Ink Swatching Tools Update (via Olive Octopus). Lisa walks through her latest ink swatching tools setup, which tends to be more involved than the process I recently discussed since she does much more with inks to explore their various properties.
Totally Should’ve Tag - Stationery Edition (via Rachel’s Reflections). Ok, this isn’t a trend I was aware of but I think I can get on board with it. I have my own thoughts on a few of these.
Challenge Results: How Did My Starter Pens Week Go? (via Well-Appointed Desk). Ana took Derek’s challenge to only use inexpensive “starter” pens for a week! Follow along to see how she fared.
What’s the Difference? Gravitas Monster vs Other Vac Fillers (via Doodlebud). A nice video review of a pen that’s received a lot of publicity lately. I enjoy bead-blasted texture on aluminum.
Why Am I Doing This? Why Not? (via From the Pen Cup). Mary always manages to uncover these fun stationery experiments. Here, the junk mail collage.
Buc-ee’s Stationery Hunt: What Surprises Await? (via dwrdnet). I never would have thought to hunt stationery at Buc-ee’s. I want that logo pen.
Meet Your Maker: Dennis Humm, Denn’s Pens (via Pen Addict - Caroline). I still keep finding new reasons to attend the London Pen Show. Some of these designs are super unique.
Stilo & Stile + Leonardo Poliedrica Desiderio (via Figboot on Pens). An interesting new design from Leonardo in a limited edition finish. Facets on a Leonardo pen?
Kaweco AL Sport Piston Filler Fountain Pen Review (via Pen Addict). I love discovering fellow fans of the Kaweco piston fillers. I think these are a great evolution of the Sport line to give people more choice over format.
M805 Metal Sleeve Special Edition Fountain Pen (via Pelikan’s Perch). A somewhat unique new design for Pelikan - not necessarily my style but props for trying something different.
In Case You Missed It…
This week on the blog I did a “State of T.G.S.” post, talking about a handful of things I’ve learned in my first year as a brick-and-mortar shop owner. There are also a few announcements about upcoming events at T.G.S., discussed further below. I also spent a fair bit of time with ink yesterday, building out some of our swatch books in-store, and thought it might be fun to talk about the different tools and techniques I use to create ink swatches not only for T.G.S. use but to organize my personal collection.
I’ve also posted a few new videos to the T.G.S. YouTube Channel this week! The first was a quick video tutorial I filmed on setting up the Tom’s Studio Wren Fineliner, when I was filling the Wren tester pens for the shop. The second was a quick video flip through of my ink swatch notebooks.
Ok, I’m definitely keeping one of these. No questions asked.
This Week in the T.G.S. Curated Shop
The biggest new arrival from this week was the TWSBI ECO Carrara + Onyx, which is now available. We also have a fresh shipment of Tom’s Studio Lumos and Wren fineliners, as well as the excellent Tom’s Studio pigmented black ink which is back in stock and available. We also have the latest Blackwing Volumes (Keith Haring!) and more of the excellent one-step long-point sharpeners. We finally received a fresh shipment of Midori MD Cotton A5 and A4 pads, which I’m happy to report are now fully stocked since we were running dangerously low for a while there. And for those of you “Strategist” readers still scouring the internet for Anterique pens, we have plenty of them, despite your best efforts to clean us out!
We will be open this coming week for normal hours: 1-6pm Thursday and Friday, and from 10am-6pm Saturday. Please do keep checking back on the main store page for updated hours and special announcements.
Upcoming Events and New Brick-and-Mortar Store Announcements
So what have I been doing in my spare time? Building out a new section of the T.G.S. store on the front of our current location, where we will have a dedicated showroom/shop section! The space we currently occupy will continue to serve as our office and warehouse, as well as additional space for special events, classes, and workshops as we finish the transition. Our initial event, which will utilize the new space assuming everything stays on schedule, will be a trunk show/shop takeover the weekend of October 17-October 19, featuring Shawn Newton of Newton Pens and Lisa Vanness of Vanness Pens. Additional details and an exact schedule to follow.
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.