SusieG Studio

For the last two years I’ve attended the DC Pen Show as a regular attendee and not as an instructor. I have to say I’ve enjoyed my pen show adventures from a different perspective. This year my approach to the pen show was a bit more laid back as I did not have a schedule to keep. I had also made a wish list of pen-related items and I was able to check off a few items early in the show.

Warning: this is a long blog post with lots of pictures and lots of pen & ink stuff. Just remember to blink.

Thursday’s Adventure:

I had purchased the Weekend Traders Pass which allowed me early access to the pen show for four days. On Thursday (pre-show), I checked in at the registration desk and received my envelope containing my badge. I was told to hold on to my envelope and turn it in at Leuchtturn’s table to receive a complementary journal with free engraving.

As I was walking in and out of the main exhibitor rooms I noticed a few exhibitors were setup and ready to go. Those of us of who had cash were able to make some early purchases. Yes, I was one of them. Remember my wish list?

The first table I always visit is Galen Leather. I had their leather Expansi Folio on my wish list. I already have their regular A5 Notebook Folio in Crazy Horse Forest Green that I purchased six years ago. It’s a nice slim folio and works well with my Stalogy 1/2 year notebook and holds two fountain pens. There were times when I wanted to use a thicker journal in my slim folio and I would not be able to zip it close. So, my 1/2 year Stalogy lives in the slim folio.

The Galen team was still unpacking their leather goods and Yunus came over to show me his Expansi Folio in a special leather made for the US called Havana Brown. It was absolutely gorgeous. The Expansi folio is the same size as their regular A5 folio except it’s about 3/4″ to 1″ inch thicker. That means I could have one of my thick journals in the folio along with six fountain pens and easily zip it close.

I asked Yunus if he had any other colors. I could see the wheels spinning in his head and he smiled. I told him I would return when they were done unpacking all the boxes. I was that close to checking off one of my wish list items.

I stopped in the main ballroom and saw Kirk Speer setting up his tables. He had mentioned on IG that he was bringing his special DC engraved pen show nibs. I could not resist the special engraving on his nibs. Check it out:

I stopped by the pen-maker room and saw Odyssey Notebooks with their journals stacked on their tables. I had already purchased two thick journals from them last year and I was curious to see if they were offering something new. I ended up purchasing three slim A5 notebooks in dot, lined, and blank formats. The slim journals are fantastic to use when I want to write about my vacation/trips or artsy adventures.

I made my way back to the first room and found Galen’s tables were full of colorful leather goods in different offerings, sizes, and shapes. Oh my! It was a good thing I had my blinders on and focused on my wish list item.

I quickly found a lovely blue Expansi folio sitting on their table in the beautiful Crazy Horse Ocean Blue color. It spoke to me loud and clear.

The following picture shows the difference between the Expansi Folio versus the regular Folio.

The pen show grew this year with new exhibitors and expanded into a new room located downstairs called Room #4. I found a set stars behind some double glass doors and made my way to the ground floor. Wow! It was an open area filled with natural bright light and mostly empty tables. I immediately found Leuchtturn’s area at the bottom of the stairs and they were almost finished with unpacking a lot of journals. I saw they had their engraving systems setup, but no activity. I was told to come back the next day (Friday) for my complementary and special pen show edition journal. I almost had a third item on my wish list checked off. Hahaha!

I noticed it started to get dark outside and the wind was picking up. It was time to head home. Fingers-crossed that traffic won’t be too bad.

Friday’s Adventures:

I made it back to the hotel right around 9am in time for the pen show to open for those who had the Weekend Trader’s pass. That’s three hours of early shopping before the show opens to the public. There’s no guarantee that the exhibitor’s will show up early and setup by 9am. Sometimes, I see them ready by 10am or even 11am.

My first stop was Leuchtturn’s table at the bottom of the stairs in room #4. I stood in a short line along with my fellow Weekend Traders patiently waiting to receive our special pen show journal and have it engraved. It was an interesting engraving system they used.

Here’s is my journal with my special engraving. How cool is that?

Since I was already on the lower level, I made my way over to Blick Art. Blick Art was on my wish list of tables to visit. I was thrilled to see them at the pen show and also interested to see what artsy items they brought with them.

I made two purchases here on two separate days. This included several bottles of inks from Ferris Wheel Press and Colorverse. I also added another Pilot Kakuno (medium nib) in transparent green to my artist pen collection.

Two hours later, I make my way to a very crowded pen-maker’s room #2. I quickly say “hello” to a several pen makers as they are busy helping customers and selling their beautiful pens. I head over to another exhibitor on my wish list, Zodiac Pens. O. M. G. I zeroed-in on one of Bart’s pen trays that displayed his Cancer pen models which also happens to be my zodiac sign. I saw a colorful and extremely sparkling pen that called out to me. You might have heard it: Susie G…buy me! Hahaha! I held this beautiful pen in my hand and the first thing I noticed was how comfortable it felt. The curves of the pen fit naturally in my hand. I also noticed how smooth the transition was from the section to the body of the pen. The pen also had a clip. It was beautifully made. I was getting that tingling-pen feeling and knew I was going to become one with this pen.

I walked around for a bit and gave my eyes some time to recover from my pen purchase. I made my way over to the Dromgoole’s/Rickshaw table in the large ballroom called room #3. Yes, I’ve already created a separate blog post about my new Bansai bag. See the post here. I cannot say enough about this bag. There’s plenty of pockets and holds a lot of my pen & ink art supplies.

I made a stop or two or three or four at Federalist Pens (Friday & Sunday) to visit with Frank and Nadine. I picked up Frank’s latest collaboration with Robert Oster Signature Ink. Frank was celebrating 10 years with his new ink called Frankly X. Frank handed me his pen to try out the ink. The first thing I noticed was how smooth the ink wrote. The second thing I noticed was the bronze sparkles on my paper. Frankly X is a true black ink color with shimmers that writes incredibly smooth.

Frank showed me another Robert Oster shimmering ink called Water. I knew this would be a dazzling ink when I turned the bottle upside down and saw the light blue shimmers.

Later, I would come back to Frank’s table and purchase a bottle of Colorverse Horsehead Nebula. This is what happens when I see a colorful swatch at an exhibitor’s table to find the bottle of ink is sold out. Then I have to quickly go through all the exhibitor’s I’ve seen physically in the many rooms or on a list online and start my search. I’ve gotten into a good habit of visiting Frank’s table first for Robert Oster and Colorverse inks. The next exhibitor that had Robert Oster inks is at the Orlando Pen Show table.

I was in desperate need of a snack break and headed down to the ink testing area on the lower level. There were two other pen folks creating swatches and it was so quiet and peaceful. I spent an hour swatching ink colors that looked interesting to me or had potential to use for sketching. I remembered to munch on my gluten-free snacks that I brought with me. You know. To keep my energy level up. For more wish list shopping.

After the much needed break, I went back to the crowded and busy pen-maker’s room. I stop by to see Lauren at Lucky Star Pens. I quickly purchased two bottles of Colorverse inks in Stellaris and Rising Reflections.

I’m mindful of the time and make sure I leave early enough to avoid Friday’s rush hour traffic heading home.

Saturday’s Adventures:

I stayed home. Actually, it was a much needed break from the pen show and also from dealing with the traffic/commute. It was a great day to play with my pen show purchases and swatch a few inks.

Sunday’s Adventures:

Sunday was a great day to play catch-up with the exhibitors and revisit the tables that I missed on Friday. It was also a great time for me to finish my wish list. Oh yeah, Hubby added an item to my list.

I also had a meet-up with Deb, a long time workshop attendee and friend of mine. We talked about pens and inks we enjoyed using for writing and sketching. We shared lots of artsy experiences and art journals with sketches. I enjoyed my time with her and our hour together went by so quickly. She is doing an awesome job with her sketches. Deb…thank you for the TWSBI Go pens.

Before I forget, my Hubby is gifting me a Benu Astrogem for Christmas. I found this beautiful pen at Federalist Pens. The color is called Midas and it has swirls of dark olive green and burgundy with patches of bronze glitter. I quickly snapped a picture (see previous pic) before Hubby confiscated this beauty. Okay…back to the pen show.

I went back at Blick’s table to pick up a few bottles of Colorverse inks I saw on Friday. I also spent some time looking at the brands they carried, looking at their swatch cards, and admiring the pens they brought to the show.

Here are a few pictures I remembered to take. Enjoy!

I had purchased a Mayfair pen when Ben had one of his online weekend Mayfair Drop events. I already knew that he made quality fountain pens. I was amazed to see his pens in person. They are a work of art. I highly recommend a visit to his table.

I had a blast at this year’s pen show. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with pen friends. I also helped a few pen show newbies with tips and answered many pen show questions. It was nice to see the show expanded into a fourth room. New exhibitors were added and strategically place in most of the rooms. There was definitely a different pen show vibe this year.

I’m looking forward to next year’s show along with coming back as a workshop instructor. I do miss teaching and sharing my pen & ink experiences. Life is very good!