Weekly Drops: New Pilot Explorers, Life 6-Ring Paper, NOLTY, and More!

ALL the restocks seemed to arrive this week, from the new Pilot Explorer to NOLTY notebooks and Life 6-ring binder paper. In advance of three upcoming pen shows in which we’ll be participating, we’ve also restocked on our Rickshaw exclusive collaboration, adding six-pen Coozy Rolls in both the standard and deluxe formats. Finally, Lochby cases are back in stock, including multiple sizes of the zippered Field Folio and the Field Sling. We have boxes stacked up the wall right now, so if you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to stop by and shop with us in-person and see all of this up-close!

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Nick Dominguez’s “Clouds” patterns were hand-drawn with multi-shading fountain pen inks,

We are open this week normal hours this week! Please note that the week of February 16 we will have modified hours. Because we will be traveling to the California Pen Show, we may open Monday-Tuesday with reduced Saturday hours, so stay tuned if you are looking to visit us in Nashville.

1. New Matte Pilot Explorer Fountain Pens and Rollerballs. Pilot has revamped the Explorer lineup, swapping out some of its glossy colors for these new matte ivory, turquoise, navy, and coral. And, yes, these new colors feature a new logo, foregoing the larger Pilot imprint for more subtle branding on the cap.

2. NOLTY PAGEM Freelog Notebooks. NOLTY is a popular line of Japanese notebooks and planners that feature both dated and undated layouts. The PAGEM “Freelog” has minimal structure and can be used as a planner or a standard notebook.

3. Life Noble Note 6-Ring Binder Refills. We’ve been working to fill out our selection of 6-ring binder paper that is compatible with binders from Plotter, Brelio, MeePlus, and any other brand that uses standard 6-ring spacing. Life offers A5, Bible, and Mini (6 hole) refills in their standard Noble Note paper, which is quite Fountain Pen Friendly.

4. Rickshaw Bagworks “Cloud Series” Pen Cases and Pen Rolls. Our collaboration with local-to-us artist Nick Dominguez has been restocked, with Fillmore, Sinclaire, and Coozy Rolls available for order in three different colorways.

5. TRAVELER’S Notebook Starter Kits. These have sold briskly in the shop, but we still have a handful of Standards and several Passports in stock. The shortage from late last year appears to be easing somewhat.

6. Lochby Field Sling. Lochby’s popular A5 Field Bag is back in stock in all colors. These sling bags combine the size of the Field Journal and Field Folio with a shoulder strap, allowing you to carry one or two notebooks with a phone, pen, and other small items.

7. Mnemosyne Hardcover A5 Journals. My personal journal from this year is the dot-grid version in Mint. I walked through how I plan to use this and my other notebooks for 2026 in this recent YouTube video.

8. Stálogy Planners/Notebooks. The Stálogy 365 and 1/2-year notebooks are designed to be used as day-to-a-page notebooks, journals, or even an undated planner. It’s a flexible system that fits most standard-sized covers (A5, A6, B6, etc.).

9. Lamy Swift Retractable Rollerballs. We’ve had increasing demand for rollerball pens lately both in-store and online, and one of my favorites is the Lamy Swift retractable rollerball. These have a nice matte texture with a retractable clip. See our full writeup here.

10. Ohto CR01 and CR02 Rollerball Pens. These capped rollers from Japanese brand Ohto feature a .5mm tip (something of a rarity in the rollerball world) and come in both a thicker and thinner format.

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The NOLTY Freelog, in two different pastel colors and featuring a .3mm dot grid ruling.

New Arrivals: Introducing the Benu Haute Collection

Benu fountain pens have traditionally been a little too, well, nontraditional for me. While I’ve long admired the artistry, I’ve never found a specific shape that matches my aesthetic. The recently released “Haute” collection might change that, since it pairs Benu’s unique materials with a more traditional, yet still unique, squared barrel design. Each pen features a No. 6 Schmidt nib and uses a standard international cartridge/converter filling system.

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We currently have a handful of the Benu Haute fountain pens in stock and available for purchase both in-store and online. Look for additional colors and nib sizes in the future, with possible new additions from Benu in the future!

Please note that while orders are shipping within our normal 2-3 business day time frame, UPS and USPS may still have a bit of a backlog due to the severity of the winter storm in our area and resulting damage. We appreciate your patience as the Nashville area continues to recover this week. We currently plan to be open normal hours this week, Thursday and Friday from 1pm-6pm, and Saturday from 10am-6pm. Since we are trying to get caught up after having to close for much of last week, no appointments are possible outside public hours.

We're Officially Open! Plus New Rickshaw Cases Have Arrived!

For those of you following along (or living through this weather yourself), the snow and ice are finally starting to melt in Nashville and we were able to reopen today. While we avoided significant damage, others in our building weren’t so lucky, as a water main froze and burst, flooding two suites and a downstairs storage area. Because management had to cut water to the building (power was out anyway until Wednesday evening), we were unable to open until this morning. Many thanks to all of you who continued to support us online and today in-store, as we very much appreciate your business. It’s not easy for any small business to lose effectively two weekends of revenue but hopefully we are through the worst of this now!

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Things should get back to “normal” this week - we had sporadic power and internet access at home, and at one point even our cell service cut out, so there’s not been much new on the content front. In the meantime, we managed to publish Episode 2 of On the Paper Trail, visit Pilot Pens in Jacksonville on a quick 24-hour turnaround, and as of today, launch the second round of T.G.S. x Rickshaw Bags cases, featuring Nick Dominguez’s unique “cloud” patterns that were hand-drawn using multi-shading fountain pen inks. We’ve added both standard and deluxe 6-pen Coozy Rolls, and also have more Fillmore pen cases which open flat and hold six pens (three on either side) plus a notebook. There has been a lot of interest in these cases so we will likely continue to carry them for the foreseeable future and hopefully I will have them at the California Pen Show at the end of February.

January was a blur! Stay tuned for more announcements on pen shows and more. In-store hours should return next weekend to our normal 1pm-6pm Thursdays and Fridays, and 10am-6pm Saturdays.

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Regardless of how this picture looked, temperatures in Jacksonville ranged from 38 to 45 degrees. Which was still better thabn the 17 at home.

Thursday Drops: Shop Reopening Update, Order Status, and New Arrivals from Diplomat, TWSBI, Kakimori and More!

InCoWriMo (International Written Correspondence Month) is almost upon us, and we’re actively adding products to our Written Correspondence Section of the shop. We’ve recently received new letter sets from Kakimori, as well as looseleaf papers from Kakimori, Yamamoto (Canopus!), Graphilo, and Nakabayashi, so we have you covered for all your letter writing needs. We’ve also added a bunch of Pilot Pens recently, including many of their specialty nibs. (If you’ve listened to the most recent episode of On the Paper Trail, you’ll hear why, and you can probably guess from the picture above.) Finally, we stocked up on TWSBI Pens in medium and broad nibs in advance of last weekend’s nib grinding event with Matthew Chen, which unfortunately got compressed to a single day due to the weather but at least we’re restocked!

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Colorful Kakimori Envelopes, just in time for InCoWriMO!

Many of you have asked about how our shop fared during the recent snow and ice storm, and I’m happy to report that despite losing heat, power, and water, all of our inventory and both spaces emerged unscathed. That said, our building remains a work in progress, and it is not possible for us to open before Saturday. We greatly appreciate everyone who has shown support by placing online orders, and we plan to be caught up on shipping shortly. Please do not come by attempting to pick up orders before Saturday, as there are crews on site performing cleanup and repairs to other parts of the complex.

1. Kakimori Letter Writing Sets. Looking for letter sets? These B5 letter sets feature a simple Kakimori motif on the header, and come in two different papers, Shinkyushi and Conqueror Laid. These sheets will fold three times to fit the Kakimori envelopes.

2. Kakimori Envelopes. These envelopes come in five colors and will fit the Kakimori letter sheets or similarly sized papers.

3. Yamamoto Canopus Paper. We have a fresh shipment of Yamamoto Canopus paper in A5 notebooks, A4 looseleaf sheets, and Bullet Jotter pads.

4. Pilot Custom 912 Fountain Pens. After the Custom 74, the Pilot Custom 912 has become a favorite from Pilot’s standard lineup, mainly due to the specialty nibs such as the PO (Posting) and WA (Waverly).

5. CDT x Pilot Frixion 3 Multi Pen. If there was one takeaway from our recent trip to visit Pilot, it’s the growing popularity of the Frixion line of pens. These erasable gel pens are surprisingly good, and we’re glad to have stocked the Craft Design Technology special edition that CDT produced with Pilot.

6. Diplomat Viper Fountain Pens. The popular Diplomat Viper fountain pens and rollerballs are back in stock in all colors! This modern take on the classic hooded nib fountain pen is hard to keep in stock, especially the green.

7. Diamine Ink Restock. We recently received a huge restock of Diamine Ink from the standard and 150th Anniversary line. We even have the new “Lady Grey” in both sizes.

8. Toyo Steel Boxes. We have Toyo Steel boxes available, in new colors that include orange and glacier blue. Boxes with similar footprints are stackable.

9. TWSBI Serpentine Fountain Pens. TWSBI has been very low on the Serpentine fountain pens, and it’s unclear when they will be making more available for purchase.

10. Braun Desk Clocks. We have a fresh shipment of Braun alarm clocks which make great travel alarms as well as wonderful desk accessories. Available in multiple colors and sizes.

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Yamamoto Canopus Paper is one of this year’s biggest hits!

New Arrivals: Yamamoto Canopus Paper Restock in All Sizes, Plus a Weather Update

On Friday morning before last week’s event started, we received a restock of Yamamoto Canopus Paper, including the A5 Canopus Note Notebooks, A4 sheets (which are new to us!), and Yamamoto Bullet Journal Bible-sized pads. For those unfamiliar, Canopus paper was specially developed by Yamamoto to showcase fountain pen ink colors, so it’s extremely fountain pen friendly. In addition to Canopus, we carry a curated selection from the Yamamoto Paper lineup, including additional specialty papers in A4 sheets and smaller format “Paper Tasting” samplers.

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While we remain operational and orders are shipping, certain orders may be delayed as we are without power and the warehouse is extremely cold (though it remains above freezing). While we are shipping orders as fast as possible, we greatly appreciate the patience and grace many of you have shown. Our goal is to get caught up by the end of the week.

Please keep an eye on the website for in-store hours as we of course cannot open the Nashville location until power is restored. Right now my hope is that we will be in a position to open on Friday, but there will be no firm call until tomorrow evening. Thanks for your patience, and stay safe out there!