Sunday Reading for June 27, 2021

June 27, 2021

When One Nib Is Not Enough (via Pen Addict). Stacked Nibs have received a lot of attention lately, and they’re on my list of “things I need to try out at pen shows” once I have the opportunity to travel again later this summer.
The TWSBI Eco 2 Years Later (via Left Hook Pens). The Eco is an especially durable fountain pen, which is somewhat astounding at the price point. I’m glad to see that it’s caught on (and that someone else out there appreciates the transparent orange version).
Ink Institute Cat at Noon (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist). So I heard about the Ink Institute “Cat” series last night on our T.G.S. Patreon meetup, and now I’m looking to track some of these down. “Cat at Noon” is sold out nearly everywhere, and it’s one of those “double shading” inks with multiple colors and tones.
Stanford Wood Studios Impressionist Series (via Rants of the Archer). A new custom penmaker from South Africa? Count me as interested! These pens appear incredibly well-designed and well-finished.
Magna Carta Elements Water (via Dapprman). The material on this larger pen from India (with a house made nib!) is gorgeous. I just may have to pick one of these up.
Lamy 2000 Mechanical Pencil .7mm (via Scrively). The one member of the Lamy 2000 family that I have never tried! I love mechanical pencils, and I love the Lamy 2000, so I’m not sure what I’ve been waiting for.
Nuuna Flexcover Notebook (via Fountain Pen Love). Nuuna paper is extremely good quality, even for fountain pens, and they have some of the more unique designs out there as far as notebooks go. I believe Vanness Pens is the only U.S.-based retailer that stocks the brand.
Narwhal Yellow Tang Fountain Pen (via Comfortable Shoes Studio). I have the purple version of this fountain pen inked up for review, and so far I’m also liking this pen at around the $50 price point.
Pebble Stationery Cosmo Air Light x Liberty London (via Mountain of Ink). I’m really glad to see Cosmo Air Light circulating more widely in notebook form! I also love this cover collaboration by Pebble.
Musgrave Sampler Pack (via Pencil Revolution). Best stationery packaging ever. Fight me.

In Case You Missed It…

This week on the blog I looked at the new line of Esterbrook Inks, which should be hitting stores in the next couple of weeks. There are six standard colors plus three shimmer inks. I also wrote a piece that discussed stationery subscription services and their ongoing role, if any, in the current state of the stationery market.

New This Week In the Curated Shop

Check out this post for a detailed run-down of everything that’s newly arrived, but the highlights include the Field Notes “Fifty” edition, a restock on Field Notes Archival Wooden Boxes, and a new size of Life x Kleid notebooks. Many thanks for all of your support!

Caran d'Ache

TWSBI

Traveler's Company

Field Notes

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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!

First Look: Introducing Esterbrook Inks!

June 26, 2021

I’m happy to reveal that Esterbrook inks will be coming soon to your favorite pen retailers, in a range of nine new colors, six standard and three shimmer. (You may have seen these teased on the Esterbrook Instagram account over the past week.) Cary was kind enough to send me samples so that I could publish my first impressions, and so far, so good. While I’ve not had the opportunity to fully test these inks in my pens, I inked up a few this morning and will be putting them through the testing process.

Standard colors include Cobalt (blue), Ebony (black), Evergreen, Aqua, Tangerine, and Scarlet. As shown below, there are also three “Shimmer” inks: Shimmer Aqua, Shimmer Tangerine, and Shimmer Lilac. At first glance, all of the colors are vibrant, and I haven’t noticed any loss of saturation or smearing in the two weeks since I swabbed the sample sheet shown here.

I chose Evergreen and Shimmer Lilac to test out for the week.

Initial Thoughts and Where to Buy Once the New Inks Hit the Market

I’m liking the color selection here, which strikes a good balance in the sense that Esterbrook has included somewhat offbeat colors such as the tangerine and lilac alongside more standard “pen company” colors such as blue, black, green, turquoise (“Aqua,” which is a shade darker than is typical) and red (“Scarlet”). Even the standard blue is a rich “Cobalt” that I could see getting plenty of use. While I’m not a huge shimmer ink user, I will note that the “shimmer” here isn’t overly glittery, seems usable for everyday writing, and might pair quite nicely with one of the Diamondcast Esterbrook pens.

Esterbrook chose a more traditional ink bottle design, akin to the classic Pelikan bottles.

The Esterbrook inks are not available for purchase quite yet, but they should start appearing at your pen retailer of choice over the next couple of weeks. I’m almost certain Vanness Pens will have these inks in stock as soon as they hit store shelves. Stay tuned for final details on pricing and for an updated link to purchase.

Disclaimer: Esterbrook provided me with the ink samples and ink bottle featured in this review free of charge, for review purposes. This post does not contain affiliate links.

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