Chicago Pen Show 2023 Recap
Scribbling at the window overlooking Hoffman Estates, IL.
I’ve been back home for two weeks and I am still thinking fondly of the Chicago Pen Show. It was really fun and I really enjoyed seeing so many amazing pens and even more amazing people!
I ended up driving through northern Wisconsin and took a quick pit stop at the National Railroad Museum in Ashwaubenon, WI (highly recommend, their museum is really cute… and they have a Union Pacific Big Boy) and popped into the Anderson Pens store in Appleton, WI (also highly recommend, they have ink samples that you can just collect off the shelf… I ended up with quite a few, haha). I don’t recommend the hotel I stayed in, there’s just something off-putting about floor to ceiling mirrors that take up the wall behind the bed. It definitely ranks up there with the hotel I once stayed in that had carpet on the ceiling. Fun fact about me, I have traveled the USA by car quite a bit and have ended up in some really odd situations. Fond memories. Fond memories.
My room at the Chicago Pen Show hotel was much nicer (even had a great desk for writing/swatching inks) and it was great to have a homebase where I could drop off new ink acquisitions and take a break every so often.
I’m going to call this one my first pen show, technically I’ve been to two back in 2017, but I was quite newbie to the hobby and did not really know what I was doing. It meant so much more to be at a show where I recognized people and could get a chance to talk to them. It was also way more fun to chat pens when I was more familiar with the community. This show had some great social events and I really appreciated how friendly everyone was when I was brave and joined them. The pizza party was a really great way to kick off the weekend and I gave the whisky tasting a try.
I wish there were a few more workshops. Back in my teens and twenties I was a yearly pilgrim to science-fiction and anime conventions and something I always loved about those is that there was always something going on. You could pop into a panel about collecting, or go watch a few episodes of a show, or play some video games. I feel like the pen show equivalent could be more journalling, photography, social media, all that kind of thing. Of the workshops that were there though I attended “Flourishing with a Fountain Pen” with master penman Michael Sull (I have some flourishing to practice), “Notetaking with Plotter” with @penguinscreative and the Plotter Japan crew (I’m interested in the system but haven’t taken the plunge yet), and a Zentangle workshop on Sunday hosted by Hong Nguyen (she is so nice and was so encouraging).
And of course, there was shopping.
The glorious show haul (with a few items picked up at Anderson Pens).
There were so many amazing items at this show from both the big companies and makers. I’ll admit I was hoping to get my hands on some older Kaweco Sport models and didn’t see any other than the ICE series. I do like the look of the Bronze Sport that I saw at Atlas Stationers table… I would love for Kaweco to do a liliput in that material. As you can see in the picture, a lot of my goodies were ink. I got the two show exclusive inks - Anderillium Chicago 1871 and Papier Plume Lake Michigan Sunrise. The rest were shop exclusives from several of the vendors that were present - Sailor x Tinterias Agave and Homemade Tortilla, Robert Oster x Atlas Stationers Polar Vortex, Wearingeul x Atlas Stationers Twelfth Night, Ferris Wheel Press x Atlas Stationers Atlas Iron Ore, and Pennonia x Amarillo Stationery Azul Frida. Other inks that I snagged were Ferris Wheel Press Land of Shangri-la, Robert Oster x California Pen Show Sunset, and Monarca Stationery Mar Caribe. Two out of those three were inks I’ve been staring at for some time.
I’m loving the Sailor x Tinterias inks, Robert Oster Polar Vortex, and Pennonia Azul Frida. You can read more about them in the currently inked later in this post.
Some other goodies were a very shiny orange notebook that is A6-ish in size, some washi tape from both Amarillo Stationery and Inky Converters, a sample holder/pen holder from @randomthinks and (my favorite goodies) from Good Made Better. I have been wanting a penwell from Good Made Better for quite a while and when I saw the purple one I took the plunge. It is so useful! I’ll have to give it a proper review once I’ve had it for a bit. I also got a hold of one of his prototype portable bookweights and gave it a workout reading this past weekend. It’s beautiful and functional.
Another one of my favorite “bought” things were getting a nib tuned and a nib ground by Gena of Custom Nib Studio. They tuned my 14K B nib and it is now super smooth. They also ground a 14K BB nib into an extra-wide journaller (forgiving stub). I love this nib and it fits so well into my Kaweco Art Sport. Seriously, if you haven’t tried their journaller grind and you like stubs - send Gena a pen or see them at a pen show. It’s a great grind.
After shopping it was definitely the people… it was so great to meet all of these great folks and more: @amarillostationery/@_erickgama_ , @penaddict, @allthehobbies, @inkwellmonster, @alanshutko, @penguinscreative, @miatagrrl, Jesi from Well Appointed Desk, and even more! Pen people are seriously the best people and I hope to see you all next time!
Currently Inked
Sailor x Tinterias Podcast Agave - Kaweco Sport Macchiato 1.5 stub - This ink is stunning! It’s a soft blue-gray color. It’s currently in my header pen which I use when I want to highlight sections in a journal entry or a story continuation (big titles make things easy to find). I ended up using it on till sheets at work just because it is a well-behaved ink and I wanted to share the pretty color with my museum’s accountant, haha.
Colorverse Matter - Kaweco Sport Mellow Blue B - This is my favorite warm-toned gray. Kelly at Mountain of Ink once called it the “chameleon of gray inks” and I couldn’t agree more. It can even look brown on certain papers. It was my “serious” color for the pen show. When I am making swatches and don’t have a dip pen I’ll often write color names in gray or black so they don’t clash with the swatches.
Ferris Wheel Press Land of Shangri-La - Kaweco liliput fireblue 14K M “journaller” and Kaweco ICE Sport Green EF flex - I did a longer review of this ink last week, but I’ll reiterate here that I really like the Ferris Wheel Press brown range. This ink is one subtle, but shimmery, and I was using it a lot for journalling this past week.
Colorverse Strelka - Kaweco Sport Iridescent Pearl M CSI - One of my favorite blues. This color was all over my notes at work this past week, in my journal, and in my Pathfinder notes. A perfect bright splash against an earthy color pallette for my other ink choices.
Wearingeul Wicked Witch + Frost - Kaweco Art Sport Tiger’s Eye 14K BB “journaller” - A dark, red sheening base blue with added blue shimmer. I think I’ve figured out that a 2:1 mix of ink to shimmer works well at small volumes. I’m usually only doing a few mL at a time. I utilized this ink a lot this week for drafting non-fiction stuff for work and for the blog.
Sailor x Tinterias Podcast Homemade Tortilla - Kaweco Art Sport Cognac M stub - This is a fun brown and I’m excited to put it through its paces. It’s warm, welcoming, and was fun on all sorts of paper as I was doing some scribbling throughout the week.
Pennonia x Amarillo Stationery Azul Frida - Kaweco liliput copper 14K B - Probably my favorite ink that I was using over the last two weeks. This ink is a royal blue that leans a little to the blurple side on some papers. It’s just fun, cheerful, and not distracting when I need to get lost in a project. This ink is responsible for helping me get all my ducks in a row at work after coming back from the Chicago Pen Show and also carrying me through some brain dumps.
Robert Oster x Atlas Stationers Polar Vortex - Kaweco liliput fireblue 14K M “journaller” - This is the surprise ink from my haul. I only got it because I wanted to pick up all of the Atlas exclusives and assumed it wasn’t too different than Diamine Earl Grey. It’s on the cooler side of gray and has some chromashading that comes out on certain papers. It’s been a delight to write with. (If you’re interested in a bottle you can use my affiliate code DIME to save 10% on Atlas’s website).
Papers of the Week
I was all over the place with my paper choices for the last two weeks. I took some Tomoe River paper, Cosmo Air Light, Kokuyo Perpanep, and Kokuyo Business Paper for scribbling in at the Chicago Pen Show since they are all papers that I use pretty frequently. In my TN I’ve also got a notebook with some JetPens Corona paper and Lamy notebook that I picked up at Anderson Pens. The Lamy paper is really interesting, it has grid and lined on the same page and the paper has some tooth. Need to keep playing with it. I started a new journal insert with Onion Skin Paper and I’ve been having fun making layers of words as I add to the journal.