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Greetings!
Like you, I'm still waiting for summer. Mrs H and daughter were wafted to Florence a couple of weeks ago and wonderfully entertained by Visconti - a memorable and useful trip, and a bit of an atrticle below. . I wasn't able to join them, having already committed to a walking holiday in the Spanish Pyrenees, but they represented us superbly and met lots of colleague pen sellers. There is news of an exciting new Visconti pen below.
If you look at our website, you'll see that we have a section dedicated to inks. Diamine remain our mainstay, but we have found that the more exotic brands are moving fast, Sailor and Omas climbing the popularity charts fast. Have a look at the article below.
We had a great time at the Midland Pen Show, lots of old friends there and some new ones. Isn't that Isn't that what pen shows are all about?
This might seem a little like the Visconti Issue. I'll hardly mention them next time - I promise.
Best wishes
John
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Visconti Van Gogh
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A new colour for the Van Gogh, and it really does  look superb. Based on his blue period self portrait, the resin perfectly captures the colours in his palette. The Van Gogh is one of Visconti's series of multi-faceted pens, coming in the full range of writing systems. To have a look at the full range of pens, click here. Incidently, the shape is based on the Michelangelo, again available in all writing systems and featuring palladium appointments for the blue pen, and bronze complementing the black resin.
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Ink - a world of opportunity
| Those of you who are frequent visitors to the website (and that is a growing number since the excellent Pete took it under his wing) will have noticed that we now have a specific section for inks, and that there are some new brands available. We like to bring a bit of fun to writing, and having a great choice of colours of ink to use is a good way to so this.
Now, if you want to start a fight amongst fountain pen users, talking about ink is a good way to do it. Everyone has their favourite colours and brands, and tend to hold to their opinions fiercely. The Moderators of the Fountain Pen Network's Ink Reviews have had to step in to break up the online equivalent of and old style western bar room brawl before now.
I'm not an expert, but I have written a short introduction to the inks section, trying to answer some of the questions we get asked in the shop. So have a look by clicking here.
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Visconti Visit
|  Mrs H and daughter represented Write Here on a visit to Visconti in Florence. They've come back with tales of an most enjoyable and informative stay, and loads of photo's revealing what a surprisingly good looking bunch pens sellers are. But enough! Time for Isobel to tell her tale...
"Visconti; if this is business, I like it. Recently my mother and I were lucky enough to visit the Visconti palazzo in Florence. This is no ordinary factory, being housed in a section of an ex-Medici villa, it in itself reflects the regality of the pens it manufactures. We were greeted by Dante and his wife Carla, and taken on a tour of the factory. Each part of the production line is housed in a different section of the villa, but all are palpably connected. The process has a real artisan feel, and the staff are clearly very highly skilled. I was particularly interested by the storage room where all parts of each pen were housed for assembly, purely for the fact you could have hours of fun opening and closing draws. Simple pleasures. The company has a real family feel which I'm sure has had an impact on its success, and I am already looking forward to the arrival of the new Van Gogh colour, which in the flesh really is striking. Watch this space!" More pics on the website |
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Article Headline
|  Last month we reviewed the new Monsieur Notebooks, expressing some misgivings about the paper's suitability for use with fountain pens. Tom Stickland from Monsieur got straight back to us with some samples of paper he is thinking of moving to. We were impressed by the speed of response and, as you'll see, with the paper.
 | | Review of Royal Executive Bond Fountain Pen Paper |
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Just for now, that's all folks! 
Best wishes,
John |
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