Sunday Reading for June 28, 2026

1. Health & Fitness Journal with the TRAVELER’S Company Free Diary (via Pen Addict - Kimberly). This is a great proposed use of the TRAVELER’S Company undated diaries. I love to see how people are using these in everyday life!

2. Moving On… (via Vanness Pen Shop). Our friends at Vanness are moving! Follow along as they relocate the shop from Little Rock to Fort Smith.

3. Thursday Stream: Full Mildliner Swatches, Hermes 3000 Typewriter, and Lamy Vista Kuru Toga Pencil (via dwrdnet). Derek walks through his expansive collection of Mildliners, plus a fun Lamy Safari pencil featuring the Kuru Toga engine.

4. Kilk Celestial + Galen Bohemian Twilight (via Figboot on Pens). A favorite material paired with a favorite pen design!

5. Soolla: Not Quite What We Need (via Rachel’s Reflections). Soolla bags have become increasingly popular, and based on what your needs and preferences are, they may or may not work for you. But it’s a creative design!

6. Omas555 Grey Celluloid (via UK Fountain Pens). An incredibly thorough review of a gorgeous vintage pen.

7. A €10k Noris (via Bleistift). Wow. Just wow.

8. Art as Meditation (via Comfortable Shoes Studio). Another great post exploring mindfulness and how art and journaling can contribute.

9. Thank You, Brian Anderson (via From the Pen Cup). Another Waterman Laureate post! The Laureate was my first “nice” fountain pen many years ago.

10. See You In St. Louis! (via Well-Appointed Desk). If you’re in the area, be sure to stop by the St. Louis Pen Show for the last day and visit Ana (and Lisa at the Ink Pony Club tables).

In Case You Missed It….

This week we finalized our 2026 mid-year review, and published a couple of new installments, including an update to the Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Resource, and a post on my Top Five Personal Stationery Discoveries from the First Half of 2026.

This Week in the T.G.S. Curated Shop

The most exciting new is that we received a large restock of Kaweco Fountain Pens and the TWSBI ECO Rootbeer fountain pen! We also have additional Platinum pens, including the Plaisir and Prefounte, as well as restocks of Colorverse and the Laban Greek Mythology Inks. Our Colorverse restock included additional units of the 2024 and 2025 Colorvent “Top 3” Colorvent Ink Sets. Be sure to check out each week’s Thursday Drops post for a full listing of all new shop arrivals and restocks.

Roterfaden

OnionBrand

Kaweco

Pilot

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2026 Mid-Year Review: Five Personal Favorite Stationery Discoveries from the First Half of 2026

During the first half of 2026 I delved pretty deeply into the catalog of Japanese-exclusive products I’ve been testing, many of which have made their way into our shop. You might be surprised to learn that most of my favorite new additions to my own rotation are less expensive everyday writers, including the Uni Zento Flow Gel Pens and the Pilot Kire-Na highlighters. There’s also a fun, offbeat ink, as well as a stationery-adjacent entry!

You can view most of these products in our own shop, both online and in-store. Check out the rest of our 2026 Mid-Year Review Post, including 5 Favorite Posts from the First Half of the Year, and our Annual Update to the Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Resource.

1. Uni Zento Flow Gel Pen. If I had to pick a favorite everyday gel pen, I would say that the Uni Zento Flow has become my everyday “inexpensive carry”. I like the weight of the aluminum barrel, and I actually prefer the click-style Flow to the capped Signature model (which you can’t find anyway). I’ve had one of these since late last year, but in 2026 it firmly established itself with a key role in my rotation.

2. Colorverse Follow The Water Fountain Pen Ink. Each year, Colorverse selects three of the prior year’s Colorvent Inks to release in full bottle format. In 2024, they released three colors that many considered “safe,” while the 2025 selections were more adventurous and, in my opinion, excellent. “Follow the Water” is a muted yellow-gold multi-shader with shimmer ink, which is not a typical choice for me but I can’t get over this one.

3. Hibi Japanese Incense Matches. I’ve fine-tuned my work setup this year, and one addition I’ve grown to love is some sort of aromatic component, including these 10-minute incense matches from Hibi. (Note: They are also quite helpful for covering up that “warehouse smell”.)

4. Pilot Metropolitan Rollerball. Can you believe that until this year I had never used the Pilot Metropolitan/MR Rollerball or Ballpoint pen? The “rollerball” is actually a Pilot G2 gel refill, so it’s super smooth, and the ballpoint uses the same Dr. Grip/Cocoon refill that fits Dr. Grip Ballpoint pens and the Pilot S20. If I had to pick, the rollerball is my favorite because I still love the G2.

5. Pilot Kire-Na Double-Sided Highlighter. The “guides” on the chisel-style highlighter tip won me over during our trip to visit Pilot USA headquarters earlier this year, and the fine tip end is ultra-fine for extremely detailed annotation work. It’s one of those highly-specific tools that not everyone may need, but which is great for those who love tailoring their stationery carry to their precise needs.

Thursday Drops: TWSBI ECO Rootbeer Is Back! Plus TRAVELER'S Notebooks, Maruman Mnemosyne and More!

Summer restocks and new releases have started to arrive, including a much-anticipated restock of the TWSBI ECO Rootbeer + Bronze, and the Kaweco Perkeo in Pearlescent Green. We’ve also received a handful of TRAVELER’S Notebooks in Standard and Passport sizes, a full shipment of Viarco pencils from Portugal, and more!

Kaweco’s Pearlescent Green Perkeo simply won’t stay in stock anywhere.

I wanted to take the opportunity to spotlight two gorgeous new additions to our Roterfaden lineup: the Taschenbegleiter LTD_039, with a natural leather cover, and the Taschenbegleiter SO_26, which pairs “Smoke Blue” with olive suede. Both of these are smaller test orders, and we will try to get more if we can, but for now they are limited quantity!

Come see these and more in-store during normal hours this week, from 1-6pm Thursday and Friday, and from 10am-5pm on Saturday.

1. TWSBI ECO Rootbeer Fountain Pens. Possibly the most popular and in-demand fountain pen that TWSBI has made in a while, the transparent ECO “Rootbeer” features clear amber acrylic paired with bronze trim.

2. TWSBI ECO Serpentine + Bronze Fountain Pens. If you’ve been thinking about an ECO Serpentine fountain pen, now would be the time, as they’ve been on the market for a while. TWSBI tends to rotate its colors in and out of the lineup.

3. TWSBI ECO Black + Bronze Fountain Pens. Similar to the Serpentine, the Black+Bronze ECO features swirled black acrylic and bronze trim.

4. Kaweco Perkeo Fountain Pens. We received a fresh shipment of the Pearlescent Green Kaweco Perkeos, in addition to a general restock of Kaweco Sport fountain pens, inks, and more.

5. TRAVELER’S Notebook Starter Kits. We have a fresh shipment of Traveler’s Notebooks in stock in multiple colors, two of which are Standard size and two of which are Passport.

6. Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter TGS_25 A5 Slim Notebook Covers. Our own exclusive design is back in stock, in the green leather colorway with both elastic options (grey and light green).

7. Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter A5 Notebook Covers. In addition to the A5 Slim Notebook covers, we have a fresh shipment of standard A5 covers as well.

8. OnionBrand A5 Leather Covers. These simple-yet-elegant leather notebook covers come in multiple finishes and use a cord-based binding system that will hold up to two slim notebooks or one thicker notebook.

9. Viarco Wood Pencils. A fresh shipment from Portugal landed this week, including standard and vintage-style woodcase pencils in multiple designs and hardnesses. Viarco is one of the last surviving European pencil manufacturers.

10. Graphilo Paper. Kobeha’s Graphilo paper is some of the most ink-friendly paper available, in that it resists any feathering or bleedthrough and showcases ink color nicely. We recently updated the “Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper” resource to include Graphilo as an easy “Tier One” paper choice.

Oh, and one last thing! Uni Zento Flows and Zento Gel Refills are now restocked!

Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper: Updated to Include Graphilo and Nebula Note

I just finished updating one of our most popular site resources: “Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper,” which was originally a blog post first published in 2021. Due to the expansive comments section, I’ve left it in blog format rather than move it to a stand-alone page. I periodically update the main article to account for changes in paper performance, new brands, and customer/reader feedback. Because I can’t test everything, I leave the comments open for suggestions.

View fullsize

What Were the Major Developments in 2026?

I added a handful of brands to the resource, and removed one or two others mainly due to availability issues. Here are the major changes:

• Graphilo and Nebula Note Enter Tier 1. Graphilo paper, from Japanese company Kobeha, is one of the most ink-friendly papers I have used, and given that it’s now far more available in the U.S. than it has been in the past, I feel good about adding it to the first Tier. Similarly, I’ve been consistently impressed with Nebula Note, a slightly textured paper from the makers of Colorverse Ink, which comes in a super-convenient spiral format with perforated pages.

• NOLTY Makes an Appearance. NOLTY is a relatively inexpensive Japanese brand that is sold everywhere in Japan but still uncommon in the United States. NOLTY paper comes in white and off-white variants, and while they are known for their planners, their notebooks are also excellent. I’ve added NOLTY to Tier I, and we look forward to carrying their notebooks in the near future, having previously carried their PAGEM B6 log books.

• Notsu and Blackwing belong in Tier II, and Baron Fig Drops Off the List. I feel more comfortable including Notsu as a Tier II brand, not because there’s been any decline in their paper quality (they make the best fountain pen friendly notecards on the market), but rather because they have been rapidly expanding their line to include a wider range of notebooks and papers of different types, some of which may not be intended for fountain pens. Similarly, standard Blackwing paper is pretty good, including the “Illegal Pads,” but there can be wide variation in the paper used in the special edition notebooks. Baron Fig has fallen off my radar entirely, and has gone more mass market in recent years so I do not feel comfortable ranking it in terms of fountain pen friendliness.

Note that this is not intended to be a “ranking,” and the order in which these papers appear in each tier are not intended to suggest that any one is objectively “better” than another. Also, even non-fountain pen friendly paper can be quality stationery. Certain high-end cotton papers are tactile and highly absorbent - quite pleasant to write on with pencil, ballpoint, and rollerballs - but they can’t handle the water-based ink found in most fountain pens. Enjoy, and as always, drop a comment if you have suggestions on paper I may not have tried.

New Arrivals: TRAVELER'S Notebooks in Standard and Passport, Plus OnionBrand A5 Leather Covers!

TRAVELER’S Notebooks are more popular than ever, and we have a fresh shipment that arrived yesterday. Currently we have Passport-size Starter Kits in Black and Blue, and Standard-size Starter Kits in Olive, as well as most refills and accessories with more on the way for those items that are currently sold out.

If you prefer full A5-size notebooks, we’ve also received a fresh restock of handmade OnionBrand leather covers. OnionBrand is a local Nashville maker specializing in leather, and I’m fortunate enough to be able to work with them to bring you these A5 covers that can hold up to two slim A5 notebooks or one full-size notebook or planner. (Currently I have my A5 Wonderland222 planner in one of the “Polished Saddle” covers.)

You can come see these and more in-person in our Nashville shop, where we have a range of notebooks and accessories from TRAVELER’S Company, Roterfaden, OnionBrand, and more! We are open this week Thursday and Friday from 1-6pm, and Saturday from 10am-5pm.