I still have a lot of back editions of Write Notepads and Field Notes limited edition notebooks that I’m still working my way through. Yes, I use them.

Stationery Trends: Subscription Services Today, Do You Still Use Them?

June 23, 2021

A few years ago, subscription services were all the rage, and it seems like every stationery company had one. Field Notes started the trend, originally known as the “colors” series. Write Notepads and Baron Fig got in on the game, launching a separate subscription service for each of four different product lines (pens, pencils, and hard and softcover notebooks). Blackwing launched its “Volumes” series, where they would issue a quarterly limited edition pencil that subscribers could receive before anyone else had a chance to buy. Supposedly, the rationale behind these subscriptions was that they would allow small makers to have a guaranteed revenue stream up front from subscriptions, which they could then use to make smaller runs of more experimental products that would otherwise be too speculative or cost-prohibitive. Originally, this was a good idea. It allowed Field Notes to test ideas for pocket notebooks beyond the original Kraft Paper design, and now the special and limited run products make up a majority of the Field Notes line. Similarly, the Volumes program allowed Blackwing to “field test” different pencil finishes and graphite grades that eventually made their way into the standard lineup. (Hello, Blackwing Natural and the Extra-Firm graphite!)

The last four editions of Blackwing Volumes, from left in no particular order: Blackwing 3 (“Ravi Shankar”); Blackwing XIX (“19th Amendment”), Blackwing 6 (“Neon”), and Blackwing 223 (“Woody Guthrie”).

So where do things stand today? Honestly, apart from Blackwing and Field Notes, it seems like the subscription model could be losing momentum. Write Notepads and Baron Fig discontinued their subscription programs after 1-2 years, in favor of releasing special editions on their own schedules. This could partly be due to the businesses stabilizing and becoming established in the industry, and there for no longer needing to rely on subscriptions to fund their manufacturing, but I can’t help but wonder whether the market for this sort of subscription product is saturated by one or two companies. For example, how many pocket notebooks or pencils does one person actually need? I’m sure there are people out there who go through six or more notebooks and a dozen-plus pencils per quarter, but it can’t be the majority of subscribers. Plus, as companies like Field Notes and Blackwing become established (if not omnipresent in mainstream retailers), the key rationale that drove many to subscribe - that you have to support your favorite small brands through a “guaranteed revenue” program - becomes less compelling. I’m sure that both Field Notes and Blackwing continue to have legions of hardcore fans and healthy subscriber bases, but given how large some of these recent runs are, I do wonder whether the majority of the sales from the special editions comes through retail channels or direct sales to non-subscribers. Are even the Field Notes and Blackwing programs becoming less relevant?

Field Notes recently released “Fifty,” their fiftieth limited edition release. (Disclaimer: The Gentleman Stationer does retail select Field Notes Products) — Field Notes recently released “Fifty,” their *fiftieth* limited edition release. (Disclaimer: The Gentleman Stationer does retail select Field Notes Products)

Personally, the only subscription service to which I still belong is Blackwing Volumes, but even that I’m questioning. Not that I don’t like Blackwing, it’s just that I have so many pencils I would prefer not to receive them by default and only purchase those editions that really strike me as special. My recent favorite special editions have actually been the Blackwing store-exclusives, “Eras” releases, and non-Volumes “Blackwing X” collaborations, such as the Third Man Records pencil and the “Hardest Job in the World” edition. While I think the last four Blackwing Volumes pencils have been “good,” I can’t help but wonder why they are moving so much good stuff outside of the subscription program, away from those who are, presumably, their most devoted fans?

I’d be curious to know how many of you still subscribe to stationery subscription services. What do you like and dislike about the option to subscribe? What keeps you coming back?

(This is not “market research”, just genuine curiosity. I have no desire to launch or participate in any sort of subscription service, so I’ll get that out of the way up front. As you all know, I’ve previously written on what sometimes feels like the stationery industry’s fixation on limited and special releases, so this post is intended to continue the discussion along those lines.)

Turn Any Notebook Into A Planner with Midori MD Diary Stickers

June 22, 2021

New to the shop this week: Midori MD Diary Stickers, a simple yet highly effective way to turn your notebook into a planner, habit tracker, or calendar. Each pack comes with 16 undated calendar stickers made from Midori MD Paper that are designed to fit any Midori MD Notebook, even the B6 Slim or the MD Cotton “F” series. (Of course, you aren’t limited to using these with Midori MD Notebooks. You can pop them into your notebook of choice for maximum versatility.)

Midori MD Diary Stickers are shown here atop a B6 Slim MD Notebook and the smallest (F0) MD Cotton Notebook.

Midori MD Diary Stickers are currently available for purchase in the T.G.S. Curated Shop, priced at $8.50 per pack of 16. Please note that we also recently received a shipment of Midori products, so most items should be in stock, including newly arrived A5 Clear Covers designed to fit the A5 “Codex” Day-to-a-Page Notebook. As always, many thanks for your support!

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of all brands sold in the T.G.S. Curated Shop.

Sunday Reading for June 20, 2021

June 20, 2021

Tomoe River: The Full Story (via Fudefan). If you’ve not been following the Tokyo Inklings podcast, you should. Jacob, one of the hosts and writer of the blog “Fudefan,” has well-researched, up-to-date information on the Tomoe River paper situation. So now they’re saying production may continue, only outsourced?
Upturned and Downturned Nibs (via Left Hook Pens). I’ve never gone full fude, but I’ve enjoyed slightly upturned nibs from PenBBS and (vintage) Sheaffer. In terms of downturned nibs, the MIdori MD fountain pen, with its slightly downturned “beak” nib, is an exceptional writer.
Pelikan M205 Moonstone Fountain Pen Review (via Pen Addict). Sarah reviews Pelikan’s M205 latest “gemstone” release in a grey transparent acrylic with sparkles. I have to say, these pens tend to be hard to photograph but this one looks really good.
Nanami Zen Paper (via Well-Appointed Desk). Since the Tomoe River paper supply appears to be threatened (at least temporarily while the manufacturer sorts things out), Nanami is exploring alternatives. See the article for information on how to get a sample of this new paper from Nanami.
New Brew Inks (via Rants of the Archer). These colors look great, as do the bottles.
Montblanc Petrol Blue (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist). Montblanc jumped on the “Petrol” ink trend, but this color has never really appealed to me, for some reason. I never sprang for Lamy’s version, either.
Yoseka Ink (via Mountain of Ink). So Yoseka Stationery is now selling their own line of ink? I love this green color.

In Case You Missed It….

This week on the blog, I took a more in-depth look at the new Traveler’s Company “B-Sides and Rarities” Collection. Part I looked at the Washable Paper and Super Lightweight Paper refills, while Part II looked at, well, everything else, including the Midori Cotton Letter Pad and the Zippered Cotton Case, two favorites. This week’s Deals & Drops post offered some last-minute Father’s Day gift ideas, whether for yourself or others.

New This Week In the Curated Shop!

In addition to the Traveler’s Notebook “B-Sides and Rarities,” I’ve received a restock order on most other Traveler’s Company products, including the brass accessories, refills, and notebooks, so that I have nearly the entire line available for purchase. I’ve also restocked on Midori MD Codex notebooks, which have sold like crazy. Finally, Field Notes Archival Wooden boxes are back!

Midori MD

Midori MD Cotton

Traveler's Company

Field Notes

Visit T.G.S. on Reddit, and Consider Joining TGS Patreon for Access to Monthly Meetups and More!

I’ve been trying to expand into social media beyond Instagram, due to my dissatisfaction with the direction that platform is taking. Currently, you can also engage with me on Twitter, Facebook, and now on Reddit. (Honestly, I’m active on Twitter and Reddit moreso than Facebook, but I do read all the Facebook comments, eventually.) Mainly, I’m doing this because of Instagram’s algorithm-driven approach that buries content unless you’re endlessly posting to their various formats (“Reels,” Stories, posts, etc.) and actively monitoring your account to where you’re basically having to respond to comments and DMs in real time. This is impractical, because you end up spending all your time on their platform and not actually writing or running your business, and then most of this content is temporary (24hrs) and you have to jump on the “hamster wheel” again. Many people just want an easy way to receive updates on when I post new content to the blog. Twitter and Reddit allow me to do that reliably. If there’s one thing you can do to help support T.G.S., it’s sharing our content and spreading the word!

For some additional fun, and to help support the blog consider joining the Patreon program. You can read more about T.G.S. Patreon here. This year I’ve introduced monthly online meetups, which take place on Friday or Saturday and have been super enjoyable. We’ve discussed our thoughts on pen shows restarting, recent arrivals in our personal collections, and more. I will also continue with periodic “sample sales” of gently used review items, to which Patrons will have first access. The current sale is now live!

Exploring the Traveler's Company B-Sides & Rarities Collection, Part II: Letter Pads, Memo Cards, and New Zippered Cases

June 19, 2021

On Wednesday I dove into the first half of Traveler’s Company’s much-anticipated “B-Sides & Rarities” collection, looking at two somewhat-hyped papers: Their new Washable Paper and Super-Lightweight Paper. Today, I’ll open up the rest of the refills, including two devoted to correspondence (the Letter Pad and Message Pad), two intended for highly-specific use cases (“Sticker Release” Paper and the Accordion Fold), and a new accessory, the Cotton Zippered Case that let’s you turn your Traveler’s Notebook into a wallet.

The Letter Pad: Midori MD Cotton Paper (Finally) Comes to the Traveler’s Notebook

Midori MD Cotton paper is one of my favorite fountain pen friendly papers on the market today, though it’s currently available only in blank pads and notebooks in “F” sizing. At one point, Midori made their standard A5 notebooks in MD Cotton, but sadly those have since been discontinued. Now, however, you can purchase MD Cotton paper for your Traveler’s Notebook in the form of the new B-Sides & Rarities Letter Pad, which contains 30 sheets of paper ruled for letter writing on one side, with a 3mm grid on the other. Out of all the new “B-Sides & Rarities” refills, this is perhaps my favorite, though I will likely use this one as a notepad as opposed to written correspondence.

The Message Cards are fountain pen friendly, and perfect for adding short notes to gifts and packages. If you don’t want to carry the full refill around with you, you can also detach a handful of the cards and store them in the pouch of your Traveler’s Notebook. (See below.)

Special Purpose Refills: Message Cards, Accordion Paper, and a Sticker Album

The next three new refills I plan to discuss are the ones I will likely use less frequently, simply because I don’t have as much of a personal use case for them in my daily rotation, though they’re still interesting. The “Message Cards” (pictured here) are a book of perforated, letterpress-like correspondence cards that you can use for short notes or gift tags. The “Accordion Fold” refill is a booklet containing 13 pages of folded watercolor paper, which you can extend map-style to create illustrated itineraries, multimedia travel journals, or even a timeline of your plans for the year. Finally, the “Sticker Release Paper” is made from the same paper used for sticker backing. If you collect stickers or tags from your travels, or are looking for an easy way to organize your washi tape collection, this refill lets you add, remove, and reorganize them in an album-style refill. (Note: I don’t have a sticker collection or much artistic ability with watercolor paper to show you how to use the Sticker Release or Accordion refills, though you can check out some stock photos from Traveler’s Company in the product listings to give you some ideas.)

Last But Not Least: Add Functionality to Your Traveler’s Notebook (Particularly the Passport Size) By Turning It Into a Wallet

I’ve been waiting for the right moment to add a Passport-sized Traveler’s Notebook into my daily rotation. What I would love to do is to be able to carry the Passport-size notebook as a wallet, if only on occasion, to reduce bulk and avoid carrying both a wallet and pocket notebook. The new Cotton Zippered Case might do the trick, since it contains two card slots, perfect for identification, library cards, and credit cards (though I wouldn’t overload it), and a zippered pouch, where you can stash coins, ticket stubs, and even cards that you’d prefer to keep in a more secure location. This accessory adds less bulk to the Traveler’s Notebook than the standard PVC zippered pouch, and is available in a standard size as well as the Passport size shown here.

When I first saw this product announced, I was skeptical, but the thin cotton material actually adds very little bulk to the notebook.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

I plan to get a lot of use out of the B-Sides & Rarities collection, even though I will use some refills and accessories more regularly than others. (The Letter Pad will see a lot of use.) Honestly, you don’t even need to have a Traveler’s Notebook to take advantage of some of these, particularly the Letter Pad, Sticker Release Refill, and Memo Cards. With respect to the latter two, I’m not sure I see a circumstance in which I’d ever actually carry them in my actual notebook, though I may keep a set of the Memo Cards in my desk.

You can purchase these refills, along with the rest of the Traveler’s Company “B-Sides & Rarities” Collection, in the T.G.S. Curated Shop. The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of the full range of Traveler’s Company products, including the Traveler’s Notebook and TRC Brass accessories, and I recently placed a reorder so almost everything should be in stock.

Check out these links to read further about the Traveler’s Notebook System, including how I set up my own personal Traveler’s Notebook and some of my favorite refills and accessories.

Exploring the Traveler's Company "B-Sides and Rarities" Collection, Part I: Washable and Super Lightweight Paper

June 16, 2021

Inspired by the tracks that used to appear on the “B-Side” of vinyl singles, the “B-Sides & Rarities” collection from Traveler’s Company features refills made from unusual papers with unique properties that serve a specific purpose. There are six different refills, available in both Standard and Passport size, and today I plan to look at the first two: the “Washable Paper” refill and the “Super Lightweight Paper” refill. The first as you might guess, is waterproof (or water-resistant, choose your own terminology), and the second contains ultra-thin (yet strong) onionskin paper.

Washable Paper: A “Waterproof” Paper Option for Those Who Risk Getting Their Notebooks Wet

Water-resistant paper is always a mixed bag in terms of writing experience, tends to be expensive, and typically can’t be used with fountain pens or other water-based inks. Here, with their new “Washable Paper” refill, Traveler’s Company has foregone Yupo or Rite-in-the-Rain paper in favor of the same material used to make laundry tags, with interesting results! Most notably, instead of the ink sitting on top of the page, resulting in extremely slow dry times, the Washable Paper absorbs ink. Not only does this render dry time and smearing to essentially non-issues, but it maintains “water resistance” with even the most non-water-resistant fountain pen inks. For example, if you get caught in the rain, spill a glass of water, or, heaven forbid, send your notebook through the washing machine, your writing should remain legible. And because the paper was specifically intended to be washed, it will retain its original shape and not fall apart or stick together.

For this test I cut a sheet of Washable Paper from the refill, and wrote a few lines with various pens, including fountain pens loaded with some of the least water-resistant inks in my collection (various colors of Iroshizuku and a generic black cartridge). Note that extremely wet inks will feather a bit on this paper since it’s so absorbent. Like most waterproof papers, ballpoints and pencil work the best, but fountain pens are at least usable here, with much quicker dry times. — For this test I cut a sheet of Washable Paper from the refill, and wrote a few lines with various pens, including fountain pens loaded with some of the ***least*** water-resistant inks in my collection (various colors of Iroshizuku and a generic black cartridge). Note that extremely wet inks will feather a bit on this paper since it’s so absorbent. Like most waterproof papers, ballpoints and pencil work the best, but fountain pens are at least usable here, with much quicker dry times.

As you can see, while the fountain pen ink definitely washed out after a 30-minute soak, I can still read my writing to a degree which would allow me to salvage the information if the notebook ever got sent through the washing machine. I doubt there would be any effect at all on writing done exclusively in ballpoint. Just to reiterate - NONE of the fountain pen inks I used here had any water-resistance whatsoever, and would likely disappear entirely from standard paper.

Super Lightweight Paper: An Ultra-thin Option with Better Dry Times than Tomoe River

As I discussed in an earlier post, Tomoe River Paper faces an uncertain future. The company that manufactures the paper has announced its discontinuation at various points over the past couple of years, only to backtrack, most recently announcing that while they intend to shut down their own production by the end of the year, they are exploring ways to outsource the manufacturing. Honestly, it all sounds very contingent to me, and I can’t imagine what I’d be doing if I were running a business dependent on the continued availability of this paper.

Traveler’s Company, for its part, is clearly exploring alternatives. While it’s standard “Lightweight Paper Refill”, which contains 128 pages of Tomoe River paper, is a favorite among many, the new “Super Lightweight Paper” from the “B-Sides & Rarities” collection deserves consideration in its own right. Instead of Tomoe River, the Super Lightweight refill contains 128 pages of what appears to be onionskin, an even lighter and thinner translucent paper originally used for airmail correspondence (due to its light weight) and typewriters (due to the combination of light weight and strength). Traveler’s Company describes this paper as “oilproof”, which supposedly “does not allow for oil to penetrate easily so it is hard to smear when using a fountain pen.” I’m not sure of the science behind that, but I can attest to the fact that this paper has a much quicker dry time and much less smearing than Tomoe River paper. On the other hand, it has a slightly “draggier” feel when writing with a fountain pen, and you will have more show through due to the fact that the paper is thinner. (The exact amount of show-through will vary depending on your writing pressure and ink choice.)

You’ll notice that while there is no bleed-through on this paper, there is show-through, especially where I used heavy writing pressure. It could be difficult to use both sides of the page. With pencil or a ballpoint, you would probably be fine.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

While I probably wouldn’t use these two refills as my primary everyday writing paper, that’s not what Traveler’s Company intended with the B-Sides & Rarities collection. The Waterproof Paper would be a top choice for a camping or boat trip, or a travel situation with a high risk of spills (train trip, for example?). Some might opt for the Super-Lightweight Paper as a replacement for the Lightweight Paper Tomoe River Refill, which I presume may be in short supply as manufacturing issues with Tomoe River paper are sorted out, but be aware of the show-through that might prevent you from using both sides of the page for standard writing. Stay tuned as I work my way through the rest of the newly released refills!

You can purchase both of these refills, along with the rest of the Traveler’s Company “B-Sides & Rarities” Collection, in the T.G.S. Curated Shop. The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of the full range of Traveler’s Company products, including the Traveler’s Notebook and TRC Brass accessories.