8.30.2013

A New Pelikan Green Demo + Labor Day Coupon

Hopefully this catches everyone's internet purview before the long weekend. I know we'll be looking to head out earlier today to beat the traffic. But before we do, we wanted to introduce a new Pelikan pen and announce our Labor Day store-wide sale that will be active throughout the weekend.


The Pelikan m205 Duo Highlighter in Shiny Green

After the success of the m205 Duo Highlighter in Yellow that has been available for a little over a year (still a current item), Pelikan has released the same pen design concept in a lively green tinted demonstrator. This piston-filling fountain pen is also fitted with a double broad, stainless steel nib that is meant to be used with the included bottle of green highlighter pen ink. With the easily interchangeable Pelikan nib, you could easily switch out the double broad for another Pelikan Nib size and be able to go back to the double broad for highlighting purposes.

The m205 Duo Highlighter retails for $175, but we currently offer the pen for $139.95. The additional bottles of Pelikan green highlighter ink are available for $16.50 and Pelikan stainless steel nibs that fit the m205/215 are available for $58.00 each.

SAVE 10% and get FREE Shipping with our Labor Day Weekend Sale Coupon


Indulge your exceptional taste in fine writing instruments and get an additional 10% off your order with free shipping (within the US only) with our special Labor Day Coupon. Order the m205 Duo Highlighter with an additional bottle of the Pelikan ink, or an additional Pelikan nib to qualify for the discount ($150 min. order). This coupon is good for our products store-wide. You must have an order total of $150 or more and use the promo code LABORTEN in the order form to receive the discount.
Expires Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013 at 12:00pm.

We will be enjoying some well-deserved time off on Monday and will catch up with your e-mails and phone calls again on Tuesday. Have fun this weekend and remember to laugh, relax and take it all in.

8.13.2013

Goldspot Giveaway Winner for Lamy Safari Fountain Pen Bundle


Last week, we kicked off our second Social giveaway because our Goldspot Newsletter giveaway prize went unclaimed. We opened up the contest to our Facebook fans and Twitter followers. Likes and ReTweets totaled over 100 entries, twice the number as in our previous giveaway. Awesome job, everyone! People must like Lamy pens, or something...

...And the Winner is Mark M. from Facebook. Congrats!

We have contacted the winner via Facebook to arrange shipping this new Lamy Safari Fountain Pen Starter Bundle ($60 retail value).


Thanks to everyone who entered, tweeted and Liked! We still haven't had a response from our most recent newsletter winner for July's giveaway, so there very well may be another social giveaway in early September. If you would like the first chance at our monthly giveaway, please sign up for our e-mail newsletter.

8.09.2013

Filofax 2014 Refills Now In-Stock and Ready to Rock

Hey Filo-philes and Filofax fans,

We have just received our first shipment of 2014 refills available in all the assorted sizes and varieties needed for your organization needs. Choose from week on two pages, week per page, day per page, month on two pages and so on and so forth. We have mini, pocket, personal and A5 size Filofax refills.

As you can see in the photo below, Filofax has re designed their cover packaging of their calendar refills for 2014.


Holy smokes that's a lot of paper. Our inventory and shipping manager took a day off today and we're just going to leave this little present for him to organize on Monday.  :0) Just kidding, Bob.

Please note that all Filofax organizers being sold from our company are hand checked for quality assurance and are included with 2013 and 2014 calendar refills with our compliments. If you are ordering a new organizer, do not worry about ordering the 2014 refill separately, unless you want another format besides week on two pages.

8.08.2013

Parker 5th Mode Peacock Ink Review

As an avid fountain pen user, I approached the Parker Ingenuity 5th Mode pen with great skepticism. Here was a writing instrument that was purported to take the desirable characteristics of a fountain pen and fuse the with the convenience of a rollerball pen system. It seems impossible to mimic the writing quality that only a metal fountain pen nib with a capillary action feed can provide. However, I'm open-minded and gave the Ingenuity a thorough go-round of writing to see what the buzz is all about.


The nib on the Ingenuity seems like a poseur - a metal hood that disguises what is, essentially, a felt tip cartridge refill with a flexible tip base. The Ingenuity is all about this refill, which they call the 5th Mode. It is a proprietary cartridge that is only available in 6 different colors. Based on color selection alone, the fountain pen holds the huge advantage of being able to write in a wide spectrum of bottled ink colors versus a paltry six hues.

Popping in the 5th mode cartridge is almost like installing a rollerball pen ink cartridge. The only difference being that the 5th mode refill needs to fit through the front section to align with the metal tines. No possibility of getting ink on one's hands unless you handle the tip directly. The 5th mode is more convenient and a no-mess refill method compared to a fountain pen. Now that we have it installed and ready-to-write, how does it perform against a traditional fountain pen?

Taking the 5th mode for a prolonged spin was an important exercise to effectively compare the Ingenuity to a fountain pen. Initial contact of pen tip to paper was pleasantly smooth. The tip glides along the paper, delivering an even ink flow.  Below is an InkJournal entry of the teal Peacock color 5th mode cartridge.


The dry time was exceptional on most papers and the smoothness of the tip was unlike any felt-tip or fineliner pen that I've used in the past. There really wasn't much in the way of shading and the semi-flexible metal tines that conceal the 5th mode tip do not add any variation in line with added pressure.

The point maintained a freshness of ink for several weeks, finally waning around 3 1/2 weeks from installing the ink cartridge. Once it began to dry out, there was a noticeable lack of flow that signaled the end was near several days before I decided to change the cartridge. Unlike a demonstrator or cartridge/converter fountain pen, you would not be able to check the ink level in a 5th mode refill to see if there is still any gas left in the tank of your pen.

We compared the Parker 5th Mode writing instrument against the modern fountain pen since the obvious intention by Parker was to instill the finer qualities of a fountain pen into this "hybrid" writing instrument. While the convenience and mess free-filling is certainly a check-mark in the 5th mode column, it still comes chronically short to satisfy the fountain pen enthusiast on two major points - color choice and line variation.

Only six colors are available with the 5th mode cartridge versus hundreds of colors of fountain pen bottled ink. And, despite the designed flexibility of the 5th mode tip and the metal tines of the "nib," the 5th doesn't provide any line variation or any significant degree of shading which are traits highly desired by fountain pen enthusiasts.

Bottom line - The Ingenuity and the 5th mode writing instrument may be an exotic option for those who like writing with rollerball or felt-tip type pens. You will be hard pressed to convert any fountain pen enthusiast into a 5th Mode believer.

8.06.2013

Goldspot's Social Lamy Bundle Giveaway

Lucky for you, June's newsletter giveaway prize went unclaimed!

That means everyone with a twitter or facebook account can now enter this giveaway! The odds are certainly now in your favor to win this Lamy Safari Fountain Pen Starter Bundle ($60 retail value).





 Here is How to Enter (no purchase necessary) :

  1. Click over to our page on Facebook or Twitter
  2. Find the link to this giveaway post.  It should be the most recent link.
  3. "Like" or Re-Tweet the link.
...and that's it! We'll keep track of all the entries and then choose a fan using a random number generator to select one lucky winner. Deadline for Entries is Tuesday, August 13th at 12p ET.

We will contact the winner directly through either Facebook or Twitter to obtain the shipping information and send out your fountain pen starter kit!

8.05.2013

Pelikan Edelstein Amber Ink of the Year Review

Since the inception of the premium Pelikan Edelstein line of fountain pen inks, the German manufacturer of fine fountain pens and inks debuts a new color that is referred to as the "ink of the year." To follow last year's purplish Turmaline, we go across the color wheel to a golden-orange "Amber."

Orange or yellow inks tend to fall into one of two categories - too unsaturated to show up well on paper or too vibrant and ostentatious to be taken seriously. Pelikan's 2013 Edelstein Amber is like a rich honey gold. It shades well, has enough saturation to contrast against white and ivory papers and flows moderately. The InkJournal page entry below will show more detail about the hue and shading quality.

Although you can try a 5mL sample on our sister website RefillFinder.com, you would do better to buy a whole bottle while they are still available. True, we still have some inventory of the 2012 Turmaline color, but you can never tell when Pelikan will run out.