Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper, Updated as of January 24, 2024!

I’ve taken some time this week to update another site resource, as part of an ongoing project that I plan to continue in response to reader feedback. Apparently many of you find these comprehensive resources helpful, especially for those new to fountain pens, inks, and quality paper!

This particular post, titled “Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper,” originated back in March 2021 in response to reader requests for an overall “guide” to fountain pen friendly paper. Honestly, there are so many different paper options out there that it’s impossible to rate, much less rank, them all, but this post grouping some of the more popular brands into “Tiers” of fountain pen friendliness has proven helpful to a lot of you so I’ll keep it going! I also want to maintain this as a “post”, as opposed to a “page”, because it has a rich comment section with lots of different recommendations for papers not yet available in the U.S. market. Today’s update adds a few new brands that I’ve discovered, and deletes some paper options that are no longer available due to their having been discontinued. Enjoy!

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

TGS Updates and The Next Week's Travel Schedule!

You may have seen the big news on my Instagram stories - I recently took on a new position at my day job that frees up a LOT more time to devote to other endeavors, including T.G.S. In the coming weeks you will probably see some changes here, including refreshed and updated informational resources such as the Fountain Pen Review Archive and other projects I’ve been working on. I also have new product collaborations in the works, and plan to continue our shop expansion with new details announced in the near future!

So What Does This New Transition Officially Entail? 

I've moved to a less demanding position with a negotiated set of responsibilities and a fixed annual time commitment. The goal is for this to result in more predictable hours and clearly defined boundaries. In the immediate future, I also requested and received a four-week sabbatical to take some time off and reset.

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I kicked off vacation with a full fountain pen reset. Turns out I had an absolutely ridiculous 30+ pens inked up, which is what happens with three pen shows in a month-and-a-half.

The next four weeks won't entirely be vacation: During this month, I need to make some decisions regarding how to best position TGS for future growth, including my 2024 Pen Show Strategy, new brand partnerships like Roterfaden (which has been extremely successful); and a launch plan for some content-related projects that I’ve had “in the works” for years without the time to complete them. I MAY consider attending the upcoming Detroit and/or Ohio Pen Shows, if time allows.

How Can You Help? Keep Reading!

It’s that simple! As long as you all keep coming back, reading, and engaging, I plan on running T.G.S. for the long term. For the next week posting may be irregular, as I really need some time off. Shop orders will continue to be accepted while I’m out of town, with processing time from 10/7 through 10/14 delayed by a couple of business days in addition to our normal shipping. Upon my return on 10/14, orders will resume shipping in the order they are received, and as per my usual practice when I’m out of town, all vacation orders will receive “extras” in the package. I recently placed an order for some fun TGS Swag in addition to our standard buttons and stickers, and you’ll be the first to receive them!

Many thanks, and please know that I greatly appreciate your readership and support! For some additional fun, consider joining the TGS Patreon Program. With more time on my hands, I have some ideas for expanding the Patreon and bringing content to readers there that is different, but still complementary, of the TGS site. Our next TGS Patreon Online Meetup is scheduled to take place the evening of October 21, at 8:30pm CT. I hope to see some new faces there!

This Just In: Reading Accessories in the Curated Shop

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have read a recent post in which I talk about reading, and how it’s probably my second-most obsessive hobby other than pens. In all honesty, both are better described as a lifestyle more than a hobby - you tend to embrace the analog side of things wholesale or you don’t. For example, in addition to all the pens, notebooks, and writing pads I have scattered around my house, there are also hundreds of bookmarks stuck in cups or tucked into books that I’ve either read or am in the process of reading.

When I first had the (admittedly crazy) idea to launch the T.G.S. Curated Shop last year, one thing I felt very strongly about was trying to merge these two passions together in some way - not to be just another pen and stationery retailer, but to offer carefully selected reading accessories and other items that would be of interest to those who maintain a strong analog presence in their life.

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To this end, I’m happy to introduce the following brands to The Curated Shop: WMS & Co, who make these very nice folded metal book weights and sterling silver page points, perfect for holding your hardcover book or journal open while you read or write; and Book Darts, a longtime favorite brand of mine who were kind enough to collaborate with me on these special edition T.G.S. tins. Of course, these all pair perfectly with the Write Notepads Classic Hardcover Notebook, now back in stock in all three colors.

Many thanks for your support!

Almost Four Years, Really? Finding Older Posts and Where to Begin

The Gentleman Stationer community has grown steadily over the past four years, with lots of new readers reaching out every week. This is awesome, by the way, and I love hearing from all of you! One question I frequently get from new readers is "where to start" on the blog. I've been writing here regularly since 2014, so there's a lot of content to navigate. I've played around with the idea of putting together a "Master List" of pens and inks I've reviewed, but that's turned into a rather large project that's still in the works as I try to figure out the best way to do it in a way that's both easy to navigate AND easy to update.

Start with the Guides and Move to the Archives

For now,  if you're new to The Gentleman Stationer (or the pen hobby in general), I'd recommend that you start with the various lists and guides I've assembled over the years, including my "Best Pen" and "Best Ink" recommendations for various purposes and at various price points. These will likely be updated in the coming months. 

I also maintain an archive of past posts listed in reverse-chronological order (most recent posts listed first), which has been fun to read since it's organized by month, and you can go back and see what pens and inks I started with and how my interests have evolved. Finally, last year I wrote a monthly newsletter titled "Digital Divide," which addressed a variety of analog-related topics. All of these newsletters are now archived on the site. I'm currently working on a couple of different projects along the same lines, including a new monthly newsletter, but I'm struggling with the "not enough hours in the day" problem. Stay tuned. 

Finally, all readers of this blog should be aware of Pennaquod, a pen-specific search engine run by Ian Hedley over at Pens! Paper! Pencils! Pennaquod pulls results from several dozen pen blogs (including this one), and it's a great way to read a diverse set of reviews on a pen before you make a purchase. 

I hope this little recap has been helpful, and please, don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. Feel free to contact me through the "Contact Me" link on the site, through email at joe (at) gentlemanstationer.com, or via Twitter (@vintagegntlmn) or Instagram (@gentlemanstationer). For all of you who have been been with me for four years, thanks again! I enjoy writing here every week and plan to continue for the foreseeable future! 

What's in Your NaNoWriMo Toolkit?

NaNoWriMo--or National Novel Writing Month--is upon us once again, and this year, I'm participating for real, which is why you might be hearing from me a bit less frequently this month.  For those of you unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, it's pretty simple:  you commit to writing a "novel" during the month of November, and if you do it, you win!  For purposes of the challenge, a "novel" is defined as 50,000 words or more.  I'm currently at 12,200 words, which puts me more or less on pace to get to 50,000 by the end of November.  50,000 words won't be enough to complete the book I've been working on for the past couple years, but it's going to go a long way towards getting the entire story out of my head and onto paper. (Link here to my author profile if you want to follow along on my progress.)  

Last year I tried to commit to NaNoWriMo, writing entirely by hand.  It didn't work. In order to hit the 50,000 word mark, you need to produce a daily "quota" of just under 1700 words.  If you can type even reasonably well, I've found it a heck of a lot easier to manage that much writing using a computer rather than writing longhand.  As much as I enjoy handwriting, I can type 70-80 words per minute once I get in the zone, and I don't have more than an hour or two per day to devote to this project.  That's not to say that I don't have a ready supply of pens, pencils, and paper (primarily Field Notes) at hand to make notes and work through some thorny plotting problems, but this year Scrivener and my Vortex One have been my friends.  (Story for another time, but I exchanged the Matias Tactile Pro keyboard.  The white Vortex One has the same great "classic Mac" aesthetics in a much sturdier frame, although unfortunately without the Mac-specific keyboard layout of the Matias, which I loved.)  If you end up "winning" NaNoWriMo, you qualify for some sweet discounts on writing software such as Scrivener, Storyist, and Aeon Timeline.  You can also demo the full version of Ulysses until well into December.  

Twitter is awash in NaNoWriMo status updates, so I know many of you readers are participating. What are you relying on to get your writing done this month?