Guides
Free lessons on paper and ink: a beginner project
Recorded museum lectures, an open university study and public databases give you free paper and ink lessons — plus a beginner project you can run at home.
Topic
beginner project
Reviews
Writing a dated record instead of a review: a method for pen and paper
A method page, not a set of reviewed products: how to date a record, state conditions and limits, run a drying test, and keep observations a review cannot check.
Industry
Worth the trip: a collectors' project in visiting museums and libraries
A working list of museums, university centers and library collections where collectors can handle paper and book arts material in person, plus travel tips.
Guides
Recording a paper collection: a small project done properly
Setting up a record of your own collection that lasts: the practical setup for documenting a paper and pen collection, what to photograph, what to record.
Industry
Real paper collection surveys teach lessons private collectors miss
No invented case studies here. What published surveys of real archives found, why condition varies inside one collection, and how to apply it at home.
Costs
What to Look for in Pen Storage Products
Pen storage products cost money, but lining, retention, repairability, and DIY options matter more than appearance; check lead times before buying.
Reviews
Pen storage in order of need: tray, sleeve, drawer, case
Pen storage by type, in the order you need it: what a tray, a sleeve, a drawer and a case each solve, the linings to want, and six checks for build quality.
Industry
Building pen storage by hand, the simple guide small workshops use
Pen storage products makers: what a maker decides before cutting, material, closure, how the pen is held, and why the cheapest construction choices are the ones.
Reviews
Where should pen storage actually sit in a room?
Where pen storage should sit, and what it should sit on: location beats container. Which rooms and surfaces suit stored pens and paper, why depots are monitored.
Maintenance
Seven pen storage habits that quietly damage your pens
The storage habits that damage pens: over-drying with desiccant, crumbling foam, tight elastic, and the drawer that seemed like the safe option.
Reviews
Pen storage: what it must do before you trust a pen to it
Pen storage has four jobs, and materials that emit or migrate are the common failure. Check materials, lining and fit before you trust a pen to a case.
Reviews
How to specify and test materials for a small stationery run
For independent stationery makers: how to write a materials spec you can reorder from, why the glue matters most, and a one-month test with pass-fail checks.
Features
Which small-batch stationery formats are actually worth trying?
Independent stationery ideas worth trying yourself: six formats small makers use that anyone can try at home, from mail art exchanges to short editions.
Reviews
Independent stationery brands reviewed: prices and storage
Independent stationery brands storage notes and buying verdicts: seven makers, what each makes, who it suits, and what its notebooks, pens and paper cost.
Industry
Independent stationery brands companies: questions to ask
Use these questions to assess independent stationery brands companies: who makes a product, where it is made, what it uses, and what the maker documents.
Guides
5 things to weigh up on fountain pen mistakes
Five fountain pen mistakes that cause most faults: wrong paper, too much pressure, skipped flushing, bad storage, and guessing before testing.
Reviews
Top fountain pen maintenance tools for 2027, reviewed
A reviewed short list of the fountain pen maintenance tools worth owning in 2027, and why the two most popular buys are the likeliest to ruin a nib.
Guides
Photographing a fountain pen fault so someone can help
What a useful nib photograph looks like, the three shots that answer most questions, and the capture notes that turn a picture into evidence.
Industry
Fountain pen mistakes: companies, guilds and shows
The fountain pen mistakes companies and guilds can help with: pen shows with nib specialists on site, maker service centers, and how to describe a fault.
Guides
A small-desk setup guide for avoiding common pen mistakes
Desk setup that prevents the usual pen problems: most pen faults come down to where things sit. How to arrange a small desk so that capping, storage.
Maintenance
Do these eight fountain pen faults have real fixes?
The eight faults that account for nearly every fountain pen complaint, what causes each one, and the fixes to try, in the order you should try them.
Costs
Ink testing supplies compared: cheap tier versus expensive tier
Cheap and costly ink testing supplies compared side by side, covering named papers, light boxes, cards and viewers and what each tier actually buys you.
Reviews
What to buy first for testing ink at home: a closer look
A short list of testing equipment that earns its place, what a flatbed scanner adds, and the line beyond which home testing stops being possible.
Industry
How ink makers and conservators test ink: two very different goals
How ink makers and conservators test ink: what a formulator and a conservator each want to know about an ink, the iron gall case that shows why.
Reviews
Building an Ink Testing Bench: Washable Surface, Fixed Light and Spill Tray
What an ink testing bench needs: a washable surface, fixed 5000 K light and camera, a spill tray, handling rules and improvised gear options.
Maintenance
Seven mistakes that ruin home ink tests and how to fix each one
Seven mistakes that ruin home ink tests, why each one breaks the result, and the small habit that turns a nice looking page into usable notes.
Guides
5 things nobody tells you about ink testing methods
The order a real ink test runs in, from stating one question to recording a result, and the difference between what you can measure and what you can only observe.
Features
How to test whether a notebook suits your fountain pen ink
Notebook and ink pairings ideas that work for any brand: why sizing decides how an ink behaves, which sheet suits your pen, and a four-mark test to run first.
Reviews
A five-tool starter kit for testing fountain pen paper
Five cheap tools that turn paper opinions into measurements, plus the structured recording habit that makes a year of small tests actually worth something.
Reviews
Stationery collections: what to own before the paper arrives
The short list of tools worth owning before the paper, what each one is for, and the vocabulary you need so a paper description means something in a shop.
Guides
Building a writing setup: what to spend on, what to improvise, and what to skip
A practical guide to setting up a writing desk: what to spend on, what to improvise, what to skip, how to check your position, and an hour of free setup steps.
Guides
Fountain pens setup: fitting everything onto one shelf
Build a fountain pens setup on one shelf with a Pilot Metropolitan, Iroshizuku ink, a Rhodia notebook, covered bottle storage and a rinse station.
Guides
What does a weekend really cost you in fountain pen habits?
A weekend audit of what writing by hand costs, with real prices, a cost-per-page method and the ink bottle outlay most people forget to count.
Guides
A weekend practice plan for learning fountain pens in 2027
Fountain pens learning plan: two days of short, structured drills for pressure, angle and letter shape, with the checks that tell you whether the practice is doing.
Costs
Where do the hidden costs in a fountain pen budget come from?
Fountain pen costs, budgets and the expenses nobody mentions: the full cost of writing by hand, including duty on imported pens, shipping, sales tax.
Industry
4 points on fountain pen costs that matter
Four fountain pen costs decide what a beginner actually pays, namely the pen, the ink, the paper, and the repair bills that follow cheap paper.
Reviews
Starter fountain pen setups, compared by cost per year, not price
Three real starter fountain pen setups costed over five years, so you can see where the money goes and which one actually runs cheapest to write with daily.
Industry
How to judge a lettering, calligraphy or book arts class
How to judge a lettering, calligraphy or book arts class before you enroll: the places that teach, what a good first class covers, and what to ask.
Reviews
Which properties actually differ between beginner fountain pens?
What to compare in a first fountain pen, and how to test it: no brand ranking here. The five things that actually differ between beginner pens.
Industry
Notebook and ink pairings: what independent papermakers get right
Independent papermakers match paper and ink before anything else. Their working habits, and which of those transfer to a home desk setup, reward attention.
Reviews
The one-minute paper test: saving a purchase before it goes wrong
The six properties that decide whether a paper suits your pen, the shop test that reads them in a minute, and why most paper you try should be rejected.
Reviews
Do fiber and sizing decide how fountain pen paper performs?
Fiber, sizing and alkaline reserve decide how paper writes and how long it lasts. What each ingredient does, and what to look for on the package.
Reviews
Stationery collections materials: paper and ink
A practical guide to stationery collections materials: paper acidity, buffering, sizing, ink permanence, and a repeatable way to compare sheets.
Guides
How to keep a fountain pen purchase log and disclose gifts
How to log fountain pen purchases: date every price you paid, keep gifts and loaners out of your total, photograph honestly and disclose free items clearly.
Guides
Fountain pen photography: lighting and backgrounds that work
Lighting, backgrounds and color control for photographing pens and writing samples, plus the reference targets that make one shot comparable to the next.
Costs
Pricing a notebook and ink pairing by the page, not the shelf tag
A cost-per-page model for notebooks and ink, the arithmetic that turns a shelf price into a real number, and why published averages will not tell you yours.
Reviews
Stopping curl, acid and light from ruining stored paper
Curl, acidity and light are what ruin stored paper. What each one does, which damage is reversible, and a storage routine that prevents all three.
Reviews
Stationery collections storage: paper and ink in one afternoon
Stationery collections storage: what actually damages paper and ink, which boxes and sleeves are worth it, and a routine you can finish in one afternoon.
Maintenance
Eight notebook and ink mistakes first-timers keep making
Notebook and ink mistakes beginners make at home: the eight errors that account for most bad first experiences with fountain pen ink and paper, why each happens.
Guides
How to plan a stationery collection: purpose, inventory, buying order and review
Set a purpose for your paper and pen collection, inventory what you own, buy paper, ink and envelopes in order, and review the drawers twice a year.
Features
Seven small paper experiments that each teach one lesson
Seven short experiments on paper itself: grain, sizing, opacity, weight, watermarks, fiber and aging, each with the result you should expect.
Features
Stationery projects: six ways to build one skill at a time
Six small projects that each teach a single skill, from making a paper reference book to pulling a sheet by hand, with what each one is actually for.
Industry
How to judge a paper's quality in a shop before you buy
Where paper quality is decided, how to read formation and the wrapper in a shop, the grain test, and the ink tests to run on one pad before you buy more.
Guides
How fountain pen ink reaches the paper: a beginner's guide
How a fountain pen moves ink, what dye and pigment inks do differently, why paper changes the line, and the two habits that prevent most first-pen trouble.
Reviews
Notebook and ink pairings buying: one starter set
Notebook and ink pairings buying starts with a Rhodia Webnotebook A5, Waterman Serenity Blue, and a Rhodia No. 16 pad for a repeatable control.
Industry
Paper conservators know things most buyers never hear
No interviews here. What published conservation research establishes about paper strength, sizing and aging, and which parts of it should change how you buy paper.