Posts filed under Pen Shows

The Someday Society ‘Zine - Philly Pen Show Edition

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

One of the vendors that I got to check out at the Philly Pen Show last month was The Someday Society. They had a variety of products like dip pens, notebooks, but what caught my eye was all the ‘zines! I picked up a couple for myself (and a couple for the Bossman too), and in the spirit of “use the things” instead of “hoard the things”, I’m going to write in the Philly Pen Show ‘zine to reminisce about the show.

*Philly Pen Show ‘Zine from The Someday Society.*

*Inside the ‘zine. I love the different prompts, which makes me think a little differently from writing on a blank journal page.*

I was very curious to see how the paper behaved with fountain pens. Not gonna lie, I was worried it would either bleed through, or worse, not be usable at all, like where the ink would sit atop the paper and be easily wiped off.

*TWSBI Eco, Pink, Fine, with Akkerman x GourmetPens Pink - not a problem at all!*

TWSBI Precision, Gemini Blue, Medium, with Robert Oster Kids on the Block - this portion felt more waxy to write on, so I was convinced that the ink would smear as soon as I swiped it with a finger. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t smudge at all, but your mileage may vary with a broader nib, sheening inks, etc.

Sailor Pro Gear Slim, Nuts, Medium Fine, with Sailor Rikyu-cha. I didn’t get any of the interesting brown-green shading of Rikyu-cha, but that’s not surprising. It felt nice writing in this section.

*Leonardo Momento Zero, Nuvola Lila, Stylosuite X-Wing Harpoon flex nib, with Pineider Violet. It held up fairly well with the flex nib.*

The wetness of the ink, coupled with potentially scratching the surface with the flex occasionally made it feather a little. Also, the bottom portion of “Violet” wasn’t dry when I took this picture - you can see the ink pooling for a while before it dried. No feathering or ghosting there though!

It handled most standard pens and the one pencil I used, but a few had some issues.

Pens (and pencil) used: Pilot G-2 07, Sarasa Clip 05, Legami Erasable Pen 07, uni-ball One P Gel 0.38, Pilot Frixion Clicker 07, Sakura Pigma Micron 05, Spoke Pen 2 with Muji 05 gel refill, Caran d’Ache 849 Ballpoint, Lamy Tipo Medium, Parker Jotter (Gel Refill), Ticonderoga 2HB Soft, Jetstream 1.0, Platinum 3776 Kasumi Medium, uni-ball One 0.5, Parker Jotter (Ballpoint).

If you look closely at the 3 purple dots to the left of the yellow star, those were the result of a purple Sharpie that I used on the other side, which bled straight through. This is why I did not write with the Sharpie on this page. I did the same test with the Sakura Pigma Micron, which did not bleed through, so I did use it.

*You can see that the paper didn’t love the G-2 or the uni-ball one in 0.38. I could barely get the uni-ball to even write on the paper!*

The uni-ball one 0.5 was better but still wasn’t consistent. It also had a little problem with the Jetstream (see the underline of “Participating”), but not too bad as you could easily go over it again.

I would normally not swatch inks on something like this so I was nervous to say the least, but since it said “Use this area for...swatches”, I had to do it. For science.

I used my Kakimori steel dip nib to make these swatches of the Franklin-Christoph Ink ‘26 in Purple and Green. I did try not to be too heavy-handed, but it handled the ink well from both the swatches and the Franklin-Christoph 31 with the Gold Fine Flex SIG and Pennonia x Scriptus Lights of Niagara.

*Holding the page up to the light, of course, you can see the previous page’s underlines, swatches, and writing.*

*But put it back on the desk and you’ll see that there is no ghosting or bleedthrough.*

The Schon Full-Size Fountain Pen with Mondrian-inspired anodizing and Cursive Monoc, paired with Montblanc UNICEF Blue, wrote well and the ink looked lovely, too. It’s really tough picking just 3 moments to remember about the show, but I’d rather forget the 49er’s horrific loss though!

*Wrote down a few pen show favorites, like this ‘zine, with the Esterbrook x TheCoffeeMonsterzCo Estie, Fine Journaler and KWZ It Smells Like Coffee (yes, it really does).*

This ‘zine isn’t available on The Someday Society shop, but they have digital downloads you can purchase. Their ‘zines are a great way to jot down some thoughts on a particular topic without it feeling overwhelming. The prompts and pre-decorated layouts make it easy to keep it short and sweet, while still being thoughtful about what you’re writing. I’m looking forward to picking up some more next time I see them, hopefully at Philly next year!

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Kimberly Lau and filed under Pen Shows, Stationery.

How I shopped "around the world" at the DC Pen Show

(This is a guest Post from Sam Alpert. Sam is a geologist, gamer, and general lover of all things with good, clean design. See more from Sam on Instagram @samalpert.)

Note from Brad: It’s all my fault for how late this is! Or, is it perfect timing with pen show season just cranking up in 2026? 🤔

Pen shows are crazy; the DC Show doubly so.

I find the best way to manage the sheer stimulus overload that is a massive show like DC is to go with a focus. I had a few things I wanted to get for myself, but I knew they would be fast, so I floated the idea to Brad of me doing a sort of “fetch quest” style shopping challenge for him, similar to what Mike over at Inkdependence had his friend do, but this time with a twist. Brad was the one who ultimately hit on the idea that we try to “shop around the world” by hitting as many countries of origin for products from as diverse a vendor group as possible. And all that on a tight $100 budget.

What a crazy idea.

There were so many ways I could approach the challenge. Obviously I could just find the cheapest thing from as many countries as possible, a Jinhao from China, washi from Japan, et cetera. But to me that wasn’t fulfilling, I wanted this to also be things that I myself would buy, something that could be a fun memory of the show and, where possible, even be something Brad had never tried before. This, it turns out, took the difficulty up another level.

After doing multiple passes of the show floor on Friday, I thought I was ready to begin the search Saturday. The first thing I underestimated is how fast time flies when you’re doing things you love. Saturday was a blur of amazing classes, meeting tons of awesome people (some of you may have seen in Mike’s walkthrough tour, I was also giving a geology quiz to anyone who stopped me, with ink samples as the prize). What I came to realize was that instead of trying to look for specific countries, I needed to instead look for specific items, and then go to vendors that had that item in abundance and see what countries I could “shop” from. To that end I decided to go for a “full” setup: fountain pen, ink, notebook, carrying and desk accessories. This dovetails with the idea I love of getting people into the hobby with minimal fuss, but maximal awesomeness.

So the puzzle became who had what from where? I decided that the easiest thing was to start with the most expensive things and move backwards. I was fairly confident I could get a pen for cheap if I had to, and ink, so the first stop was a desk tray. And who better to get it from than a master of the craft, NFP Design. The two pen tray in a gorgeous mustard yellow was a big ($25) chunk of my budget, but it was perfect, starting my journey off in Turkey. As a bonus, Galen Leather was giving out drawstring bags at the entry to the hall they were in, which came with a lovely leather pen sleeve, a free bonus just for coming to Turkey!

Right around the corner from NFP was Smruti Pens, who had the Dominant Industry Takasago Notebook, conveniently also a new product to Brad, and putting me in Taiwan for a reasonable $.

Next was a pen. Here’s where I struggled the most. I had this crazy idea to try and find something German and vintage, but my lack of knowledge of the vintage pen world meant that I just couldn’t find anything cheap and effective. My next thought was a cool Lamy Safari, but nothing stood out in my price point, so I “settled” on what I think is one of the GOATs of “one for life” pens, the Pilot Prera. Now here’s where things get a little tricky. I maaaaay have bargained this one down a little, but hey, that’s the beauty of coming to a pen show, especially late on a Saturday afternoon (and especially Sunday), vendors are starting to be willing to haggle on things they may not want to schlep all the way back home. So for a cool $ I was able to pop over to Japan.

Now all I had to do was find ink. Thankfully I now had a plan. Heading to a major (unnamed) vendor who I knew would be happy to offload a couple bottles at a deal I grabbed a gorgeous Diamine Imperial Blue (alongside a bottle of Diamine Oxford Blue for myself, I just couldn’t resist) a bargain deal brought it down to $15 for the bottle, a steal to put me in England.

In my browsing at the very end of the day, I stumbled across notebooks. Made in Italy, and theoretically fountain pen friendly. The sadly now-discontinued pocket-sized journal was an easy $7 addition for on-the-go notes to round out the package and take me all the way back around to close the loop!

Brad’s verdict: Nailed it! Sam did an amazing job, taking me on a stationery tour to five different countries, and ending up with a full writing setup as a result. This is a kit that belongs together, so you know what that means. Stay tuned for tomorrow!

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on January 26, 2026 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Fountain Pens, Pen Shows.

2026 Philadelphia Pen Show Recap

I am always excited for the Philly Pen Show because it kicks off the pen show season (which seems to get longer as more shows get added). As with many other shows, I was working at the Franklin-Christoph and Piper Trading Co. tables, which usually makes it easier for me not to spend all my money. For the past couple of months, I had been trying to be more intentional with my purchases and I have been mostly successful but would that continue into this first pen show of the year? Let’s find out!

Welcome to Philadelphia!

The weather was beautiful on Wednesday - low 50s. Also sunny and blue skies on Thursday, but a high of 35 as I walked all around town.

A little different story on Saturday and Sunday when the snow came.

I love seeing the snow accumulating on the glass. It was beautiful but I’m glad I was indoors!

This is going to be my 5th Philly Pen Show recap and sometimes it feels like I’m repeating myself every year, but there’s something calming about a show that is consistent and predictable (in a good way). Same show owners/organizers (Scott Franklin of Franklin-Christoph and Eric Orozco are co-owners of the show), same hotel as the past several years, same unpredictable mid-January weather. That doesn’t mean that it is a boring show or that things don’t change or improve - it’s just that the vibe feels similar from year to year. Excitement for the new year, start of the pen show circuit, while still feeling relaxed because it’s not a gigantic, chaotic, crowded show (cough cough, DC, SF, cough cough). It’s a great show for first timers because of that, as well as a good mix of vintage and modern vendors, a growing number of pen-adjacent vendors, and a variety of classes. All that means there’s something for just about everyone.

Usually, the show is held on the Mezzanine level, but due to construction, we were up on the main Ballroom level (same as in 2023). The show occupied two side-by-side ballrooms which allowed for a lot of aisle space as well as room behind tables for vendors. The tall ceilings made it feel even roomier.

The entrance of the first ballroom before the show rush began.

Franklin-Christoph always makes an ink to kick off the year as well as matching exclusive pens. Scott decided to do something different and release TWO colors - green and purple - which meant the pen materials would also have those two colors!

Two Ink ‘26 colors and 4 models for this year’s Philly Pen Show Pen (02, 31, engraved & painted Modified 03, and Pocket 45).

There was also a table for Piper Trading Company, (a Franklin-Christoph company) because these gorgeous Kyoku Haku pen cases arrived just in time for the show!

Looking towards the front of the first ballroom from the back. (Loved having all that room behind the table - most shows have half that, or less.)

Tom Forsythe of Sugar Turtle Studio and I had a great discussion about using our stickers. Being a sticker fiend, I am definitely making a more concerted effort to use them this year (so I can buy more, that’s how it works, right?).

Chris Henline and Cary Yeager of Truphae not only brings their amazing collection of pens, but also the lights and the tunes. I was jamming to 70s and 80s classics all weekend!

*Look at this Sailor King Eagle stacked nib! Having stuff like this is what Truphae is really known for! Also check out the Nagasawa pens in the background! *

The folks at Blick Art Materials brought several tables worth of inks, paper, pens, and art supplies.

Marty and Kimberly Henderson, had a ton of Retro 51 pens, as well as products from Tactile Turn and Rickshaw Bagworks. Marty is a serious Retro 51 collector and can help you find your perfect Retro!

The show had decent attendance on Friday, and it was busier on Saturday, which is pretty common for most shows. Even though there was snow, a fair number of people came on Saturday and Sunday, though some vendors left early on Sunday morning to avoid the heavy snow storm that was forecast for later that day. In the past, the attendance tapered significantly on Sunday, so I’m glad that they ended the show at 2pm (this wasn’t done for the storm, but was planned well in advance). I think most of the shows out there should consider doing the same.

Many of the vendors from past years were here again this year, but there were a couple of notable absences. Luxury Brands of America had to cancel at the last minute, and Pilot USA is cutting down the number of shows it attends, so Philly didn’t make the cut. Even though I missed both of those vendors, their absence allowed folks on the vendor wait list to fill the gaps - many of whom were new to the Philly show. That said, after-hours just isn’t the same without the LBA and Pilot folks, especially when it was game time!

The second ballroom with Esterbrook/Kenro against the left wall, more vendors, as well as the nib grinders.

Speaking of Kenro, here are some of their Sheaffer x Emily in Paris pens.

The nib grinders were the first folks you saw in the second ballroom. Damien Alomar of All in the Nib is standing in the background, followed by Gena Salorino of Custom Nib Studio seated in the middle, and Josh Lax of JJ Lax Pen Company in the foreground.

I love seeing local vendors at pen shows, especially the ones that only go to their local show. I am also glad to see more pen-adjacent vendors that sell art, paper, accessories, and more. It really adds to a pen show’s personality.

Philadelphia’s own Ian Schon of Schon Dsgn along with his crew, Bea (left) and Scott (right). Shame on me for forgetting to take their pic until they were all packed up on Sunday afternoon!

Forgot the people (oops) but of course, I took a picture of the newly released pens on Friday morning!

Pennsylvania’s own Gene and Heatherjo Goroschko of Bucks Bespokery made their Philly Pen Show debut - I had to take this picture before the show started because their table was busy all weekend! They’re also the nicest people too!

Gina and Nicole of The Someday Society - another PA vendor - had a lovely assortment of ‘zines, kits, and things to help you get your thoughts on paper.

Is New Jersey considered local? Close enough! Always a pleasure to see Helen and son Dominic of Helen’s Creations NJ! I was so tempted to pick up another notebook cover but I behaved…this time. 🙂

*So wonderful to see Natasha of inkii again after meeting her at the Empire State Pen Show! I love her nib wipe and glasses wipe cannolis! *

Dawn from Mod Girl with Vintage Love had a variety of papers and accessories for you to level up your calligraphy. She also teaches calligraphy too!

Anderillium always had a lot of folks checking out their animal-themed series of inks.

I love that Claudia of The Cloudy Desk not only makes art but also sells their products to support causes they care about. I was so tempted to get another Sinclair (the Adventure one) - I still might!

The awesome volunteer crew behind the Philly Pen Show (Simar, Eleanor, Azizah, Mike, and Eric!!) Thanks for all you do for the show!

Outside the ballroom, there were tables set up for folks to hang out, wait for classes, take a break, or show off their purchases with other attendees.

Members of the Philadelphia Calligraphers’ Society were also set up out here to make free calligraphy bookmarks.

Not pictured, a Share the Wealth/Pay It Forward table inside the ballroom, where people could drop off stuff they didn’t love anymore, or pick up something to try. I always love seeing these tables at shows because it encourages folks to let things go if they aren’t using/loving it, and lets someone else give it a try.

There were classes and seminars on all the days, which is a great way for folks to learn how to use their pens and things, and take a break from shopping and the hubbub of a show. One of these days, I would like to take Sugar Turtle Studio’s, Michael Ward’s, and one of Azizah Asgarali’s classes (too many good ones to pick from). Josh Lax hosted a Vintage Pen Panel (which he does at many of the shows he attends) - it’s a great way to learn about vintage pens and hear from some of the well-respected folks in the vintage pen business.

The first of my two handwriting improvement classes! I thought it was hilarious that I got to teach in this massive ballroom. I dream of teaching my class someday in a packed ballroom this size!

Round tables for my second class, which felt much more intimate, despite the large space. Proof from both classes that they finished the class and no one demanded refunds, lol!

The show was great, but my favorite part of pen shows is hanging out with pen friends afterwards! I didn’t get any pictures because I always forget, plus I was too busy cheering on the Broncos and lamenting the 49ers on Saturday night. I always have a great time at this show, and I loved spending time with friends, even if I don’t have pictures to prove it. The Philly Pen Show is my favorite way to kick off pen show season and 2026 was no exception.

My Philly haul included a new Schon Dsgn full-size fountain pen, Franklin-Christoph Pocket 45 (Philly Pen Show edition), Model 31, both Ink ‘26, some ‘zines from The Someday Society, and two Hancoco slide stamps from Sugar Turtle Studio.

Stickers, inky cloth, postcards, custom foiled Liberty Bell notecards, and a notebook made from The Little Prince book, all from Bucks Bespokery.

Journaling box and blotter sheets from Esterbrook.

Nibbage, Philly Pen Show bag, Rickshaw show sleeve, Fountain Pen Day Philly Pen Show pin.

A huge Thank You to the Philly Pen Show crew for a wonderful show! Time to recover for a few weeks before my next shows, which will be the upcoming California Pen Show in a few weeks and the Baltimore Pen Show shortly after that. I hope to see you there! Until then, stay warm/dry, stay safe, and stay inky!

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on January 23, 2026 by Kimberly Lau and filed under Pen Shows.