Thursday Drops: New Arrivals from Tom's Studio, Anterique, Toyo and More!

Just in time for the summer season, we’ve received a restock of shop favorites including Toyo Steel Boxes and the Tom’s Studio Fineliner lineup. In addition to the Lumos and Wren, we now have the Ori “Infinitely Refillable” Highlighter, as well as the Tom’s Studio Highlighter inks and a full lineup of Tom’s Studio fountain pen inks in both standard colors and shimmer. Certain colors (specifically Clementine and Espresso) have been in high demand and are now back in stock. Note that we also have Tom’s Studio replacement nibs, ink reservoirs, and other parts.

Did I mention we have additional TWSBI fountain pens in many different materials and nib sizes?

If you would like to see how the Tom’s Studio pens work, yesterday I wrote a post discussing how I set up the Ori Highlighters, and also did a short YouTube demonstration of how the reservoirs and tips fill. In addition to the large Tom’s Studio shipment, we have new stock of Toyo Steel boxes in many different colors, Diamine ink in favorite colors (including Writer’s Blood!) and more!

Come see these and more in-store during normal hours this week, from 1-6pm Thursday and Friday, and from 10am-5pm on Saturday.

1. Toyo Steel Boxes in New Colors. We received a new shipment of Toyo Steel Boxes in several sizes and several new colors, including gorgeous indigo and lilac shades. These steel boxes from Toyo are useful for storing small bottles of ink, washing tapes, and other desk and office supplies.

2. Tom’s Studio Ori Refillable Highlighters. The latest release from Tom’s Studio features refillable highlighter pens in three different color combinations and six different fluorescent inks. Two of the inks (green and purple) are dye-based and can be used in the Lumos pens.

3. Tom’s Studio Lumos Refillable Fineliners. We received a shipment of Lumos Duo pens in all colors, so we are fully stocked. For those of you coming to see us in person in the Nashville shop, we have new Lumos testers inked up with several different tip sizes. You can read more about how these work and why we like them here.

4. Tom’s Studio Wren Fineliner Pen. If you are looking for a pocketable refillable fineliner to use mainly for writing, consider the smaller Tom’s Studio Wren!

5. Tom’s Studio Fountain Pen Inks. Safe for use in all fountain pens and Tom’s Studio refillable fineliners, the Tom’s Studio line of inks features 20+ ink colors. We have all of them currently in stock as of the time of this post.

6. Anterique GP1 Gel Pen. Is it a click pen, or a capped pen? This new gel pen from Anterique features a smooth .5mm gel refill in multiple colors that match the “cap” of the pen. (It’s not a capped pen - it’s actually a click pen that looks like a posted vintage-style ballpoint!)

7. Anterique Classic Ballpoint Pen. The cult classic that went viral overnight is back in stock in many popular colors. These Anterique ballpoints feature a smooth low-viscosity ballpoint refill that’s perfect for everyday writing.

8. Life Paper. We are restocked on Life Noble Note, Typewriter Paper, and Airmail/Onionskin pads. Life Paper is widely regarded as some of the most fountain pen friendly paper available and is prominently featured in our long-running post “Hierarchies of Fountain Pen Friendly Paper.”

9. Diamine Bottled Ink. We recently received a restock shipment of Diamine Ink, including favorite colors like Writer’s Blood, Oxblood, and Lady Grey. We even have single bottles of some of our favorite past Inkvent Colors!

10. Diamine Ink Cartridges. In addition to the Diamine assortment packs, we now have single-color packs of select Diamine Inks, including Writer’s Blood, Early Grey, and more.

Oh, and as a special surprise, we have a couple of Itoya Helvetica ballpoints that I brought back from Japan! These won’t be a regular item so be sure to grab one as available.

New Pen Day! Setting Up the Tom's Studio Ori Refillable Highlighter (And Cleaning Out the Lumos)

Tom’s Studio recently announced their latest product - an “infinitely refillable” version of a product that isn’t supposed to be refillable: the highlighter. Dubbed the “Ori,” this new pen works on the same principle as the Lumos and Wren refillable fineliners. Each Ori highlighter pen features a double-ended design with two replaceable cotton reservoirs and marker-style tips. To fill the pen, you dip the end of the reservoir into the ink and watch as the ink saturates the filling system and the tip. Each bottle of Tom’s Studio highlighter ink also includes a small eyedropper, and Tom’s Studio suggests that you apply a drop or two to the tip of the marker to ensure adequate saturation and ink flow.

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It never gets old watching these things fill up.

I’m really happy to see a product like this reach market. Way back in the early 2010s, what prompted me to start exploring better stationery was the waste inherent in disposable pens, and especially plastic highlighters. Working in a research-intensive profession, I would churn through highlighters at a somewhat astonishing pace, though my current burn rate has slowed somewhat due to a focus on finer tipped products like the Zebra Mildliners, which use less ink.

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While it might look like a bit of a project at first, setting up the Ori (and the Lumos and Wren) is fairly simple even if you get inky fingers!

Tom’s Studio currently makes six different fluorescent highlighter inks that you can use with the Ori: Yellow, Orange, Blue, Green, Pink, and Purple. These are available individually in 5ml dropper bottles, or as a set of 6. Each individual Ori comes packaged with the two colors that match the pen’s anodization, and if you spring for the set of three pens, you’ll get all six inks plus a set of the bullet and brush tips. As of today, all products are available in our own shop.

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The three-pen set comes nicely packaged, with inks and all the tips.

If you only want one pen, you can also buy the set of six inks separately.

Inevitable Question: Can I Use the Ori Inks in My Tom’s Studio Lumos Pens?

Yes and No. Per Tom’s Studio, the Green and Purple Fluorescent inks are dye-based, and can therefore be used in the Lumos pens with the fibre or brush tips (i.e., the marker-style tips). The other four inks are pigment based, and should only be used in the Ori Highlighters because they will clog the Lumos. However, all six inks can also be used with dip pens.

These colors are all super saturated and appear as bright as your standard disposable highlighter. Even on the cheapest paper, I’ve had minimal bleedthrough.

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The chisel tip on the Lumos (left) is much finer than the Ori’s tip, though it’s not angled and will need to be held vertically.

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The brush tip on the Lumos can also be used as a highlighter. For both the brush tip and the chisel tip, I’ve chosen not to use the brass tip protector because it covers too much of the marker.

Another note: given how brightly colored these fluorescent highlighter inks are, and the fact that most of them use pigment, I do not expect that it will be easy to rinse out the reservoirs and tips and change colors. Fortunately, both replacement tips and reservoirs are fairly inexpensive, and even with the Tom’s Studio Lumos and Wren refillable fineliners, I’m finding it easier to simply use a new reservoir or tip rather than spend the time required to rinse these things clean enough to change colors. These reservoirs can be flushed a few times before they will no longer hold ink, but it requires a LOT of work. As you can see below, with certain brightly colored inks, you will likely never get the reservoir completely clear of ink residue.

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Despite a lot of washing, these are about as clean as you will get a used reservoir. The top two are probably fine to change colors. The bottom one should only be used with a similarly-colored ink.

The TGS Curated Shop is an authorized retailer of Tom’s Studio products, including pens and inks. We also sell replacement nibs, marker tips, and reservoirs. In addition to our online store, you can see all of these products in our Nashville shop.

New Arrivals: TWSBI ECO Black Marble + Bronze Fountain Pens!

We just received our shipment of the new TWSBI ECO Black Marble & Bronze fountain pens, along with a restock of in-demand TWSBI pens including the ECO Serpentine Bronze and the new Obsidian special edition piston filler. These swirled acrylic TWSBI ECOs have been more popular than expected, with certain colors and patterns hard to keep in stock (especially Serpentine and the Cosmo + Onyx). We’ll continue to order more and restock as long as we can, though as you all know these are typically released for a while and then cycled out to make room for new colors!

Oh, and I Caved and Ordered Some Shimmer Ink

So many of you asked for these in the Nashville shop that I finally gave in and ordered some shimmer inks. And you know what, despite myself I’m really enjoying some of these colors! Fountain pen shimmer ink has come a long way in the years since I’ve been in the hobby, with manufacturers fine-tuning the inks with ever-finer particles and better overall formulations. I’ve been using inks from Tono & Lims (My Bank Account is Sick and Bechorium Chloride), Herbin (Opale Nocturne), Colorverse (Year of the Dragon), and Robert Oster (Bless Your Heart!), and have had no issues with any of these clogging pens or flowing regularly. We recently added several of the Tom’s Studio shimmer inks, which span a broad range of colors. I’m looking forward to getting a few of these latest arrivals into pens as well!

Come see these and more in-person! We will be open this week from 1-6pm Thursday-Friday and 10am-6pm on Saturday, but be sure to check back for hours the week of February 16 because they will likely change due to travel.

Thursday Drops: Pilot and Tom's Studio Restock, Stickers, Staplers, and More for the Holidays!

The holiday shopping season is here and we’re doing our best to restock as much as we can as fast as we can! This week we received a restock of Pilot fountain pens, including additional Pilot Custom 823s and many favorite colors of Iroshizuku ink such as Asa Gao, Yama Budo, and Kon Peki. We also received more Tom’s Studio Lumos and Wren refillable fineliners. Finally, as I noted yesterday both on the blog and on YouTube, we’ve also introduced more desk accessories, including Zenith Staplers from Italy, and we have a wide range of new stickers and washi available from MT Tapes and iLootPaperie!

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It’s not just higher-end Pilot that we have back in stock. In addition to the Custom 823, we also have more of the new Pilot Prera fountain pens, as well as the new Kakuno Special Editions!

I have been receiving e-mails from many of you inquiring about holiday gift ideas, and I will respond as quickly as I can. I did, however, want to issue a general P.S.A. that if you are looking for holiday delivery in December, please get orders in as quickly as possible. While we ship within 2-3 business days, both USPS and UPS will likely begin experiencing shipping and delivery delays starting around Thanksgiving, if not already, and many are predicting that this year will be worse. Building in time to handle lost packages, insurance claims, and time for shipping any replacements will help us ensure timely delivery of gifts.

Our Nashville shop is open this week Thursday and Friday from 1pm-6pm, and from 10am-6pm on Saturday. Next week we will be closed on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday) but will be open regular hours Friday and Saturday. Hope to see you there!

1. Pilot Custom 823 Fountain Pens. We have the Pilot Custom 823 available in all colors and most nib sizes, including Signature nibs in the Amber acrylic. Read more about the Custom 823 and why we love this high-capacity vacuum filler here.

2. Tom’s Studio Lumo Pro Duo in Clementine. Tom’s Studio has released its dual-tip fineliner in a warm matte orange finish that’s perfectly timed for autumn and the holiday season! We also received a restock of most colors of the standard Lumos, and have special edition “Splash” and Titanium finishes as well.

3. Tom’s Studio Wren in Clementine. I was surprised to see a Clementine Wren as well! For those looking for a pocketable fineliner with a standard writing tip, the Wren is an excellent option and now features the same warm matte orange Clementine finish. Standard color options are also restocked.

4. Diplomat Viper Fountain Pens and Rollerballs. We have additional Viper fountain pens in Blue, Black, and Brown, with Green on the way. All Rollerballs are back in stock. The Viper is an excellent hooded-nib fountain pen at an accessible price point, with a highly usable F/M nib.

5. Zenith 590 and Zenith 591 Plier-Style Staplers. I couldn’t resist these cool desk accessories from Italy, available in five different color combinations chosen by us for the shop. We showcased these on the blog and in a YouTube demonstration video. Compatible staples are also available.

6. Life Airmail Writing Pads and Envelopes. We now once again offer both the Life Airmail Writing Pads and matching envelopes. These feature lightweight, yet still ink-friendly, onionskin paper like that used for classic Airmail written correspondence.

7. Levenger Notabandeau Book Bands. These elastic book bands will fit around an A5 or similar notebook, as well as a standard hardcover book, for those who like to be able to tuck pens, glasses, and other accessories for a lightweight and streamlined carry.

8. Levenger Library Card Bookmarks. Bookmarks are another accessory obsession of mine, and Levenger makes great ones. I love bookmarks that double as notecards for annotation purposes. These are inspired by vintage library cards! Tent-style notetaking bookmarks are also available.

9. MT Washi Tapes. We have both restocks and new arrivals from the MT “Encyclopedia” series, as well as many of the popular “Maps and Travel” Patterns. There is also a new coffee-themed “Upcycle” series themed around coffee that uses paper from recycled coffee filters.

10. iLootPaperie Stickers and Enamel Pins. We have lots of fun vinyl stickers and enamel pins from our friends at iLootPaperie, featuring themes ranging from snail mail to typewriters.

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The Zenith 590 comes in two multi-color finishes!

New Arrivals: Introducing The Brass Wren Fineliner from Tom's Studio!

I’ve loved watching Tom’s Studio release the Lumos and Lumos Pro Duo Fineliners in a series of special finishes, and now it’s the Wren’s turn! Tom’s Studio announced The Brass Wren, and it arrived yesterday alongside a batch of the Pigment Black Ink and additional Wren colors, including “Iris” (dark purple). If you’re interested in trying out a refillable fineliner that is capable of using fountain pen ink, consider giving the Wren a try. Don’t be intimidated by the filling process - once you get the hang of it, it’s very straightforward. I even did a video demonstrating how to set up the Wren.

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Also, just a head’s up that the TWSBI Carrara + Onyx ECO fountain pens have landed and are ready to ship. I unboxed mine last night! So far I’m enjoying mine, which I promptly filled with Laban Greek Mythology Aphrodite Pink (marble column theme and all).

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We will be open this week for normal hours, including from 1-6pm Thursday and Friday, and from 10am-6pm on Saturday. You can always check the main store page for updated hours and announcements regarding special events.