Monday, March 21, 2005
March 17th troubles
I don’t know about a Saints day –March 17th was more like April Fool’s Day, or Friday the 13th, with nothing but problems here. Any way how many saints do you suppose there are in the Christian firmament? The Patron saints Calendar lists 7 different Saints for March 17th so old St Patrick doesn’t have his birthday feast all to himself. Now, every one knows that St Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland, is that not so? Answer, NO, according to my Jeeves informants; there never have been any snakes in Ireland, only metaphorical ones in the form of pagans or heretics, so much for myth and legend then.
Now printed pens don’t really belong on this page at all with St Patrick but I must do my bit here for the blog so I will tell you about another of our new printed pens just coming on line. We have for your delight and delectation the Harrier Extra Ball Pen. The picture in my catalogue shows a pen with Yahoo printed on it so what is good enough for a Yahoo (see Gulliver’s Travels) is good enough for us. This pen will shortly make its debut on the website at www.top-pen.co.uk
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
The Ides of March – should you really choose printed pens today?
For lots of enlightenment on this thorny problem see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/02/99/e-cyclopedia/296942.stm
That was the most up to date article that I could find in a hurry on UK sites, plus one piece published today in an American paper and that was it. When I was just a young pup at school we all had to know about the Ides of March but as you will know if you have read the info it is nothing but superstition.
A new pen to write about today is the Evolution Roller Ball Pen, not on the website yet but coming soon. This pen is very similar in appearance to the Parker Vector Ball Pen but the price is astonishingly good by comparison – watch this space for full details.
Monday, March 14, 2005
Printed pens
Trying to get inspired for this piece on printed pens today I have been browsing the internet in search of something new and came across boing boing and that set me off on this rant. I don’t think I am up to this blogging game any more, what is it all about? Here I sit pressing keys and out comes another piece of drivel, me and the rest of the world it seems. In the Times, on Saturday I think it was, I found a piece about the bloggosphere in which it was pointed out that we bloggers simply hijack a bit of information, reassemble it and then pass it on undigested and unchecked. (Just as I am now) Quite true, that is all we do, and why do I do it? To get our site up there on page 1 stupid. This is an internet based business so we must play whatever game Google dreams up in order to have a fighting chance of success. Roll on retirement!
Printed pens have not got much of a look in yet, so much for the keyword frequency today. On the other hand if you are interested in chocolates as business gifts you could try this site www.corporatechocs.com
Friday, March 11, 2005
Recycled printed pens and pencils
Not too long ago I posted a piece in which I mentioned in passing the fact that we could supply printed pens made from recycled paper. Since then we have been searching for a selection of promotional business gifts which would appeal to the growing number of customers who feel that recycled products are important both for their company image and ethically. The number of products that can be produced from recycled paper and plastic is growing. If you have an interest in eco friendly printed pens or mousemats or badges made from recycled materials take a look at this website www.recycledproductsonline.co.uk Samples are available on request just call or email us at sales@juon.co.uk
This last note is an aside to the rest of the blog about printed pens so go no further unless you are interested in a boiler Power Flush. Our central heating was in need of intensive care treatment last week and it was rescued by a wonderful company in Woking, (Surrey, think Guildford for those of you who don’t have a clue where that is) and so this is a plug for those hard working Corgi registered central heating medics. Try this website if emergency treatment is needed www.mjwest.co.uk
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Calligraphy, printed pens and swordsmanship
Hero - have you seen this film? Smashing sword fighting scenes Grommet! Not much of a story line as usual with this type of fantasy martial arts film but very pretty to watch. One interesting point I thought was the way in which calligraphy and swordsmanship had been linked together in one of the central characters. I seem to remember posting a piece on a similar theme back in February.
Now where was I? Oh yes back in the world of Printed Pens from JPP.
What’s new is the cry? Well, lots to report after visiting the PROMOTA show at the NEC on Wednesday. We shall have to update the websites and new brochures will be winging their way towards us, new prices too from 1st April. Watch this space for lots of new promotional pen designs– how do they keep thinking them up?!!
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Funky Printed Pens
One of the more unusual enquiries a few eons ago was for funky pen. Well I wasn’t sure what to say really; one person’s funkiness is another person’s boredom, so in a rather ineffectual way I just sent the client our catalogue. Needless to say an order did not materialise. In search of true funkiness the other day I came across Twinklers. As the name implies these pens light up and look quite unusual so for any one who is interested in flashing products see www.kisspins.com
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Calligraphy
Like many people in the world today I spend most of my time in front of a computer screen tapping away at some document or another. The product of all this key board bashing these days is usually a quote or, as in this case, some idle chatter, but whatever, it comes out looking exactly the same. Uniform script all rigidly controlled, no ink blots or wavy lines to attract the eye. So in a relatively idle moment I looked up the history of calligraphy on the web, and as usual got a load of stuff that bore no resemblance to what I was looking for. What is happening to Google? My search methods may not be the most sophisticated but there were certainly some unrelated websites answering to my query on the history of calligraphy so I switched to Ask Jeeves who did a little better. This is a digest of what I found: ‘Calligraphy evolved from ancient pictograms and reached its zenith in Asia to become the most sophisticated art form allowing the calligrapher great artistic freedom of expression. In the west, on the other hand, calligraphers are craftsmen and their best work is highly structured and uniform.’ Now I don’t necessarily agree with that; just consider the Book of Kells, is this not very beautiful and the product of an artist?
What has all this to do with printed pens? A lot, because a few days back I was waxing lyrical about fountain pens and proper ink and paper, which is fine, but no good if one has forgotten how to handle them! My handwriting resembles a Rorsach ink blot these days, or the meandering of an intoxicated spider, so pity the recipient of any of my notes especially if he or she spends time trying to decipher the legend ‘Gone to Lunch, back after 2.00pm’!!
