Happy Fountain Pen Day Weekend! A bit of a long post today, so buckle in because there are plenty of details. While Fountain Pen Day is the first Friday in November (and officially tomorrow), we will kick things off a day or so early because I’ll be in the shop all day on Friday and want to be sure everything is ready and working well in-advance. So as of today the following promotions are active through 11:59pm Sunday, November 9. Come by our Nashville Shop and mention this promotion and you can claim the same discount and get some swag!

Fountain Pen Day General Discount: Most items in the shop are eligible for a 10% Discount using the code “FPDAY10” at checkout.
Clearance items will receive a 15% discount, no code necessary, automatically applied at checkout. Note that this automatically applied discount will not show up until you go to check out your cart. We are clearing out the last handful of our recent collaboration with Hinze Pens, so act quickly if you want one of these at the special price!
Discounts are stackable on some items, meaning that you can use the FPDAY10 discount on top of your clearance discount for certain items. (Some can’t be discounted beyond the clearance price.)

New TGS Vinyl Stickers for Fountain Pen Day — Some of the T.G.S. Vinyl Swag that will be included in Fountain Pen Day orders. (Roterfaden not included.) :)

In addition to the clearance sale and discounts, we’re running our annual tiered gift promotion, meaning that orders exceeding certain thresholds (before shipping and any taxes) will receive a free gift, while supplies last. [Note that the ink samples and special TGS Swag are in short supply and give the volume of orders we are having to substitute extra Fountain Pen Day swag or other stickers.]

All Orders: Any order placed between now (Thursday, November 6) and 11:59pm on Sunday, November 9, will receive some official Fountain Pen Day swag such as a button or bookmark, along with a T.G.S. sticker.
Orders $75 and above: In addition to Fountain Pen Day and standard T.G.S. Swag, you will receive an ink sample (either Colorverse or Diamine), plus a special vinyl sticker featuring one of our experimental T.G.S. Logo redesigns. There aren’t many of these T.G.S. logo stickers so only the first orders are guaranteed to get them.

We also have stock of the new TWSBI ECO Plum + Onyx Fountain Pen, so if you haven’t seen this one yet check it out online or swing by the shop!

Thursday Drops: Ink Palettes, Kakuno “Madoromi” Series, and More!

We have lots of exciting new arrivals for you this week including new Kakuno Fountain Pens from Pilot and Ceramic Handmade Ink Palettes by Busy Hands Studio. While we can’t discount our Roterfaden stock, including our recent exclusive TGS_25 release, now is a great time to pick up accessories and refills, which qualify for all of our promotions!

T.G.S. x Hinze Pen “Taschenstift” Special Edition Fountain Pen. We only have a few of these left, as I mentioned above, and we need to make room for new projects in the coming months! Now in the clearance section at special Fountain Pen Day pricing.
Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter TGS_25 A5 Slim. While it can’t be discounted, take advantage of the opportunity to pick up refills and accessories. The TGS25 is now available in green and grey leather, and we’re thrilled to offer two colorways.
Pilot Kakuno “Madoromi” Series Fountain Pens. This recent special edition Kakuno features a handful of cloudy pastel colors inspired by a theme of naps and dreams. It brought me joy to see Pilot do something special with one of my favorite basic fountain pens.
Busy Hand Studio Handmade Ceramic Ink Palettes. The ink fans in my readership requested that I bring in some additional accessories that can be used for ink mixing, including some sort of watercolor/ink palette! These ceramic palettes are handmade in the U.S. and come in a range of sizes.
Diamine Inkvent Calendars. It’s not too late, and a great opportunity to use your Fountain Pen Day discount! The original ink advent calendar gets you 24 12ml bottles of ink and one 30ml bottle of ink on the 25th day!
Kaweco AL-Sport Piston Filler Fountain Pen. You asked for it, so Kaweco has released the AL-Sport Piston Filler in a new navy blue color! Everyone who has seen this color in person enjoys it more than the original.
Kaweco Metal Sport Fountain Pens (Including the New “Titan” Sport). Kaweco recently released a Titanium version of the Kaweco Sport fountain pen to go along with the Brass, Stainless, and Bronze Sports. The polished titanium is lightweight and durable - one that will last a VERY long time.
Bindewerk Flex-Cover A5 Linen Notebooks. I’m glad these arrived in time for Fountain Pen Day, as Bindewerk makes one of my favorite fountain pen friendly notebooks on the market with nicely textured A5 paper that’s lightly ruled with dots or lines.
Tomoe River Hardcover and Softcover Notebooks. These Tomoe River notebooks feature anywhere from 196 to 368 pages of fountain pen friendly paper, with the Sanzen paper formulation.
Platinum Preppy Wa “Edo Monogatari” Special Edition Fountain Pens. We still have a handful of this year’s Platinum “Preppy Wa” fountain pens. Once they’re gone, they’re gone so last chance on these!

TGS Storefront Suite 107 Location — Come see us in-store Thursday and Friday, 1pm-6pm, and Saturday 10am-6pm.

Where Do I Start with Fountain Pens? What if I Know Absolutely Nothing?

One thing I love about maintaining this website, attending pen shows, and running a physical shop is that it gives me a platform to demystify fountain pens and stationery in general. Many people think that in order to be a fountain pen enthusiast, you need to embrace overly complex filling systems, use only bottled ink, and spend a lot of money. All of those things can be true - and fun - but in truth all you really need is a love for the physical act of writing and a pen that’s good enough to meet your needs, whether that’s a $4 cartridge pen or a $1500 work of art. Here are five things I generally tell people when they ask me how to get started.

Figure Out Why You Want to Write with a Fountain Pen. Do you want to improve your handwriting? Learn calligraphy? Use different inks? Or do you want a more expressive, comfortable way to journal? All of these questions will impact what type of pen you’re looking for, and even determine whether a fountain pen is the right fit for your needs.

Try a Fountain Pen in Person (if You Can). I spent way too much money early on because I didn’t have access to a physical pen shop in my town (Nashville, Tennessee), and I started during a time when pen shows were still heavily vintage-focused. I had to order pens blind off the internet and learn by trial and error, and this experience is really what prompted me to open The Gentleman Stationer as a retail store in Nashville. In the past two days alone, I’ve been able to put fountain pens in the hands of multiple people who had wanted to try them but never had the opportunity, and 2/3 of those customers ended up choosing a pen different from the one they had almost ordered off the internet sight unseen. If you don’t have access to a pen store, pen clubs and traveling to regional pen shows can be excellent opportunities to try things out in person.

Spend $50 or Less. Don’t over-invest in something you are trying for the first time. For $50, you can easily get a pen, ink, and some decent paper, which will allow you to get set up and start learning your preferences. I maintain a “Best Pens” guide which has recommendations across a wide range of price points, including beginner fountain pens. We also regularly update our “Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper” post, which walks through different paper brands and how they handle fountain pen ink. Don’t spend too much money up front, because regardless of how much testing/research you do, you’ll learn at least a few things by trial and error.

Enjoy the Actual Act of Writing. Enjoy using your pens however you want/need to use them, and write with them as much as you can. As you gain more experience, you learn your preferences, and this will guide future purchases. If I had one piece of advice to new users, it would be to tune out forums and influencers that try to tell you what you “should” like, and focus more on what you personally use everyday.

It’s Ok If You Decide that Fountain Pens Aren’t for You. Everyone has different needs for their everyday writing, and there are many circumstances where a fountain pen isn’t the best choice. Even I write much less with my fountain pens these days than I used to. This isn’t because I like them any less - rather, it’s because I’ve grown to appreciate other writing instruments like pencils, rollerballs, fineliners, multi pens, and yes, even ballpoints. (There are some exceptionally good ballpoints out there, especially the Japanese low-viscosity types.) While fountain pens get the most eyeballs on social media, I tend to view Fountain Pen Day as a celebration of handwriting and analog tools in general. We appreciate them all!