This year's DC show was the most fantastic ever with enthusiastic crowds, beautiful displays, gorgeous silversmithing and miniature painting on pens. Everyone gathered for four glorious days of pen madness, fabulous dinners and hours of ink testing at the lobby ink testing tables. I had the opportunity to help Bob's lovely church ladies set up the ink and I had lots of fun testing out the few colors I didn't yet have in my extensive ink collection. I ended up buying 8 bottles!

A newcomer to the pen selling scene this year was our own Luckygrandson who was selling his Guider pens which are made in India. I bought two of the smaller pens, one so tiny that you could easily fit a dozen in the palm of your hand! I plan to use this pen extensively to write long letters......!

One of my many pen purchases was the outstandingly beautiful Taccia mother of pearl and abalone Fantasy fountain pen. I walked past the Taccia table and was literally stopped in my tracks by the beauty of this pen. The nib I chose was a B and it is 18 kt. gold. It's quite comfortable and attracts compliments by the score!

I'm glad I was at the show because otherwise I would never have had the opportunity to see David's fashionable and stylish slacks.... and Richard's new pig who surveyed the show Sunday afternoon from his perch in the very corner of the ballroom behind Richard's work station. It's amazing that the pig was in such good condition this morning, after his night of hard partying (a lively dinner) and other hi-jinks such as flirting with our very engaging Russian waitress!

As usual, Aunt Rebecca and Elaine were on hand to add to the pleasurable occasion. A special thank you to Elaine for "ketching" me up on all the latest news..... at the show and pointing me towards the box lady's table. What beautiful boxes she was displying!

I had the opportunity to meet Speerbob, who is back here in the U.S....lucky us! and all other dealers.
Although I didn't enroll in any classes, I am sure they were enjoyable and informative!

Now that this show is one for the books, I am already looking forward to the New Jersey show!

Yep. Ultraconservative source too. Brooks Brothers' famous "pen show" pants.

-d

no offense Doc I, those pants are pretty, uhhh.. how can I phrase this.... WoW.... hahaha....

I got really lucky this year and found a Chilton Clown. At least three people told me that it reminded them of David's slacks.

Got back last night after an 8 hour drive that should have been 4!

This was a great show. Each year it becomes more and more like a family reunion. I enjoy the pens, but the people are fantastic.

There were a number of great sounding seminars but since I'm conserving my energy these days I didn't go to any. Perhaps next year I'll go to the seminars and not walk around the show!

I wasn't looking for anything in particular because I'm happy with the collection as it is, except for those pens I can't afford

I stopped off at the Classic Pens table and asked Andreas Lambrou if he was ever going to make a pen like the CP8 in a smaller version. His first answer was to show me a one of a kind small clipless version of the LM1 Classic Legend Limited Edition Flame (see www.richardspens.com new pen section - Classic Pens. I tried to photograph mine and couldn't capture the beauty the way Richard did). I did my duty for all small handed people and bought the pen to encourage Classic Pens to make more in this size. His second answer is that perhaps next year may be the year for the release of a smaller pen. I'm curious to see if the market for smaller CP pens is as large as I think it is.

My special flame pen exhausted my budget, but I was able to afford two pens from luckygrandson. They are both Indian eyedroppers. Fun!




A newcomer to the fountain pen show scene was Leslie Wyatt of Dove Designs. She makes gorgeous hand made pen boxes in a variety of classic styles like cigar boxes, but also makes some very unusual designs. I bought three! This one I bought and took home:



The other two I ordered in the box design and fabrics of my choice. One is a puzzle box. You lift the lid one way and it exposes a one pen slot. Close the lid and open it from the other direction and it exposes three pen slots. The other box had 4 (or 5?) three (or 4?) slot boxes that folded around itself. I'm not describing it well, so I'll post photos when I get it. Leslie said she doesn't have a web site yet but is working on it.

Some useful items can be found in other parts of the hotel. These bottles are great for mixing small quantities of ink:

(This is the ketching up that Playpen is referring to in her post )

Yes,

The DC pen show was great, and me and my two sons had a great time. This was my first show so the whole thing was overwhelming to say the least. I've never seen so many pens in my life.

It was great having the opportunity of meeting some of my pen hero's. I loved watching Richard Binder and Ron Zorn working at their craft's. Their smiling disposition's and friendly talk while they worked made it all the more enjoyable.

Aaron from Pentiques offering a helping hand on one of my son's Snorkel's was a real blessing.

I have to say, though, the icing on the cake was having David Isaacson entertain me and the boys for about 30 minutes by allowing us to oogle over (and handle) part of his zillion+ collection of vintage pens. I just stood there kind of dazed at all the eye-candy. What a blessing he was. Plus, I loved his pants.

Even though meeting people and chatting was the highlight of the show for me: my one regret was that I didn't have more cash on hand to spend. Not because I need anything else for my pen or ink collection---my cup runneth over. But, simply to be able to offer more financially to support the participants who put so much work into making that show happen.

God bless all of you who dragged your pens and ink and whatever else you brought, and to all who contributed to make that show a real treat. I know how much effort goes into planning an event like that, and you all are to be commended!

If the Lord should tarry, I look forward to attending the next one.

Blessings to you all,
Dave

John

I was going to ask if it was the man in the picture (I assume it's actually a pen).

No offence david, I think you are very brave to not only wear those in public, but allow somebody to document it.

Andy

Not brave. Just reasonably self-assured

You'd be amazed how much conversation the pants generated. I was. Stir up a bit of business and have fun all at same time. Pen Show Heaven.

regards

david

PS. The clown is the colorful set in the middle

With apologies to those who also frequent the Zoss list, I'm posting the same message here - (how do folks handle such duplication?)

With Ron Zorn's enthusiastic encouragement I attended my first pen show in DC. I was only able to experience Thurs and Fri but I'm not sure I could have processed much more. Ron suggested I look up Susan Wirth and I was fortunate enough to run into her early on Thurs. After several hours of tutelage I was prepared to go back to my fledgling collection and reacquaint myself with my pens from a whole new perspective. It had never occurred to me to listen to what the pen wanted to be as opposed to what I expected of it. Flex took on a whole new meaning and I feel like I made a new friend. Thank you, Susan!

I was torn between looking at pens and watching people. Faces and names I've seen in print online and elsewhere - I admit I was like a groupie taking it all in. Watching Richard Binder bring a mangled nib back to life was a real treat. Gerry Berg helped me understand my touchdown tuckaway and Alan Kaufman introduced me to snorkels. At all times folks were generous with their time and knowledge, friendly and welcoming. It was everything I've come to expect from the pen community.

Other treasures included a pen chest (actually two), three books (I'm a book junkie), lots of Rhodia and Clairefontaine paper from Pendemonium, one of Binder's custom Pelikan nibs, and an assortment of odd pens that I just couldn't resist. I took lots of pictures which I have posted on Ovi (formerly Twango) so that folks can download their own photos in high resolution if they are interested. If anyone objects to their photo being shared, please let me know and I will remove it immediately. Click on the individual image to access high resolution.


The DC pen show pictures can be found at

http://share.ovi.com/channel/Betsy.penshow


Thanks to all the FPN members who share their expertise so generously!

Cheers!
Betsy/Syracuse, NY

duplicate - sorry!

Betsy, I realized after I read your post on the Zoss List that we actually met and had a short discussion. I realized that when I read that you had spent some time with Susan Wirth. I checked out your pix and was delighted to see that Steve and I are in a few of them!