(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!.)
This is going to be my 3rd recap of the Baltimore Pen Show since writing for The Pen Addict and it is going to sound a lot like the prior two so I’m really going to try to keep it a bit short so I don’t sound too much like a broken record. Here are the past two year’s recaps: 2022 recap and 2023 recap. The TLDR version is “it’s great, it’s fun, my second favorite show, you should go”.
Having been to DC (and back home) just days before the show, I started out the pen show weekend already on a sleep deficit, but that didn’t stop me from getting into the swing of things on Thursday night. I was better this year and only stayed up til 11pm since I flew in on the Wednesday night redeye, lol. As with the past two shows, I was working at the Franklin-Christoph table, and our increased busy-ness at this show gave me even less time for photos and shopping, but don’t you worry, there were still plenty of sights, sounds and shopping that was done!
Trinita from the DC Metro Pen Crew was one of the friendly volunteers that greeted you at the registration desk and roamed the show floor making sure vendors and attendees were having a great time.
Bert Oser, Baltimore Washington Pen Show organizer, always puts on a great show!
The folks from the Cursive Logic books were also at the show and led several classes too!
View from behind the Franklin-Christoph
I love seeing Lisa Vanness of Vanness Pens with helpers Dan Hoizner (left) and Joseph Sokoly (right.)
Look at these awesome shimmers from Journalize! (at the Vanness table) – I forgot to pick some up, so they are on the wishlist!
Larry Dromgoole and Ana Reinart getting ready for another bustling day!
Kimberly and Marty Henderson were also selling products from Rickshaw Bagworks and Retro 51!
Baltimore locals Evan and Julian Rosenberg of Penquisition have so many fun and colorful pen accessories, pen cases from Rickshaw and more!
Chris and Kylie Henline of Truphae had some amazing pens including many grail-worthy ones! I was tempted but I stayed strong!
This is a great show for both newer and veteran pen fanatics alike. Like with other recent shows, there are more folks coming to shows who are newer to the hobby and were attending their first show. Aside from the wide variety of pens, both modern and vintage, there’s also a lot of inks, paper, cards, ephemeral, even ceramics and 3-D printed items and my favorite, chocolate! This show also brought in some new-to-Baltimore vendors including White Bear Pens, Stationery Universe, Smruti Pens and Skogsy Pens!
Mikayla Jackson (right) of White Bear Pens made her pen show debut!
Tori Woods Ballatine officially launched Stationery Universe at the show! Her blog and online store will be online starting March 13. Congrats, Tori!
Akhila Sheth of Smruti Pens was also a first-time Baltimore vendor!
Another BWI first timer, Zach (right) and Amy Skogsy of Skogsy Pens were also in the same room as White Bear Pens and other makers.
And it’s always great to see returning vendors too!
Congrats to Lauren Elliott of Lucky Star Pens who was celebrating its 4th anniversary with the launch of a Franklin-Christoph collaboration pen at the show!
Andrea and Brian Gray of the Edison Pen Company and all their colorful pens!
I got to meet the parents of Tom Forsythe (left) of Sugar Turtle Studio!! Turtle Mom didn’t want to be in the picture but Turtle Dad (right) was more than happy to oblige! True story - they mistook me for Brad’s wife when I was picking up some stuff for giveaways, lol!
Jonathan Veley was not happy because a part on one of his machines recently broke, but don’t let that face fool you, he was having a good time at the show!
Last year, there were 5 nib workers at the show and this year, it was up to 7 (8, if you include F-C’s in-house nib specialist, Audrey Matteson)! The F-C table was next to Richard Binder’s table and I can attest to the fact that he was busy all weekend. Seemed like the others were busy as well!
- Damien Alomar of All in the Nib
- JC Ament of The Nib Tailor
- Richard Binder of Richards Pens
- Linda Kennedy of Indy-Pen-Dance
- Joshua Lax of JJ Lax Pen Co
- Gena Salorino of Custom Nib Studio
- Kirk Speer of Pen Realm
It is always interesting to talk with other vendors to see what they thought of at day’s end. For some vendors, Friday was very busy and good for business but slower on Saturday and the complete opposite for others. Not sure if this was because of Saturday’s rainy weather or the difficulty finding parking. Sunday was a bit of a surprise for most everyone, as it felt a little busier than the typical Sunday slowness. At our table, we were worried about the slow Sunday start but ended up having a mellow but steady flow all the way til closing.
A cold, rainy and gray Saturday morning combined with an already full parking lot made it difficult for some attendees to get an early start.
When Saturday public hours hit, it felt quieter than usual so I peeked outside the door and saw that the crowds were gathered at the Schon DSGN table next to the registration desk! Thankfully, Ian had his voice back and was able to talk all weekend!
Hey Mike, you spilled some ink on your shirt, but not a drop of his restocked Pennonia Borahae ink!
Fellow Canadians Paul Burberry and Azizah Asgarali of GourmetPens were admiring each other’s kicks at the F-C table. Perfect boot-wearing weather, I’d say!
I love that there is a “Share the Wealth” table at this show where folks could leave behind no-longer-used products for others to take.
One of the reasons this is one of my favorite shows is because of the opportunities for hanging out, penabling and socializing. There are lots of tables and chairs in the bar area, as well as couches in the lobby and more couches and tables in the “side area” around the corner/behind the bar.
One of the few times there weren’t people sitting on all the seats and floor of the lobby.
Scene from the bar with the restaurant on the left, and additional seating beyond.
You bet I went over there to see what people were doing!
Yes! I knew it! Folks were busting out their pens, notebooks, inks, vials and having an inky good time! (PC: pretzel_witch_ on IG)
Random thoughts:
- Free Airport/Hotel Shuttle - Runs for a bulk of the day and night. It’s the last stop in their loop, so if you’re going to the airport, it goes straight to the airport, but if you’re coming from the airport, the shuttle stops off at 2-3 other hotels before this one.
- Book hotel early - The hotel sells out fast, so book your room early next year (I was lucky to get a room but some people weren’t). The hotel was booked up more than a month beforehand! Unlike last year, the show hotel did not want to add more rooms to the show room block - this resulted in (1) higher room rates for those who wanted to stay at the show hotel, (2) more people having to book elsewhere (thankfully other hotels were across, next to, or behind this one), which led to (3) vendors AND attendees circling around to find parking. (see below)
- Lots of classes/seminars/events - I love that this show has more to offer than “just a ballroom of stuff”. There were seminars and classes on Simple Creative Journaling (by Lisa Vanness), Creative Journaling (by Tom Forsythe of Sugar Turtle Studio), Fountain Pens 101 (Jesse Tennenblatt), and Cursive Logic, as well as traditional calligraphy classes on Copperplate and Italics (by Nik Pang). Richard Binder always teaches Sunday early morning nib tuning basics and David Rzeszotarki talked about the history of the Pilot Vanishing Point/Capless and shared his amazing VP collection too. In addition to these sessions, on Friday night, Josh Lax hosted a Pen Shows After Dark: Vintage edition to spread the love of vintage pens and also demystify some of the common misconceptions, and on Saturday night, Cary Yeager hosted the Pen Shows After Dark raffle and giveaway. Like they did at the CA Pen Show, Taccia held an auction to raise money for artisans affected by the Wajima earthquake.
David Rzeszotarki showing off a fraction of his gorgeous and very enviable Vanishing Point collection. I wish I could have attended this seminar!
- Parking lot filled up - The parking lot fills up quickly, especially Saturday. It was worse this year than in the past. If you can, carpool. If you can’t, come early and prepare to park at other hotel lots nearby. If you’re staying at the hotel, it might be worth getting a Lyft/Uber to dinner so you can keep your parking spot.
- Pen Show Maps exist for a reason - Even if you don’t have a specific vendor you are looking for, it’s always a good idea to check out the pen show maps whether online or print - so you can see where all the rooms are. New this year was a smaller side room along the first corridor (not far behind the registration desk) where there were several vendors. It was easy to miss if you didn’t know to look for it!
- Website updates need to be done earlier and more often - This is something that plagues most pen shows, so it’s not specific to this show. Aside from the list of vendors not being updated early/often enough, it has vendors randomly listed and doesn’t include any contact information or links. It’s also weird that they list brands as well as vendors, which makes it seem like there are more vendors at the show, when in reality, several of the vendors are distributors who represent multiple brands.
- Too much, too late - Those of you who are on the Baltimore Pen Show email list know about the deluge of emails in the weeks and days leading up to and throughout the show weekend. It got to the point that I was easily ignoring most of them (partly because I was working), but daily, and sometimes 2-3x/day, emails are far too many. Having some of those emails sent so close to the show date also makes it difficult for seminar/class leaders to plan for late registrations, etc.
Just one of the many, MANY emails I got about the BWI show.
- Take care of yourself - Last but not least, please take care of yourself at shows (and in general). Going an entire show day without eating food or staying hydrated and then having a few “beverages” is just asking for trouble. And for one attendee, it resulted in an ambulance ride when they didn’t feel well and nearly passed out at the bar (they could have hit their head on the marble table top, but thankfully they didn’t). Even if you don’t drink alcohol, you still need to make sure to pace yourself, eat/snack throughout the day, and stay hydrated. Even though pens, shopping and pen friend gatherings are super fun, you have to take care of yourself first and be safe. Alright, enough of that.
The best part of pen shows are the people! And here are some of my fave pen peeps after we’ve all packed up Sunday night!
Pen Show Haul - Rickshaw A5 pouches from Sugar Turtle Studio (one of them is for giveaway but I had to share how cute the back is!) as well as two new exclusive Diamine inks and some stickers, space-themed, fountain pen-friendly note cards (and stickers) from Stationery Universe, a must-have purchase at BWI - chocolate covered peanut brittle from Jinji Chocolate, and a 52gsm Tomoe River notebook from Smruti Pens. Not pictured are a couple of pens and inks that I picked up from a fellow Slacker.
What a great weekend! It’s no wonder that this is one of my favorite shows (after SF, of course!) I can’t wait to come back next year! Until the next pen show (which will be the Arkansas Pen Show - a first for me! - in a few weeks,) stay safe and stay inky!
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