Notebook Systems 101: More 2025 DC Pen Show Workshop Information

I mentioned Saturday that I would be holding a daily workshop on Notebook Systems at the 2025 D.C. Pen Show, and times are now live on the D.C. Pen Show website. Because that site can be a bit hard to follow, the schedule is as follows: Friday 8/1 at 4pm; Saturday 8/2 at 3:30pm; and Sunday 8/3 at 11:30pm. There is no charge to attend any of my workshops, and the class will be held in the Vanness Pen Lounge, located downstairs and open to all show attendees.

What Does The Notebook Systems 101 Workshop Entail?

Last year, I held the workshop roundtable-style in the pen lounge, and basically walked attendees through the concept of a notebook “system” (as opposed to just a standard notebook) and the different options available. Attendees were able to peruse functional samples (either my personal notebooks or demo units set up by me) of notebooks/binders from Plotter, Traveler’s Company, Lochby, and Roterfaden. This year, I will have those same brands available, plus additional examples of notebooks from Yamamoto Ro-Biki, Cloth & Paper, and other more unique offerings that don’t get as much attention.

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I enjoy holding this class because many people find it helpful to experience in person how each system works, and what types of paper and accessories can be used with each one. It can be hard to visualize a ring binder vs. a cord-based system vs. a disc-based system without an opportunity to test them out hands-on. It’s a key part of our in-store experience here in Nashville, which I try to replicate at those pen shows where I’m primarily teaching as opposed to setting up and selling.

What If I Can’t Make the D.C. Pen Show? Where Else Can I Find This Information?

I recently created a Notebook Systems informational resource on the website, with links to relevant blog posts and video content. I plan to add to this in the future, including any workshop content that I make available to pen show attendees, so that general readers will have access even if they can’t make the show.

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Oh, and I’ll probably bring some multi pens!

Do You Have a Table at the D.C. Pen Show?

I will have a small setup, either as part of the Vanness Pen Lounge or adjacent to the Vanness tables. (D.C. is so large and chaotic that we often don’t know how exactly how the show will be set up until we get there.) I currently plan to bring a small assortment of notebooks, mainly Roterfaden and Lochby. Traveler’s Company and Plotter usually attend the show as a brand and sell directly. Some of you have asked whether we will have stock of our recently released Roterfaden special edition, the TSG_25. While I will certainly bring any stock that I have, I think it’s unlikely many will remain available as we’ve already sold through roughly 2/3 of our initial shipment. The timing and size of any restock will depend on trade developments in the coming days, but it will not be prior to the D.C. Pen Show, unfortunately.

Our brick-and-mortar is open this week so please do stop by! We are open Thursday and Friday from 1pm-6pm, and on Saturday from 10am-6pm, and otherwise by appointment. Hope to see you soon!

Summer Pen Show Schedule and D.C. and San Francisco Pen Show Details

The August Pen Show Season is almost upon us! First up is the 2025 D.C. Pen Show, which will take place at the Marriott Fairview Park in Falls Church, Virginia. We will be attending, and while our final setup is yet to be determined, we will either be sharing table space with our friends at Vanness Pens and/or set up in the Pen Lounge downstairs, where I plan to hold my workshop on Notebook Systems once daily on Friday (4pm), Saturday (3:30pm), and Sunday (12pm). The DC Seminar Schedule is a bit disorganized and hard to follow, and does not currently reflect these classes, but will be updated soon.

For those who visited the D.C. Pen Show last year, you may remember the Vanness Pen Lounge as a downstairs “oasis” where you can get off your feet around a table to visit with friends, and catch a class or workshop in a more informal format. It will be open Friday-Sunday, from open until close.

The San Francisco Pen Show will follow from August 29-31, and while I currently plan to be there, my current schedule and location is TBD. I want to spend at least part of that show as a pure attendee. Stay tuned for additional details around mid-August.

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Can I Order Items from the Shop to Pick Up in D.C. or San Francisco?

D.C., yes. San Francisco, possibly but I’m not sure yet. The difference is that I’m driving to D.C., whereas I have to fly to San Francisco. (I’m also attending the San Francisco Pen Show mostly as an attendee, and therefore won’t have a regular table or easy place to store any stuff.) Details on D.C. Pen Show Orders can be found in this week’s Thursday Drops post, but the short version is to use the coupon code “DCPICKUP” at checkout to drop the shipping charge. Orders not collected at the show that do not qualify for free shipping ($75+) will be assessed a separate shipping charge. I will be mostly set up in the Vanness Pen Lounge (downstairs) for the weekend, and my stock will heavily feature notebook systems and accessories (i.e., Roterfaden, Lochby, Traveler’s Company). I do intend to bring most of my current Roterfaden stock to D.C., so if you have been waiting on a specific piece, I would encourage you to visit the store or purchase in advance. The status of the current trade situation will likely influence the timing of any further restock.

Pen Show and Shop Schedule for August

Please pay close attention to posted in-person shop hours for the month of August, as they will be somewhat irregular due to travel.

• Thursday, July 31 through Sunday, August 3: D.C. Pen Show. We will have special in-person store hours in Nashville the week of July 28, and possibly add a day next week, to make up for the fact that we will be closed that weekend.

• Thursday August 28 through Sunday, August 31: San Francisco Pen Show. We will plan to have special in-person store hours in Nashville the week of the show, since we won’t be in town that weekend.

• Otherwise, the T.G.S. storefront should be operating per our normal business hours, Thursday and Friday 1pm-6pm and Saturday from 10am-6pm. We may add an extra afternoon (probably Wednesday) on weeks in August due to the pen show schedule.

Just a reminder that our shop is closed today (Saturday, 7/19) since we are on our last day of travel. Normal hours will resume next week and we are back on a normal shipping schedule. Don’t forget to take advantage of the current promotion, with 10% off most bottled inks and refills using the coupon code “INKYVACAY” at checkout!

Updated Site Resources: Updated FAQ Page and Summer Pen Show Schedules

I’m trying to be more consistent in updating site resources such as the FAQ (“Ask TGS”) page, the Review Archive, the “Workhorse Pens” Series, and more. As of this morning, our FAQ Page has been updated with some additional information and to incorporate recent reviews from the “Ask TGS” series. With more than a decade’s worth of T.G.S. content, I’ve spend a considerable amount of time lately trying to curate it for those new to the site, with a focus on topics that will be of interest to those just starting to explore the world of good stationery. I enjoy writing this sort of content, and am always looking for suggestions on topics of interest, so please feel free to leave a comment or reach out with questions you’d like me to answer!

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At some point at every pen show - and especially the large ones, you will want to escape this.

The T.G.S. Summer Pen Show Schedule: D.C. and San Francisco!

I’ve also had a few questions about the summer pen show schedule. I’m currently planning to attend both the D.C. Pen Show (July 31-August 3) and the San Francisco Pen Show (August 29-September 1). While I may have some limited items for sale in D.C., I’ll mainly be camped out in the Vanness Pen Lounge downstairs holding workshops. The idea of a pen lounge was in response to attendee requests for a place to escape the crowds, especially on Saturdays (see above), with round tables for people to socialize with friends in a quieter environment and periodic workshops on pens, inks, notebook systems and more. We’re going to run this back with the team from Vanness Pens this year, so be sure to check out the details. You may have to scroll down a bit due to “unique” nature of the D.C. Pen Show website,

San Francisco is going to be a content-based trip for me, as I’ve not attended a pen show “for fun” in quite some time and also feel like I need to spend a little bit of time exploring new makers, helping friends out with their workshops and panels, and more.

We will be open this weekend in our physical shop from 10am-6pm on Saturday, and most weeks Thursday and Friday from 1pm-6pm leading up to the D.C. Pen Show. Be sure to check the shop page for up-to-date hours.

What's It Like to Get a Nib Modified at a Pen Show? Follow Along!

So this year at the Arkansas Pen Show, I decided to do something a little different, and filmed a video of Matthew Chen of Matthew’s Nib Works grinding a broad Pilot nib into a Kodachi (his take on the Naginata-Togi style grind that has become so popular lately). In this video, I show Matthew grinding the nib, and I also filmed the post-grind testing process and talk a bit about how the Kodachi is shaped and how the nib writes.

The Kodachi grind on my Lamy 2000 Stainless Steel.

For those interested in reading more about Naginata/Kodachi grinds, you can check out my review of Gena Salorino’s (Custom Nib Studio) “Perspective” grind, which has similar features. My prior video breaking down my Arkansas Pen Show “haul” also had a couple of Kodachi grinds featured - both from Matthew - though they are not the exact pens featured in today’s release. I hope you enjoy, and I have at least one more video of pen show content on the way!

If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us by purchasing directly through the T.G.S. Curated Shop, or by pledging via Patreon.

2025 Atlanta Pen Show Recap: Time for a Reboot (Plus a Note on Tariffs)

I want to start by saying that I had a great time at the Atlanta Pen Show this past weekend, and overall T.G.S. did very well at this event. Despite all the economic uncertainty, our community is vibrant, energized and supportive, and I have no doubt pen shows and the community as a whole will come through this latest crisis. In my view, if the 2008 financial crisis and the multi-year pandemic shutdown didn’t kill shows, they must have a pretty strong foundation and people will figure out how to keep them going. For most of us (myself included), this isn’t a hobby, it's part of who we are and how we think and work, and I plan to do whatever I can to stick around and pull through and make sure readers and customers continue to have as wide a selection as possible for their stationery experience.

That said, more than the depressing state of world affairs cast a pall over the 2025 Atlanta Pen Show. The show was not nearly as well-run as in years past. The vendor and seminar lists were never updated (even now the site shows 2024 names), no seminars were even held, and there was a lot of confusion among potential attendees about whether the show would even take place. This wasn’t an economy issue - it was purely on the showrunners. While the organizers certainly dropped the ball for 2025, I don’t expect these problems to continue next year as I understand they were plagued by a lack of available help, which is already being addressed.

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Tri Star Studios attended as a vendor for the first time. I ended up buying a pen from Scott, who also had ceramics from Tracy Cullen Pottery. See Saturday’s post for details.

While it’s never fun when a show doesn’t run smoothly, I still had a blast. I’ve never had a table at the Atlanta Pen Show, and like the Arkansas Pen Show, I really enjoyed getting to meet so many long-time customers in person. As long as my family schedule permits, I will continue to return. Despite organizational snafus, there was a good mix of vendors, including many independent makers showing for the first time, though the show did lack a major source of ink because both Vanness and Dromgoole’s could not attend this year.

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I’m perfecting the art of the one-table setup. :)

T.G.S. also had a good show, business-wise. As I discussed post-Arkansas, my goal for shows is to bring goods that other vendors don’t tend to focus on, including non-fountain pens like the ever-popular Tom’s Studio Lumos and Wren series, notebook systems from Roterfaden and Lochby, and more unusual niche inks. (This past weekend I brought inks from Teranishi and Tom’s Studio.) I had several people comment on the selection and express appreciation for doing something different, which makes me think I’m on to something. :)

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I was most disappointed that the bar no longer had any beer on tap. And ran out of most bottles on Friday.

Response to Reader Questions: What About Tariffs?

Like many other retailers, I’ve been fielding inquiries since the weekend about how U.S. tariffs will impact the pen industry and U.S.-based retailers. Unfortunately, I have to say that the likely impact is obvious: there will almost certainly be higher prices in the future if the current tariff rates hold. Most of the industry is, at least for now, import-dependent. While there are some stationery products that are made in the U.S.A., even these may have ties to imported components and raw materials, machinery, and other elements of the supply chain that are not immediately obvious. Please remember that retailers have very little control over prices, which tend to be dictated by manufacturers and/or distributors. Most of us sell our goods at the lower end of the permissible range at whatever markup is necessary to support a viable margin that allows us to keep the lights on. The prices we charge are directly impacted by the prices we are charged, and contrary to some of the speculation I have seen in various pen forums, stationery is not a high-margin business capable of completely absorbing tariffs of this magnitude. Brick and mortar retailers have even slimmer margins due to overhead costs.

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Post pen-show and restocking chaos. We will be cleaned up and ready to go by Thursday, and the brick and mortar shop will be open Thursday-Saturday for the foreseeable future. Check out this page to stay up to date on hours.

That said, I believe that it’s also unlikely the current tariff rates will hold. [Edit: They’ve been paused as of 4:00pm on 4/9. Guess we’ll talk again in 90 days?] The more plausible scenario is that over time, they will be negotiated down to something that still stings but will be more manageable. Most retailers and distributors have likely been stocking 4-6 months worth of inventory - if not more - to ride out the initial turbulence, but for things like limited edition releases that need to be ordered in the next several weeks, it may be a different story. I try to be transparent so I will keep everyone updated as I hear more about how the industry is responding, but for now it’s fair to say that nobody really knows how this will all shake out.

Many thanks to everyone who has expressed support and/or concern, and I’m extremely grateful for your patronage! T.G.S. is in a good position, and because we’re small with lower overhead than most we will be nimble enough to adjust as circumstances dictate. In addition to having a large supply of most major brands, we try to stock a range of goods across many different price points to ensure that people will be able to continue to enjoy their stationery no matter the circumstances.

Come see us in person this weekend! Our physical shop is open Thursday and Friday from 1-6pm, and 10-6pm on Saturdays.