2025 California Pen Show

February 21st, 2025

As much as I was looking forward to some time away, including attending The California Pen Show, I can't say I wasn't nervous about travel or feeling guilty about wanting to enjoy a trip with everything going on in the world. But, on the other hand I knew how rejuvenating it would be to take this trip to support and spend time with the pen community. In the end, I would have really regretted not going so I'm glad I did.

The view from a hotel room of a bright sky, palm trees, the roof and landscaping of the hotel, and the buildings of a mall across the street.

VIP Access

Admission options and costs vary from pen show to pen show. For this show daily access was $15/day, early access was $25/day, and VIP admission for the weekend was $99 which included early admission for all three days plus a "welcome gift" and special raffle. Since I was traveling across the country to be there through the weekend, I wanted to get early access for all three days which would have been $75, and at that point it was just $24 more to bump up to the VIP pass so I decided to give it a shot. Here's what was included:

California Pen Show Rickshaw A5 pouch
Burgundy California Pen Show Leuchtturm1917 A5 notebook
California Pen Show pin
The pen show ink Robert Oster Golden Coast Amethyst

In the end I'm glad I got the VIP package. I can always use more Rickshaw pouches and this will remind me of the show, plus I didn't have to worry about grabbing the show ink.

An ink swatch with swirled lines of a dark purple ink with gold shimmer, the Robert Oster 2025 California Pen Show ink called Golden Coast Amethyst.

M. Lovewell

The first booth I looked at was Plotter, but I'm still not sure if that system is a good match for me so after a few minutes I was lured across the aisle by the inks at the M. Lovewell booth. There were a lot of Lennon Tool Bar inks, a shop exclusive, and several inks from a new-to-me brand, Ka-Ku.

Five bottles of fountain pen ink and a M. Lovewell sticker. Inks are Lennon Tool Bar Wenshan Pouchong Tea, Lennon Tool Bar Brown Sugar, Lennon Tool Bar Sesame Oil, Ink Mazaru M. Lovewell exclusive A Sweet Treat, and Ka-ku Matchmaking of Money.

I spotted a couple Lennon Tool Bar inks on my radar, Wenshan Pouchong Tea which I've had a sample of (that's getting low) and Sesame Oil which has been popular, so I grabbed those first. Looking through their swatch book I was also drawn to Lennon Tool Bar Brown Sugar, an earthy gray-brown.

Their shop exclusive by Ink Mazeru called A Sweet Treat is a pinkish brown inspired by the 2025 Pantone color of the year, Mocha Mousse. Ink Mazeru is also the brand behind Ka-Ku ink, which I haven't tried before, so I picked out a readable yellow shade called Matchmaking of Money.

Nagasawa

My next stop early on Friday was to visit the Nagasawa table where they had a variety of Kobe and Nagasawa Onomatopoeia inks. I could have easily picked out a dozen, but narrowed it down to a top three. Since brown inks were becoming a theme I got a dark gold Kobe ink called Ginza Gold Sepia. I'm also always interested in a unique green like this Kobe ink called Taiwan Alishan Green which is dusty green with shades of yellow and blue gray. The third ink is part of the Nagasawa Onomatopoeia line, apparently only sold at shows, and a shimmer ink! It's a light teal blue with subtle but beautiful shimmer called Tsuya Tsuya, referencing a shiny ring. I also picked up a notebook with a colorful ink bottle design.

Three bottles of ink, swatches, and notebook with cover design of tiny bottles of ink in different shades of green, blue, and purple. The inks are Nagasawa Onomatopoeia Tsuya Tsuya, a light teal with shimmer, Kobe Taiwan Alishan Green, a gray light green, and Kobe Ginza Gold Sepia, a dark gold brown.

Later in the weekend, when things were less busy, I got to spend some time talking with someone at the table all about inks, ink names, swatching, and Japan which was lovely and the sort of unique experience that's such a cool benefit of attending a pen show.

Zodiac Pens

Going into the show the only thing I was looking out for was a "maker pen" that would be a good fit for all these yellow inks I've been into. I got to know Bart of Zodiac Pens at the Atlanta show last year, so I stopped by to see what he brought fairly early on and it didn't take long before I picked up a pen I did not want to put back down!

An uncapped Zodiac Pens Capricorn fountain pen in Forged Patina material (a mix of coppery brown, yellow, and copper patina green), held by a small green crab pen holder.

This is a Capricorn model, which is not my sign but it's the same model I got before and I like it. The material from Brooks at Carolina Pen Company is called Forged Patina and has metallic swirls of yellow, coppery brown, and a copper patina green. It's beautiful, and like so many of these materials, difficult to capture in a photo so here's a second one under different lighting conditions.

A Zodiac Pens Capricorn fountain pen in Forged Patina material, which is a mix of coppery brown, yellow, and copper patina green, held by a small green crab pen holder.

Anabelle Hiller

I made one nib grind appointment for this show with Anabelle of Opus Cineris. I got to meet Anabelle, and also Dustin who was helping manage the table and appointment list, in person at the San Francisco show last year so it was great to see them both again, and I was looking forward to getting an architect grind on a Kilk Celestial pen.

A close up of an upside-down fountain pen nib with an architect grind which looks like a long angled wedge.

An architect grind shapes the nib tipping into a long, straight wedge that writes a thin vertical line and a thicker horizontal line. This writing surface is a flat plane that needs to match your exact writing angle to work well, so this grind process started with me writing random words, the alphabet, and loops with my empty pen on a piece of fairly coarse sandpaper for several minutes. This wears away the nib material at my exact writing angle, after checking that I'd made enough progress Anabelle finished up the nib into a beautiful architect. While testing it out I just sort of disappeared into the writing and lost track of the conversation happening around me and I can't think of any better marker of success!

This was the only grind I got at the show, but it was not the last time I visited the table to hang out with friends.

Galen Leather Pen Rest

One accessory I wanted to find was a small, multiple pen tray or pen rest that would fit between my keyboard and monitor on my desk, and this olive wood holder at the Galen Leather Co. table was a beautiful candidate with space for three pens.

A small block of olive wood with grooves to hold three pens, with a small metal plate on the front that says Walden Woodworkers Istanbul.

The pen grooves are a little close together if you have larger fountain pens, but it will work for my purposes and I think I'll like the smaller footprint and the height over a pen tray in this scenario. This pen rest will join a large wood desk organizer that I got from Galen a while back which keeps my swatch tools and dip pens in order.

Creative Journaling

I signed up for one class at this show, the Explore Creative Journaling class with Tom from Sugar Turtle Studio.

A large round stamped image in dark blue ink that says Explore Creative Journaling at the top, Sugar Turtle Studio at the bottom, and an outline of an open notebook in the middle. The open notebook has a dotted line like a map to destination X with symbols of a fountain pen nib, ink splot, washi tape, smiley face, and paint brush around the page.

I don't want to get into details because the format of this class is to explore one step at a time without overthinking the process by looking ahead to future steps, which was great. We all got this starter kit including a large pouch to take home plus extra materials to use during the class. If you've never explored this kind of visual, creative journaling I recommend this class to get out of your head and start exploring what resonates with your creativity.

A large gray pouch with pockets holding a black marker pen, a roll of washi, small scissors, a glue stick, and a small version of the Not Another Blank Notebook which has random magazine pages dispersed among the blank sheets.

Skogsy Pens

I was excited to see what Skogsy Pens brought to the San Francisco pen show last year, but didn't end up taking any home then. Spoiler alert, that was not the case this time!

A pale gray green, slightly translucent fountain pen being held by a small purple pen crab.

While I do find the look and functionality of the LVED (low-volume eye dropper) model appealing, this more standard model is the second and final pen I picked up and didn't put down at the show. The soft green color is beautifully polished and slightly translucent—it looks like jade.

A close-up of an uncapped pale gray green fountain pen with a dark green and black section and a steel nib with a vintage surfboard design.

Hiding under the cap is a contrasting dark green and black section with hints of purple and nib with a delicate vintage surfboard design.

Vanness Pen Mixer

I really like when meetup events like this Pen Mixer hosted by Lisa Vanness are part of a pen show. The casual hangouts in the bar and lobby areas of a pen show hotel are super fun but, speaking from experience, can be fairly intimidating for those who don't already know people at the show to join in. A scheduled event is a good way for new and more experienced attendees alike to learn new things and meet people.

At this event we heard from four experienced members in the community including our host, Lisa Vanness of Vanness Pen Shop, Cheryl Ball from Rickshaw, Ana Reinert of The Well-Appointed Desk, and Kimberly Lau aka @allthehobbies who was working the Franklin-Christoph table at the show and writes for The Pen Addict. Afterwards, there were some giveaways and then time to move around the room and chat with people.

Stationery

There was quite a bit of stationery at this show. I didn't get a lot, but enjoyed wandering around and looking at everything.

A page of four octopus stickers, two large rainbow holographic octopus stickers, and business card for Fish Conquers the World.

I like seeing the cool ceramics, stickers, and other items Fish Conquers The World brings, and of course I had to pick up some more octopus stickers.

Closeup of the layers of a multilayer card with a design of fall trees and brewed tea on the front with the words 'For Kindred Spirits', then a message in both Japanese and English on the next layer that says 'Send your Kindred Spirit a card to save the small and big moments. Best written while savoring a cup of tea yourself', and plain, textured paper on the innermost layer.

YS Notes brought beautiful handmade, multi-lingual cards that are all works of art.

A collection of vinyl stickers including two painted bouquets of flowers by fromCarola, Inky Fingies bird and Symphony Fountain pen stickers from Opus Cineris, a banana duck, an astronaut bear cub and Ursa fountain pen from White Bear Pens, and Writer's Gotta Write and San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge and sun stickers from Rickshaw.

These were some of the other stickers I got from vendors and pen friends at the show.

Swatch Break

Since I was at the show all weekend I would escape the heavier crowds during the middle of the day by taking breaks in the lobby or outside in the California sunshine. One afternoon I sat outside at a table comparing the new Colorverse Shuttle nibs with two Kakimori nibs, as you do.

A notebook open on a table in bright sunshine with various swatch and writing samples on one page and three ink swatch cards with cups of tea over the other page. Nearby is a dropper bottle of water, a sample vial of ink, sample vials with metal dip nibs, a yellow dip nib holder, and a glass stir stick.

Even if you are only attending one day of a pen show, it's important to take breaks to recharge.

Inkfluence

When inky people start talking about ink, our ink lists tend to get longer! I got a few recommendations for Colorverse USA inks from inky friend Dustin and found one, Tar Heel, at the Dromgoole's table. I also saw the Dromgoole's exclusive Sailor inks available and after receiving a sample of Mint Jelly last year from another friend, Kristy, I took the opportunity to get a full bottle of this interesting green color too.

Two ink bottle boxes and swatches for Colorverse USA Tar Heel, a light blue gray, and Sailor Dromgoole's Mint Jelly, a dusty light green-blue.

Ink Pony Club

On the Wednesday before the pen show I was startled to be listening to the live recording of The Pen Addict podcast (as I usually do, though not usually at 7am local California time) and hear the 🎶 Shoutout of the Week 🎶 feature the Ink Pony Club, and then further discussion of painting with inks. As Brad said, exploring and painting with inks is kinda my whole thing, and I loved hearing about how much Brad was enjoying using a water brush and playing around with inks.

If sharing my experience in being more artsy with inks could help reduce intimidation or barriers for anyone who wants to get into more swatching, sketching, painting, or other forms of artistic expression—nothing would make me happier. What started as a joke on a Pen Addict Twitch stream and an earworm has, for me, become a symbol of making room for artistic expression regardless of experience or skill level, and also making room for joy despite difficult times.

A pony coloring page painted in with fountain pen inks in multiple colors, several ink sample vials in a variety of colors, and a glass stir stick on an orange silicone placemat on a table in the bar. Other painted ink ponies, envelopes, paper towels, etc. in the background.

I carry all kinds of things in my large pen meetup bag, including the supplies to just start painting with inks at a moment's notice, even at the bar during pen show after dark hangouts. Fortunately, I'd already come to California prepared with dozens of Ink Pony coloring sheets printed on four different fountain pen friendly papers to share.

A collection of pony coloring pages painted in different ink colors on a cream table.

Thank You CAPS!

I left southern California with my wallet a little lighter, my bags a little heavier, and my heart a lot fuller.

A fully-packed large olive green Rickshaw tote bag and a Rickshaw Banzai bag in an inky pattern with a white outline of an octopus sitting on the carpet in an airport.

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