{"id":15680,"date":"2025-08-08T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=15680"},"modified":"2025-08-08T08:11:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T12:11:16","slug":"2025-dc-pen-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2025-dc-pen-show\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 DC Pen Show"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Well, I went to the pen show with good intentions. But, I blew my budget completely out of the water before noon on Friday. I have zero regrets, but I had planned to be good. On the plus side, no one slipped a free case of COVID in my bag this year. Yay!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I get started, let me say, I had a blast. It was great to see everyone, especially friends I only get to see at pen shows. I must also acknowledge, though, that it’s also exhausting. I don’t socialize like that other than at pen shows, and it definitely takes a lot out of me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jump to a section: Show thoughts | \u21e3 Classes<\/a> | \u21e3 Pen case prototype<\/a>| \u21e3 Preparation vs. reality<\/a> | \u21e3 Day-by-day<\/a> | \u21e3 My haul<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Show thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’ve reviewed the DC Pen Show a couple of times now, so I won’t go into depth in this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The good<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I have to give kudos where they are due; the signage this year was excellent. There were signs in and around the elevators, signs pointing out all of the various rooms, and even large signs to ensure everyone knew there were tables in the back corner of the hallway outside of room 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vendors were also more varied this year, with significantly more “pen adjacent” vendors \u2014 think wax seals, stickers and washi tape, etc. \u2014 and even some completely vendors with goods completely unrelated to stationery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was also an extra area downstairs this year \u2014 Room 4. I wouldn’t classify this as “good” necessarily, but it certainly wasn’t bad, so it fits better here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"screenshot<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Screenshot<\/a><\/figure>\n
These are screenshots from the official 2025 DC Pen Show map<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The not-so-good<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I have to mention the sheer amount of everything<\/em> at the show. Even as a show veteran \u2014 2 shows yearly since 2018 and some extras sprinkled in \u2014 the DC show is a lot<\/strong>. The number of people, the crowding, the noise level, and the number of tables all combine to make the show rather overwhelming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vanness Pen Lounge offers some respite, but mostly when classes aren’t happening. I’m well aware that there isn’t really space for one, but the show could really use a true quiet room. I escaped to the bathroom or my hotel room a few times when it all got to be too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bad<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The show continues to suffer from some of the same accessibility issues it has in past years, virtually all of which are caused by the show outgrowing the hotel. Mainly, the aisles are too narrow and the show is overcrowded, especially on Saturday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy solution. As I mentioned in my BWIPS 2024 post<\/a>, it’s not just a matter of finding a bigger hotel. If you have accessibility needs and want to attend the DC Show, I’d advise coming on Friday afternoon or Sunday morning to have the best chance of accessing everything. Is that fair? No. But I don’t know when, or if, the current problems will be solved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jump to a section: \u21e1 Show thoughts<\/a> | Classes | \u21e3 Pen case prototype<\/a>| \u21e3 Preparation vs. reality<\/a> | \u21e3 Day-by-day<\/a> | \u21e3 My haul<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Classes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like at BWIPS, I taught two classes at the DC show. The first was Habits to Start Early in the Fountain Pen Hobby on Friday afternoon. The turnout was higher than I expected based on BWIPS attendance, so I may keep teaching that class and ask for Friday afternoon or Saturday mid-morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second was Fountain Pen Cosplay that I taught with Alex Friendly<\/a>. Unlike the BWIPS class, where I focused on information about cosplay in general and how to make it work for fountain pens, this time we focused on the practical aspects of fountain pen cosplay. We made sure to include answers to many of the questions I received at the BWIPS class, including the best tools and products to use and our favorite brands. Attendance was a little lower than I’d hoped, but that may be because it was on Sunday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jump to a section: \u21e1 Show thoughts<\/a> | \u21e1 Classes<\/a> | Pen case prototype| \u21e3 Preparation vs. reality<\/a> | \u21e3 Day-by-day<\/a> | \u21e3 My haul<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pen case prototype<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Recently, I’ve fallen hard down the crochet rabbit hole. I’ve been making amigurumi \u2014 small, stuffed, crochet plushies \u2014 which is nice, but I wanted to make something more useful. So, I started developing my own wearable pen case. I managed to finish three prototypes before the show to allow for some testing. Two were for friends, one was for me, but I ended up giving it to a friend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was pleased with how the case wore throughout the show. None of them showed any signs of problems despite all of us fidgeting with them quite a bit. We all received a lot of comments and questions about the cases, so I may end up selling some at shows once I’ve finished refining the design and come up with a name for it. I also had some interest in the pattern, so if I can figure out how to appropriately describe the trickiest bit, I may make that available. Let me know if you’d be interested in either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"My<\/a>
Prototype version 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jump to a section: \u21e1 Show thoughts<\/a> | \u21e1 Classes<\/a> | \u21e1 Pen case prototype<\/a>| Preparation vs. reality | \u21e3 Day-by-day<\/a> | \u21e3 My haul<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparation vs. reality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although I started my preparation late (as I mentioned in my Pen Show Planning post<\/a>) I did a decent amount of preparation for the DC show, not that it helped all that much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I put together several layouts in a Filofax Mini binder. My intention was to use it as my wallet so I’d have everything in one place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The schedule layout was nice, since I could look at the whole day at a glance for planning purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The purchase tracker worked at the beginning of the show, but as it got busier, I became more reluctant to write down what I was buying and how much I spent for fear of blocking people unnecessarily. The plan was to write down where I shopped, how much I spent, and whether I used cash or card, since I never remember where I spent my cash. I think I need a better system, but I don’t know what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My “must see” list was most useful. I was able to write down every table I wanted to see and what room they were in. Then, I crossed them off as I stopped by. I made it to all but 2 of my 32 must-see tables, much better than previous years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I had a couple of other items, including a card reminding me that I don’t need everything (shown above) and a QR code for the pen show map. I didn’t need the QR code, the URL is easy enough, https:\/\/penshowmaps.com<\/a>, and having visited once, Chrome remembered the URL and brought it up as an autofill suggestion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jump to a section: \u21e1 Show thoughts<\/a> | \u21e1 Classes<\/a> | \u21e1 Pen case prototype<\/a>| \u21e1 Preparation vs. reality<\/a> | Day-by-day | \u21e3 My haul<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day-by-day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I can’t write a pen show post without sharing at least some<\/em> of what I did each day. But, if that’s not of interest to you, feel free to jump down to my haul<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Friday was the main day I was bad. It’s the day I went crazy with my purchases, the day I bought three pens. I had two nib appointments, one with Matthew Chen<\/a> that I signed up for early Friday morning, and one with J.J. Lax<\/a> that I pre-booked. I got a cursive oblique from both of them as a continuation of my goal to collect an oblique nib from as many nibmeisters as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had planned<\/em> to have a neat, orderly walk-through of the show on Friday, but that never happened. Between nib appointments, my habits class at 2pm, and wanting to greet and chat with specific people, I think I only saw about 1\/4 to 1\/3 of the show on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also made some trades on Friday. Marty<\/a> \u2014 if you’ve been to a pen show, you’ve seen him at the Dromgoole’s Retro 51 table \u2014 was able to find a Wings of the Monarch rollerball that he traded me for the fountain pen version. I also traded him some other Retro 51s for the Tactile Turn 16-Bit short edition. Not the best<\/em> trade in the world, that one, but I got to offload three “for sale” pens at once, which was nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While at his table, the adorable Yuki Cat<\/a> pattern caught my eye for how much it looks like Floofenstein. I picked up a Fillmore case<\/a> with the 6-pen interior configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure>\n
Photos are from the Rickshaw Bagworks website<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The major, unexpected happening of Friday was the lack of post-show activities. Many of the people traveling to the show hit terrible weather, with lots of stories of flight diversions and extended drives. As a result, some vendors and attendees were absent or very late on Friday. Some local people stayed up downstairs after dinner, but it was a significantly smaller crowd than one usually finds on a Friday night. Jim decided to not go down at all, turning in early instead, and I went back upstairs after only about 45 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I had two more nib appointments scheduled for Saturday. I got a perspective grind on a B nib from Gena<\/a> and a cursive oblique grind on my Leonardo x NibsAndFlourishes<\/a> Aster Bouquet from Damien<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a much more organized show walk through, and managed to see almost every table \u2014 some were too crowded to get close to \u2014 crossing off most of the remaining “must see” items on my list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somewhere in my rambles I caught sight of the most adorable pen case and was pointed to Sugar Turtle Studio<\/a> when I asked where to find it. Unfortunately, they are not currently available to purchase, although the post says that they will eventually be available online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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