Introducing "On the Paper Trail," a New Podcast/Video Collaboration with Lisa Vanness of Vanness Pens!

I’ve been mentioning this in passing for a few months now, but since we’ve been trickling out some excerpts from this ongoing collaboration, it’s time to make a formal announcement! My friend Lisa Vanness of Vanness Pens and I are collaborating on a video series/podcast with the working title of “On the Paper Trail.” We both have a decade+ of experience in the stationery community and industry so we’re hopeful you’ll find what we have to say interesting and helpful. As we’ve been working through the technical side of things and getting used to recording, we’ve been releasing our “practice” episodes to the T.G.S. Patreon community, which has been a invaluable source of feedback and encouragement. Members can still access the full episodes via the Patreon feed. (There are four.) When the project officially launches it will have its own channel. Follow the T.G.S. and Vanness YouTube Channels for updates.

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Not a customer order, but representative of what we’ve been seeing.

Holiday Shipping PSA - If You Need Something by Mid-Month Get Your Orders In As Soon as Possible.

The content we’ve chosen to share so far relates to holiday shipping timelines, since that’s a topic of concern given questions we’ve both been receiving through our respective businesses. Now is the time of year that we start to see shipping delays, missed package scans, and lost items. While both T.G.S. and Vanness ship quickly (within 2 business days if not sooner), increased order volume not only impacts our fulfillment but results in a general slowdown across carriers. The TLDR version is: get your orders in soon, especially if you need something by Christmas or New Year’s. Once we hit December 15, it’s probably going to be better to shop in person for last-minute gifts, as we cannot guarantee any delivery times given general unreliability of carrier estimates.

If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting us through the T.G.S. Curated Shop or by visiting our Patreon, which features extra content and more hangout opportunities. And, of course, you can also come visit us in person at our Nashville Shop!

It's Small Business Saturday! Stop By to See New Arrivals from Lochby, Tom's Studio, and More!

Just a friendly reminder that we’re open today from 10am until 6pm, for what’s become known as “Small Business Saturday,” a day between Black Friday and “Cyber Monday” to support your local community-based shops! Our in-store specials are the same as our online “INKSGIVING” promotion, and we have plenty for you to peruse in person, including new two-pen “Duo” cases from Lochby, new colors of the Mini Venture Pouch, and more. We also have newly arrived ink from Tom’s Studio (a classic “Sepia” color), and a full restock of the Lumos and Wren lines.

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Though it started out as a commercial holiday, Small Business Saturday means a lot to many small boutique shops and businesses that depend on the holidays for a significant portion of their revenue. In my opinion, small shops are what add character to a community, whether that’s your town, city, or online hobbyist Discord server. While I try to encourage people to shop small throughout the year, don’t underestimate the importance of today in the midst of all the “Black Friday” craziness! Where you spend your dollars makes a real difference.

If you need advice on a holiday gift idea, please check out our 2025 Holiday Gift Guide, but it may be easier for you to come in and speak to us in person. I spent much of yesterday advising customers on gift ideas, and I’ll be there all day today. We hope to see you soon!

12 Pen Person Questions, Part II

Many thanks to everyone who read and commented on Part I of my responses to the 12 Pen Person Questions! For those who are unfamiliar with this exercise, it was developed by my friend Lisa over at Olive Octopus Ink as a set of journaling prompts for those who might be looking to delve deeper into why they engage with this hobby. I’ve been working on my responses for the past few months with the idea that I would do a multi-post series. Here goes Part II!

Question 7: What is something you are proud of doing, achieving, or overcoming?

In recent years, I’ve struggled with a fear of “putting myself out there” on the internet in a way that’s more personally identifiable. I’m an intensely private person in many ways, and for years I kept T.G.S. fairly anonymous because I enjoyed traveling to stationery stores and pen shows and browsing without anyone recognizing me, making for a quiet weekend that I often needed to recover from a stressful day job. Of course, as T.G.S. has grown, that’s become far more difficult to do, and there’s an inevitable realization that there is so much of myself in this business - on both the content and retail sides - that it would actually hold the business back for me NOT to be out front and center. I realize from my own experience as a customer that people tend to identify more with brands that have a recognizable face behind them, and to that end I’ve been proud of my effort to overcome my shyness, appear in more “people pictures” at pen shows, use my full name, and even start a new project where it won’t be possible to hide at all. (iykyk, Patreon members.) Stay tuned, as everyone will be seeing much more of me in 2026, whether you like it or not!

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Question 8: You're going on a writing retreat anywhere in the world—where would you go, what would you write, and what would you write with?

I actually used to take at least one writing retreat every year, where I would spend some time not only writing but using the time to regroup and plan all of my various projects across the coming year. Given how busy everything has become, it’s not something I’ve had the opportunity to do since I opened the physical shop in Nashville. That said, if I restarted the practice, I would go to the same Atlantic-coast beach I’ve visited for most of my life, which has wide expanses of sand and plenty of time to walk and think. (I would also go when it’s relatively cold because … no people.) Most of the “writing time” involves walking and/or pacing while thinking through ideas, so I would definitely bring some sort of small pocket notebook to jot down notes, as well as a spiral notebook with perforated pages to use for drafting out ideas longhand. When I’m in “working mode,” I usually opt for low-distraction, straightforward writing tools like wood pencils or a workhorse fountain pen like the Lamy 2000 or the Pilot Custom 74, and maybe even a TWSBI ECO if I’m traveling to a place where I’ll be working in public spaces like a coffee shop and don’t want to worry about losing the pen.

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Question 9: What's a current or favorite creative outlet?

While part of me wishes that I were more creative with stationery and analog tools, the reality is that I spend so much time writing and immersed in the stationery world, I need a non-stationery outlet for creativity. I play music (guitar), and have had a standing weekly lesson with the same instructor since I was 12 years old, more than 30 years ago. That said, I do score music/tablature with a dark pencil, so if the answer must have a stationery angle to it, there is that.

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Question 10: What's something that causes you benign envy—the kind of admiration and desire that leads to inspiration or motivation?

Probably someone’s ability to conceptualize a product, design it, and bring it into existence, either by making it directly or finding someone to manufacture. I have many different ideas for unique stationery, and seeing so many friends and colleagues launch their own exclusive products they’ve created from scratch inspires me to make some of these ideas a reality. We’ve already done several different collaborations on existing products with existing brands, including Good Made Better, Sunderland Machine Works, Roterfaden, Newton Pens, and Hinze Pens, which has been a great first step, but I would love to release something truly original.

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I currently have two Lamy 2000 Fountain Pens inked up. Both in original Makrolon.

Question 11: What's a comfort item, material, or color?

My Lamy 2000 fountain pen. It was my first highly coveted stationery item, and remains my favorite. There’s something about the feel of the Makrolon finish in hand that brings comfort and reminds me of the excitement I felt when I first became deeply engaged in this hobby, because it was one of the first really nice fountain pens that I saved up and purchased early on in my career. Whenever I feel out-of-sorts, and need to journal or just write out my thoughts in a coherent manner, picking up the Lamy 2000 puts me in the right mindset.

Question 12: What would be a dream collaboration, project, or partnership?

A dark burgundy Lamy 2000 with black plated trim. I mean, what else? We’ll see how closely Lamy reads this blog.

If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting us through the T.G.S. Curated Shop or by visiting our Patreon, which features extra content and more hangout opportunities. And, of course, you can also come visit us in person at our Nashville Shop!

12 Pen Person Questions, Part I

My friend Lisa over at Olive Octopus Ink came up with this exercise, which I love because the responses give readers and other community members insight into what we do and why we do it. They’re also great journaling prompts if you’re looking to delve deeper into why you engage with this hobby, and I’ve been working on these for the past few months with the idea that I would do a multi-post series. Here goes Part I!

Question 1: If you consider the different ways you can engage with pens and stationery—as a user, a collector, a hobbyist, a creator, a maker, a vendor—which roles fit best and what percentage of 100% would you assign to each? Are you happy with the balance?

I have engaged with pens and stationery in pretty much every way possible during the course of my 10+ years in this hobby, and as you might imagine my engagement has changed over time. Right now, I am probably 60% Vendor, 20% Creator, 15% hobbyist, and 5% Collector. I’m not sure that “user” works as a stand-alone category for me because it overlaps with all of the others - at the moment, I have a dual career, and both jobs involve engaging with stationery and analog tools extensively but in different ways. Not a day passes where I’m not writing something out longhand, so I’m pretty much a user all-day everyday.

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This year’s San Francisco Pen Show panels brought together vendors and enthusiasts from around the world.

Question 2: What is something you want to understand better or develop more informed opinions about?

The role of stationery and analog tools in different cultures and/or different parts of the world. I’m constantly fascinated at how much certain places value the actual use of stationery - making it an integral part of everyday life - compared to the collector and accumulator focus you often see in the U.S. At this year’s San Francisco Pen Show, I enjoyed hearing from other stationery vendors about different paper preferences around the world, and how in other markets there is more of a focus on how the paper feels to use as opposed to technical performance and specifications. For me stationery has always been more of a lifestyle choice than a “hobby”, so I guess I’m naturally drawn to places and people who share this worldview and I want to learn more about them.

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We’ve come a long way in two years.

Question 3: In the pen community, what's something someone has said or done that stuck with you?

“For some reason you really look like you’re at peace.”

Someone made this comment to me after-hours at the 2023 D.C. Pen Show, about a week after I had decided to reduce my role at my day job to focus on growing T.G.S., developing the retail side of the business, and preparing to open the Nashville store. Though I hadn’t told anyone yet, and wouldn’t until late October, I’d made the decision in late July. This wasn’t a popular decision in many of my circles, both personal and professional. Some people couldn’t understand why I would trade a certain level of security and comfort for the risk inherent in any business venture - particularly one focused on a sector that was supposed to be “declining”. But I was miserable. I was working too much on projects that didn’t interest me, that sucked up all of my time, and which - in my opinion - didn’t really accomplish much or benefit anyone in the grand scheme of things. Ironically, I’d come to this place because I had actually tried to scale back T.G.S. to focus on what was supposed to be the more lucrative career. I couldn’t do it. After I’d made the decision, I immediately knew it was the right call even though there was - and still is - zero assurance that this will all work out long-term. (There never is.) But whenever things get hard and scary I think back to this comment to keep myself centered. Two years in, I’m not sure I’ve ever felt a greater sense of purpose and community than I have in this gig. And yes, that brings a certain degree of peace with the decision even if a lot of people close to me think I’m crazy.

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Question 4: There are now 25 hours in a day, a bonus hour is available to use however you like as long as pens or stationery are involved—how do you spend your hour?

Daily creative work. If there’s anything lacking in my engagement with stationery, it’s the lack of a real opportunity to do non-T.G.S. creative writing. I’ve written half a novel, countless short stories, and ideas for more, and back in the day I used to be a halfway decent artist and even won a couple of awards. Then life happened…. The entire hour would go to finishing up the still-incomplete projects that I love and developing or relearning the other creative skills I’ve been neglecting.

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Question 5: In the pen community yearbook, what would your superlative be? (i.e. "Best ______", "Most _______" "Most likely to _______")

“Most likely to fly to another city specifically to purchase books/pens/paper in person because he dislikes buying anything over the internet.” I have done this more times than I can count, because even though I run a business that sells online and recognize that online shopping can be the most practical and cost effective option for many different reasons, I still feel that being able to see pens and paper in person and try them is an invaluable part of the experience. And who doesn’t get a rush from spending hours browsing through a stationery store or bookshop (or even three days wandering through a large pen show)? Whenever I’ve had the time and means, I’ve tried to take the opportunity to travel specifically to support those who sell the things I love, and take the time to appreciate all the things in person even if I don’t end up buying them. The irony is that even though travel costs money, shopping in person and avoiding internet impulse purchases has probably saved me more. (BTW, I greatly appreciate those of you who have traveled specifically to visit our shop in Nashville!)

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Question 6: How do you feel about your handwriting?

Frustrated. Through college I had fairly good handwriting, even though I received bad grades in penmanship in elementary school because I didn’t hold my pencil the “correct” way. However, 20+ years of taking notes as an attorney has turned my handwriting into scrawling mix of cursive and italic-style script, though lately I’ve been trying to practice and develop a more consistent style. Part of the issue is that I need to slow down and break the lawyer habit of writing fast to transcribe everything.

Stay tuned for Part II later this week!

If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting us through the T.G.S. Curated Shop or by visiting our Patreon, which features extra content and more hangout opportunities. And, of course, you can also come visit us in person at our Nashville Shop!

Fountain Pen Day Prep, Part II: An Overview of Fountain Pen Inks

Many new users find fountain pen inks just as, if not more, confusing than the pens themselves, and with the rapidly expanding ink market things haven’t really gotten much easier to navigate. Following up on Saturday’s initial post on How to Get Started with Fountain Pens, I thought it might be helpful to offer a general discussion/overview of fountain pen inks, as well as my brief thoughts on the different types of inks, refill styles, and what I personally enjoy most and recommend to those just starting out in the hobby.

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Most pen brands make their own cartridges, but some (Pilot, Platinum, Lamy) use a proprietary format. Always be sure the cartridges you use are compatible with your pen brand.

Cartridges vs. Bottled Ink

You can fill fountain pens from a traditional ink bottle or use cartridges, and with a few limited exceptions, I almost always recommend that new users start out with cartridges. It’s an easy recommendation, not least because most beginner and budget-friendly fountain pens use cartridges and include one with the purchase of the pen. You refill the fountain pen simply by popping out the old/empty cartridge and inserting a new one. When you’re just starting out, this lets you learn how the pen works and focus on the writing itself, and to be honest I still like to use cartridges when I travel because it’s a lower-friction solution to refilling fountain pens. Most basic cartridge inks (blues, blacks, and blue-blacks) perform quite well on most paper types, and when in doubt I will select the blue-black option as it’s usually, but not always, the best-performing “cheap paper ink”.

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An example of inks that shimmer (the grey ink) and shade (the yellow ink at the bottom). All shown here are from last year’s Colorverse Colorvent advent calendar. Colorverse is an example of a boutique ink brand that focuses on special properties like shimmer, sheen, and shading, as well as saturated standard colors like the dark red shown above.

Standard Inks vs. Inks with “Special Properties”

I’m regularly confronted with readers and customers confused and overwhelmed by (1) the sheer number of inks on the market; and (2) all of the different types of inks available, mainly those with special properties. Between standard inks (solid color), shimmer inks (contains sparkle/glitter), super-sheeners (dries with a multicolor shine/sheen on top), super-shaders (shows varying depths of color), multi-shaders (shows different color tones), pigmented inks (permanent), and more, the universe of fountain pen ink can quickly confound those new to the hobby. My standard advice is that “simple is better” at first, and to slowly add additional inks to your collection once you feel comfortable with how fountain pens generally work - especially cleaning them - because usually the worst that an ink can do to a pen is clog the nib and feed, which a thorough cleaning will fix. Personally, while I have some shading inks that I really love and use often, I tend to stick with standard fountain pen inks that dry quickly and work on a wide range of papers. I typically refer to these as my “workhorse inks”, sort of similar to my “workhorse pens” category.

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Taccia inks are an example of a brand that makes excellent low-maintenance ink that doesn’t over-invest in “special properties” like shimmer and sheen. These inks work great in most pens and are a staple of my own rotation.

How Many Ink Colors Does one Need?

Trust me, even if you’re deliberate in selecting inks and only purchase a few bottles per year, if you are in this hobby long enough you will end up with more ink than you can ever use in a lifetime. I spent my first year in the hobby with five or six inks, and probably only three or four that I used regularly. To start out, and to get a sense of what colors you enjoy writing with, pick up a standard blue, a black or blue-black, and one or two brighter colors like red, green, orange, or purple. I found that I really enjoyed writing with different shades of red and green, and those colors are now heavily represented in my personal collection.

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Remember that a good writing experience is about the combination of pen, ink, and paper

At the end of the day, you can use any ink you want as long as you have the right pen and paper to pair with it. You’ll learn that some inks are dry, and require a wetter nib, and that some inks are wet, which may require a narrower, drier nib and/or more absorbent or heavily coated paper. An important aspect of enjoying fountain pens - especially if you get deep into the hobby, is learning how these three factors (pen, ink, and paper) interact with each other and how to adjust one to accommodate the others. The customization is the fun part!

Further Reading

Because I started out as a pen enthusiast and over the years have become more a paper and notebook obsessive than anything, I’ve not fallen as deeply down the ink rabbit hole as many people. I have, however, written a fair bit on my favorite inks for everyday use. I’ve collected these posts in the “Resources” Section and many users have found them helpful over the years, especially if they’re looking for work-friendly inks appropriate for a wide range of papers. You can also view our Pen Review Archive, and our recently updated “Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper” resource in which I make a rough attempt to categorize different paper brands in terms of their compatibility with fountain pens.

Interested in fountain pens but don’t know where to start? Come see us in person! Our Nashville shop will be open this Thursday and Friday (Fountain Pen Day) from 1pm-6pm, and from 10am-6pm on Saturday. Stay tuned for special announcements, as we may open the back room for pen and ink testing, lessons, etc.