Sunday Reading for November 21, 2021

1. 8 Fresh Designs to Get You Excited About Fountain Pens Again (via UK Fountain Pens). We all go through that period when everything starts to look the same as what you already have/have tried, and you need something new to rekindle the interest. This article is literally a checklist of pens I have not tried but need to get my hands on ASAP.

2. Traveling with Fountain Pens - Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (via Pen Addict). Kimberly has a great guide for traveling with fountain pens as we head into the holiday season and many of us will be hitting the road or taking to the skies. Personally, I’m also an experienced pen traveler who does absolutely nothing special with my fountain pens before I get on an airplane. If they burp ink, they burp ink, and I’m just careful to have a paper towel on hand when I arrive at my destination. I rarely have any issues with modern pens.

3. Stalogy Planners (via Left Hook Pens). I continue to be very happy with my converted Stalogy notebook cut down to Traveler’s size, which Hayley was kind enough to mention in her own review.

4. Tianzi Sky Blue Piston-Fill Fountain Pen (via Rants of the Archer). Another lower-priced piston-fill fountain pen option? Apparently there’s one more I have to try!

5. The Go-To Notebook Review (via The Poor Penman). Chronicle Books has released a high-end notebook that appears to perform surprisingly well with fountain pens. What’s the most interesting to me is the fact that Mohawk Paper is prominently featured in the copy, suggesting they are trying to raise their profile in the stationery business.

6. Uni Jetstream Edge (via Writing at Large). The design on this pen is what caught my eye, but what kept me reading was the comparison to the Traveler’s Company ballpoint, a needle-tip favorite. I need to pick one of these up.

7. Ferris Wheel Press Cream of Early Grey (via Mountain of Ink). Kelli reviews and ink that has long fascinated me, even if it’s probably not usable for my everyday purposes. I do have a sample that I need to break out, eventually.

8. Accessories for the Desk: Makers Cabinet Hovel & Iris Review (via Pencilcase Blog). What, you mean part of this hobby involves making questionable financial decisions? Dries takes a look at two luxury desk accessories, the Hovel pencil planer and the Iris circle compass, which were recently rebranded under the name “Makers Cabinet”.

9. Paul’s Fountain Pen Journal (via Well-Appointed Desk). I also was not aware that Paul was offering a paid subscription to his fountain pen-focused publication, Paul’s Fountain Pen Journal. Please check it out, and Ana has all the links and details.

In Case You Missed It…

This week on the blog I looked at inks! (I know, I’ve been on an ink review kick lately but you all seem to be enjoying them and I have a lot of inks to get through. Plus I’ve been doing a lot of writing at the day job.) Check out my review of Anderillium “Cuttlefish Brown,” a sepia-colored ink, as well as this first look at several Sailor inks I picked up during my recent trip to Chicago that includes Manyo HaHa and four entries in the Sailor Ink Studio collection.

Check out the 2021 T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide and New Shop Arrivals

In advance of this year’s holiday shopping season, I launched the 2021 edition of the T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide, which features more than a dozen different gift ideas from the T.G.S. Curated Shop, including recently restocked old favorites and some new ideas for this year. This week’s Deals & Drops goes into the new arrivals and shop restocks in a bit more detail, including Hightide Sandglasses and Folding Book Stands, as well as the full range of Penco “Perfection” pocket pens! Finally, don’t forget that the “Gently Used” Shop has been restocked with items from my own personal collection that I’ve decided to part with.

Sandglasses

Book Stands

Enamel Pins

Washi Tape

Consider Joining TGS Patreon for Access to Monthly Meetups and First Dibs on Gently Used Stationery, Exclusive Products and More! (For those in the Patreon, Check the Sale Page!)

For some additional fun, and to help support the blog consider joining the Patreon program. Patreon supporters receive special pricing and early access to product releases and collaborations such as the T.G.S. x Sunderland pen, in addition to other benefits. 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. The Patreon membership also has “first dibs” on my regular gently used stationery sales. Today, I listed a bunch of new gently used products in the Gently Used Section, including some rare Blackwings from my personal collection, a handful of gently used custom fountain pens, and some high-end notebooks that I’m never going to get around to using. Patreon users already have had their pick, but there are some great items remaining!

Chicago Trip Ink Haul: Several from Sailor Ink Studio & Sailor Manyo HaHa

It’s been that kind of week: I’m just now getting around to unpacking my bags from last week’s Chicago trip, before I turn around and head out the door again on Tuesday for the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S.! I have a few review posts in the works, but couldn’t help sharing my initial swatches of five different Sailor Inks I picked up at Anderson Pens Chicago. Consistent with my latest obsession, all of these inks are double-shaders that, despite some initial hesitation, appear to be quite legible and might make good everyday writers. Also, look at the color shift in the ink as it dries! (And yes, I know I got the numbering wrong in the writing sample. 242 should be 252.)

View fullsize

A little bit of a “time lapse” photo here, when the ink was still wet.

View fullsize

Time lapse part 2: Check out the color change as the inks dry, especially on Ink Studio 173 and 280. Sailor Manyo HaHa is one of the prettiest double-shading blues I’ve seen.

I’m becoming a bigger fan of both Sailor Ink Studio and the Sailor Manyo inks, the more I use them. Sailor inks are always well behaved, and the Ink Studio line features dozens of unique colors unlike anything I’ve seen elsewhere. Currently, you can only find these inks at select Sailor retailers, including Anderson Pens which carries the inks online and in their Appleton, Wisconsin and Chicago stores. For the record, the inks featured in this post are as follows: Sailor Manyo Haha (50ml, $19), Sailor Ink Studio 252 (20ml, $18), Sailor Ink Studio 173 (20ml, $18), Sailor Ink Studio 280 (20ml, $18), Sailor Ink Studio 670 (20ml, $18). Look for some more follow-up observations as I get these into rotation and work them through some pens.

This post does not contain affiliate links. I was not compensated for this review, and I purchased the inks with my own funds, though I did receive a slight discount on the purchase. Many thanks to Anderson Pens for making this review possible.

View fullsize

Ink Review: Anderillium Inks "Cuttlefish Brown" (Cephalopod Series)

What could be more fun than nature-themed inks created by scientists? Tampa, FL-based Anderillium Inks has been around for a few years, but I had never experienced their inks until this year’s Chicago Pen Show, where they had a table with two full ink series (“Cephalopod” and “Avian”) and all of their inks loaded into tester pens. I walked away with two: “Cuttlefish Brown” and “Shoebill Stork Grey”, one from each series, respectively.

I had read mixed reviews of early renditions of the Anderillium Inks from a few years ago. While people enjoyed the colors, some experienced feathering and other issues. I’m pleased to report that the two inks I purchased in Chicago are near-perfect: I love the colors, and they both behave quite well on even inexpensive office paper. The Cuttlefish Brown is the one I’ve written with the most, and it’s what I would consider a “true sepia,” meaning that it’s intended to mimic the look of actual cuttlefish ink that was traditionally used in vintage writing applications (minus the fishy smell, as Anderillium points out on their website).

View fullsize

Cuttlefish Brown was the ink that I chose for my other Chicago Pen Show Purchase, this Chicago Pen Company Sheba fountain pen (review forthcoming)!

It’s an inside pen-show joke that everybody comes to a show looking for an “authentic sepia”, but nobody actually has a clue what sepia is supposed to look like. Well, IMHO, this is it. Anderillium Cuttlefish Brown lays down a dark brown line, but as the ink dries it shifts to a subtle brownish-grey that I consider the hallmark of a true “sepia” color that you see in vintage writing samples and photographs.

View fullsize

Takeaways and Where to Buy

I’ve enjoyed using this Cuttlefish Brown ink, and the muted brown-grey tones are perfect for the office. This ink should see some serious use in my work pens. As of September 2022, You can purchase this ink and others directly from the T.G.S. Curated Shop, priced at $14.50 for a 1.5oz (approximately 45ml) bottle of ink. The Anderillium Ink bottles resemble jelly jars (in fact, they might be jelly jars), which means that for at least the first half of the bottle, you can easily refill larger-diameter pens with big nibs.

Anderillium mentions on their website that all of their inks are made in-house by their own resident chemist, without using animal products and with an eye to sustainability and environmental preservation. You can read more about the company, its practices, and even the artwork on the website and ink bottles here.

This post does not contain affiliate links, and I purchased the inks featured in this post with my own funds, for my own use. The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from The T.G.S. Curated Shop and the T.G.S. Patreon Program. Be sure to check out our recently published 2021 Holiday Gift Guide!

The T.G.S. 2021 Holiday Gift Guide is Live!

It’s that time of year again, and consistent with my firmly held belief that Halloween and Thanksgiving are still holidays, I’ve held off on issuing the T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide until the second half of November! (Personally, I’d love to wait until Black Friday, but given shipping delays, everyone should be getting a head start on orders.) As with last year, the 2021 Holiday Gift Guide features a selection of products from the fully restocked T.G.S. Curated Shop.

View fullsize

While the gift guide has more than a dozen different gift ideas, if I had to pick three personal favorites for gift-giving this year, they would be the following:

• Caran d’Ache 849 Rollerball Pens. These have now started shipping in the Caran d’Ache metal clamshell cases, so they make an impressive gift presentation that won’t break the bank. While the 849 Rollerball ships with an excellent Caran d’Ache Rollerball refill, the pen accepts any Parker-style refill, ballpoint or rollerball. Your recipient will be able to easily use this pen for a long time.

• A Midori MD Notebook with a Natural Goat Leather Cover. I’ve found that few gift ideas are more universally loved than nice notebooks, because even non “pen people” use notebooks in one way or another. The Midori MD brand combines both high-quality paper and a universal size cover that can probably be refilled not only with easily available MD notebooks but other similarly-sized refills.

• Hightide Co. Desktop Hourglass and/or Folding Metal Book Stand. I LOVE analog timers that don’t feature a jarring buzzer, and these Hightide Co. desktop sandglasses/hourglasses are one of my favorite items in the shop. They’re useful and they look great in an office. Similarly, the folding metal book stands make an inexpensive, yet thoughtful, gift for the reader or office worker, who can use it to hold anything from a book to a notepad or electronic tablet.

Check out these and more in the 2021 Gift Guide. We’ve been receiving a high volume of orders lately, but don’t be concerned if something is sold out - We are constantly restocking and recently placed a couple of large orders so please keep checking back.

View fullsize

View fullsize

The T.G.S. Curated Shop is an authorized retailer of all brands sold. By shopping with us directly, you are supporting original content, pen reviews, pen show events, etc. from The Gentleman Stationer. If you would like to support us even further, please consider checking out the T.G.S. Patreon Program, which offers access to online meetups, exclusive discounts and pre-orders, and more!

Sunday Reading for November 14, 2021

1. TWSBI Black (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist). TWSBI Black needs more attention as a free-flowing black ink with high water-resistance. (We carry the full TWSBI ink lineup in The Curated Shop.)

2. Laban Gloria Ruby Red (via Rants of the Archer). Laban pens and ink have been receiving a lot of exposure lately. Laban has always been a prolific pen manufacturer, but they recently have released a series of “Greek Mythology”-themed inks that are taking off. This review contains some shots of the “Ares red.”

3. UKFP 2021 Christmas Gift Guide (via UK Fountain Pens). The first of the gift guides to hit the ‘net (at least the first that I’m aware of). Those of you in the UK or the EU should check this one out, since it focuses on . My own will follow sometime later this week.

4. Ink Overview: Esterbrook Inks Part 2 (via Macchiato Man). Yagan has another of his incredibly thorough reviews of an entire line of inks, this time the second installment of a look at the recently released inks from Esterbrook.

5. Pen and Notepad Review: Midori MD Fountain Pen, A5 Notebook, and MD Paper Cover Notebook (via Macchiato Man). This week, there’s a second, also incredibly thorough review of a brand close to my own heart, Midori. I absolutely LOVE the MD system (disclaimer, I sell Midori), and feel that it’s one of the best-integrated brands out there, in terms of the brand’s identity remaining visible throughout the entire product line.

6. Edison x Goldspot Pens Newark Orion Nebula Diamondcast Fountain Pen (via Pen Addict). I love seeing what pen makers have been able to do with Diamondcast material, and this Edison exclusive from Goldspot is one of my favorites.

7. Midori 2022 Pocket Diary Slim - Ojisan (via Well-Appointed Desk). Yes, there are pocket planners out there beyond Hobonichi and Traveler’s Company! If you’re looking for a small, inexpensive calendar, don't forget to check out what Midori has to offer.

8. Caran d’Ache Alfredo Häberli 2mm Fixpencil Review (via Pen Addict). I was too slow on the draw and missed getting these for the Curated Shop (they went fast!) but the ochre and periwinkle blue color combination looks amazing.

9. Wancher Primo Fountain Pen (via Pencilcase Blog). This new design from Wancher looks great, but it appears there may be some room for improvement in the usability department, especially with respect to the weight of the pen.

10. What I’ve Been Using This Week (via Inkdependence). I really do wish more people would write about their weekly usage and the pens they are using day-to-day. I’m going to make an effort to talk more about this myself.

In Case You Missed It….

This week on the blog I wrote about a new (to me) ink I’ve discovered, Birmingham Pen Company “Angelfish,” which is a super-sheener blue ink that actually behaves well and could see regular use. Since I was on a short family trip, Saturday’s post included a short recap of my trips to Anderson Pens Chicago and Atlas Stationers, two great stationery stores you should visit if you are ever in that city (one of my favorites). This week’s Deals & Drops announced a bunch of restocks in advance of the holiday shopping season - see the Shop Updates section below for details.

T.G.S. Curated Shop Restocks and a New Round of “Gently Used” Pens and Stationery!

At long last, I finally was able to receive a restock of the ever-popular Hightide Co. Folding Metal Book Stands, as well as certain Write Notepads products like the Landscape notebook that have been out of stock for a while. I’ve also added a bunch of items to the “Gently Used” sale, which features pens, pencils, and notebooks from my own personal collection that it’s time to let go, whether to simply clear clutter or to make room for new acquisitions and review material. Patreon members already have had their first pick, but there’s a lot left.

Hightide Co.

Write Notepads

Traveler's Company

Kokuyo

Consider Joining TGS Patreon for Access to Monthly Meetups and First Dibs on Gently Used Stationery, Exclusive Products and More! (For those in the Patreon, Check the Sale Page!)

For some additional fun, and to help support the blog consider joining the Patreon program. Patreon supporters receive special pricing and early access to product releases and collaborations such as the T.G.S. x Sunderland pen, in addition to other benefits. 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. The Patreon membership also has “first dibs” on my regular gently used stationery sales. Today, I listed a bunch of new gently used products in the Gently Used Section, including some rare Blackwings from my personal collection, a handful of gently used custom fountain pens, and some high-end notebooks that I’m never going to get around to using. Patreon users already have had their pick, but there are some great items remaining!