Snap Cap Fountain Pens (via Left Hook Pens). “Snap cap,” or “friction closure” fountain pens can represent the ultimate in convenience, allowing you to quickly deploy your fountain pen and get to writing without spending extra time screwing/unscrewing the cap.
Opus 88 Jazz Demonstrator Fountain Pen (via Pencilcase Blog). A slightly more classic, streamlined design than other Opus 88 demonstrator pens, I agree with Dries that this is the closest to a “mainstream” design that Opus 88 has come, and could be a big hit provided they can keep retailers stocked.
Laban 325 Lagoon (via Rants of the Archer). This one really is reminiscent of the beach. They don’t get a lot of attention, relative to other brands, but Laban makes some great looking pens, and their lineup is quite diverse.
Sailor Manyo Kakitsubata and Ukikusa (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist). I’ve more or less given up trying to keep track of Sailor’s various ink lineups and where to start, but the Manyo series has some great colors, and still come in 50ml bottles.
Parker Sac Replacement Revisited (via Dapprman). For those interested in starting to restore vintage fountain pens, read as much as you can on the ins and outs or sac replacement. It will get you 90% of the way there.
Karas Kustoms Bolt v.2 (via Writing at Large). I found the original Karas Kustoms Bold too long for my taste. I loved the design of the pen though. I need to give v.2 a try.
New Paper Search Tool Now Available (via Fountain Pen Love). John has developed a paper search tool that allows you to sort fountain pen paper recommendations by specific properties. Check this one out!
Snippets: Teal Breaker, Otto Hutt, Gravitas, Benu, and more… (via UK Fountain Pens). So I need to get my hands on an Otto Hutt Design03….
Sakura Craft Lab 005 Gel Ink Pen (via Pen Addict). I’m not sure I understand this one at all, but it’s an interesting pen but the price point strikes me as insane.
Platinum Procyon Fountain Pen (via Gourmet Pens). Azizah reviews what I would call Platinum’s “mid-range inexpensive option”, the Procyon. While perhaps a bit pricey for what it is, the Procyon is a nice size and balance in the hand.
In Case You Missed It…. GIVEAWAY ENDS TONIGHT!
This week I reviewed a pen that’s been in my queue for some time: the Tibaldi N.60, in the beautiful “Samarkand Blue” acrylic. Otherwise, I had to balance my crazy day job with getting a TON of new items listed for the shop so I could clear them out of my home office. Check out this brief write-up of the Traveler’s Notebook “July Start” Planner refills, including in the Weekly + Memo format. Finally, don’t miss the TRU RED Giveaway courtesy of Staples.com. It ends tonight at 11:59pm Central Time.
New in the Curated Shop
As I mentioned, we’ve had a ton of new stuff arrive in the last couple of weeks, as well as a full restock of all Caran d’Ache products, including most models of the 849 ballpoint, the 844 mechanical pencil, and the 849 fountain pen. We also stock TWSBI fountain pens and ink, Midori MD notebooks and writing pads, and Traveler’s Notebooks, refills, and accessories.
Visit T.G.S. on Reddit, and Consider Joining TGS Patreon for Access to Monthly Meetups and More!
As I noted above, I’ve been trying to expand into social media beyond Instagram, due to my dissatisfaction with the direction that platform is taking. Currently, you can also engage with me on Twitter, Facebook, and now on Reddit. (Honestly, I’m active on Twitter and Reddit moreso than Facebook, but I do read all the Facebook comments, eventually.) Mainly, I’m doing this because of Instagram’s algorithm-driven approach that buries content unless you’re endlessly posting to their various formats (“Reels,” Stories, posts, etc.) and actively monitoring your account to where you’re basically having to respond to comments and DMs in real time. This is impractical, because as Ana points out, you end up spending all your time on their platform and not actually writing or running your business, and then most of this content is temporary (24hrs) and you have to jump on the “hamster wheel” again. Many people just want an easy way to receive updates on when I post new content to the blog. Twitter and Reddit allow me to do that reliably. If there’s one thing you can do to help support T.G.S., it’s sharing our content and spreading the word!
For some additional fun, and to help support the blog consider joining the Patreon program. You can read more about T.G.S. Patreon here. This year I’ve introduced monthly online meetups, which take place on Friday or Saturday and have been super enjoyable. We’ve discussed our thoughts on pen shows restarting, recent arrivals in our personal collections, and more. I will also continue with periodic “sample sales” of gently used review items, to which Patrons will have first access. The current sale is now live!