New Arrivals: Pilot S20 Ballpoints, Uni Jetstream Prime and Edge, and More Giftable Ballpoints

Ahead of the holidays, one of my top priorities was to restock our supply of higher-end ballpoint, rollerball, and gel pens, especially Japanese imports, but we also made room to bring in some new finds. Last week, we received our first shipment of the excellent Pilot S20 ballpoint, which uses Pilot’s hybrid “Acro-ink” and performs similarly to the Uniball Jetstream. A friend from our local pen club gifted me a S20 last year, and I couldn’t get over how comfortable this pen was to use: it sports an hourglass silhouette and soft, polished wood finish in two striated wood grains: red/black and brown/black. We also have a healthy supply of the Dr. Grip “Cocoon” refills, which is that cartridge that fits the S20.

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Other new arrivals include the Pilot Birdie/Birdie Switch: a small format writing instrument from Pilot that comes as either a mechanical pencil or “reversible multi-pen”; as well as additional stock of the Uni Jetstream Prime, the Uni Jetstream Edge, and the Zebra Sarasa Grande Vintage. All colors and tip sizes should be restocked and showing as available.

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The hourglass shape of the S20 ballpoint simply fits very well in your hand!

Store Holiday Hours and T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide

I’ve updated the shop hours for Thanksgiving week. While we will be closed Thursday, we plan to open Friday (10am-7pm); Saturday (10am-7pm), and Sunday (12-5pm) to kick off the holiday shopping season. Remember that you can always shop by appointment outside of our public hours.

Also, don’t miss our 2024 Holiday Gift Guide, which walks through stationery gift options and recommendations that include pens, pencils, paper, and other desk and reading accessories for those who appreciate analog things! If you have gift-related questions, always feel free to reach out.

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If you come see us in-store, you’ll be able to peruse our growing selection of inks, including the entire range of Teranishi Guitar Inks in over a dozen colors!

New Arrivals: Get Ready for Inkvent/Colorvent with Col-o-ring Books and Swatching Supplies!

Confession: I opened my Colorverse Colorvent Calendar yesterday. Starting December 1, I plan to post each day’s ink from both the Colorvent and the Diamine Inkvent Calendars, just as I did last year. Most of these mini-reviews will probably go to Instagram and to YouTube (you can check out my recap of last year’s Inkvent here), but I’ll definitely do summaries as well. Typically, what I’ve done in the past is swatch each ink on a standard Col-or-ring card (which shows off ink properties like sheen and shading), and then also compare the inks side-by-side on Midori MD Cotton paper, which to me offers excellent color reproduction and is also one of my favorite papers for my personal writing, so I get a sense of how the inks will work in the real world.

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While Colorvent Calendars are sold out, we still have a few Diamine Inkvent Calendars available, in addition to all the gear you can use for working your way through “Inkvent,” such as Col-o-ring Ink Testing Books and dip nibs from Kakimori and Tom’s Studio. Stay tuned as the holiday season kicks off in about two weeks!

This week our brick-and-mortar shop returns to regular hours: Thursday 1-6pm; Friday 1-7pm; and Saturday 10-7pm. We are considering adding additional hours for the holiday shopping season after Thanksgiving. Stay tuned!

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Pen Drop! New Harry Potter x Lamy Al-Stars and Ohto CR2 Ceramic Rollerballs

Yesterday the Harry Potter x Lamy AL-Star fountain pens arrived! What stands out in-person that may not necessarily pop in pictures? The clips, for one thing, which have a matte metallic finish, and the engravings are understated for a themed offering. There are four pens, one for each House at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Gryffindor (Red), Slytherin (Green), Hufflepuff (Yellow/Gold), and Ravenclaw (Blue). Personally, I think the Hufflepuff pen might be one of the best looking AL-Stars Lamy has released in years, with the gold finish, transparent matching section, and the matte gold clip. (Surprisingly, it’s the one I chose for myself, even over the Gryffindor red.) The Harry Potter x Lamy AL-Star Fountain Pens are available in fine and medium nib options and are shipping immediately, priced at $51.30.

Ohto CR02 Ceramic Rollerballs

As you all know, I’ve long sought a fine-tipped rollerball with minimal bleedthrough, which at times has been difficult to the point where I’ve written off the category altogether. In response to my latest post, many of you kind readers suggested that I try Ohto’s ceramic rollerballs, which ship with a somewhat uncommon .5mm refill that almost feels like a gel pen. It’s an excellent option, and I’ve been using the refill not only in these matte-finish Ohto “CR02” pens that recently arrived from Japan, but in my Lamy 2000 Rollerball. These pens are relatively inexpensive at $18 and have a very nice feel in the hand. They’re also on the slimmer side and will make a great planner/pen loop option. Refills are available separately.

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The Ohto CR02 Rollerball comes in four different finishes, including Matte Blue, Matte Black, Wine Red, and Matte Silver.

This week our brick-and-mortar store is open Thursday from 1-6pm, Friday from 1-7pm, and Saturday from 12-7pm. Keep up to date on store hours here, and contact us to shop by appointment if you can’t make it during regular store hours.

Thursday Drops: New Midori Multi-Year Journals, Kuretake Karappo Pens, Teranishi Inks and More Midori MD Cotton!

Today’s Thursday Drops post is merely the first wave of post-Fountain Pen Day and pre-Holiday restocks, but it maybe the biggest. We recently received a large shipment from TRAVELER’S Company and Midori, including new 10th Anniversary versions of the 3-year and 5-year journals, as well as the latest Field Notes release, new pens from Tom’s Studio (including a Japanese brush tip that fits the fountain pens), and a bunch of new Kuratake fibre and brush pens.

[Update: As of this morning (Friday November 8), Teranishi Guitar Inks are in stock! I had hoped to have them listed yesterday but they arrived a bit late and it took most of yesterday to swatch and photograph the inks.]

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This quarter’s Field Notes Release features two groups of different covers, all featuring different bird illustrations by Rex Brasher.

Note that our physical brick-and-mortar shop will be closed Friday and Saturday this weekend, since we are traveling to the Chicago Planner Conference. (We’ll be with Vanness Pens, Hinze Pens, and the Well-Appointed Desk!) Come say hello if you are there! Online orders will continue to ship in our typical time frame, and we have special store hours today (10am-5pm) and Sunday (2-6pm) to compensate.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

1. Midori 10th Anniversary Kyo-Ori 3-Year and 5-Year Diaries. These beautiful special edition versions of the Midori Multi-Year Diaries feature two different fabrics. We also have the standard 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year journals in stock.

2. Teranishi Guitar Taisho Roman Haikara Inks. This series of 16 different Japanese inks spans the color spectrum and offers unique takes on different tones. From the swatches you will see that depending on the paper, many of the colors show some nice sheen, though it’s not overpowering.

3. Field Notes Birds and Trees of North America Edition. One of the editions that’s caused me to take another look at Field Notes! This

4. Kuretake Karappo Fineliners and Brush Pens. My obsession with customizable fineliners - and now, even finer, firm-tipped brush pens, continues! The Fibre-tipped pens feature a point similar to that in the Tom’s Studio Wren, and the Brush Pen is firm enough to write with. Available in the larger brush pen (with refillable cartridges) or the packs of five fibre or brushed-tipped pens.

5. Midori MD Cotton Writing Pads. These favorites are now available once again in A5 and A4 sizes. Midori MD Cotton is one of my favorite fountain pen friendly papers, and I’m happy to have it back in pad and notebook format.

6. TRAVELER’S Notebook Starter Kit Restock! We once again have nearly all the colors (save for Blue in the standard-size, which is on backorder). Now is a great time to pick up your dated (or undated) planner refills, as well as this year’s limited edition accessories including the “Trip and Love” folders, pencil boards, and sticker sets.

7. Tom’s Studio Wren Refillable Fibre-Tipped Pens. To say the Wren has been a smash hit is an understatement. These sold so quickly during Fountain Pen Day weekend that we’re already going to have to place a pre-holiday restock. We also now have replacement tips and reservoirs available in the shop.

8. Tom’s Studio “Studio Pocket” Fountain Pens. Not only do we have more of the Studio Pocket Fountain Pens, but we now have the fountain pen compatible Brush Nibs. If you want to lay some ink on the page, this is worth your consideration.

9. Tom’s Studio .5mm Mechanical Pencils. These Tom’s Studio mechanical pencils feature a brass grip paired with the same excellent anodized aluminum construction found on the rest of the Tom’s Studio product line.

10. Tom’s Studio Poise Pencil Grip and Lumos Grip/Rollstop. I wrote a short post earlier this week about how I’ve enjoyed these two grip options, especially for longer work sessions. Both function as rollstops in addition to adding some girth to the grip section.

11. T.G.S. x Sunderland Machine Works mk1 Collaboration Pens. I thought I would send out an almost-last-call e-mail, given that we are down to 5 of these pens in the shop. While we do plan to restock, I cannot promise that more pens can be available before the end of the year, so if you have had your eye on one of these, don’t wait.

12. T.G.S. Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Sampler and Pencil Samplers. We assembled a Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Sampler especially for Fountain Pen Day, but had so much paper left over that I made a bunch more! There’s also a woodcase pencil version featuring some unique pencils from our back archive.

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There are 16 different Teranishi Inks, from top: Modern Red, Classic Burgundy, Opera Rose, Orchestra Tangerine, Innocent Mauve, Salon de Violet, Melancholic Blue, Smoky Navy, Night Time Soda, Emotional Olive. [Part I]

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More Teranishi Swatches, from top: Brilliant Mint, Lady Emerald, Gentle Green, Traveling Sepia, Antique Black, and Nostalgic Honey. [Part II]

Get a Grip! New Tom's Studio Lumos Rollstops and Pencil Grips, as well as Fountain Pen Brush Tips!

Sometimes for a longer writing session, it’s helpful to add some width to the grip section of narrower writing instruments. Tom’s Studio has released two options: a leather padded grip/rollstop for the Lumos series of refillable fineliners, and a textured aluminum pencil grip dubbed the “Poise” that securely attaches with a brass thumbscrew similar to that found on the One-Dip Nibs (which, by the way, are back in stock!). For those who prefer a mechanical pencil option, we now also offer the Tom’s Studio .5mm mechanical pencils, which feature a contoured brass section and are paired with a lightweight aluminum body for excellent balance.

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Both of the Tom’s Studio grips impressed me because they are easily adjustable via rotation to accommodate a variety of grip styles. As noted, both also act as rollstops to keep your pens and pencils from rolling off the table.

Need a Break from the News on Election Day? Come Hang Out In-Store!

Due to travel this upcoming weekend (we will be at the Chicago Planner Conference with our friends from Vanness Pens, The Well-Appointed Desk, Hinze Pens, and others), our physical location will be closed Friday and Saturday. Hours this week will therefore be 1-5pm today (Tuesday), 10-5pm Thursday, and possibly Sunday afternoon from 1-5pm provided I’m not too delayed flying back. Give the short hours, if there’s something you’re looking for, consider placing your order online for in-person pickup and I’ll have it ready to go for you when you arrive, or will even run it out to your car!

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We still have Fountain Pen Friendly Paper and Pencil Samplers available post-Fountain Pen Day! (I made a LOT of these, and I’ll continue to offer them until they are gone.)

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. Check out this page for details on brick-and-mortar shop hours and details on how to find us.