2018 La Pen Show

[Ecriveur]

So far, the event is a disaster. I’m sitting outside at 3:25 pm Thursday and we still can’t get in. People have been lined up for over 30 minutes now and, let’s face it, many of them are not young and are ill suited to standing in line for extended periods. The estimated time at which we will be let in keeps getting pushed back. It seems to be related to the renovations but no one has said so explicitly.

[Ecriveur]

Looks like they finally started admitting people at 3:30 pm.

[Calabria]

So, there also happens to be a tender greens next to the shake shack... at the event now, but it seems like its not getting started for a while... I guess the city wants to do a walkthrough of the space again before they let anyone in... quite a few people here waiting already

Thanks for letting us know. I love Tender Greens (Shake Shack not so much). Heading there tomorrow from SD - the program says the show is open until late (11pm) - is that true? Do people stay that late?

[Greenie]

Usually people are NOT in the room late. With the late start, who knows.....

[pen2paper]

such a shame the location was not candid about the state of unfinished construction, so that an alternate plan could have quickly been devised.

With attendees long term plans of cross country, and international travel bringing funds into the community, PLUS considering all the educational, historical focus, aside from sales, perhaps a local museum, university/U library, or associated nearby business building could have opened a Plan B space, with supportive funds bolstering.

 

I have seen hotels go the extra mile to make things happen in unusual situations. Pen world folks have a knack for adjusted plans & good outcome - hope this is turns around in their favor.

[da vinci]

I hope all the hotel issues are overcome and everyone has a great time.

 

I am looking forward to hearing about all the wonderful purchases people make!

[Jaybeez]

Curious as to how this goes on Saturday. My son and I hope to go for a few hours Sunday, but if too many issues we may just skip it.

[meganpendragon]

I was there today, just for the seminars. I wasn't there at the very beginning and I didn't go in the showroom, so I can't comment on start time or crowding. I just wanted to pop by and say thank you to all the speakers, and especially thank you to amberleadavis for the great talk and the free bottle of ink!! Monteverde Green was on my wish list already, and it really made my day.

Edited February 18, 2018 by meganpendragon

[sidthecat]

My experience was the opposite: I spent my time in the dealer’s room and ignored the seminars. I had fun, though: I sold a few pens and bought an exquisite, hideously expensive handmade notebook with the proceeds. I wish I had thoughts important enough to put into it.

 

BTW, there’s a Bristol Farms market just east of the hotel. They have a GREAT prepared-food section. You don’t need to eat in the hotel at all.

[tgoto]

My experience was the opposite: I spent my time in the dealers room and ignored the seminars. I had fun, though: I sold a few pens and bought an exquisite, hideously expensive handmade notebook with the proceeds. I wish I had thoughts important enough to put into it.

 

BTW, theres a Bristol Farms market just east of the hotel. They have a GREAT prepared-food section. You dont need to eat in the hotel at all.

I am not sure which notebook you got, I got a couple of rather pricey hand made notebooks with beautiful craftsmanship. I dont have thoughts important enough too (lol) but I will use one as a sketchbook and another one as an art piece Edited February 19, 2018 by tgoto

[tgoto]

The show did not have too many people on Friday and Saturday.

Probably not good for vendors, but I got to talk to friends and met new friends.

Sold my pen for the first time at a pen show and acquired some.

I really enjoyed the show

[Jaybeez]

My son and I went and had a good time. Didn't buy anything but was cool to talk to some of the vendors and get a sense for what my next purchase(s) will be. Was pretty crowded and hard to get close to the merchandise in some of the booths. Had a great pizza lunch afterward. All in all a good day.

[da vinci]

The show did not have too many people on Friday and Saturday.

Probably not good for vendors, but I got to talk to friends and met new friends.

Sold my pen for the first time at a pen show and acquired some.

I really enjoyed the show

Glad you had a good time, please do share what you bought, we need details!

 

I have never really sold any pens, but am interested in your experience of selling your pen. Did you speak to a few dealers before doing a deal?

[meganpendragon]

I went back on Sunday to see the showroom. It was indeed crowded and there was still a significant line when I arrived (though just around the entryway, not leading out the door or anything). It was nice to be able to breeze past the line since I'd already bought my ticket the previous day.

Most of the tables were in one large room. In the hallways around the outside of that room were more tables. It seemed like most of the big vendors (Monteverde, Conklin, etc.) were around the outside. I confess that as a newbie who's not particularly into vintage pens, most of the trader tables looked much the same to me: rows and rows of pens, often with no labeling or pricing in evidence, and (to my inexperienced eye) often with no apparent sorting or organization. I'm sure that if you knew what you were looking at and/or enjoyed engaging people in conversation to find out whatever you wanted to know, it would have a delightful "kid in a candy store" effect. Being in the market for several-hundred-dollar pens would probably also help. For an introvert like me who doesn't know about vintage pens and isn't ready to spend more than $50 on any one pen, those tables were less appealing.

I did buy one pen on impulse from a rack that was labeled "Show Special $20-25". I hadn't heard of the brand before (Online Germany) and it wasn't inked so all I knew is that I liked how it looked and it appeared to be a 0.8mm stub. I love stubs, and have been wanting to try a smaller one. After some googling around, I'm pretty sure it's a Vision model. Nothing rare or special, but after a little tweaking it's writing well and I'm pleased with the purchase.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tn1-DZr2zLVrXqaYSDy9ayrXmJMoKHVYiQ/view?usp=sharing

I enjoyed playing with the Monteverde inks (when that table finally wasn't swarmed with people, and I could actually get to it) and bought two small bottles (Moonstone and Olivine) for $5 each (normally $8 each). I wanted to play at the Sailor table as well, but it was always crowded and seemed to be set up for only one or two people to test at once.

I also bought an extremely beautiful and very expensive handmade notebook from Musubi (which I suspect might be the same extremely beautiful and very expensive notebooks that others have mentioned in this thread):

https://photos.app.goo.gl/G08JaOAdoRQohGDP2

It has Tomoe River paper and it's really finely made. The seller was super nice---engaging, but not pushy. The company sounds pretty great; everyone who makes the notebooks (by hand) has some kind of physical or mental disability, and the company uses most of its profits for programs that support people with disabilities. (I haven't independently researched this, but it's what the guy said.)

Funny story, though: The seller said the notebooks were $18-19 depending on the cover fabric. I bought one. Then I got a text from my credit card company asking me if the charge was legit, and it became clear that I'd misheard him. They're not $18-19. They're $80-90. Oops. I was too embarrassed to try to return it. It is a really gorgeous notebook and sounds like a great company, but... oof.

For the record, I do NOT think the seller was trying to mislead me. It was just noisy, and for some reason my too-good-to-be-true-o-meter was malfunctioning. Also for the record, I don't think they're really overcharging. With the quality of materials and craftsmanship, and the community support that they engage in, I don't see how they could sustainably operate and charge less. It's just more than I meant to spend right now. Oh, well. Live and learn. Maybe someday I'll feel special enough to write in it. Maybe.

[aardvarkbark]

...it became clear that I'd misheard him. They're not $18-19. They're $80-90. Oops. I was too embarrassed to try to return it. It is a really gorgeous notebook and sounds like a great company, but... oof.

 

 

Too funny! I think many of us have had a similar experience at one time or another. You were a good sport to keep and enjoy it for the benefit others derive from your purchase.

[LanceSaintPaul]

I also bought an extremely beautiful and very expensive handmade notebook from Musubi (which I suspect might be the same extremely beautiful and very expensive notebooks that others have mentioned in this thread):

https://photos.app.goo.gl/G08JaOAdoRQohGDP2

 

It has Tomoe River paper and it's really finely made. The seller was super nice---engaging, but not pushy. The company sounds pretty great; everyone who makes the notebooks (by hand) has some kind of physical or mental disability, and the company uses most of its profits for programs that support people with disabilities. (I haven't independently researched this, but it's what the guy said.)

 

Funny story, though: The seller said the notebooks were $18-19 depending on the cover fabric. I bought one. Then I got a text from my credit card company asking me if the charge was legit, and it became clear that I'd misheard him. They're not $18-19. They're $80-90. Oops. I was too embarrassed to try to return it. It is a really gorgeous notebook and sounds like a great company, but... oof.

 

For the record, I do NOT think the seller was trying to mislead me. It was just noisy, and for some reason my too-good-to-be-true-o-meter was malfunctioning. Also for the record, I don't think they're really overcharging. With the quality of materials and craftsmanship, and the community support that they engage in, I don't see how they could sustainably operate and charge less. It's just more than I meant to spend right now. Oh, well. Live and learn. Maybe someday I'll feel special enough to write in it. Maybe.

 

For what it's worth - it seems a splendid notebook - I think the price seems reasonable. I hope you will find your way to using it - perhaps one day you may even consider it a bargain (though a more expensive bargain).

 

If your budget gets stalled by it & you feel pinched I would imagine you could sell it & recoup the cost. I'd be interested (don't take that as a solicitation, however) and I'm sure many others here would be interested as well. So you could fall back to that if need be.

 

Thanks also for your report - I'm always interested in what's going on at pen shows - especially ones (many) that I am not able to attend.

 

I must add that having now looked at the Musubi website you seem to have gotten a show price - if I'm getting this correct that same notebook is $115 - so it was a relative bargain. Oops I see that is in Singapore dollars which comes to more or less what you paid. Still the quality says "Worth it!"

 

One more point is that price is before shipping and they prefer to use DHL which would be relatively expensive AND will likely come with an added charge for duty - whether it is actually due or not. This all adds up to if you need to sell it you can get all you paid for it out of it and the buyer would still be getting a discount from what the website price would be in total.

 

Love the dragonfly cover.

 

Take up writing Haiku!

Edited February 19, 2018 by LanceSaintPaul

[tgoto]

 

Too funny! I think many of us have had a similar experience at one time or another. You were a good sport to keep and enjoy it for the benefit others derive from your purchase.

When I talked to the vendor, he said their journal varies from $80 to $125.

He took time and explained to me why it costs what it costs (material, craftsmanship and supporting the artisans). In my mind, it's worth every penny.

One thing I was amazed was that musubi is not using artisans with challenges to advertise their products, but musubi enhances strength of the artisans with challenges. If some artisans love working on repetitive tasks and really good at them, Musubi asks them to hand bind the journals with threads over and over and they enjoy that task.

That is having the right people for the right tasks and makes perfect sense.

 

Hopefully I can write and draw something that is worth putting on each page of the journal.

[meganpendragon]

I did consider that I might be able to sell it. I keep going back and forth. It's so beautiful... and so expensive... and so beautiful... I think the deciding factor for me will be whether I can bring myself to actually write in it. If in a few weeks or months I still can't imagine putting pen to that fabulous paper, then it would be better passed on to someone else. For now, though, I'll just appreciate how lovely it is, and be grateful that at least my accidentally large purchase supported a good cause.

[tgoto]

I did consider that I might be able to sell it. I keep going back and forth. It's so beautiful... and so expensive... and so beautiful... I think the deciding factor for me will be whether I can bring myself to actually write in it. If in a few weeks or months I still can't imagine putting pen to that fabulous paper, then it would be better passed on to someone else. For now, though, I'll just appreciate how lovely it is, and be grateful that at least my accidentally large purchase supported a good cause.

I am sure someone will pick it up if you decide to sell

As I am in design business, I might consider giving one to my fellow designer as a gift. He will definitely put some great contents in the journal. I will absolutely keep the other for myself. I might use it to sketch whenever I go to a pen show and keep the memories in the journal...just a preliminary thought...

[Calabria]

I went on Friday and it was definitely the nicest pen show I've been to. I liked shaking hands with Rick Propas (though I'm not in the market for another Pelikan) and talking to Mike Masuyama about surf suits while he adjusted some nibs for me. I also got a lovely Pelikan M600 OM nib from Sebastian Stolz who lives across the lake from my hometown Konstanz (Germany)!

 

I debated for a long time whether to get a Lamy 2000 Edition 2000 in good condition for a somewhat hefty price (for me) and relented after some haggling. I'm super happy about it; I am fond of Lamy and this pen is much better engineered than current stainless steel 2000s - tight fitting cap, smooth seams, sleek surfaces. I fitted it with an EF nib and immediately started using it on a text I'm writing. It makes me feel cool, calm, and collected.

 

There is a Tender Greens across the street which was perfect for dinner before heading home to San Diego. I like pen people! See you next year!

🙋🏼‍♂️Derek