Thursday Drops: All The Fountain Pen Day Weekend Specials! Use FPDAY10 at Checkout Plus Tiered Gifts

Happy Fountain Pen Day! Well, technically Fountain Pen Day isn’t until Friday, but we always run our Fountain Pen Day Weekend Specials from Thursday through Sunday. The following promotions are active through 11:59pm Sunday, November 9. Most items in the shop are eligible for a 10% discount using the “FPDAY10” promo code at checkout. Some brands cannot be discounted per manufacturer’s restrictions, including TWSBI, Roterfaden, Blackwing, and a few others. In addition to the clearance sale and discounts, we’re running our annual tiered gift promotion, meaning that orders exceeding certain thresholds (before shipping and any taxes) will automatically receive a free gift, while supplies last. If a specific giveaway item is sold out by the time you place your order, we will substitute something similar.

• All Orders: Any order placed between now (Thursday, November 5) and 11:59pm on Sunday, November 8, will receive some official Fountain Pen Day swag such as a button or bookmark.

• Orders $75 and above: These orders will receive, in addition to free shipping and Fountain Pen Day swag, either a small sample bottle (either Colorverse, Tono & Lims, or Diamine), a small paper sampler, or an ink swatch book. Giveaway items are assigned randomly and due to expected order volumes we will be unable to guarantee requests.

Please note that the “free bonus gift” offer is online only - while the discount will apply in-store if you mention it at the register, we are running a separate set of in-store bonuses on Friday and Saturday. Be sure to stop in if you’re in the Nashville area!

The Kaweco Supra, in its “extended” mode.

This Week’s New Arrivals and Restocks

1. TRAVELER’S Notebooks. We have Standard and Passport TRAVELER’S Notebooks available, along with most refills and accessories to outfit your notebook as you like.

2. TRAVELER’S Company 2027 Diary Refills and Accessories. This year’s dated diary and planner refills, along with the 2027 accessories, are here! Best of all, we have TRAVELER’S Notebooks to put them in.

3. Roterfaden TGS_25 A5-Slim Taschenbegleiters. I’m taking one to Japan with me next week for the Kobe and Tokyo Pen Shows! (Maybe two - I need something extra to hold all the A5 slim refills I intend to track down.)

4. Diamine Inkvent Calendars. We have the 2027 Inkvent Calendar available, and yes it is eligible for our Fountain Pen Day promotion! Advent Calendar season is upon us….

5. Kaweco Supra Fountain Pens. The Liliput’s grown-up sibling, the Supra shares the same shape AND features a removable extension that allows you to convert the pen from a full-sized fountain pen to a pocket pen and back. Available in brass and stainless steel finishes.

6. Kaweco AL-Sport Piston Filler Fountain Pens. We have the Kaweco AL Sport Piston Filler available in all colors - including the new Bordeaux - and in most nib sizes.

7. Kaweco Lunar Sport Fountain Pens. The latest Kaweco Lunar releases - Shadow Purple and Lunar Light Purple - are in stock. Rollerball, Ballpoint, and Mechanical Pencils are also available.

8. Kaweco Sport Glass Ornament. Each year, Kaweco releases a blown glass holiday ornament in the shape of a fountain pen, and this year’s release is Purple. (To coincide with the Lunar Purple release, perhaps?)

9. Midori Gradation Day Length B6 Planners. These vertical weekly planners feature a gradient page with color that shifts to track the time of day. Available in three colors and the popular B6 size.

10. Midori 2027 Hibino Planners. Don’t let this compact A6 planner fool you! It packs a whopping 700+ pages to allow you to both plan and journal at the same time, with a day to two pages.

Kanmido Coco Fusen Sticky notes are a personal favorite - I brought dozens of styles back from Japan and can’t wait to go scout more!

Ask TGS: Are There Fountain Pen Friendly Sticky Notes?

Since I’m such a big fan of annotation when I work and read, I get asked a lot of questions about annotation tools, sticky notes among them. One common question is whether a fountain pen friendly sticky note exists. My answer? Sort of.

Sticky notes seem simple but they’re not, at least when it comes to how they interact with ink. The adhesive applied to the back of the note bonds to the paper, and can affect how that portion of the paper behaves. Similarly, many sticky notes are brightly colored. Adhesive and dye can cause bleeding and feathering (the most common effect), but they can also repel water-based ink in certain cases, causing the ink to sit atop the paper and never dry.

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An example of how you can layer the various Cloth & Paper Transparent Circle sticky notes and page flags. Despite how cool they are, however, you won’t be able to use fountain pens on them.

I’ve discovered a few brands of sticky notes over the years that perform decently with fountain pens. Traveler’s and MD Paper used to make very good sticky notes, but these lines have been discontinued. Both Notsu and Cloth & Paper still make lines of sticky notes that feature heavier, absorbent paper stock and can withstand fountain pen ink, though you may get some feathering with especially broad nibs or wet inks.

Cloth & Paper’s Transparent Circle Sticky notes - at least in some colors - allow you to see underlying rulings and other layout markers. In addition to serving as a guide for writing, you can layer the notes over entries in your journal or planner.

The downside to these fountain pen friendlier sticky notes? They’re thick. You can’t layer your journal or planner with moveable sticky notes like the lightweight transparent notes made by Cloth & Paper and Kanmido (Coco Fusen). These thinner notes are made from plastic (or are coated with plastic) and require an oil-based pen like a standard ballpoint, hybrid/low-viscosity ballpoint, or fineliner marker. They also work well with pencils. Even if you can’t use your fountain pens, however, these types of sticky notes can be fun and useful because they allow you to annotate without adding a lot of bulk to your notebook, and you can usually move the notes around easily from page to page without losing “stickiness.”

In other words, fountain pen friendly sticky notes do exist, but like everything in stationery, there is usually a trade-off!

As part of our store refresh, we’ve added multiple new lines of sticky notes, page flags, notebook and planner tabs, and other annotation tools to our shop. You can view these online and in our Nashville brick and mortar store (though there are so many different varieties that we cannot keep all of them on the showroom floor).

New Arrivals: TWSBI ECO Pink Lemonade + Bronze Restock, Plus New Annotation Supplies!

Easily the most popular TWSBI release of the past few years, the Pink Lemonade + Bronze ECO Fountain Pen sold out in less than two hours, and we haven’t been able to get more until now. We currently have stock in all nib sizes, though some nibs are running very, very low so if there’s a specific pen you want please don’t wait. We also have additional stock of the popular Rootbeer color.

In addition to TWSBI, we just listed a large shipment of sticky notes, page flags, and other annotation tools, including the Kanmido Coco Fusen line and a wide array of new sets from Cloth & Paper, including transparent sticky notes in multiple sizes and shapes. I use sticky notes all the time in my journals, planners, and notebooks - I appreciate variety because you often need different formats! We are focused on building out the “Sticky Notes and Tabs” section of the Store as we are now deep in planner season.

Our Nashville shop is open this week normal hours, from 1-6pm Thursday and Friday and from 10am-5pm on Saturday. Online is open 24/7. Stay tuned for special in-store opportunities on Friday, which is Fountain Pen Day!

Sunday Reading for November 1, 2026

1. On The Paper Trail Live in Nashville (via Olive Octopus). Lisa’s workshop turned out to be a weekend highlight, and she does a great job of capturing the spirit of the event.

2. It’s About That Time! (via Pen Addict). Who else is following along on Brad’s trip? As someone headed back to Japan in a week for two shows, I’m keeping a list.

3. Colorverse Colorvents Past (Part 2) (via Dime Novel Raven). I’m enjoying this project and reminiscing about some great ink that didn’t make the 2024 Top 3.

4. You Need This for Your Washi Tape! Kaleidocraft Wallet Review (via dwrdnet). I have yet to unpack my own washi wallet, but these cool items from Kaleidocraft feature a clever design and are a great way to share and trade samples of wash without having to spring for a full roll.

5. New Brand! Consul Guardian Nightfall (via Figboot on Pens). Consul is a new brand from the team behind Benu. It has a different look and I’m excited to check this one out, actually.

6. Pilot MR Chanomegumi Light Green (via Well-Appointed Desk). I’m equally enamored with these special releases from Pilot, and the only problem on my end is that I can’t decide on which one I want. I’m actually leaning towards a dark green ballpoint.

You can check out the latest Episode of On The Paper Trail on your favorite Podcast App or on the YouTube Channel!

In Case You Missed It…

It’s slowly getting back to normal around here as I recover from travel in anticipation of … more travel! I leave for Japan in a little over a week, and I’m scrambling to get everything ready. This week we dropped Episode 19 of On The Paper Trail, in which we discussed terminology used to describe common Pen, Paper, & Ink Problems. I also finally got around to unpacking some of my 2026 acquisitions from my pen show travels and wrote a post discussing five favorites.

This Week in the T.G.S. Curated Shop - TWSBI Pink Lemonade!

Slowly but surely, we’re restocking on in-demand recent releases, including the recently released TWSBI ECO Pink Lemonade + Bronze fountain pen, the Kaweco Lunar Sport Fountain Pens, and Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter TGS_25 A5 Slim Notebook covers in both green and grey leather! We’ve also received several new items, including Kaweco Supra Fountain Pens, Diplomat Cobra Fountain Pens and Rollerballs, and the latest Diplomat Viper release in Orange. Be sure to check out each week’s Thursday Drops post, as that’s where we announce new arrivals and restocks.

You can see these and more in our Nashville shop, open from 1-6pm Thursday and Friday, and from 10am-5pm on Saturday. Both the Nashville store and our online shop will remain open during my upcoming travels, due to the excellent team we have in place!

Kanmido Coco Fusen

Midori

Blackwing

TWSBI

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If you enjoy our content (whether here on the main website, Instagram, YouTube Channel or elsewhere), and would like early/extra access to shop releases and special promotions, consider supporting us via Patreon. In addition to exclusive content, Discord access, and online meetups, Patreon supporters have access to one or more initial “practice” episodes of “On the Paper Trail” which have not been publicly released.

What's In My Pen Case? Checking in After Pen Show Season on My Favorite 2026 Finds!

Formal “Pen Show Season” is mostly over, with the big shows (California, D.C., and San Francisco) in the books. It’s been a busy year, to say the least. T.G.S. has attended the California Pen Show, the Arkansas Pen Show, the D.C. Pen Show, the San Francisco Pen Show, and the Dallas Pen Show. I also took separate trips to the San Francisco Stationery Fest, plus a trip to Japan in May. We capped off October with our On The Paper Trail Live Event in Nashville! Since running a store - as well as our own recent event -has been time consuming to say the least, I haven’t yet had the opportunity to recap my favorite finds from my 2026 travels.

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seY Pen Tsugaru-Nuri (left) next to my Bonecrusher7 Studio custom.

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I plan to write more on Urushi pens in the future. I only have a small handful, but they are among my favorites.

The pace of my personal acquisitions has definitely slowed over the years. As I’ve narrowed the focus of my collecting, I sometimes even walk away from a show without a single purchase (even if those instances are few and far between :)). This year's acquisitions were fairly restrained, but they included some good ones. My 2026 Top Five to Date are:

1. seY Pen Tsugaru-Nuri Fountain Pen. seY pen is a Japanese company that works with a collective of independent artisans to manufacture traditional Japanese urushi and maki-e fountain pens. I’ve admired their work for years, and after having had the opportunity to meet them at this year’s Dallas Pen Show I picked up this Tsugaru-Nuri fountain pen in a sky blue lacquer with different beige and brown shades blended in. Matthew Chen added an Architect nib when he came to Nashville.

2. Nagasawa Pilot Decimo Kobe Gradation - Sengari Water Blue. I’ve picked up the annual Kobe Gradation Decimo for the past two years, with this year’s release inspired by the waters from Kobe’s Sengari Reservoir. The Japanese market gets multiple Pilot Decimo special releases every year - seemingly every independent pen store has its own release - but these Kobe Gradation models are my favorite. Of course I always opt for the FM (Fine Medium) nib wherever it’s available.

3. Pilot Custom 845 Urushi in Prussian Blue. Pilot added to it’s Custom Urushi and Custom 845 Urushi lineup with this gorgeous dark blue lacquer finish, which they call “Prussian Blue”. The pen itself I acquired from my own shop (a hazard of the trade), but at the recent Nashville event I asked Matthew to turn the broad nib into a Kodachi. Yes, I have recently used this pen with shimmer ink. It works perfectly fine!

4. Bonecrusher7 Studios Custom. I try to add a pen or two a year from an independent maker who I’ve never tried before. This year’s addition was a gorgeous translucent brown “Mocha Latté” swirled acrylic from Bonecrusher7 Studio, to which Matthew Chen added a medium stub (approximately a .6mm width). I love how well-balanced this pen is. Even though it can’t be posted, it fits comfortably in my hand and excels for longer writing sessions.

5. Opus88 Koloro in Blue with Beige Ebonite Trim. This particular pen was provided to me as a demo by Opus88 when we decided to bring the line back into the shop, and it made its way into my general pen case. (Oops.) I’ve owned a few Koloros over the years, and I had forgotten how nicely the ebonite models work as a travel pen. (More on that below.)

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My Nagasawa Sengari Bay Decimo, left, next to the Pilot Custom 845 Urushi in Prussian Blue.

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I love how beige ebonite shows the grain on the material.

Guess what? The year’s not over. I’m headed to Japan again in less than two weeks for another adventure, and I’m in the process of putting together my travel kit. My Custom 845 in Prussian Blue, Ebonite Koloro, and Sengari Decimo are definitely coming with me. I may limit myself to three fountain pens on this trip, as I did last time, knowing that I will acquire at least one….

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. You can also come visit us at our physical stationery store in Nashville, Tennessee.