b0rked mess that WebcreationUK left behind them tidied up.  I had my own suspicions from the outset about some of what they were doing and it’s nice to have them confirmed.  Despite their promise that my site would be built from scratch, I’m told by the new developer that not only did they re-use someone else’s template, they took someone else’s site wholesale and changed the details.  There’s a lump of dead code in my site, all relating to someone else’s business!  The software they incorporated in my site was three years old even then.  Things like the routine for lost passwords and automatic emails worked badly on the odd occasion when they worked at all because they didn’t set up their server appropriately.  Too much trouble for them.  Everything was too much trouble.

Once bitten, twice shy, as they say, so I proceed with caution, but so far things have moved quickly and it may not be very long before I can rest assured that all will be well for the future of the site.  Things will work as they should, there will be a new security layer and the hosting will cost a fraction of what I was paying before.

I realise that all this is a bit dull and only tangentially pen-related but this is what has been taking up my time for the last couple of weeks.  I hope to be posting more articles on pens quite soon and I hope, if all goes well, to list some more pens for sale today.

I never tire of opening packages, especially those that clearly contain pens.  Three arrived this morning.  The period from World War I to World War II is covered by these pens: a splendid slip-cap eyedropper that probably was made before World War I but I’m being conservative in my estimates here, and two late thirties/wartime lever fillers.  One is as it was found in drawer, attic or wherever, the other has been “restored” by a man I often buy from.  His restoration, I have to say, is not mine.  The pen is re-sacced and he seems to do that quite well.  Otherwise, there’s work to be done.  Annoyingly, he doesn’t flush pens thoroughly and if you’re not careful it’s inky fingers time, one of my pet hates.  The eyedropper is handsomely stamped with cursive initials on what appears to be a gold band even though it isn’t hallmarked.  It’s an over and under feed with a flexible nib, probably a medium.  The unrestored pen is in a repair box, clearly a few decades older than the pen it now contains.  The legend on the side is “This box only to be used for despatching pens which have been repaired” and on the ends of the box recipients of restored pens are advised to “use Swan ink.”

It’s a fine haul, the first of the deliveries which will go on for the remainder of the week and beyond, as I’ve been on a buying spree.  Some may well feature here as the week goes on.

Many thanks to those of you who answered my question yesterday.  I’m pleased to say that the responses were much along the lines I imagined they would be, and that writing samples are actually useful.  It would be well worth while going to Fountain Pen Board to see what Christoph does for a writing sample!

It’s a rare occasion that I buy a modern pen, but I had heard such good things about the Parsons Italix in recent months that I wanted to try it for myself.  Though you can buy the Italix pens at Amazon, their home appears to be the MrPen website.  I had a poke around the site and settled on the Originalis model, with which you get two additional nibs at no extra charge.  I opted for a broad oblique italic, a medium oblique italic and a medium italic.  By time I paid tax and shipping, the total came to £67.81.

The pen comes in a plain black box in a white cardboard sleeve.  Not at all fancy, which is good as I prefer that my money goes toward the pen rather than the packaging.  The pen, I would say, is undoubtedly Chinese with the lacquered brass body and gold-alike trim.  You may find that the colour of the pen you receive differs from the image on the website.  My “red velvet” isn’t as bright as the photo on the site.  Good thing too.

The build quality of the pen is good, at the higher end of Chinese-made pens.  It all goes together perfectly and I can find no fault with it.  It is quite heavy, though.  At 32 grams it’s several times the weight of my usual pens, but I must say that it doesn’t feel that heavy in the hand.  It’s really quite comfortable to use, even posted.  The gripping area, which is part of the nib rather than of the pen, is equally comfortable.  The nibs (which are what this pen is about) are marked “Manuscript” together with the nib size.  They’re untipped plated steel and boy are they smooth!  Like any italic, you have to address the nib to the paper at the correct angle and having done so writing becomes an absolute delight.  I am most impressed.

I’m also impressed by the choice on offer.  It was only the other day that I was complaining about the poor choice offered by many of today’s manufacturers of high-priced pens.  This quite low-priced pen shames them all and ensures that you will get the nib that suits your hand, rather than the compromise that you have to make with the stingy offerings of some others.  That makes for value for money!

For calligraphy fun or everyday use, I can heartily recommend this modern pen – something I didn’t really expect to be saying!

Edit to add:  I received an email from Peter Ford:

Loved your blog, and appreciate your constructive comments. Only one thing,
the pens are not made in China, they are made in a workshop in Crewe,
England. Thanks again.

Peter

Peter Ford
at P. J. Ford & Associates Ltd
This is one occasion when I’m delighted to be proved wrong.  It’s great that we’re making these excellent pens in this country, and I value my pen even more as a result of this information.

I’ve just loaded up a new section of the sales site. I called it “Ephemera” but I maybe should have called it “This & That” or “Stuff” because most of the things there aren’t particularly ephemeral. Have a look anyway, you might find what you’ve been looking for!

At long last we have the all clear – of sorts, in that neither of us is in hospital nor making regular visits to hospital any more. It has been an exceptionally tough time and it’s not quite over, in that we’re both still recuperating but becoming better and more able by the day.
I’ve been buying, so there will be some odds and ends to write about. Next task is to write-test some pens that have been sitting repaired on the shelf for weeks. Then photography, editing, descriptions and new uploads!

Thank you all for your prayers, good wishes, kind words and support.

As some of you will already know, it wasn’t enough that I should be ill; it was necessary, it seems, that my husband be hospitalized as well.

It has been a thoroughly miserable few weeks and it isn’t over yet, though I think the prognosis is good for both of us in the longer term.  For the moment, we’re limping along.  We can handle sales OK – a little behind in shipments but I’ll rectify that this coming week – but new uploads to the sales site will have to wait a while.  It’s annoying.  I have around twenty restored pens ready to go but I don’t have the strength to get the testing, photography and so on done.  It will come in time.

Many thanks for all your kind messages.  I hope to get back to blogging before too long.

Many thanks to all of you for your kind words, good wishes and prayers.  They are quite a tonic in themselves.

I’m sure I’ll be able to turn out a blog article from time to time on my better days, so it won’t be entirely stagnant in here.

Not long after I began this blog I was diagnosed with a couple of quite serious health issues.  Various treatments have been applied in an effort to stabilise me but they haven’t been entirely successful, though I’m well aware I would no longer be here without them.  This year has been especially difficult and, as I’m sure you will have noticed, I’ve been getting less and less done in this blog and on the sales site.  I haven’t lost interest or run out of things to say.  It’s just that most days such energy as I have is devoted to keeping going.  I saw a consultant yesterday who gives me hope that something may yet be done to improve the situation I am in.

My assistant says she would take over but when she’s finished hunting birds and mice and had a nap or several, there’s not enough left of the day to get anything done.

I frequently buy pens in lots.  They generally contain one or two pens that you want and a lot of other stuff.  Much of this is consigned to the bucket without a second thought  I’ve thrown away mountains of non-working ballpoints – yes, and a lot of working ones too.  Cheap school geometry instruments go the same way as do a host of mangled bits that the seller thought were too precious to throw away but he was wrong.  That’s the unadulterated crap out of the way and you’re left with… stuff.

Stuff is made up of those item that have little value but some usefulness.  None of it is any good to me but who knows?  Someone out there might have a use for it.  One man’s junk is another man’s treasure, or so they say.  (I’m not so sure about that.  Treasure is gold, jewellery and bags of doubloons.  It’s not a pile of mechanical pencils, dip pens and Osmiroid screw-in nibs).  Anyway, what have we got?  There’s a variety of mechanical pencils.  Most seem to work quite well, but don’t challenge me too hard on that.  Mechanical pencils are not my area of expertise.  There are leads in great profusion, in a variety of sizes and colours.  There are masses of dip nibs, some of which look strange and unusual and are a bit beyond my ken.  To go with that there are lots of dip pen handles, some chewed, others not.  There are some scientific instruments that appear to be of rather better than average quality.  Joseph Gillott’s Magnum Barrel Pen makes a couple of appearances and there are a few Swan Pockets.  There’s even a phleems, should you feel the need to bleed yourself – or, indeed, anyone else, though I would advise getting their permission first, to avoid any unfortunate misunderstandings.

I have space on the sales site to add another category and I intended to make that category “Stuff” and list these items there.  However, I found out that it was rather a task to do that, so I’m asking someone else to do it for me.  As she’s busy, it may take some time.  If, in the meantime, there’s something that catches your eye, just email me.  Prices will be at the bargain basement level.