I love fountain pens and everything that can tag along with them. And one of my favorite events to attend every year is the DC Fountain Pen Supershow. My first pen show was back in 2017 I believe - lines blurring out now.
If you don't already know, the DC pen show is the largest of them all. With so many vendors and pen/ink enthusiasts joining in from all over the country. It is held at the Falls Church Marriott Fairview Park in Northern Virginia every year. I am local to the area and that makes it easier to goto the show every year. The hotel was undergoing some construction this year and the table arrangement was slightly different to work around the construction areas. It was a bit difficult to navigate the very first time because of being so used to the regular show location in the hotel. Besides this, everything else was fantastic about the show this year.
2022 was extra special for me because of my renewed interest for handmade pens. When I started acquiring handmade pens, there were only a few makers I knew of. That number either grew tremendously over the course of the pandemic or I was living under a rock. And the pen blank makers in my opinion are super creative. So, my primary focus of this year's show was to meet with all my favorite indie pen makers.
Oh, before I forget, here is a link to the 2022 DC pen show website. The pen show had an interactive map available, courtesy of PenShowMaps. I appreciated this a lot because of the all the changes in the space due to construction.
Note: This is an 9 minute read, so grab a cup of coffee so you can relax and enjoy the recap.
Workshops/Seminars/Events:
As I was gathering info about the show, I realized there were creative workshops offered by experts in the field. Penmanship and Art - were the primary topics of these workshops. These were expensive workshops given we are already going to be spending money on buying our favorite pens. So I decided to choose one, the pen and ink wash workshop(s). Susan Gable, the artist, was offering both a basics session and an advanced session. I chose to attend them - I will have a separate post about this workshop. Next year I will consider taking the penmanship workshops. Here is the link to the DC pen show workshops.
Besides workshops, there were seminars and evening events as part of the show. But my kids are very little and I never spend later than 5 PM at the show. The nib wars event was specifically interesting and I wished I could have stayed for that. Maybe next year!
Day 1 - Friday, the 5th:
This was my first time attending the show on a Friday, and also the first time the show was open to customers on Friday. And the ticket price was $25 as opposed to $10 for weekend tickets. I am not sure what the reasoning was behind this, but it looked like an opportunity to get first dibs at some elusive pens made by indie pen makers and other vintage pieces. The show also offered a weekender pass, so I decided to choose that instead.
I went with my son on Day 1, and he is usually very excited to go around the tables and feel the pens in all their glory. His debut pen show was the 2017 show, and he sure loved it. He loves joining me since then. We got our badges from Barbara, who was so kind to help me switch up the tickets at the show. Friday was all about the quest for a 'kids pen' for my son. He believed that there is a pen for him (in 2021, I got him a LEGO ballpoint pen from the show, and he was super excited, and wanted more like that) and it was a MineCraft pen. If you are pen maker reading this, please consider making a minecraft pen :) for the kiddos.
My son stopped at the table with those cute crab pen holders. He got so excited and decided to grab a bunch of them. He got 4 of them, including three in his favorite PJ Masks colors. I loved them too. They were $5 per holder and I fell in love with them too. Brings a smile to my face everytime I see them at my desk.
Days Art Store
Some interesting finds from the day were wax stamping handmade supplies from Days Art Store (a small business located in USA with products from USA and Turkey). They had very interesting handles and nib holders. Some of my favorites are shown below.
I am just venturing into wax seal stamps and they had the perfect collection. I picked up three stamps and two stamp handles (one for me and one for my son - he picked what he calls an 'ice dragon'). I am very excited to try them. I plan to use them in my journals and letters to penpals.
Although I checked out most vendor tables on the outer row briefly, I stopped and looked for more than a few minutes only at tables where there was something that interested my son (well, perks of taking the kid with me to the show). So, we stopped at Laban, Nahvalur (Narwhal) and a couple other tables where they either had a rainbow pen or a pen case in gorgeous leather (my son loves the look of expensive leather – already!?!?!).
Mayfair Pens
We stopped at Mayfair Pens to pick up a pen for a dear friend. They had what I will call a very different collection of pens. Although I have seen their pens in Instagram several times, I wanted to see them in person before I owned one. Ben's pens are shaped differently than other handmade pens. The cap screws on from the top of the grip section instead of the bottom like most pens do. And the ink barrel opens in the reverse direction - I found that quite interesting, and hard to understand in my first try. I am not sure I like this about the pen, but I really enjoy writing with this pen everyday.
I saw a stunning Brooks PM Pastel pen in the Noldor model. Obviously I had to get it. This will be my second PM Pastel pen and both of them are my favorites.
After this we stepped out for lunch and dined at Box'd Kitchen and got back to the show 3-ish. My husband and second son also joined us after lunch at the pen show. So my younger one's debut show is this! Yay!
Galen Leather
My next vendor in the list was definitely Galen Leather. I love seeing their products in person and they are always very nice to talk to and discuss the products. I picked up a Magnum pen case and an A5 leather zip cover, both in black. I couldn't resist their Narwhal (Nahvalur) demonstrator pen. The Sooty Shearwater Robert Oster ink – that color was irresistable. I wished I could have picked up the Prairie Green ink but they were sold out. Since they accepted only cash payments, I had to stop making expensive buys from them - I will get them from their online shop later on.
I had to stop at the 'cool kids room' to check out all the cool pen makers displaying their fabulous pens in all their glory. Iron Feather Creative with his cool Hummingbird pen (that's definitely on my wishlist for when I can afford one), Odyssey notebooks (Tomoe River paper notebooks in 400 pages hardbound, hello, I ll take a dozen!), Carolina Pen Company with his cool PM blanks and new ones and Kristen with her cool blanks and pens and the resin skull (I wished I atleast got a picture of them!), River City Pen Company flaunting his cool nib holders and gorgeous pens, Schon Designs, Tesori Italy, and others.
Acriv Pens
I also met a new pen maker, Acriv Pens from India. They had very affordable pens with Titanium nibs made in-house (how cool is that!). Their nibs were the smoothest! It definitely brought back some childhood memories. I picked up a gorgeous yellow resin pen and it came in a pen case of choice (I picked yellow again!) with their Titanium nib. I had a quick chat with the vendor and guess what! I met a fellow Hokie. Check them out at www.dvadaria.com. I was watching Figboot on Pens youtube video on the show recap and learnt about their cool pen with 3 different ink chambers in one. I did not see it at the show but I am interested in finding out more from Figboot's review of the pen.
It was 5 PM by the time I finished going through the cool kids room, and it was time to leave.
Day 2 - Saturday, the 6th:
Day Two was what I was looking forward to. This day was just me. I had to get ready early that day because the workshop starts at 10 AM. When I got dropped off, there was a huge line waiting for entry to the show - so much enthusiasm - got me excited for sure. Nahvalur Pens had their rebranding event at 10 AM as well. I had to miss that for the workshop though.
The morning session was 'Basic Pen & Ink Wash Art Workshop' and the PM session was 'Beyond the Basics' both by the lovely Susan Gable. This is my first ever in-person art workshop so I was pretty excited about it. Check out Susan's blog at https://susiegstudio.com. Susan gave the class a sample of Robert Oster Thunderstorm, which she was intrigued about. The ink has gorgeous purple and pink undertones and I loved how it works on ink sketches. It quickly became my favorite too.
I had planned to meet with a few of the members of the local Planners group. This is the first time the introverted me finally decided to meet with people of similar interest. The four of us met for lunch, enjoyed discussing pens and planners. One of them got the Colorverse Las Vegas. What a stunning fab pink! I had to get it!
Nahvalur Pens
I was intrigued about Nahvalur pens this time. The last time their first few pens were not love (well, I wasn't fond of the material is all). This time their Nautilus collection and Original Plus caught me eye and now I want them all. They are very friendly to talk to. I picked up their Original Plus in Purple and Nautilus Stylophora Berry. I am excited about trying their ink I received as a gift. I think part of my excitement was their name change. The new spelling for their name corresponds with one of the local town names in Southern India. It is pronounced 'nahvalur' as opposed to how Nahvalur is pronounced 'narwhal' in this case. It is pure coincidence but how awesome is that!
After the workshops, I ran back downstairs (the workshops happened at Level 2 of the building, and the show at Levels 0 and 1) to the 'cool kids room' again. I got a nib holder in the Strawberry Lemonade from River City Pen Company with the coupon code from the workshop. I am sad I missed out on the Cosmic Dust nib holder in the low luster finish.
I had to Uber back home on day 2. I picked up the sample maganizes from Pen World Magazine. After a few years of deciding, I am finally subscribing to it.
I wanted to go to the show on Sunday again, but family circumstances kept me home. I hope to make up for it next year. I missed Saturday evening dinner with the DC Metro Pen Crew (DCMPC) and the Nib Wars but managed to say Hi to a few folks from DCMPC and a few others.
If you made it this far, thank you. Please leave your comments on your thoughts about the show. Were you at the DC Pen show this year? What are your thoughts about the show? Do you plan on attending a pen show this year?