There were at least five major pen or stationery events in the U.S. in March, and I attended two of them. On the weekend before last I visited the Arkansas Pen Show in Little Rock for the second year in a row. After going to this show last March, I got more involved with the Arkansas pen community, visiting their pen club a couple times in between shows and spending time at the Vanness pen shop.
It was really nice to return to a warm welcome, a lot of friends, and be invited to share more about my love and use of inks at this show.
Wyndham Riverfront Hotel
The show was in a different hotel this year, and it was a nice space for the pen show. There was one ballroom for vendors, two classrooms, and a spacious event room with large round banquet tables for the roundtable event on Saturday night. There was a Benihana attached to the hotel where I had lunch with friends on Friday. I may not have gotten outside much during the show, but I appreciated the sunny windows in the breakfast area and lobby.
From what I heard, the hotel provided great support for the show and it seemed like things ran pretty smoothly. Congratulations to the new leadership of the Arkansas Pen Club for running this successful event!
D² Arts
I knew my first (and most dangerous) stop at the show would be visiting my friend Darrell of D² Arts. His hand-carved pens, and now nib holders too, are something I've really connected with, and I intend to keep growing my collection of these beautiful, inspiring tools I tend to reach for to do my most thoughtful or introspective writing (and for plenty of “everyday” writing too).
This is a table you have to spend time at to not just look at the pens, but hold them in your hand. I held a lot of the pens and narrowed it down to a bright yellow-green pen carved into the shape of a propeller blade, and a dark green pen with a carved "emotional olive" color section in the body and a bright orange section. It was a tough choice, but after seeing some of the first pens Darrell did with the carved pieces inside another resin and finding this one that just seemed coded for me with the colors, it won out. Capped, it's a long pen but it's a very comfortable shape to write with. (No regrets, but I'll still be thinking about that propeller shape for next time.)
I held most of the dip nib holders and narrowed it down to 3 that fit my hand well. I really like the look of this one, the shape inspired by grecian urns, but I chose it because it felt like it was carved just for my hand. Even when using it to swatch inks later I was still struck by how comfortable it was to use. At the moment I've fit my favorite metal dip pen nib, from the Pilot Iroutsushi pen, in this holder and it's a delight.
Note: The dip nib in the photos is the Kakimori Pen Nib.
Bonecrusher 7 Studios
Shortly after I arrived at the show, I was directed to check out an ink swatching tool/pen rest over at the Bonecrusher 7 Studios table, so that was another early stop. These pieces are made out of extra pen blank material left over after a pen is made. One end is flat and the other slightly rounded to provide options when spreading ink. The bottom side is also flat to prevent it from rolling around, while a carved divot in the center serves as a pen rest.
I picked out and paid for a sparkly blue swatching tool, but then couldn't walk away without picking up a pen that I didn't put down. This pen's colors represent a white water lily floating on the water, and the details and finishing are really well done.
The cool plastic cases that he included to store the pens were quite popular over the weekend as well.
Stationery Universe
I saw lots of neat things at the Stationery Universe table at the Philly show but actually did some shopping this time. Tori does a lot of collaborations with a variety of people and companies including inks, pens, nibholders, Rickshaw items, notecards with custom art, stickers, and much more.
At this show I picked out a few ink and pen stickers, a small Rickshaw pouch with plush lining, and notecards with art by Aijing Ink Trail and Laurel Mundy Illustration.
The Gentleman Stationer
This was my first time at a show where I could really help cover the table for The Gentleman Stationer, especially on Sunday when Joe and Lisa were busy plotting or recording interviews for their podcast, On the Paper Trail.
I really enjoyed getting to talk with people about how the Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter notebook system works and show how I use mine, the different kinds of paper in the Ro-biki notebooks and Bullet Jotters from Yamamoto, the detailed knurling of the Laurett's pens, features of the various wood case pencils on the table, etc.
Since their tables were next to each other, I also watched over the Vanness tables a bit, chatting about TWSBIs or items from Galen and such as people stopped by.
Finding Your Style: Ink Swatching with Olive Octopus
I was invited to host a seminar about ink swatching at the show. I've talked and written a lot about swatching over the past few years, but this was the first time I've been able to do a full-length, interactive class experience.
Having a hands-on element in this seminar was important to me, since I often say I wish I could reach through the internet while I'm streaming and hand someone a swatching tool, inks, and papers to try—and here I could. The room had eight narrow tables with two chairs each, and there were only a couple empty seats.
I handed out a packet of different papers/swatch sheets to each attendee, had cotton swabs and glass stir rods available to compare different tools for swatching, and put a range of standard, shading, chromashading, sheening, and shimmering inks in paint palettes for everyone to try while I talked about a wide range of tools and techniques that could be used for swatching, and how to navigate the decisions of what to use and how in the context of your own personal swatching goals.
Looking back, the time was a pleasant blur—I think it went well, people were enthusiastic and engaged even if I didn't always get my points out as succinctly as I would have liked. I really hope everyone had fun and left with new ideas or inspiration to explore.
Ink Station
Arkansas Pen Club President Chad, with the help of several volunteers, hosted an "Ink Filling" station at the pen show. This was a great resource for attendees to check out a variety of inks, fill up their new pen, ask questions, hang out with other attendees, etc.
I loved seeing people stopping by this table, and even visited myself to grab some silicone grease to eyedropper a pen with the show ink (though, since I'm me, I skipped the "eyedropper" and just poured the ink right in). Having this sort of resource is one of the many reasons why I recommend visiting the Arkansas show if you are in the region, especially to anyone looking to attend their first pen show.
Roundtables
The Roundtables event held on the Saturday night of the show was one of the main reasons I wanted to visit this show. Last year I was invited, somewhat last minute, to join my friend Derek in hosting a roundtable so we represented Middle TN and talked about ink swatching and making pen-related content.
This year we each hosted our own table, and since I was doing a whole seminar about ink swatching I wanted to do something a little different at the roundtable and invite people to paint with inks. I also talked a bit about other creative/artistic ways to use ink like doing an ink wash on a page before writing or sketching over it, and techniques for using a glass dip pen for sketching with fountain pen inks.
Derek brought some of his typewriter collection for people to try as he shared about how he has incorporated using the typewriters with his planner, ink swatching, and correspondence.
This is an amazing event with a variety of topics covered, and dinner served beforehand, all free for pen show attendees.
Vanness Pens
I did make it over to pick up a few inks from the Vanness shop, and got a couple inks from Lisa Vanness including the show ink to use at my seminar and roundtable and a large bottle of Van Dieman's Mermaid ink. At the shop I picked up a new Troublemaker ink called Frost Flower that reminds me of one of my favorite Colorverse inks, α UMa, which is a grayish ink that chromashades into dusty purple and bright green. I also got full bottles of several Kobe inks that I've really enjoyed the samples of.
The 2026 Arkansas Pen Show ink that Lisa made is called Skeeter Bite, and is the light red color of the welts that I'm all too familiar with during the warmer months. I had recently got this pre-loved Franklin-Christoph Pocket 66 in Ghost material which I brought ready to eyedropper fill with something at the show, and this combo delights me.
Pen Turning For Veterans
On Friday afternoon Derek did a really neat livestream event, "Spilling The Ink With Derek DeWeese", which was a series of interviews with several vendors at the show. The first interview was about the Veterans Pen Turners program that provides veterans with the materials and training to turn wood pens. It was inspiring to hear about the therapeutic value of crafting these pens, and I now have a pen turned by a member of the program.
Final Thoughts
Overall this was a lovely weekend with good friends, good times, good food—and this show will probably remain a constant in my pen show schedule. The Arkansas Show is a welcoming show that's not overwhelmingly large with plenty to see, do, and learn over the weekend. Here are a few last things that came home with me (plus, not pictured, some interesting new papers to try).
A large magnifying glass sticker for the On the Paper Trail Podcast.
An ink swatching stamp set to test out from my friend Danielle of Happiness Handmade.
Awesome "octopus ink" stickers from a friend.
Next up, the Atlanta Pen show! This year these shows were back-to-back weekends so stay tuned for my recap of that trip soon.
