Fountain Pen Day, 5 Years Later (via Olive Octopus Ink). A great post recapping how Lisa got into the hobby. Many thanks to Lisa for helping out with Fountain Pen Day, especially the Fountain Pens 101 guide that we have available in-store!
Discussing Making My First Two Pens and My Learning Process So Far (via dwrdnet). It’s been fun watching Derek work through the initial stages of learning to make pens.
The Pleasure of Writing Marketplace (via Figboot on Pens). I often get asked where the best place is to sell higher-end pens secondhand. This is one solution that's relatively recent.
Recap of TIPS 2025 (via Inkredible Colours). I am going to Tokyo next year. I am going to Tokyo next year….
Drewnem Pisane Orion (via Rachel’s Reflections). I’ve seen a couple people who brought one of these pens back from this year’s D.C. Pen Show and the workmanship is gorgeous.
Mayfair Pens Noldor Review (via The Poor Penman). I’ve enjoyed seeing Ben’s Mayfair Pens evolve over the years, as they are truly unique designs and he works with unique material combinations.
Writech Clictek Retractable Fountain Pen (via Dapprman). I’ve been seeing these Writech retractable pens quite a bit in the U.S. as well, and have heard good things about their performance.
Helen’s Creations NJ A5 Japanese Fabric Notebook Cover Review (via Pen Addict). These are beautiful fabric notebook covers!
What’s In My Bag: Illustrated Journal Travel Kit Edition (via Well-Appointed Desk). I love a good gear post, as always! This is an interesting kit to me because it’s a different type of journaling than what I would normally do!
In Case You Missed It…
This week I finally answered the #12PenPersonQuestions, in two parts! You can read Part I (Questions 1-6) here, and Part II (Questions 7-12) here. This was a fun exercise and many thanks to Lisa for putting it together!
This Week in the T.G.S. Curated Shop…. Canopus Note Paper!
This week saw the arrival of a relatively large shipment of Yamamoto’s Canopus Note A5 Notebooks, which contain Yamamoto’s most recent paper formulation designed to showcase ink in a manner similar to Cosmo Air Light, but with less “spreading” of the ink. We’ve really made an effort to restock on our less common papers recently, and now have more Tomoe River, Yamamoto Specialty Papers, “Paper Tasting” sampler packs, and the Yamamoto Bullet Jotters and refill pads. We also have a lot of newly arrived Japanese gel and multi pens, so do check out this week’s Thursday Drops for full details!
Our shop will be open this week normal hours, from 1-6pm on Thursday and Friday and from 10am-6pm on Saturday. Come by and see us in person and try out some of these pens, inks, and paper for yourself!
How You Can Further Support T.G.S.
If you enjoy our content (whether here on the main website, Instagram, YouTube Channel or elsewhere), and would like early/extra access to shop releases and special promotions, consider supporting us via Patreon. The T.G.S. Patreon includes early access and discounts on exclusive shop releases, a monthly updates newsletter, and of course our monthly meetups. Patreon supporters also have access to the first two episodes of a new podcast experiment I’ve been working on with Lisa Vanness of Vanness Pens. More on this later, but for the time being the initial episodes are Patreon-exclusive.