Sunday Reading for January 28, 2024

1. Adventures in Time-Blocked Planning (via Writing at Large). I’m two months or so in to my own experiment with time-blocking, and it’s definitely a new way of looking at productivity. I’m hoping it sticks because when executed well this technique is incredibly effective.

2. Writing as Part of Slow Living Movement (via Well-Appointed Desk). Relatedly, one of the things about time-blocking is that it forces you to look realistically at your day and ruthlessly prioritize, helping you to discard those things you really don’t need to do and slow down and focus on the things that are actually important.

3. #17InkQuestions: A Gathering of Curiosities Edition (via A Gathering of Curiosities). On the heels of last year’s #21PenQuestions trend, we now have an ink-themed version! Yes, I’ll be working on my own answers.

4. Floating World: Taccia Sabimidori (via A Fleeting Ripple). Taccia inks are (deservedly) getting more attention in recent years, mainly due to sheeners like Sabimidori.

5. The Retractable Ensso Bolt (via Figboot on Pens). This is the second new retractable fountain pen that we’ve seen released over the past year or so, both of which targeted a sub-$100 price point. The nib appears to be the same as the Endless retractable fountain pen.

6. Franklin-Christoph Philly Pen Show 2024 Ink (via Cheryl Lindo-Jones). I love blue-greys, and may pick up a bottle of this since I didn’t get a chance to swing back by when I was at the show.

7. Tactile Turn Side Click Review (via The Poor Penman). Tactile Turn makes what is easily my favorite “click pen” currently on the market. I have one of their seasonal editions, and have had to carefully pick and choose to ensure that I don’t end up with all of them.

8. Graf von Faber-Castell Pen of the Year: Ancient Egypt (via Figboot on Pens). For me, these designs are either hit or miss. This particular pen is my favorite since the “Samurai” pen from a few years ago.

9. Ryan Krusac Ashbain the Dragon (via Rachel’s Reflections). Ryan Krusac’s scrimshaw pens are works of art.

10. Meet Your Maker: Rich Paul, River City Pen Company (via Pen Addict - Caroline). I enjoyed meeting Rich in Philadelphia and look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.

Many different ways to use the unique paper layout in the Itoya ProFolio Notebooks!

In Case You Missed It…

This week on the blog the theme was paper! I updated the “Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper” resource, and reviewed one of the new additions: the Itoya ProFolio Oasis Notebook, which has gained popularity in recent years as a lie-flat alternative with a multi-lined ruling.

New Curated Shop Arrivals - New Roterfaden Shipments, Including New Designs!

The big news from the shop was the arrival of additional Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter organizers, including multiple new larger format A4 Portfolios, at least one 4-clip A5 organizer, and a restock of A5 favorites and Roterfaden’s own notebooks. We also received our shipment of TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR Black fountain pens, and these have sold so well that we only have two pens left in stock. We’ll plan to reorder soon…though this last shipment did contain a restock of nearly all TWSBI inks and pen models!

TWSBI

Pilot

Roterfaden

Clairefontaine

Support us on patreon and get access to our monthly meetup and extra content!

If you enjoy our content (whether here on the main website, Instagram, YouTube Channel or elsewhere), there are several ways that you can support us. We do our best to remain 100% self-supported without having to rely on third-party advertisers or affiliates. Of course, the number one way to help is to visit our curated retail shop! If you enjoy in-person and virtual meetups and having access to more personal content, consider joining the T.G.S. Patreon, which also includes early access to quarterly gently used sales. Patreon support starts as low as $3 per month, and if you pay annually there is a further discount. This past month, Patreon supporters have had access to additional Inkvent content, including commentary on my favorite Diamine Inkvent inks and more. The first of these Inkvent posts is public, so please check out Patreon to learn more!

No matter how you support us - even if just with a comment, recommendation, or encouraging word - we greatly appreciate your readership!

Notebook Review: ProFolio Oasis Notebook

ProFolio Oasis notebooks landed on my radar at the first San Francisco Pen Show that I attended, where I had a chance to browse the Sailor/Itoya table. As a huge fan of multi-lined rulings such as Clairefontaine French/Seyes ruling and the Nakabayashi “Logical” lined rulings, I immediately jumped at the ProFolio layout, which distributor/manufacturer Itoya describes as a combination of “dots, graph, and lines.”

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The ProFolio Oasis multi-lined layout.

Itoya highlights versatility as the main selling point of this notebook:

“The Profolio Oasis Notebook was designed to make the hard choice of “which journal” much easier. While many people have a hard time choosing between dot grid, graph, or lined, the Oasis Journal combines the best of all three with its new proprietary paper pattern. The combination of dots, grids, and lines as well as their light application makes this notebook ideal for handwriting, bullet journaling, and even drawing straight lines without the necessity of a ruler.”

— Itoya Marketing Copy

I promise current and former co-workers who may be reading this that the meeting reflected in these notes is entirely fictional.

Personally, I use rulings such as this one to alternate the size of my script, which allows me to take different types of notes and make annotations all over the page. If I need to emphasize a certain note, I’ll use larger letters, and if I want to add annotations I’ll not only write smaller but will use the interior dotted lines instead of the wider, bold ruling. Each page of the notebook features a header section, so that you can date and label as necessary. Some of you may find the header section useful for summarizing meetings or key takeaways from a page of notes.

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The paper is excellent. The current version of the ProFolio notebook features lightweight 75gsm Japanese paper that handles fountain pen ink quite well. If you enjoy the look of Clairefontaine French-ruled paper, yet find Clairefontaine too slick, the ProFolio paper has a softer texture more akin to Nakabayashi. (It might even be the same paper used in the Logical line, though that is pure speculation and there are slight differences in layout, particularly the header.) I picked an A5 version in “Brick Red” to test, and so far this paper has performed quite well with every fountain pen ink I’ve tried. Other available sizes include A6 and B5.

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Takeaways and Where to Buy

The Itoya ProFolio Oasis series gets the T.G.S. stamp of approval. In addition to featuring quality paper with a versatile ruling/layout, ProFolio earns bonus points for multiple convenient sizes and a lie-flat binding. These Oasis notebooks are now available in our own shop and priced from $9.99 to $15.99, depending on size. As noted above, these come in A6, A5, and the coveted B5, which sits between A5 and A4. There are also five different colors. I didn’t realize the extent to which people appreciated this B5 size until I started carrying Nakabayashi and ProFolio, and I’ll try to find more in the future.

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In recent years there has been a proliferation of notebooks marketed as “fountain pen friendly”, and not all of them live up to their billing. Given the current demand for good paper, I make it a point to test as many notebooks as I can because I know that eventually I’ll get questions on brands that are receiving a lot of attention on social media. If you’d like to read more on what I consider to be fountain pen friendly paper and specific brands you might want to try, I recently updated the “Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper” site resource.

This post does not contain third-party advertising or affiliate links. The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper, Updated as of January 24, 2024!

I’ve taken some time this week to update another site resource, as part of an ongoing project that I plan to continue in response to reader feedback. Apparently many of you find these comprehensive resources helpful, especially for those new to fountain pens, inks, and quality paper!

This particular post, titled “Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper,” originated back in March 2021 in response to reader requests for an overall “guide” to fountain pen friendly paper. Honestly, there are so many different paper options out there that it’s impossible to rate, much less rank, them all, but this post grouping some of the more popular brands into “Tiers” of fountain pen friendliness has proven helpful to a lot of you so I’ll keep it going! I also want to maintain this as a “post”, as opposed to a “page”, because it has a rich comment section with lots of different recommendations for papers not yet available in the U.S. market. Today’s update adds a few new brands that I’ve discovered, and deletes some paper options that are no longer available due to their having been discontinued. Enjoy!

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

New Arrivals: Lots of New Roterfaden Taschenbegleiters Now Available!

After a week or so of delays due to the weather here in Tennessee, we’ve finally received our latest shipment of Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter organizers in A4, A5, and A6 sizes, along with a full restock of Roterfaden-brand refills! This shipment has a few notable additions, including more of the A4 portfolios which have proven so popular, as well as two new versions of the A5 SO_20 soft cover. One version now features an elastic band, but my personal favorite is a limited edition in white/light cream leather with dark suede interior. You all know how much I love using light leather covers and letting them patina and age!

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Yes. I went with white leather. No, I don’t care that it will collect stains/patina/etc. It’s a feature, not a bug!

You can check out the full range of Roterfaden products in the T.G.S. Curated Shop. Please note that the rubber “Print Blanket” covers are now available with different interior felt options. All pre-orders have now shipped - if you haven’t received UPS tracking information, please let me know!

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of Roterfaden products.

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The SO_20 Soft-Cover A5 Taschenbegleiter is slightly oversized. Here is a white one shown with a Hobonichi Cousin AND a Midori MD Light A5 notebook.

Sunday Reading for January 21, 2024

1. What Are We Looking For? (via A Gathering of Curiosities). Why did you dive into the pen hobby? There’s a lot to unpack here, but I think this post does a great job of unraveling the various threads of interest.

2. 2024 Philadelphia Pen Show Recap (via Pen Addict - Kimberly). This is a great recap of the show, and I’m glad to hear traffic continued to pick up after I had to head out early on Saturday afternoon. Friday was a bit slow.

3. AI in the Pen Community (via Well-Appointed Desk). While I can see legitimate uses for AI, I would prefer to keep it out of pen community, thank you very much. (I suspect the product discussed in this review is very much tongue-in-cheek.)

4. Holiday Recap: 2023 Weirdoforest Reflection (via Weirdoforest Pens). 2023 reflections are still trickling out! This was an interesting one for me because it has a discussion of some pens/brands that had been off my radar.

5. Nakaya Hurt by Noto Earthquake (via Dapprman). Fortunately everyone working for Nakaya is apparently safe.

6. Gravitas Ultimate Vac (via Dapprman). An exceptionally thorough review of a pen I need to get into my own review queue.

7. Waterman Tender Purple: Quick Impressions (via Cheryl Lindo Jones). A great purple ink, though as noted it’s a wet ink so keep that in mind when choosing to put it in broad and stub nibs.

8. Early Thoughts on the Duke 551 Confucius Bamboo Fude Pen Nib (via Fountain Pen Blog). I’m intrigued a bit by these lower-cost fude nibs that other bloggers frequently write about. I may need to give them a shot!

9. A Bock Mystery (via Rachel’s Reflections). I’m not a heavy Bock user, as nearly all of my custom pens use JoWo-threaded nib units, so I wasn’t aware of this controversy over whether all Bock nib housings are uniform….

10. The Harmony in a Simple Index Tab (via mnmlscholar). Index tabs are one of my absolute favorite categories of simple stationery accessories that can transform your usage, especially if you use notebooks for multiple subjects or purposes.

11. Quick Look - Asvine P36 (via The Poor Penman). I was impressed with the build of the Asvine P36 for the price point, but as Paul points out, there are going to be issues with consistency and QC when attempting to keep costs down.

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The T.G.S. Ink Review Archive is Live!

In Case You Missed It…

This week’s theme was ink! I started by reviewing several dark teal and turquoise inks I’ve been using in my daily rotation, including inks from the Iroshizuku, Laban Greek Mythology, and Wearingeul lines. I also launched a project I’ve been working on for some time: The Gentleman Stationer Ink Review Archive, which contains reviews of 110+ inks from the past decade of T.G.S.!

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As of the time of posting, we have exactly one of these pens left in stock.

This Week in the T.G.S. Curated Shop: Nahvalur Dragon, Clairefontaine Looseleaf, and a Black TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR!

Lots of new arrivals hit the shop this week, including Nahvalur’s 2024 Pen of the Year, designed around the Year of the Dragon. This pen features a stunning black, red, and gold resin plus a 14k nib option. (These sold incredibly quickly, and currently only the 14k nib pens remain!) The Black TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR is also available for purchase, with the pens set to arrive and ship on Tuesday. Check out this week’s Thursday Drops post for all of our recent arrivals!

Nahvalur

Pilot

TWSBI

Clairefontaine

Bear with us as we are still iced in, and USPS, Fedex, and UPS have all postponed most pick-ups and deliveries until Monday when warmer temperatures arrive. While we have been packing and delivering orders to the drop-off points near my office, I doubt many packages have moved due to the treacherous road conditions.

How to Support T.G.S. - Plus a Patreon Meetup This Coming Saturday

If you enjoy our content (whether here on the main website, Instagram, YouTube Channel or elsewhere), there are several ways that you can support us. We do our best to remain 100% self-supported without having to rely on third-party advertisers or affiliates. Of course, the number one way to help is to visit our curated retail shop, especially during the upcoming holiday season! If you enjoy in-person and virtual meetups and having access to more personal content, consider joining the T.G.S. Patreon, which also includes early access to quarterly gently used sales. Patreon support starts as low as $3 per month, and if you pay annually there is a further discount. This past month, Patreon supporters have had access to additional Inkvent content, including commentary on my favorite Diamine Inkvent inks and more. The first of these Inkvent posts is public, so please check out Patreon to learn more!

No matter how you support us - even if just with a comment, recommendation, or encouraging word - we greatly appreciate your readership!