SF Pen Show 2023 - Loooong Story Time
I finally got to go to my first pen show after immersing myself in using and enjoying fountain pens. I started learning about fountain pens in earnest in August 2022, so being able to go to this show, about a year later was a great “anniversary present”. 😀 What follows is an overly long, rambling account of my pen show experience. You’ve been warned!
The San Francisco show is my “home” show, and it sounds like I’m quite lucky that it is, given people’s comments about how it’s one of the best shows in the US. In fact, upon hearing that in a recent Pen Addict livestream, I’m quite sure I didn’t take full advantage of being at the show. Oops! Lesson learned.
Pre-Show Hype
I’m the type of person who likes to prep for these kinds of events, trying to figure out what I want to prioritize seeing, since it would be difficult to see everything. I wanted to focus on things I couldn’t necessarily get outside of a pen show — show exclusives, hit up tables for vendors who maybe have limited online presence, check out vendors from other countries, etc. I already decided I wasn’t going to try having a nib ground, as I didn’t want to add anything time-sensitive to my schedule. Same with classes. I figured I will add those “complications” to next year’s show after I learned more about what to expect from the SF show.
I had some loose goals in mind:
I wanted to look at and possibly get vintage pens
I wanted to visit indie pen makers primarily, since bigger manufacturers can more easily be ordered from online retailers at any time
I wanted to check out Japanese brands since they’re harder to order from
But mainly, I wanted to see cool stuff I couldn’t normally see locally. I started obsessively watching IG posts from makers and brands and “penfluencers” planning to attend the show. The SF pen show account did a pretty great job of building hype using their Stories to highlight other makers’ and brands’ posts showing what is coming. Bravo!
Yes, I know some of you are already wondering why “meeting pen people” wasn’t on my list of goals. I’m shy, Y’all. I get anxious about meeting new people, even though I’m okay if people approach me. I know Pen People are nice, and I shouldn’t have worried. It’s one of my regrets not saying hi to podcasters/streamers and people on IG I recognized. Missed opportunity #1. Next year!
Getting back to hype about vendor tables, Skogsy Pens did a pretty good job of getting my attention. First, I saw a green glittery pen that reminded me somewhat of the Bungubox Supernova Realo that I really want to get. Then I saw a pen made with this pretty “papillion” material that I hoped I could see in person. I put this maker at the top of my must-see list since I had specific pens I wanted to check out.
Like I mentioned, I also wanted to check out many Japanese brand/maker tables because a) they’re harder to buy from vs. US/European brands, in my experience, and b) I saw many accounts touting lots of raden pens that were stunning (but so out of my price range).
When I saw the show map was available, I looked at where each vendor was and figured out the general areas with the highest concentration of must-sees from my list. Spoiler alert: I forgot my annotated paper map at home. 🙄
Anyway, as the days counted down, I kept seeing more and more cool stuff on IG and was getting overwhelmed! I know this is supposed to be a fun event, but I of course was overthinking everything and started to get anxious about missing out on items I wanted to buy and see, since I was getting a regular day-pass that allowed entry at 1PM, later than all-access attendees. Eventually I calmed down, and on the day of, I felt relatively chill.
Pen Show Day (Friday)!
We got to the show a bit later than I was planning, but it was fine because I planned for a ton of lead time, since I had no idea what the ticketing line was going to be like. In my head, I remembered the tech trade shows I’ve been to in the past, with registration lines snaking out the door and around the block, even though I knew that this pen show (probably) wasn’t the same magnitude as, say, a major developer conference.
The ticket line was short, but the set up could’ve been better. There was another line across the way to get in, but it wasn’t that clear after we paid for entry what the line was actually for. Was it for general admission, or getting into certain classes, or what? As I realized after getting into the show, we were lined up because we had arrived a little before the 1PM entry time. But if I have to ask someone else in line what the line is for, I think that points to an opportunity for improvement for the event planning team.
Also, given the event type, why were we not given paper tickets? This would’ve been prime journaling ephemera! I put my paper name tag in my journal, but it was a generic tag, no pen show branding or anything. (And we wrote our names on the tags with bog-standard black Sharpies, hmph) 😕
I remembered with dismay while we were in line that I forgot my annotated copy of the show map at home, and thought, “surely they’ll have maps at registration we can pick up,” but they didn’t, alas. I took a picture of the map they had on an easel for an easy offline reference, but ultimately consulted my mental map for the most part since I had sort of memorized the general locations I wanted to hit (this was kind of a mistake, as you’ll see later).
At 1PM, the line finally moved forward, and it wasn’t long before we were walking past the first tables set up by the registration area.
Skogsy Pens
I immediately started trying to find the Skogsy Pens table because that papillion material pen was on my mind, and I hoped no one had bought it. After a bit of wandering around, I finally found the table and eagerly started looking at the pens and found what seemed to be the papillion pen I was pining after. But in person, something felt off. I was not as into the pen for some reason. I mean, it was pretty, but not exactly how I remembered…? Luckily, right next to it was another Cholla pen with a different resin, but sort of with the same colors that really grabbed me. I learned that the blank was from Turnt Pen Co. and was called Ziggy. The pen is beautiful and I’m so glad I was able to buy it! What an auspicious first pen show purchase ever. 😀
Beautiful Skogsy Pen model called Cholla, sitting on the Toyooka Craft pen rest I also bought at the pen show
Cholla, uncapped, showing the SF pen show-engraved JoWo nib I bought from the Pen Realm table
Rickshaw Bags
Nearby, I spied the Rickshaw table and remembered I wanted to get their pen show-branded sleeves, cases, and stickers. Weirdly when I bought the Skogsy Pen, they didn’t offer a bag or pen sleeve or anything; they just handed it to me, so I temporarily stashed it in my bag. Having the Rickshaw table nearby was quite handy. I got a single-pen sleeve into which I immediately put the Cholla pen, a Sinclair Model R, and a couple stickers with the pen show branding. In retrospect, I probably could’ve left out the Sinclair since I already have one with a Goulet Pens exclusive design, but, hey, I got carried away at my first pen show. It ended up being useful for organizing my purchases. 🤷♀️
Probably did not need the Sinclair Model R, but I have it now
Found a home for one of the Rickshaw pen show stickers on my beloved HP Spectre laptop
Wandering around not looking at vintage pens, really
Afterwards I don’t recall the exact order of tables I visited. I still had certain tables in mind, but I think I did wander a bit, seeing what I could see. I did check out some vintage pen tables (probably walked past them all, eventually), but for some reason I kind of put blinders on and decided not to delve into vintage pens much. My reasoning wasn’t exactly sound. In the back of my mind, I always had my budget looming, and I worried that the vintage pens I would actually be interested in would kind of blow through the rest of my budget too quickly, so I started to sort of ignore them entirely. I also didn’t feel up to chatting with the vintage pen vendors, mainly due to shyness, and partially due to not wanting to be swayed one way or another towards potentially expensive or unwanted purchases because I don’t know much about vintage pen brands, or which pens I even wanted. I know some of you are yelling, “you fool! That’s the whole point of going to a pen show, to learn about pens and stuff from the vendors!” I know, I know. Missed opportunity #2.
Quick Hits: Pen Realm, Toyooka Craft, Vanness (?), Everyday Explorers
While wandering around and trying to think through my mental list of tables to check out, I remembered that I wanted to get an SF pen show engraved nib from Pen Realm (can be seen in the uncapped Cholla picture above). Again, I didn’t look too closely at the other stuff they had on the table since they were mainly pens from bigger manufacturers. Picked up my JoWo #6 medium and left. More wandering, and I found the Toyooka Craft table to pick up a pen rest, the only item I figured would fit my budget.
Again, I didn’t bother to look at the trays since I’d already decided (even before the show) that they’d be too expensive to pick one up. (Though I really should’ve looked at the pricing because I later heard the conversion rate was favorable.) I also didn’t think I was ready to pick one up, not having a nice spot to put it in my home office.
I passed by the ink testing station, but saw a couple people already there, so I moved along and didn’t think to return to it. For inks, I gave myself another kind of limitation of not picking up anything easy to get from an online shop (why though, Me?), so most inks kind of fell off my radar because of that. Also, I know I have a lot of inks already, so I was trying to rein myself in. I suppose it would’ve been a different story if ink samples were for sale, because I’d probably have picked up a few of those. Less of a commitment to buy samples vs. bottles. (Perhaps an idea for next year, pen show retailers?) I sadly wasn’t interested in the show exclusive ink. Red/pink inks aren’t for me.
I did see a table (I think it was a Vanness table?) that had the Van Dieman’s feline inks, and I was pretty interested in those, because cats, so I looked through their swatches and ended up picking Bengal Tiger Blaze, a beige-based shimmer ink, and Russian Blue, a dusky medium blue-gray which totally fits the dusky ink mood I’ve been in for a few months (until recently when I ventured out of it).
I, of course, had to buy the cat-themed inks! I probably could’ve bought more inks than this. :smh:
It was an ink brand I felt was lesser known/harder to get, so it made the purchasing cut. (Believe me, the more I read my “rules” for purchasing things at the show, the more annoyed I’m getting, as maybe some of you are!)
I found the Everyday Explorers table and picked up their pen show clear stamp set, another exclusive, but I thought the stamps would actually mention the SF pen show, and not refer to pen shows more generically. Not a big deal, it just wasn’t what I thought I saw online. I probably misremembered the picture.
This stamp set encourages me to go to other pen shows!
Taking a break
After that purchase, we needed a rest, so we went back out to the lobby to chill a little. I laid out my haul so far on a nearby coffee table and took a picture to post on IG, because nothing officially happens if you don’t post pictures, right? 😆
Posted a quick haul photo for the ‘Gram
Gravitas Pens
When we returned to the show floor, I started to look for one of my other priority tables on my list, Gravitas Pens. I really like the look of Ben Walsh’s machined pens, but had avoided ordering any online since I’d heard some people have trouble with slow shipping, or unsatisfactory communication once they’d purchased. I figured I’d have none of that, buying a pen in person. I hit up the table, but initially had to wait for Ben to return so I could ask about pricing for certain items. I saw a cool rainbow-y pocket pen that I likely would purchase, but when I returned to the table a few minutes later, it was gone. ☹️ I asked if he had any more and he found a similar pen with more of a blue and purple gradient that was an okay second choice. I asked about a couple of the full-sized pens, but one was sold (and likely way out of my price range since it was (or looked like) a mokuti pen), and the other, he couldn’t sell because he realized he didn’t have a section on it. Oops. Next to the mokuti pen was another pocket pen with a much cooler anodized design that reminded me of ocean waves, so I picked out that one instead, and had him fit a #8 nib onto it, since that’s a rarity on pocket pens.
What a cool anodized pattern!
A number 8 nib on a pocket pen seemed fun to me
I didn’t bother dip testing it, which surprised Ben, but I didn’t want to go through the trouble (again, yet another thing I should’ve realized is a normal thing to do at a pen show, making sure the nibs are tuned properly). I happily paid and moved on.
More wandering
At that point, I didn’t have any other big targets, as most of my budget was spent. I was definitely too strict on myself in that regard. I think if I had seen something else that I really wanted, I would’ve been sad not to be able to pick it up, so I was saving myself the heartbreak (LOL, so dramatic). 😅 But I should’ve browsed more for learning’s sake and to know what I might be interested in aiming to get later. I also should’ve taken general pictures of the show floor and the table setups to give people a better idea of what it looked like. I did briefly look at some of the elaborate raden pens I’d seen teased on IG, and I pointed out the Bungubox Supernova Realo and a couple Platinum Izumo grail pens to my husband, as I couldn’t resist.
Eric Small Things
The last things I picked up were some stickers and a calendar from Eric Small Things at the Cute Things From Japan table. I was kind of disappointed there weren’t any stamps available at the table (that I noticed). I mainly knew of Eric Small Things seeing the cute stamps (usually sold out) online at Yoseka or other sites.
Time to go home
By the time I’d bought the Eric Small Things things, we were pretty tired from walking around. I still browsed things as we walked the show floor, but we were on our way out to head back home. I had almost spent my whole budget, so my mind was telling me not to look at much anymore. 😅 We hung out in the lobby for a bit, resting and waiting to see if I could get a hold of someone who was wanting to meet up. Unfortunately I didn’t hear back from the person before we were ready to go, so I let them know we were heading out, and we took off.
Last quick haul pic for the ‘Gram before going home
I didn’t talk to anyone… :sigh:
One quick note: I saw quite a few people who I recognized from YT and from podcasts — Drew Brown from the Goulet Pencast, Inkdependence Mike, Penguinscreative and Kellyloveletters, Jobsjournal, CY, and Toastytreat.
(I mean no disrespect to anyone for whom I didn’t list their full names; I did at first, but then I felt weird because I know them primarily through their IG names. It felt almost like when you can’t call your old teachers by their first names because you always referred to them as Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms. So-and-so! 😆)
My missed opportunity #1 (call back to the intro) was not at least saying hi to any of them as I walked around. I didn’t want to bother them! OMG… 🙇♀️ Next time I will try to muster the courage. I think a few more people I know from YT/IG, including people from Yoseka, attended the show on Saturday, but I only went on Friday. Missed opportunity #3.
Post-Pen Show
When I first left the pen show, I felt satisfied with my experience and what I bought. But when I was journaling my initial thoughts, I realized with horror that I didn’t stop by the Franklin-Christoph table. It completely slipped my mind even though it was on my list of must-sees. I think once I bought my second pen, I was already shutting everything down in my head, prepping to leave. :smh: I actually don’t know how I didn’t even register where it was in the show, as I thought I walked through the whole show floor area, including the side rooms, but this is what I alluded to when I mentioned it was a mistake that I didn’t have my annotated map with me. I don’t know why I didn’t write out a list of must-sees and physically bring it with me (I noted some things in my journal, but did not bring it), psh. They are on the border of being a well-known brand that I could order online “easily” but I know they sometimes have special editions that maybe I could’ve seen had I remembered to stop by. 🤦♀️ Missed opportunity #4.
As I kept watching IG, I realized other things like the planner meetup happened on Saturday, and Sunday seemed like a chill day to attend and maybe get some end-of-show deals. So my last missed opportunity was planning to check out the show the whole weekend. I was mainly thinking about the shopping aspect when I was planning, so it seemed unnecessary to go on Saturday and Sunday, but there would’ve been more chances to at least try to talk to people, and perhaps browse tables I either missed, or straight up ignored the first time. Lessons learned.
The End, you made it!
Well, that’s the story of my first pen show attendance. I’m sure many of you were frustrated at me not taking full advantage of all the great things you can do at a pen show. In hindsight, I was, too, a little bit, primarily not talking to pen peeps as I roamed the show floor. But I feel fine about not trying to get a pen ground, or going to classes, as the added scheduling would’ve been too much for me this time around. Anyway, I have lots of learnings for next time. Hopefully I can go to another show before next year’s SF pen show. At the very least, if they do the California show in LA next year, I’d aim for that. It would be a top-tier dream to go to the Tokyo International Pen Show, but I can’t even fathom how overwhelmed I would probably be if I went!
If you read to the end, you are a major trooper! 🥳 I appreciate you.
