Behind the Scenes at a Major Pen Show: Chicago 2022

I don’t often have a table at pen shows - ordinarily I prefer to be able to roam around the show, and given my status as a hybrid blogger/retailer with a small operation, it’s logistically difficult for me to bring enough inventory to a show to make selling in person worthwhile. This year, however, I had prepaid for a table at Chicago back before the pandemic, so I decided to go ahead and set up with a small meet-and-greet station featuring stickers, a card with a discount code for the shop, and some products to try out (including the new Sanzen Tomoe River Paper, more on that below).

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It’s amazing what some people bring by the table for me to look at. Paper shown here is the new Sanzen Tomoe River.

For those of you who have never attended a pen show in person, they typically span Thursday to Sunday and work something like this: Vendors begin arriving on Thursday, and sometimes the show organizers have reserved a smaller ballroom, or there are tables set up for trading (mainly vintage). I’ve never partaken to any great degree, but I hear you can score some pretty good deals on rare pens in these “presale” or “after hours” trading sessions.

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If you’re looking to score an uncommon pen from one of the many small makers who attend pen shows in person (like Shawn Newton), it’s always a great idea to pick up a weekend pass so you get first pick before the public opening.

Most of the action starts on Friday morning, when the full show opens to weekend pass holders. If you’re making a weekend out of a pen show, I always advise attendees to purchase the weekend pass instead of paying by the day, because that way you get to start earlier, and it also gets you access to “exclusive” events like pizza parties and after-hours socials. In Chicago, the show opened to the public at noon on Friday, but there will be an extra hour of pass-holder access from 8-9am on Saturday morning before the public opening.

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Chicago features two full ink testing stations with literally dozens of different inks to try out in dedicated tester pens.

Attendance on Friday was slower on Friday morning, but picked up as the day went on. I mainly spent the day browsing the show with friends who I had not seen in years. Even more so than Atlanta, this Chicago show feels much more like a pre-pandemic pen show in terms of the number of vendors and other exhibitors present. If you’re in the area, I would highly recommend attending. I’ll have a full recap of this particular show next week, which I’ll write after the two public days on Saturday and Sunday, but it’s shaping up to be a great one. For now, enjoy my Friday pics!

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The new Kanilea Pen Company “Lewa Lani,” featuring this gorgeous flecked material with subtle sheen. They’re available with and without the cap band.

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Vanness brought Vinta inks, Ferris Wheel Press, and more!

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Schon DSGN brought a fresh batch of anodized full-size fountain pens, including these as-yet-unnamed dark matte beauties.

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I walked away with a Copper Pocket Six with a dark patina, as well as an Anniversary Edition Machined Pen v.2 in bronze.

Another shot of the three available finishes on the Machined Pen v.2, Anniversary Edition.

Not everything was about the sales - Conid had an “ambassador” on site showing off their wares. The rumor is that they’re restarting production soon….

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Erick at Amarillo Stationery brought all the Monarca inks!

T.G.S. Curated Shop Orders will continue shipping on Sunday, within our 2-3 business day shipping timeframe even though we’re at the show. We still have Midori 70th Anniversary MD Notebooks available in the “Light” format, thought the Stationery Kits are sold out for now.

Thursday Drops: While I'm in Chicago, Midori 70th Anniversary Releases!

I’m happy to announce the arrival of a small shipment of Midori 70th Anniversary products. These include (1) the limited edition version of the XS Stationery Kit, a complete portable stationery set that includes mini tapes, scissors, a stapler, paper cutter, hole punch, and more; and (2) the Midori MD Notebook Light Anniversary Set of seven notebooks with different color stitching and grid rulings, as well as 64 pages of Midori’s MD Paper. Get these while they last - quantities are limited!

For those who have asked, we are now also fully restocked on most of our Traveler’s Notebooks refills, as well as Standard Size Starter Kits in all colors!

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The T.G.S. Curated Shop is an authorized retailer of all brands sold, including Midori and Traveler’s Notebook.

Take Advantage of the T.G.S. Archive and Other Online Resources!

I’m on the home stretch here, and I should have access to my stationery stash and review samples once again by early next week when office renovation work is mostly completed. In the meantime, I thought I would take this brief respite to discuss some of the resources I’ve been building out here over the past year. Since The Gentleman Stationer recently turned eight (8) years old (!!!???!!!), in addition to figuring out how to make the site sustainable over the long-term, and to set T.G.S. up for future growth, a core focus of mine has been organizing nearly a decade’s worth of content in a way that’s accessible to readers both new and old. This has turned into a much larger project than anticipated, so expect more developments to come.

The T.G.S. Fountain Pen Review Archive

I enjoy using Squarespace as a platform, but it’s search and archiving functions leave something to be desired. I’ve long wanted to offer a means by which readers could search past reviews, sorted by brand. As it turns out, I discovered that the only real way to do this was by manually combing back through past reviews and building it myself. This expanded index currently only includes fountain pens, but a non-fountain pen version (and hopefully, an ink index) is in the works!

Note: For those of you who want an easy way to search reviews of a specific pen beyond The Gentleman Stationer, check out Pennaquod, a Pen Blog search engine run by our friend Ian Hedley. For example, if you’re looking to compare reviews on, say, the Lamy 2000, Pennaquod will draw on dozens of different pen websites to get you the information you need.

Guide to Fountain Pen Friendly Paper

While a guide like this can never truly be comprehensive, since definitions of what is “fountain pen friendly” vary from person to person, paper formulations change, and new papers constantly enter the market. That said, I’ve tried to maintain this as a “living” post with a vibrant comments section, so in addition to the papers I have listed in the post itself, be sure to review the comments for additional suggestions. (A word of warning - they are just that, comments and suggestions. I’ve not used nearly all of the different types of paper mentioned in the comments.)

“Workhorse Pens” Reviews

Separately from the Fountain Pen Review Archive, I’ve consolidated my “Workhorse Pens” reviews and recommendations onto a single page. “Workhorse Pen” is the name I give to those pens that make the best everyday writers, and nearly all of these have remained in my personal collection and in rotation. Similarly, the “Resources” navigation bar

T.G.S. Patreon for Meetups and More

For a bit more in-person interaction, consider joining the T.G.S. Patreon Program. In addition to “behind-the-scenes” content and early access to exclusive and limited edition products in the shop, Patrons can participate in a monthly meetup (via Zoom) where we discuss topics of interest to the community, the latest releases, and pretty much anything of interest to enthusiasts. There’s also a lot of free exchange of advice and recommendations. Meetups typically take place on the third Saturday of every month, at around 8pm Central Time. We’d love to have you join us!

This post does not contain third-party affiliate links. The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop, as well as the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

April 28-May 1: Chicago Pen Show!

Just a reminder that this coming weekend I’ll be attending the 2022 Chicago Pen Show, so if you’ve been considering a shop order and would like something to ship before Thursday, please get your orders in before Wednesday (tomorrow) at noon. I may be able to do show pickup, depending on logistics and size of the order, so e-mail me and we can arrange to drop shipping charges.

While I will have a table in Chicago, I will NOT be set up as a vendor. The table will be a meet-and-greet, informational resource only due to things like inventory management and travel burden. I will have things like stickers and buttons, however, along with pens and paper to test out and see in person. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible at the show, so please stop by!

This post does not contain paid third-party affiliate links. The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop, as well as the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

Essential Stationery: For Me, It's Sticky Notes

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve basically been forced into stationery minimalism. Three quarters of my stash has been packed away, and while I don’t have as large a stockpile as many, and tend to keep only what I might reasonably use, it’s definitely given me a sense of what’s truly essential and what’s a luxury. Here, I define “essential” as “What have I had to go back into storage to dig out of boxes because I can’t function without it?” The number one thing? My stash of sticky notes and page markers.

I use a broad range of sticky notes and page markers for everything from making notes to myself, to creating makeshift bookmarks, to annotating documents at work, to marking up books I’ve been reading where I want to go beyond marginalia. Honestly, for my day job, I probably do just as much writing on Post-its as I do on traditional legal pads or notebooks.

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A real-time shot of my work desk from this week. Lots of Post-It flags. Always.

So What’s In My Stash?

I keep a wide variety of stationery readily available for this purpose, ranging from your classic Post-Its (purchased in bulk every couple of years at Costco), to 3M document flags, to fountain pen friendly stickies from Midori and Traveler’s Company, to repurposed washi tape. For books that I plan to keep (as opposed to library books I can’t mark up), I’ll use Book Darts and more expensive paper tabs such as those from Duncan Shotten. Here are a few of my favorite options, chosen by what’s actually on my desk at this very moment:

• Classic Post-It. While overall performance with fountain pens definitely varies by batch (and especially by paper color), on the whole I’ve had a decent experience using standard 3M Post-It notes with fountain pens and most other writing instruments. The classic yellow are my favorite, and as I mentioned, I usually buy them in bulk at Costco.

• Midori MD Sticky Notes or Traveler’s Company Sticky Notes. I don’t use these on “throw away” notes for work, since they’re more expensive, but when I’m reading a book or wanting to add a sticky note to my journal, and intend the note to last for posterity, I’ll definitely use one of these higher-quality, fountain pen friendly sticky notes. The Traveler’s Company sticky notes come in a handy insert with plastic protector so you can store them as a refill inside your Traveler’s Notebook. The Midori MD versions are slightly larger (A7 size), so they can really double as “sticky memo pads.”

• 3M Post-It Flags. I probably wouldn’t buy these myself (b/c you can’t really write on them well), but I work at a law office and they have them lying all over the place so they’re always in my bag and sometimes “whatever’s available” (or “whatever’s free”) is what you use.

• Book Darts. These classic metal page markers are infinitely useful, and I never find myself without a tin of them in my bag or next to the chair I’m reading in. While they’re reusable, I typically only use them in books I’m reading and plan on saving, since I like to leave them in long-term to revisit certain passages. (They’re archivally safe and won’t degrade paper over time.) You can also use them to create a multi-subject notebook divided into sections.

• Duncan Shotten Sticky Page Markers. I have several packs of these quirky sticky page markers in various themes. (Lately I’ve been using the “alien” ones.) They’re great for when you want to show more personality than a Post-It flag allows.

• Folded-over Washi Tape. If you ever want to mark a page in a book or notebook, and don’t have a Book Dart or other page marker handy, you can always fold a small piece of washi tape over the edge of a page. I forget who told me this trick but it’s stuck for years!

Anything I’m missing? What are your favorite sticky notes and page markers?

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Book Darts on Tomoe River Paper!