Roterfaden TGS_25 A5 Slim Cover in grey and Green — Roterfaden TGS_25 Covers are back in stock. Yes, we will have them available this weekend.

New Arrivals: Roterfaden Restock, Kaweco DIY, and On The Paper Trail Live in Nashville Update!

October 13, 2026

We’re looking forward to seeing many of you this weekend at our On The Paper Live in Nashville event! We are also kicking off two weeks of the Kaweco DIY Sport on Thursday, and celebrating a full restock of the Roterfaden TGS_25 A5 Slim as well as many other different sizes and models. With respect to the two events this week, please see below for the relevant details.

On the Paper Trail Live in Nashville Weekend Pass Nametag — All the small details are getting ironed out!

On The Paper Trail Live In Nashville - Buy Your Tickets In Advance!

We strongly recommend that anyone interested in attending this weekend’s On The Paper Trail Podcast event purchase a ticket in advance. Saturday (10/17) is essentially sold out, and there will not be additional admission at the door. Friday (10/16) and Sunday (10/18) will be more flexible though same-day admission is not guaranteed. Please understand that this is a smaller event by design, and our primary goal is to have a comfortable crowd size where everyone is able to enjoy themselves. We will enforce capacity limits. Details on the event, including hours and location, can be found on the event page.

Note that our shop will remain open normal hours this weekend while the event is ongoing. We encourage event attendees to come see the shop as well!

Kaweco DIY Glow Green Fountain Pen Lit Up — This year’s Kaweco DIY Pen is a Glow-in-the-Dark Green! Please note that the Glow Green is the only color available - you cannot mix and match colors or standard pen parts. We will have clips and converters available while supplies last.

Kaweco DIY Event Schedule - In the Shop Thursday (10/15) and Thursday - Saturday (10/22-10/24)

We will be hosting the Kaweco DIY Sport event for several days this week and next, which offers the opportunity to assemble your own Kaweco Sport Fountain Pen in the exclusive Glow Green! This week the DIY machines will be available in the T.G.S. Nashville Shop on Thursday (10/15) during normal store hours from 1pm-6pm. The machines will be at the On The Paper Trail Live event from Friday-Sunday (10/16-10/18), for which a ticket is required. The machines will be in the TGS Shop the following week from Thursday through Saturday (10/22-10/24), again during our normal business hours.

You do not need an appointment, but we cannot sell online or mail DIY pens as the assembly must be done by a customer in person. This is Kaweco’s rule - no exceptions. Yes, it is ok for a friend or family member to come assemble the pen for you. Due to the volume of calls and e-mails we are getting, we will not be responding to inquiries about special hours or details beyond the information posted here. Thank you for all your support, and we hope to see you soon!

Lamy Dialog CC Fountain Pen in Blue and Black with Gold Nibs

Thursday Drops: Lamy Dialog CC, Roterfaden TGS_25, Galen Leather Cases and More!

March 5, 2026

We’ve been scrambling to get all the recently arrived inventory listed, in light of two upcoming pen shows (the upcoming Arkansas Pen Show and San Francisco Stationery Fest)! We recently received a large Kaweco restock along with additional Roterfaden TGS_25 A5-Slim covers. I am planning to set aside a portion of these for pen shows later this month, so if you are looking to purchase one online please get your orders in sooner rather than later as a subsquent restock may be delayed.

Craft Design Technology Leather Pen Case — Craft Design Technology makes these gorgeous leather pen/pencil pouches in either black or brown.

We also have some new pens to announce, including the capless Lamy Dialog CC in two different finishes and more of the Kepler pens from Craighill, a range of pen cases and portfolios from Galen Leather in different finishes, pen and pencil pouches from Craft Design Technology, and fresh washi tapes from iLootPaperie, including restocks of old favorite as well as some fun new designs!

We have normal Nashville shop hours this week, open from 1-6pm Thursday and Friday, and from 10am-6pm on Saturday. Come by and see these and more in-person!

Lamy Dialog CC Fountain Pen. Lamy’s take on the capless fountain pen, the Dialog Series, includes two pens: the Dialog 3 and the Dialog CC. The clipless, more compact Dialog CC is in my opinion the most usable for the most people, as it’s shorter and a much more well-balanced pen.
Roterfaden TGS_25 A5-Slim Notebook Covers. We have fresh stock of our exclusive Roterfaden model in A5 Slim. Based on the volume of requests, we chose to restock the dark green cover with dark grey suede interior. For those who made requests for a cover, I have e-mailed most of you regarding availability, but please note that if I don’t hear from you by tomorrow or see an order I will release held-back stock for online and pen-show purchase.
Kaweco Collection Sport Fountain Pens. We have additional stock of most Kaweco Collection fountain pens, including the Honey (yellow) and Apricot Pearl releases.
Kaweco Metal Sport Fountain Pens. We have also received additional stock of the Kaweco Metal Sport pens, including brass, stainless steel, bronze, and titanium.
Kaweco Liliput Fountain Pens. Stainless Steel, brass, copper, and “Kolibri” Liliput fountain pens are available, in addition to the standard aluminum in all the popular finishes.
Kaweco Sketch Up Clutch Pencil. The Kaweco Sketch Up is a versatile tool that can be used as a clutch pencil, a drylighter (highlighter pencil), and even a dip nib holder!
Galen Leather Pen Cases. We are happy to announce that we are now authorized resellers of Galen Leather, including zippered cases, Magnum Opus cases, certain A5 notebook covers, and bankers bags.
Craighill Kepler Pen. The subtly sculpted Kepler pen uses universal D1 refills, so it can serve as a classic ballpoint, low-viscosity ballpoint, or gel pen, depending on your needs.
Craighill Summit Card Case. These hefty metal card cases caught my eye at the NYNow trade show, and I picked up a couple in two different finishes. These can be used as both business card holders and even as a metal cardholder/wallet.
Craighill Chroma Scissors. These large, sharp desk scissors not only work extremely well, but they make a statement on your desktop!

Kaweco Honey Fountain Pen Unboxed and Posted on Pen Stand — I personally think the Honey Sport from the Kaweco Collection series is one of the better looking Kaweco Sport fountain pens that Kaweco has released in recent years.

New Arrivals: Kaweco Is Back, Along with More Roterfaden TGS_25 Covers!

March 3, 2026

Last week we received a large shipment from Kaweco, including Classic Sport, Collection Sport, Metal Sport, and Liliput Fountain Pens. Many of you have requested additional stock of the stainless steel, brass, and copper pens, and we listened! Personally, I’m most excited about the Liliput Kolibri (German for “Hummingbird”), which applies a rainbow anodized finish to both the stainless steel body and the nib. We are also restocked on Kaweco bottled inks, as well as the “Sketch-up” Clutch Pencils in all finishes.

TGS_25 Roterfaden Taschenbegleiters Return!

We have restocked the green leather version of our A5 Slim exclusive model in dark green, with both green and grey elastic options. While we will plan to bring available stock to the Arkansas Pen Show and San Francisco Stationery Fest later this month, we cannot guarantee availability, so if you are interested in this please do not wait. We will have stock available in the Nashville shop during normal hours later this week. Many thanks for all your interest and support for this project - we never could have anticipated the level of demand it’s received so far!

Come see us in our Nashville Shop! Our store is open normal hours (1-6pm Thursday and Friday, and 10am-6pm Saturday), so please swing by and see these and more!

2025 D.C. Pen Show Recap: The Big Show Gets Bigger

August 6, 2025

Can you believe that I just returned home from what I’m pretty sure was the biggest D.C. Pen Show ever and I feel like I barely got to see any of it? Sometimes that’s what happens when you’re busy behind the table! I had a great time visiting with all of you who stopped by, either during the show or after-hours, and my suitcases came home much lighter than when I left. Unfortunately, because I was behind the table for most of the weekend, I only made it into one of the four ballrooms, and even then only for a few minutes. Where did I go when I did have free time? More on that below but some of you can probably guess from the pic above. IYKYK.

Kaweco D.I.Y. Sport Cover Image — I posted a short YouTube video this morning showing how the Kaweco D.I.Y. machine works.

What Did I Do All Weekend? Teach Classes, Sell Notebooks, and Staff the Kaweco D.I.Y. Station

For those of you who missed my weekend updates, I didn’t arrive until late Friday afternoon due to flight cancellations on Thursday, and couldn’t set up until Saturday morning. Despite missing an entire day, the crowds on Saturday more than made up for it, and even Sunday was brisk, which was unusual. I was able to teach two sessions of my “Notebook Systems 101” workshop in the Vanness Pen Lounge, and both classes ended up with good turnouts and active question and answer sessions.

Kaweco DIY Sport Fountain Pen Joe's Version — The Kaweco D.I.Y. Sport: Joe’s Version.

Surprisingly, the most fun I had was working the Kaweco D.I.Y. Sport station. For those unfamiliar with Kaweco’s “D.I.Y.” setup, for the past couple of years they have been shipping two machines to retailers, which when set up allow customers to assemble their own Kaweco Sport fountain pen. It’s a pretty simple process, where you use one machine to press the nib unit into the section, and another to assemble the blind cap, outer cap, and finial. Vanness Pens had two different color options, and you could mix and match between the two. I chose a teal pen with a burgundy section, and filmed the assembly process.

Hanabi Glass Studio Glass Pen with Brown Sandblasted Grip

My D.C. Pen Show Haul

I had a very small D.C. Pen Show haul, which included the one item I was hoping to track down at either the D.C. Pen Show or the San Francisco Pen Show later this month: a glass pen from Hanabi Glass Studio. I’ve long admired Lucas’s work, and with my limited time, I made a beeline for his table on Sunday morning during the slower weekend pass early admission hours. While he had sold a lot of pens on Friday and Saturday, plenty remained and I was able to get one of the styles I’ve been admiring. It writes exceptionally well, with a tip size that I would characterize as a fine. Look for more of this pen as I do ink samples and comparisons in the future. It’s a work of art.

I also stopped by the Laurett’s table late on Sunday before they packed up, in order to pick up some of their ebonite ballpoints and mechanical pencils. I brought home several for the shop, so look for these in the coming days. (Let’s just say I bought every red and black version I could get my hands on.) For those unfamiliar with Laurett’s, it’s a Japanese precision machining company that specializes in knurling. And it’s great knurling, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Laurett's WAKA ballpoints in red and green ebonite — The Laurett’s “WAKA” ballpoints feature intricate knurling on the grip section. It’s insanely comfortable to hold.

Overall, this was an outstanding D.C. Pen Show, reminiscent of the 2015-2017 era. Do I wish I had more time to roam the show? Sure, but I should have that opportunity in San Francisco since I will not have my own table and will be mainly helping out my friends at Vanness Pens. (I may bring some Roterfaden Taschenbegleiters with me if I can get additional stock - you all cleaned me out in D.C. and we currently have very few units remaining.) That said, I’m looking forward to a few weeks at home and in the shop. I have a ton of new arrivals, and some BIG news that we will be announcing towards the end of the month. Stay tuned!

We will be open at our Nashville location this weekend from 1-6pm Thursday and Friday, and from 10am-6pm on Saturday. We’d love to see you in person, or you can support T.G.S. by shopping via our online store or visiting our Patreon. Many thanks!

Favorite Fountain Pens: Is There a Specific Color You Gravitate Towards?

March 15, 2025

People approach this hobby/passion/calling from many different angles. Some love pens because they’re collectors, and amass impressive archives of a specific brand or model that cover every variant released over decades (if not a century). Others take a purely utilitarian approach, treating their pens as tools, often settling on a single pen that meets their writing needs and never feeling the need to branch out to anything else. I take a middle approach: I definitely have my favorites that I use more than others (75% of the time, perhaps?) but I also have a bit of “collector” in me as well.

If You Make It In Yellow, I Will Probably Buy It

I collect in two ways. First, I try to have at least one example of major vintage pens in my personal collection, and sometimes more if different variations - usually colors - of a specific model interest me. For example, I currently have one Parker Vacumatic, and a handful of Parker 51s. While I might add some more Vacumatics after my prized blue one broke during a botched vintage pen repair (long story that I will tell later), I don’t feel the need to collect and example of every Parker, and the ones I do have are very much user-grade examples. To me, part of the fun of writing with a vintage pen is the idea that I can use an item in the same way that it was used by the original owner 75-100 years ago, and remark on how little has changed. The pen doesn’t need to be pristine or valuable to give you that experience. As I noted in this recent video, the Parker 45 I showed off cost me $65, even with a 14k nib!

A picture of six more yellow or almost-yellow pens from my current collection — Some of these fall into the “almost yellow” category. From left: Nakaya Long Piccolo, Kasama Una in Ultem, Mark’s Tous Les Jours metal gel pen, Leonardo Momento Zero Maestro in Omas Burkina Celluloid, and my Conway Stewart Model 100 in Honey Noire.

Second, I tend to accumulate and, yes, “collect” pens by color. You might think from the overall visual theme of T.G.S. that most of my pens are some combination of red and black. While I do have a lot of red pens, and a deep red is one of those tones that makes me happy, so does yellow. Not necessarily a bright yellow, but anything that’s a more muted mustard, saffron, or even a yellow-green is more often than not an insta-buy. There isn’t any real strategy behind this collection. It’s not organized my model, brand, or even type of pen. It’s just something I enjoy, and these days I’ll take that because it’s exactly what I need.

That said, I do my best to avoid mindless accumulation. I currently have several binders of pens, most of which I own not because they fit into some overall “theme” but simply because the design/color/backstory makes me happy. I’ve been thinking about this issue a lot lately, as I’ve made a commitment to unload a significant number of pens (5 per month) throughout 2025. While there will be some harder choices in the year to come, right now the standard is “does this particular pen make me want to use it, and does it make me happy when I use it?” (I refuse to use the phrase “spark joy.”) Through March, I’ve sold off 15+ pens and have only added two or three. I’m actually excited to see what my collection looks like by year-end!

Kaweco Sport Honey, Perkeo Indian Summer, and Kuru Toga Alpha Gel Switch — Those pens I have added this year haven’t been very expensive, including the new Kaweco Sport Honey (right) and one of the remaining Kaweco Perkeo “Indian Summer” fountain pens. The mechanical pencil is the Uni Kuru Toga Alpha Gel Switch. The yellow and black version is my favorite.

SO WHAT’S next for the collection? A couple of recent additions

Do I really need another Kaweco Sport? No, but since the new “Honey” color is the exact shade of yellow that I enjoy, I added one to the collection anyway and inked it up immediately. No regrets. I also had the opportunity to re-acquire a pen that I regret selling: the Kaweco Perkeo in the yellow/green and black “Indian Summer” colorway that was so popular a few years ago. At NY Now in January, I found out that the distributor had a few remaining in stock and I managed to acquire some mediums. What do I think I’m going to pass on? The Lamy Scarlet fountain pen. While they’re great looking pens, and I’m glad to see Lamy move to more muted shades like Scarlet and Steel Black in the standard lineup, It’s not really that exact shade of red that speaks to me. I may claim one of the mechanical pencils, though, as I really love my Lamy AL-Star mechanical pencil and I don’t have a Safari version.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. If you enjoyed this post, consider supporting us directly! You can always drop in to our brick-and-mortar shop. Check for open hours and details on the location here.