Blog - Pen Boutique

Inspired by conversations I've had in many different settings in my role as "penabler," I decided to get creative this week and explain some terms commonly used in the fountain pen community.  Thes...

Do you make any fountain pen user "mistakes"?  I know I do!  When Pen Boutique owner Leena asked me to write this article, I was surprised, because it's very different from my usual topics, which ...

I'm very excited to be writing this article, because it's about something I especially love. When I first learned about Urushi lacquer pens, they were something I never thought I would actually own...

For my article this week, I decided to do something I've never done before:  choose comparable pens from three different brands and compare them, focusing on the nibs and the writing experience.  T...

What is Blue-Black? The idea for this article popped into my head a few weeks ago, and I couldn't shake it.  Blue-Black.  It didn't sound very exciting at first, but, the more I thought about it, t...

What do you know about the brand Faber-Castell? You're likely most familiar with its art supplies, office supplies, and, especially, its famous #2 yellow pencils, but Faber-Castell is globally este...

[An earlier version of this article was published in February, 2022, and it was updated to include more models on December 5, 2024.]    You May Not Know This Brand, But You Should! It all started w...

It feels as though 2024 has gone by too quickly, but it's already almost Thanksgiving, the days are getting short, and there's a bracing crispness to the air. Holiday season is the busiest part of ...

One of my favorite places in our store is the display cabinet where we keep our Namiki Maki-e and Chinkin fountain pens. Our collection changes slowly as the seasons pass, when collectors buy piece...