2024 Washington D.C. Fountain Pen Supershow!

The 2024 D.C. Supershow has looooong since come and gone once again. How late can this post be? I have no earthly idea, but I’m going to talk about it anyway. It was my fourth year in attendance, and this year things were a little bit different. Our editor and intrepid pen show explorer, Sarah, wasn’t able to make it this year, so for the most part, I did the exploring on my own.

I admit, early on I wasn’t originally planning to attend the D.C. Show — life happens and it honestly didn’t seem like it was going to be a great year for me to go. I was pretty bummed. Of course, I tried to reason myself into it, but it wasn’t looking great. Things turned around quickly as the show neared, however: I was asked by my good friend JC Ament (Nib Tailor) if I’d like to be his table assistant at the show this year. Why not? Help a friend, go to the show, it’s a win/win. Easy decision!

If you haven’t heard of JC before, he’s one of the many excellent nibmeisters available at the DC show (as well as other shows).

So, unlike previous shows, I got to spend most of the show behind the table, and honestly? It was a lot of fun. Certainly, there was some pre-show anxiety about it — I don’t like messing things up and my experience with that kind of thing is limited. But a few minutes into the show, the anxiety was gone, and I was comfortable. I even got to assist with the Nibs 101 workshop, which was also a lot of fun!

Things went by surprisingly fast, too. It’s incredible how much faster time went by compared to my previous experiences as an attendee, simply exploring the show rooms and aisles. Unfortunately, this also means I didn’t get to spend as much time walking said aisles, but hey, I still took a few moments here and there to explore!

For the most part, it wasn’t much different from last year: the show is spread around multiple areas of the hotel. Notably, there are 3 rooms. The first room (room 3, confusing, I know) is massive and where you’ll find most of the exhibitors. Generally, commercial vendors make up the outer perimeter while the inner rows house an array of independent dealers offering anywhere from vintage pens to handmade goods and more — a pretty standard affair. There are vendors around the hallways surrounding the large room, as well. The second room (room 2, and where I was most of the time) is smaller and houses many of the nibmeisters and custom pen makers. It’s a strangely cozy space, but this is where you start to see some of the flaws in the show organization. There are a lot of vendors packed into this oddly-shaped room and it doesn’t take long to see the congestion issues it causes. It can be difficult to wade through, especially if you’re mobility impaired. There were more than a few times where I noticed a wheelchair unable to make it through.

Despite that, it’s not quite as packed as room 1, which I simply avoided for most of the show. Cramped would be an understatement, and it only took a single look at the room for me to decide I’d never make it through in a timely manner and would come back on a less busy day.

There was still plenty of fun to be had though: I visited a few friends while I could and went around looking for my small checklist of things to find, as well as some things for Sarah and other friends who couldn’t make it this year.

My first stop was, of course, Patrick at Relic Pens, to find The Pen That Got Away™ (back in March, that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since). I was also dying to see in person all of the cool engraved offerings he’s been showing off on his Instagram.

And goodness, do they look great. I didn’t pick any up this time around, but I certainly have something in mind for next time.

And the only reason I didn’t walk away with one of these engraved beauties was because of The Pen That (Almost) Got Away™! There it was, and I wasn’t going to let it escape this time. If this was the only thing I walked away with at the D.C. Pen show, I would still be happy, and that’s putting it lightly. It’s certainly a more sinister-looking material than his other offerings (or really, anyone’s), but I love it. What should I call it? Blood Veil? Vampire Ash? Hemo Grey? I don’t know, but I’m happy it’s finally mine.

This is also where I picked up a pen for Sarah! A very cool pen in this awesome aqua glitter burst material (that some may have already seen by now in the Dominant Industry Lake review, because my goodness, this post is so late).

Right across from Relic was another table that I was eager to visit: DarailPenz, another favorite maker of mine. I wasn’t expecting to walk away with anything for myself this time for budget reasons (which I barely followed, if I’m honest) but another unable-to-attend-friend tasked me with a quest to check the table for him, and really who am I to say no?

It only took half a glance to find something that I knew he would like, and of course, he did with this absolutely sick green and orange resin pen (I forgot to ask about the model, but I’m guessing it’s a Naomi with a clip?). And because I am myself, I also immediately found something that I needed to have, and that’s this (definitely a Naomi) amazing resin pen that I’ve taken upon myself to name Autumnal Flame. I’m going to have a lot of fun this fall.

And that’s more or less it for pens. I had a few other tables to stop at still. Odyssey Notebooks was at the top of my list, and while I, unfortunately, made it into the room too late to get the new dotted A5 notebook I was hoping for, I still came away with a nice blank A5, and I’m more than happy with that.

It was a similar situation at Galen Leather. I wanted to look for some extra notebook covers, but I either made it into the room too late to get the colors I wanted or they didn’t bring the kind I was looking for, but I still walked away with one of the new marbled 1870 notebooks and a brass clip I’ve had my eye on for quite some time (and I can’t forget the stickers!)

There were a few other things to do: I stopped at Franklin-Christoph to have a set of medium nibs made for writing samples (and without fail, I failed to remember that I also wanted to get one of the 1.9 music nibs), picked up the 2024 DC Pen Show exclusive engraved nib from Pen Realm, and most importantly, got some chocolate from Jinji.

All in all, it was alright. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get the chance to try Pilot’s handwriting analysis again, and apparently, the Nahvalur table had playing cards that I somehow missed, but hey, maybe next time. It wasn’t my usual pen show experience, but if I’m honest, I think I much preferred spending D.C. behind a table rather than exploring the floor. A lot of people may love it (and I totally get that) but it’s just too crowded, noisy, and mentally fatiguing for me to truly enjoy it. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad show, because it really isn’t — it’s a great show and there’s nothing quite like it. Do I recommend it? Sure! Will I go back? Absolutely! Will I have the time of my life? We shall see…