2023 Mid-Year Recap: Reader Favorites from the First Six Months of 2023

As part of my annual mid-year review, I always take a look at the blog statistics and see what type of content readers have enjoyed. The five posts featured here are the ones from 2023 that either received the most traffic and/or comments (relative, of course, to how recently some of them were posted). In terms of overall popular content, our posts on Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper, Picking a Workhorse Pen, and Fountain Pen Inks for Everyday Writing continue to be popular among T.G.S. readers, especially those new to fountain pens.

Many thanks for all your support and readership! For additional installments of our 2023 Mid-Year Recap, check out this post on my own personal favorite posts (with minimal overlap), as well as the favorite new product releases from the Curated Shop.

1. Workhorse Pens: Considerations and Pitfalls of High Capacity Pocket Fountain Pens. It’s extremely interesting to me that this particular post is among the most popular new content from the first six months of the year. The TWSBI Diamond Mini and Vac-Mini, as well as smaller Opus 88 pens, get very little attention, generally in favor of their larger counterparts. TWSBI at least has started paying some attention to the Diamond Mini, with the recently released Mini AL Grape.

2. Schon DSGN Full-Size Fountain Pen with Monoc Nib. Well, this is timely, because Schon DSGN announced recently (and posted pics last night) that they are working on anodized versions of their in-house Monoc nib. These look absolutely stunning. Follow them on Instagram to learn more and see what might be coming down the pipeline!

3. Ark of Pens (Guest Post from R.B. Lemberg). We had an outstanding response to the first T.G.S. Guest Post in a while, where R.B. went through their personal pen collecting story and discussed how they came to the hobby and collecting in general.

4. Triangular Grip Pens: Love ‘em or Leave ‘em? Nontraditional fountain pen sections are a love/hate proposition. Either people love the added structure intended to “guide” their fingers into writing position, or it simply doesn’t work for them. Personally, I’ve come to appreciate the slightly rounded triangular shape of the TWSBI ECO-T, and the Safari and AL-Star have never bothered me all that much. I never could use those molded “pencil grips” though….

5. Fountain Pen Basics: Five Best Practices for Fountain Pen Users. This post sparked the most comments, all of which I enjoyed reading! Everyone uses and cares for their pens in different ways - there really is no “right” or “wrong” way (other than anything that results in a puddle of ink in your bag, pen case, or pocket). I’ve made an effort to do more “Fountain Pens 101-style” posts, since I know we have a lot of readers who are coming to fountain pens for the first time this year!

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. We greatly appreciate your support! If you’ve been considering the Patreon, now is a great time to join, as we are preparing to launch a new exclusive fountain pen release, and are in the middle of the Patrons-exclusive “Gently Used” sale.

2023 Mid-Year Recap: Five Favorite Posts from the First Half of 2023

Every year around this time I take a pause from creating new content to assess where I am in terms of the goals I set for myself and the site at the beginning of the year. This provides the opportunity to reflect on the progress made and to reassess priorities and make adjustments in light of new developments. As part of that review, I’ll look at both the shop and the blog, and always start by evaluating what worked, including my favorite posts from the first part of the year. This year, they include:

1. Journaling in 2023: Use It or Lose It? Well, did I use it or did I lose it? Neither. I've kept up on my journaling, but irregularly. Now is the perfect time to jump back into the daily habit, because I definitely start feeling off-track and disconnected without taking that time for myself. I’d also like to add in 20-30 minutes of morning pages, but that’s adding something entirely new to my routine so I’ll have to see how it fits.

2. Serious Nibbage: Do No. 8 Nibs Live Up to the Hype? Yes, they do. I’ve continued to use my No. 8 nibs regularly, and am actively looking to add more to my collection. In addition to just being more visually interesting, I love the way they write. Smoother? Slightly more springy?

3. Schon DSGN Full-Size Fountain Pen and Monoc Nib First Impressions. Schon DSGN’s completely in-house Monoc nib is easily my favorite product released this year. I can’t wait to pick up one of the color-anodized versions at a pen show later this summer.

4. Review Revisited: Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-Budo and Tsuki-Yo. As the year has progressed, one of the projects I’ve picked up along the way is revisiting things I first looked at in the early days of T.G.S., and if they’re items I continue to use, why they have such staying power. These two inks started out as two of my favorites, and remain at the top of my list.

5. Catching Up with Tactile Turn: The Side Click "Deep Space" Seasonal Edition. I still love my Tactile Turn “Deep Space” Side Click, as much as I did the day I purchased the pen. Just a reminder that the current seasonal release, “8-Bit”, is about to go away, so if you’ve been looking to get one now’s your chance.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases through the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

Proprietary Ink Cartridges: Endearing or Annoying?

It doesn't take long for new fountain pen users to recognize that all fountain pen ink cartridges aren't created equal. While there is such a thing as a "standard international" ink cartridge and converter, it’s neither “standard” nor particularly “international”, as that term has essentially come to mean that the standard version "fits pens with JoWo, Bock, or Schmidt nib/feed assemblies." Nearly all of the Japanese brands, as well as some European brands like Lamy, use their own proprietary cartridge/converter format. Today I'll talk a bit about why I tend to prefer the Japanese-style cartridges to the standard international format.

Note: Whenever you buy a new pen from a brand you haven't previously used, ALWAYS check whether you also need a specific converter and/or cartridge to go with that brand.

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Pilot pens such as the Custom Heritage 912, the Custom 74, and the Vanishing Point all take the proprietary Pilot Cartridge.

Pilot Makes My Favorite Ink Cartridge, Followed By Platinum

Why these two, you might ask? Capacity. While each format is unique to each brand, these cartridges hold a LOT of ink. Moreover, the "wide mouth" format of the cartridge both ensures better ink flow than the typical international cartridge (which has a narrower opening) and makes the cartridge easier to refill with ink of your choice using a pipette or small eyedropper rather than a syringe. Of course, part of the reason why these cartridges tend to work so well may be due to the proprietary nature itself, with the cartridge engineered to fit the brand's specific nib and feed.

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Pilot cartridges are among the easiest to refill, so there’s even an “aftermarket” for things like these small rubber stoppers if you want to refill a full set. (Search eBay or your online marketplace of choice.)

As an aside, there has been a lot of speculation as to why Pilot recently released the Iroshizuku Inks in cartridge form, and why they believe they can price these cartridges at the relatively high price point of $14 for six. Personally, I think it's because a large portion of users write with fine or extra-fine nibs (if not finer). Given that Pilot cartridges hold a decent volume of ink, six of these cartridges could last someone up to a year, especially if they don't write extensively by hand and, for example, use their pen to make occasional notes in a planner. (Standard Pilot cartridges are much less expensive, as are Platinum cartridges, and are sold in boxes of one dozen.)

While Sailor cartridges also feature a proprietary format with a wider opening similar to Pilot and Platinum, and work just fine, they don't hold as much ink. On the other hand, I find that Lamy cartridges have narrower openings similar to the Western-style Standard International cartridge. As a result, the ink doesn't flow quite as well, and Lamy cartridges can be difficult to puncture to the point where I sometimes worry I'm about to break the pen.

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Don’t be like me. Use your cartridges.

Takeaways and Lessons Learned Over the Years

At the end of the day, the proprietary systems of cartridges and ink converters can be both a pain to navigate and part of the charm of using fountain pens. Sure, it would be much more convenient to have a single universal format for all brands, and to not have to worry about stocking refills from multiple brands, but over time I've just come to accept that "the cartridge singularity" is not going to happen and learned to love the different shapes and peculiarities of each cartridge. My own opinion is that the Japanese pen companies make better cartridges than Western manufacturers. Not only do I get better performance - mainly ink flow - when I use these cartridges, but the cartridges seem to last longer on the shelf. My insanely busy week/weekend of work saw me cycling through several cartridges on the fly, and the number of half-evaporated cartridges I discovered in my office desk drawer stash (mostly standard short international) reminded me that these things don't last forever. Use 'em if you got em'!

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

The Ark of Pens

Today we have a Guest Post from a friend of the blog, R.B. Lemberg! It’s been a long while since T.G.S. has featured a guest post, and I’ve been looking to bring in some new voices and hope to make this a semi-regular event. Enjoy!

In The Cultures of Collecting, editors Elsner and Cardinal describe the biblical Noah as the first collector. “Adam had given names to the animals, but it fell to Noah to collect them… Menaced by a Flood, one has to act swiftly. Anything overlooked will be lost forever: between including and excluding there can be no half- measures. The collection is the unique bastion against the deluge of time.” (Elsner and Cardinal 1994:1)

It took a global crisis to make me a collector of pens.

In 2020, shuttered in my room and yet overloaded with responsibilities of teaching, leadership, caregiving, and generative work, I stepped into the world of fountain pens for respite. It wasn’t my first pen venture; I learned about writing with dip pens and fountain pens in Soviet elementary school. I was a clumsy child and the pens were of poor quality; I hated every moment of it. Later, in graduate school in the US, I happily used a single Pilot Falcon. I put it aside after getting my doctorate, and switched to Pilot V5s; but something shifted during the pandemic. I think this describes many people.

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Edison Menlo (top) and Kaweco Liliput (bottom).

I remember 2020 and 2021 as joyful years for pens. Everything else was ash and fear, but pens were a happy creative outlet, and many new people joined the hobby. I certainly did not think about myself as a stationery collector before the pandemic, but I found myself reading fountain pen books and blogs and watching instructional videos. In a quest after that special magic of a perfectly tuned nib touching paper, I tried a whole lot of pens. I sent a few pens to Mark Bacas for a grind. I talked about fountain pens endlessly. By the end of 2021, I figured out what I liked, and began curating.

I wasn’t collecting pens to save them from the deluge of time, and these days I’m not sure if I am a collector at all. I like to use my pens, but I also enjoy simply lining them up; I live for an aesthetically pleasing pen tray. There’s certainly a central theme to my collecting. I love Italian pens. I gravitate towards stubs and italic nibs, as well as the sometimes-maligned European mediums. The colors and textures of pens in my tray reassure me that beauty persists beyond the devastation of wars and pandemics, beyond market pressures and too-rapid technological advances. Fiddling with my pens reminds me that history is a human story. We value not just what’s the latest and fastest and flashiest; my pens promise and deliver a contemplative world.

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As a curator, I am infinitely curious about other people’s practices. Over the last three years, I read blogs and talked to folks online and offline about managing fountain pen collections. Some never give anything up – once the pen enters a collection, it is there to stay, whether used frequently or not. In the story of the flood, only a single raven (and later: a single dove) ever left the Ark. Others rotate through pens, frequently buying and selling; a prime example of this approach is the fascinating UK Fountain Pens blog. Many people are somewhere in the middle  - they keep most or many of their pens, and let some go. Some folks call their pens a collection, others an accumulation. I call mine the gathering. Sometimes I think my pens are alive – not just items on display, but friends who hang out with me, and help me get words down on page in a way that nurtures my soul.

Sometimes, pens leave the gathering. They’ve had enough of my party. :) Others are here to stay.

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Today’s Highlights

Onoto Scholar in Mandarin Yellow. I got this one from Onoto directly for a great introductory price in early 2022; the nib in it right now is a special order stub, I believe ground for Onoto by John Sorowka.

Leonardo Momento Magico in Brooks Bohemian Twilight. This one was a birthday present from Limited Pens Korea. I swapped the steel Medium it arrived with for the excellent Franklin Christoph M Sig – one of the best nib grinds I’ve tried so far (thank you, Audrey!) It is an incredibly versatile and joyful pen – I love the ink window and the fact that the nib unit unscrews for cleaning, making it excellent for shimmers.

Aurora Optima Viola with a Factory Stub. I got it for an amazing price on Fountain Pen Day. This also was subsidized by birthday moneys. I wanted to try an Aurora, and this one is superb and easily one of my favorite pens ever.

What are some of your fountain pen standouts? Do you curate, and if so, what is your approach?

R.B. Lemberg (they/them) is a queer, neurodivergent academic and writer of speculative fiction. They are the author of The Unbalancing (2022), The Four Profound Weaves (2020), and other books. You can find them on their website http://rblemberg.net, on their Instagram as @rblemberg, and on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/rblemberg

Fountain Pen Basics: Updated "Educational" Content and Informational Resources

It’s been a while since I’ve taken a pause to consolidate and update some of the years' worth of articles, lists, and how-to guides from the T.G.S. Archives. Since we surpassed nine years of T.G.S. last month, I’ve spent time revisiting some of this material and updating it, as much of it is out of date. (I ended up deleting the hopelessly out-of-date content, which mostly discussed products that never launched or no-longer exist, as well as retailers/manufacturers long out-of-business or who are no longer relevant to the community.)

This morning, I created a new section under the “Resources” Tab, titled “Fountain Pen Basics,” that contains links to fundamental information and content regarding fountain pens. On this page, I’ve linked to the YouTube Channel, which now contains the first series of “Fountain Pen Basics” videos on filling fountain pens with various filling systems. (More will be on the way.) I’ve surprised myself at how much I’ve enjoyed making the YouTube content, and wish I started years ago. While I’m certainly no master videographer, I’m working on technique, upgrading (within reason) my equipment, and hope to continue with more visual demonstrations that people find helpful. If you’re on YouTube, please consider giving us a follow so that we can expand our reach.

Where T.G.S. Is Going, How We Plan to Grown, and How You Can Support T.G.S. Going Forward (AND A Beginning of Summer sale!)

You may have noticed that our focus this year has evolved. While we still produce informational and educational content, we have also launched a retail shop, which we are continuing to expand by bringing in brands such as Pilot, Kaweco, Lamy, TWSBI, and Nahvalur. As I’ve been hinting in recent months, I also have some big plans in the works which will result in T.G.S. becoming a bigger part of my professional life, and will see a lot more involvement by my family in helping me run the day-to-day so that I can focus on content creation and overall direction of the site.

So to thank everybody for their support, we are starting our annual Memorial Day sale one week early! Use the coupon code “SUMMER23” at checkout to get an extra 10% off your order. Those of you in the Nashville, Tennessee area now have the option of selecting local pickup at checkout, rather than using a separate coupon code. Just message me through the “Contact” link to arrange pickup or delivery. The code will remain good through Monday, May 29 at 11:59pm CT. Some exclusions (i.e. TWSBI) will apply due to manufacturer and distributor restrictions.

Finally, for those of you who would like to take advantage of “extras,” you can support us on Patreon. The main feature of our Patreon program is our monthly Zoom meetup (including one tonight at 8:30pm CT!) along with access to exclusive content, discounts, early access to exclusive TGS collaborations, and periodic sample/gently used sales (though in full disclosure these are going to be more semi-annual rather than monthly or quarterly, due to the simple fact that I’ve reduced my own acquisition and consumption over the past year and have less unused stuff lying around). Patreon is completely optional at either $3 or $5 monthly levels of support, and as I’ve always said, T.G.S. will remain free and not get stuck behind a paywall (but Patreon and the Shop help keep this possible on an advertising and affiliate-free basis). Again, many thanks to all of you! You don’t know how much we appreciate it!