San Francisco Pen Show 2023: A Weekend Whirlwind

A weekend whirlwind so fast… that I forgot to take pictures on the show floor because I was too busy experiencing it.

When I get back home from a trip, I like to unpack right away and put everything in its place. I’m not usually much a souvenir person, so this process is usually simple - pull out the dirty laundry, put away the bathroom supplies, and then any gifts I brought home for friends. However, when I got back from San Francisco I was opening a treasure chest in the form of a suitcase. I had gone to San Francisco with the intention of shopping and WOW, did I get it done. The San Francisco International Pen Show was amazing and I learned a lot. Buckle up because this post is going to be a long one!

As mentioned in my pre-pen show post I had a few plans for things I would do, things I hoped to see, and everything else was a sort of extra. I spent two full days at the show and then a day exploring San Francisco which equalled a great trip! It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but great fun.

I was in line at 7:30 in the morning on Friday, mostly because I was already awake, had breakfast, and hoped to pick up my badge early. I was not the first person there either. There were quite a few other early risers and the line gradually got longer the closer that we go to 8:00 am when the show would open to weekend pass holders. When the doors did open it was a bit of a mad rush towards certain tables. I got a little overwhelmed by the line that was forming at Toyooka Craft, Plotter, and Traveler’s Company and decided to make a lap of the show first. Very few of the vendors were there first thing, but it was nice to get the lay of the land.

I did manage to get to the Cute Things from Japan table and that was my first purchase of the show, some stickers, washi, and a pack of small notebooks. The rest of the morning was a bit of a blur as I picked up some inks from CY’s table and ended up waiting in line for Toyooka Craft for about 40 minutes so I could see the pen chests and rests that everyone was very hyped about. They are lovely and incredibly well made. Now I can see why they made such a splash amongst pen collectors. I am very pleased with the single pen holder I bought in a natural finish and the hinoki orange keychain pen rest that was made for the show.

After Toyooka, I headed to my nib grinder appointment with JC Ament, the Nib Tailor. I hadn’t met him before and he was such a nice guy! He took great effort to get my extremely dry 14K Kaweco gold nib writing with better flow. I asked him to grind the nib into his “selvedge” grind which is an italic that has a forgiving writing angle. As it is not uncommon for me to adjust my grip throughout the day or to swap nibs between pens, this is a really nice feature. I have been playing with it all weekend after inking it up with Bungukan Kobayashi Hirai Bridge (courtesy of Tokyo Station Pens). I ended up swapping it from my copper liliput into my Art Sport and it’s a great combo with just a hint of feedback and crisp stubby lines.

Now, a new nib grind deserved a variety of paper and ink options right? These are the categories where I went a little crazy. Between the show and my Sunday trip to Japantown I came home with 20 different types of paper and 11 new inks (+1 I bought for a friend). I only broke my ink buying rules once (those rules were to only buy ink brands new to me, hard to get inks, and store/show exclusives). I broke the rules for Ferris Wheel Press Majestic Maple Syrup. In my defense I wanted to complete my set and it keeps selling out everywhere. Trying all of the inks and papers will be an ongoing process since I only like having a few pens inked at any given time. However, I did pick up a Sailor Hocoro fude nib dip pen, which allowed me to make some quick swatches and writing samples at the show. Brown inks won the day with 6 different browns (Anderllium, Sailor, Ferris Wheel Press, and Kiwi Inks), 3 blues (Nonban, Vinta, and Kobe), 1 gray (Bungubox), and 1 red (Colorverse). Initial thoughts is that the Anderillium Lepidoptera line is beautiful, Kiwi Ink has some really cool stuff, and there are a LOT of Kobe inks to choose from.

The ink haul

The Paper Haul.

The two workshops I attended were interesting. On Friday, I attended the first session of Sunny Koh’s Nib Tuning workshop which, I’ll admit, was a little underwhelming, but I did take pages of notes. There was a lot of knowledge on offer, but it did take some patience and untangling to achieve. I think it could have been a 2 hour class instead of 3, and scheduled breaks would have been nice. However, the tool kit we were given will definitely be seeing some use for me.

On the other hand, Every Paper Has an Origin Story with Taizo Yamamoto and Bruce Eimon on Saturday was fascinating! Mr. Yamamoto had a great insight into the Japanese paper industry and was clearly very passionate about writing papers and trying to preserve the art of making writing paper. During the 1.5 hours we tried 15 different papers and at the end were given five paper sample stacks in a tidy little box. Yamamoto Paper had been a stop for me on Friday to get some A4 looseleaf (notebook making supplies!) and it was fun to see even more at the workshop. This workshop was definitely a highlight for my paper obsessed heart.

Earlier on Saturday I also stopped by the launch discussion of CY of Tokyo Station Pens and Ben Walsh of Gravitas Pens collab for Kyuseido. The pen they were showing off was definitely out of my price range, but really cool. They had built a unique filling mechanism that they are calling the pump piston which was inspired by an expired 1890’s patent that never made it to market. It’s a really cool feat of engineering and it was fun to get a chance to handle one and see how it works. There was also some really interesting insight into the nature of getting patents for pen design.

While ink and paper were the priority on my trip, I also ended up with a bundle of stickers and washi. Beyond the variety that was offered by the different vendors, there were so many generous people at the meetups who wanted to share their stash. It was really kind of those folks and it was wonderful to be around so many stationery lovers. It was a great opportunity to learn about new brands that I hadn’t seen before.

All of the stickers!

As far as the other things that I wanted to see, I almost bought a pen from Ben Walsh at Gravitas. The ultem quark was just one of the cutest little pocket pens I’d ever seen (no photos of it online yet and I was awful at taking pictures this weekend!). In fact, there were a lot of makers with pocket pens at the show which makes me happy because I’m not a fan of big pens. Skogsy Pens had their chunky mini-Saguaro pens. River City Pen Co. had pearlescent pens, mini pens, and mini nib holders which were adorable. In addition there were the Franklin-Christoph pocket pens and all of the Pocket 6 pens from Schon Dsgn. The Model 91 from Franklin-Christoph almost came home with me, but I have very little use for pencils at the moment. The Little Witch Kaweco Bungubox exclusive was also really tempting… but I let it go.

One Kaweco I didn’t let go of was a Kaweco Ice Sport Inkball in orange. Essentially, they were Kaweco’s attempt at having a rollerball that could take fountain pen ink. I have been looking for an inkball since I found out they existed a few years ago. I was walking by one of the vintage vendors and saw the iconic Kaweco cap. I figured they’d be fountain pens or the newer rollerball design… but then I saw the black tip and was like… I need this. Luckily, the vendor took PayPal because I’d left my money in my room on accident. It’s quirky as most rollerballs that take fountain pen cartridges are in my experience, but it brings me a lot of joy.

Some final thoughts…

The San Francisco International Pen Show was a rush. It was busy, full, and had so many cool things to look at I’m still not sure if I actually saw everything. I had the most fun earlier in the morning when it was early access and it was possible to chat with people before the crowds rolled in. It was very nice to meet Ana (@wellappointeddesk) and @gentlemanscholar, as well as quite a few others! It was also nice to see April (@penguinscreative) again after meeting her in Chicago this year. It was a very upbeat vibe and had a lot of energy. Something I would like to see more of if they could manage it, is places to sit down inside the show/a quiet room for people to catch their breath and chat pens (the lobby at the Westin had awkward seating in my opinion) and it would be really cool to have more free panels on more topics.

Overall it was a wonderful pen vacation and I plan on being back in the future!

The inkball with Utsunomiya Gyoza Brown.