2025 Pen and Stationery Review and Trends (via Inky.Rocks). It’s review and recap season, so for the next few weeks I’m looking forward to everyone’s reflections.
2026 Stationery Intentions (via A Gathering of Curiosities). I share the sentiment of not knowing exactly where I want 2026 to take me in terms of stationery, or what my “theme” will be this year. I’ve had a hard time pulling together my own intentions.
2025 Fountain Pen and Stationery Highlights (via Olive Octopus). These are fun to read and I need to work my way through this set of prompts too. My trend is “not a lot of time to reflect”.
A Fountain Pen 2025 Year in Review, Including Some New-to-Me Pens (via Urban Adventure League). Some really nice pens in this annual recap, including a good mix of new and vintage.
Favorite (Stationery) Things of 2025 (via Weirdoforest Pens). A fun eclectic list, some of which are things I’ve not see before!
Top Fountain Pen Inks in 2025 (via Vanness Pens). What were the top fountain pen inks in 2025, as determined by the ink experts? Find out. And also learned why they had to change their ink swatch style, which is a bit sad….
2026 Techo Kaiji Plotter & Laconic Setup: Why Ring Planners Won Me Over (via dwrdnet). Ring planners/notebooks have taken off again over the past few years as companies have released more streamlined versions that aren’t as bulky as the ones you may remember.
Graphilo A5 and Liscio-1 A5 Papers Head to Head (via dwrdnet). Graphilo has been a favorite recent discovery, as it’s yet another excellent Japanese paper option developed especially for fountain pens. Liscio was a precursor to Graphilo, as Kobeha was developing the current product.
My 2026 Q1 Planning and Moving to a New Planner (via Writing at Large). Since my own move to a new planner with a quarterly layout, I’ve starting thinking about breaking the year down into chunks to make it more manageable. I really enjoyed reading this piece from someone who has been doing this for a long time.
Stationery Things I Learned in 2025 (via Pen Addict). Sometimes we learn that what makes us happiest is what we started out with in the first place.
Digital Declutter: Step One The Book Report (via Well-Appointed Desk). I clipped this post for my own reading list. I’ve read a few on here and there are some excellent suggestions for those looking to scale back.
A Gentle Start to a Fresh Start (via From the Pen Cup). I’ve enjoyed all the takes on journaling that Mary has explored, and I’m looking forward to more!
In Case You Missed It….
This week I spent more time on camera recording videos than at my computer writing, and it wasn’t all my choice since there were some chilly mornings in the shop/office due to the heat being out. I recorded a YouTube video on my 2025 Favorite Things, and the response was a bit overwhelming so I might do some more in this style. Lisa Vanness and I continue to work on our joint project “On the Paper Trail” which will be a podcast/video series and we did a New Years Day Livestream that you can watch on the dedicated channel for that project. Read more about it here.
Many of the Tono & Lims inks offer unique colors and different properties including combinations of shading, shimmer, and sheen.
This Week in the T.G.S. Curated Shop
This week was a week for ink! We launched Tono & Lims in three new ink lines, and I’ve really enjoyed playing around with these inks, especially the Friendship line. We’ve also received a restock of Kakimori dip nibs and nib holders, as well as Object Index pens and desk accessories. Finally, the entire lineup of Craft Design Technology products is finally available, including their signature pens, pencils, paper products, and desk accessories and cases! Be sure to check each week’s Thursday Drops post for details on all new arrivals and restocks.
We are returning to normal Nashville store hours after the holidays, and will be open Thursdays and Fridays from 1-6pm and Saturdays from 10am-6pm. Be sure to keep an eye on the site as we are planning a special in-store event on January 23-24 with Vanness Pens and Matthew Chen of Matthew’s Nibworks!
How to Support T.G.S. and Our Various Projects
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. As of this morning, ALL Patreon supporters (including non-paying free members) have access to one or more initial “practice” episodes of “On the Paper Trail”.