Colorado Pen Show Recap (via Pen Addict - Kimberly). Though a smaller regional show, the Colorado Pen Show always receives good reviews, and if you’re West of the Mississippi it should be on your list of shows to attend.
Edison Pens Collier Grande with #8 Nib (via SBRE Brown). Back when it was first introduced, the standard Collier fountain pen was considered huge! Today, not so much. The Collier Grande features a huge No. 8 nib that many people I’ve spoken with have enjoyed.
Meet Your Maker - Tim Crowe, Turnt Pen Company (via Pen Addict). I’ve enjoyed reading this recent Pen Addict series of profiles on independent makers
Esterbrook Premium Camden Northern Lights Manitoba Blue (via Macchiato Man). This year Esterbrook released “Premium” models of their Camden fountain pen, with colorized nibs from Hinze Pens. As always, Yagan has a quite thorough review.
Endless Recorder Regalia vs. Cosmo Air Light (via Well-Appointed Desk). Endless, unfortunately has had to move away from both Tomoe River 68gsm (gah!), but their Regalia substitute looks excellent. I’ve not tried it myself but it’s received good reviews.
Sunshine: Penco A5 College Ruled Notebook (via A Fleeting Ripple). As you all know, we sell Penco products in our shop, but I’ve been somewhat hesitant to stock their notebooks given that I don’t know much about performance. Since Penco as a pen company is mainly known for their ballpoints and mechanical pencils (which are great) it probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the paper isn’t designed for fountain pens.
New Pen: New Moon (via Fountain Pen Blog). Delike apparently has a writer’s Fude nib on the market, with only a slightly upturned tip, making it excellent for writing?
Sailors’ Dilemma (via The Poor Penman). I managed to successfully avoid Sailor’s North American “Don’t Miss the Boat” sale (mainly because I was out of town), but you could get some absolutely insane deals! To this day, I’ve never owned a Sailor Zoom nib, but I am intrigued a bit because they’ve been getting a lot of attention lately.
Blackwing Soft Handheld Eraser (Well-Appointed Desk). Blackwing has worked on building out their accessory lineup, with the latest being a larger handheld eraser based off the iconic Blackwing ferrule.
M1000 Maki-e Phoenix Limited Edition (via Pelikan’s Perch). I always admire the artistry on teh M1000 Maki-e edition, even though the pens have always been more than a bit out of my price range.
In Case You Missed It…
This week on the blog things got back into a bit of a rhythm following my return from vacation. I published the fourth installment of my “Guide to Notebook Systems,” this time looking at single-book systems (or “Non-System Systems”), using Midori MD as an example. I’ve enjoyed writing this series and it’s almost complete. I also reviewed two inks from Anderillium: Colossal Squid Dark and Green Kingfisher Green, both of which are darker green-black/teal-black colors that make for excellent workhorses.
This Week in the TGS Curated Shop: T.G.S. Exclusive Penwells Are In Stock and Shipping!
Our collaboration with Good Made Better - the T.G.S.-exclusive Penwell in the “Aged Red” Finish, is back in stock after a two-year hiatus! For this run, we’ve managed to keep the pricing the same, and Patreon members qualify for a special discount + free shipping, so members should check the Patreon site for details. We also restocked some favorite Washi Tape patterns, and added nearly a dozen more from iLootPaperie, which you won’t want to miss. You can check out the full new releases post here, as well as an update regarding the latest special editions from Caran d’Ache, the “Colour Treasure” editions.
Many Thanks for Your Shop Support, and Please Consider T.G.S. Patreon!
We’ve been surprised at the level of enthusiasm and support for our curated retail strategy over the past couple of months, and after careful consideration are beginning to build out our inventory with more brands and product categories. I love managing this aspect of T.G.S., as it offers me the opportunity to directly put great stationery - including brands I feel are underappreciated and underemphasized - into your hands. For those who want to support T.G.S. without necessarily adding to their accumulation, the Patreon Program offers two options for tiers of support: $3 and $5, and plan on making monthly meetups, pen show events, and periodic exclusive content the primary benefits. Of course, Patreon members will continue to get first access to periodic sample sales, with right of first refusal on gently used pens. (Reminder that those pens which made it through Patreon are now available to the general readership!)