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We all like a bit of nice handwriting, don't we? Legible is always good (doctors - take note!), but something that's lovely to look at as well is even better, and that's where the art of calligraphy comes in.
Louise is a member of our customer service team, but she's also a dab hand at beautiful lettering and has written a very informative, easy to read blog, all about calligraphy. She describes different styles, from modern - see the Penorama banner above! - through to traditional blackletter and old English, classic copperplate and Spencerian. See? You've learnt something already - who knew there were so many different types?
Not only that, she gives great guidance on which tools to use for each style, ranging from standard fountain pens fitted with calligraphy nibs, the Parallel Pen, dip pens, brush pens and - surprisingly - the humble pencil. And then there's the colour! Fountain pen ink or drawing pen ink? Or perhaps watercolours? Why not mix things up a little, or use gel pens to accentuate your work? And don't forget the paper. It's a bit like the foundations of a house: if you don't get it right, whatever you put on top won't be right either!
So if you'd like to have a go at calligraphy but are finding it all a bit daunting, there are a couple of things you can do. Firstly, have a look at Louise's blog for some inspiration and lots of tips on how to get started. There are examples of her work on there as well, because although - as we all know - the pen is mightier than the sword, a picture tells a thousand words.
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The second thing you can do is consider our Calligraphy Starter Pack. We've put together a selection of brush pens and fibre-tips from top brands including Rhodia, edding, Artline, Pilot, Manuscript, Pentel and Tombow, to help get you started on your calligraphy and hand-lettering journey. We've included some of Louise's favourites, as well as some others which we thought you'd like too, and while it has a retail value of over £24, we're offering it to you for only £6.99. Because we have only a limited number, we've had to restrict them to one per order. We hope you have as much fun with the pens we've chosen as we did!
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And if that wasn't enough, we've also got some great 'three for two' calligraphy offers: Faber-Castell's Pitt Pens, edding's 1255 calligraphy pen, Pentel's Touch Sign Pen, the Callicreative pen from Manuscript and Artline's pastel and white calligraphy markers.
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As spring gets going around here, and the daffodils, crocuses and primroses come alive in the Devon banks, you'll also start to see lovely new things flowering on the Cult Pens website. January was trade exhibition time, when our glorious leaders swan off to Paris and Frankfurt to meet old friends and find new ones. They came back this year with a bumper crop of new brands to knock us out of the post-Christmas torpor. February followed in a frenzy of negotiation, orders and product setup. As a result we have five brand-new brands arriving in the next few weeks, and you can read about the first one to land - Ito Bindery - below. There are another four in active discussions, along with major range extensions in the pipeline for another three. All this plus loads of new stuff from some of our established brands such Faber-Castell, LOCLEN, Visconti, Atoma, Kutsuwa, Lihit Lab, Lamy, Derwent, Clairefontaine and Rhodia - all of which will be landing over the next couple of months. For our new brands, we'll lay odds you'll have never heard of most of them, and that's doubly exciting for us. Retail is a funny old game, to say the least, but few things are as satisfying as the journey from unexpected trade show discovery to successful website launch of lovely things worth spending your hard-earned on.
As you read this we'll be listing over 17,000 different items in stock, which we think is pretty impressive given the narrow field we occupy. Less than 5% of this is outside our heartland of pens, pencils, refills, writing accessories and stuff to write on. If you wanted one of each it would cost you a cool half a million quid (though if you really did I'm sure we could offer a bit of a discount). Anyway, it's going to be a busy few months here, so we'll crack on. Keep reading Penorama for all the latest, follow us on social media, or keep an eye on our What's New page.
The first new brand for this year is Ito Bindery. Established in Tokyo in 1938, they are a small specialist paper bindery. They won a prestigious Japanese Good Design award for the Drawing Pad, which we now have available. It's a range of beautifully minimalist desk pads, with a very simple design. They're available in a range of sizes from just big enough for a quick note all the way up to really large A3 pads that would dominate most desks.
A pad like this is the perfect place for minimal design - you don't want your notepad to be a distraction in itself - these are so simple there's nothing to pull your attention from what you need to write or draw. There's just the plain area of paper ready for your notes, and the contrasting bar along the top that binds the sheets and makes tearing off each sheet really easy.
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The tipo is an unusual pen, even for Lamy. It's a retractable rollerball - retractable ballpoints are common, but rollerballs usually have caps. The clip acts as the extending and retracting mechanism, so you can see how it works, and you can't accidentally clip it to your pocket with the tip out.
You can get a dark grey 'Graphite' one free when you spend £30 on Lamy products.
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3-for-2 on Uni's wonderfully versatile Chalk Markers! They're quite similar to the always-popular POSCA markers, but are a bit easier to remove from surfaces, making them ideal for things like menu boards, blackboards, or any sort of marking job you want to be able to clean up later.
A great chance for signwriters to stock up, or for anyone to try these out for uses all round the home and office.
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Back when some of us were growing up (or, in some cases, failing to really grow up) the glue stick was a wonder of the modern age, as advanced as Angel Delight, or getting about on a Raleigh Grifter. Space age stuff.
The magic of solid glue that's quick and easy to apply, and doesn't gum up its own container doesn't seem quite so, well, magical now, but they're still every bit as useful, and Tombow make some of the best. Get one free with every order of Tombow products!
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Spring is trying to spring forth, and what better time to be out in the garden with a pen? Especially one that you can use to label your plants! Artline's Garden Marker is perfect for pottering sessions in the potting shed, and if you buy one you'll get an Artline White Multi Pen Marker free! It writes on a multitude of surfaces, so you can decorate your ceramic pots or wooden tubs, and it's especially useful for marking up black seed trays!
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Bonjour!
These have just landed in our warehouse - a range of beautiful, traditionally-made inks from l'Artisan Pastellier in the south of France!
We'll have more information for you in next month's newsletter; at the moment we just want to look at them...
A bientôt!
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The new Special Edition Lamy pico Neon Pink.
It's pink.
It's really pink.
No, whatever you're thinking, it's pinker.
It would be too pink for most people, even on Wednesdays, but maybe you can handle more pink than most people. Go for it. Think pink.
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Hopefully you've been inspired by Louise's chat about calligraphy, and how you can turn something fairly basic - like a birthday card greeting, or a thank you note - into a work of art with just a little patience and some lovely ink. If so, this month's competition prize should get your creative juices flowing! We have three Lamy joy calligraphy gift sets in white to give away. Each includes a Lamy joy pen, three different sized nibs: 1.1, 1.5 and 1.9, and three packs of Lamy ink cartridges in turquoise, violet and black. All you need to do to go into the draw to win one of them is to tell us why receiving it would bring you joy. Just email sales@cultpens.com or reply to this newsletter by 31st March.
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Trustpilot Review Winner
We receive thousands of reviews highlighting our customer service, and as a way of saying thank you, each month we select a review that stands out, or makes us smile. The prize is £40 to spend on our site!
The winner this month is Kevin - congratulations! You can read the review here.
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