2026 St. Louis Pen Show

July 3rd, 2026

Last weekend I visited the St. Louis Pen Show for the first time. This show has been on my list in large part to catch a different group of people and vendors, so I was planning on a quick trip to see a new pen show and meet friends, but about a month before the show I was asked about hosting a seminar about ink swatching like I did in Arkansas. I sent some notes about a few experiences I was willing to host and within about a week my pen show schedule got very busy!

Sign with photo of St. Louis arch and skyline at dusk with the text Visit the St. Louis Pen Show.

Sheraton Westport Chalet Hotel

I left Nashville Friday morning to drive to the show, and after driving about 4 hours I stopped to get gas in... Nashville?

The side of a building at a gas station with the painted text 'World Famous Little Nashville Restaurant'

Fortunately I had not actually been driving in a circle and about an hour later I arrived at the Sheraton Westport Chalet Hotel, which lived up to the name.

The front portico and four-story wing of the Sheraton Westport Chalet Hotel with red roof, off white walls and dark trim and beams in the style of a chalet.

A large set of windows with diamond pattern leading and the back side of the hotel visible outside with a walking path through green grass and trees.

These sunny photos were from later in the weekend. The event space for the show was pretty nice—split on two floors with a few tables, registration, and classrooms on the main level and a ballroom area that did not feel overcrowded with vendor tables and relatively wide aisles situated one floor below. There was a good amount of comfortable seating in the hotel bar for after-hours hangouts. Behind the hotel was a walking path which I finally had time to explore a bit on Sunday morning.

A small bridge for the walking path over a narrow passage of water with a small waterfall surrounded by nice landscaping.

The view of the chalet hotel and some large trees from across a small body of water.

A tall sign where four criss-crossing rings make a ball shape on top of a pole and the name Westport is on both sides of the ball.

(I got some Fallout vibes from the sign.)

Meet Me in St. Louis

Step one upon arrival was getting checked in to the hotel and picking up my weekend pass at registration where I got a show bag, booklet for stamps and stickers, show sticker, and a blotting sheet with a letter-press design.

I also picked up the 2026 show ink which sold out very quickly, KWZ Meet Me in St. Louis MOBOT—a slightly dusty, shading pink inspired by the Missouri Botanical Gardens and the Fleur-de-lis (iris) featured on the city flag which is the official city flower.

A large green and black sling bag with pen show and sponsor logos, a large bottle of KWZ St. Louis show ink and ink swatch, an A6 size notebook for stamps and stickers, a small sheet of blotter paper with a letter press imprint of the St. Louis Skyline in pink, a pen show logo sticker, and a pen show lanyard covered in pins, with nametag and pen sleeve.

By the time I ventured back outside to unload my car it had started raining heavily so I got a little soaked before I could retrieve an umbrella, but this beautiful crane(?) didn't seem to mind.

A large white bird with a long neck standing in the grass by water in the rain.

I had a few minutes to look around the show and say hi to some people, then it was time to set up for Ink Pony Club!

Ink Pony Club

As silly as the name is (the backstory of Ink Pony Club), setting up a place where people could stop by for a break and paint with fountain pen inks (especially if they are trying something like that for the first time) is something I've wanted to do for a long time. Since my ink painting roundtable seemed to go well at the Arkansas show, I offered to set up a similar opportunity (in addition to doing a swatching seminar) at this show.

Social media graphic with details for the Ink Pony Club Lounge held from 3-5:30pm Friday and 10:30am to 1pm on Saturday at the St. Louis Pen Show.

Huge thanks to Mike, Jim, and the show for offering two round tables right in the main ballroom for 2.5 hours Friday afternoon and again mid-day Saturday that I could transform into Ink Pony Club. I had lots of ponies but also several of my "stained glass" designs available to paint.

Laminated table sign with details of the times for Ink Pony Club and an example painted pony.

I loved seeing everyone painting and getting to chat with people, I couldn't be happier with how this went! I hope everyone who stopped by enjoyed it.

A large round table covered in a dark green table cloth and lots of designs printed on pieces of paper to paint, waterbrushes, and paint palettes with drops of fountain pen ink.

(Shout out to these tablecloths I brought, we didn't make a mess!)

Kaleidocraft

Saturday morning was my main window for shopping at the show and I've been waiting a long time to finally meet several friends in person and shop their tables!

Several 3D printed items including a cassette tape washi holder, ring of washi storage cards, pen nib and ink bottle charms and several stickers.

Kaleidocraft brought a lot of colorful, creative things—and not everything I brought home is pictured here since some items will be shared with friends and family. I already have several awesome fidgets and a dip nib holder so the main items on my list were picking out a washi cassette tape dispenser, customizing my own washi wallet, and besties Peni and Blot.

Amarillo Stationery

Erick was another person I was excited to finally meet! The Amarillo Stationery table stayed busy but I managed to grab a few inks, including one of the new Paradise Vibes inks inspired by the Bird of Paradise flower and one of the few remaining Tinterias x Sailor inks, and new washi designs.

Three bottles of fountain pen ink and corresponding swatches, and three rolls of washi tape next to a notebook showing the patterns of each.

Well-Appointed Desk

Ana of The Well-Appointed Desk was busy teaching classes a lot of the weekend so I never saw her actually at her table until the end of the show Sunday, but it was great to meet her husband Bob of Skylab Letterpress and pick out things that had been lingering in my online cart, plus some extras!

Two sticker sheets with color themes in purple and yellow, a Chicago licence plate themed Col-o-ring, Col-o-dex index tabs, stamps with a paint palette and various art supplies, Skylab Letterpress bookmark and Well-Appointed Desk stickers.

I got the special edition Chicago Col-o-ring, more Col-o-dex tabs, sticker sheets, and an artsy stamp set.

Inky Converters

My pen show lanyard is from Inky Converters, also several of my favorite pins found on the lanyard or various bags. At this show I picked up more washi cards in a pretty Sakura pattern, a new black cat sticker that immediately went on my water bottle at the show, and stocked up on some "strong feelings" washi (iykyk).

A black cat holding a Maki-e pen sticker on a water bottle, pack of washi cards with pink Sakura design, and two rolls of washi tape.

A Conversation with Brad Dowdy

My schedule was pretty busy at this show but I managed to pack up the Ink Pony Club tables, eat a quick lunch, grab all the supplies for my upcoming class, and sneak in the back to catch a Q&A panel with Brad, The Pen Addict, hosted by Andy Coon.

Andy and Brad sitting behind a table at the panel while Brad answers questions.

Find Your Style: Ink Swatching with Olive Octopus

My first free seminar of the weekend was like the one I presented in Arkansas earlier this year, and more practice for a couple sessions coming up at the Washington DC Fountain Pen Supershow!

Social media graphic with details about the Find Your Style Ink swatching seminar held on Saturday afternoon.

I love talking about all the various papers, form factors, techniques, tools, etc. you can choose for ink swatching and hope that people leave with some new ideas about how to customize their swatching to their own individual use cases and priorities.

After Hours

I hung out Friday and Saturday night in the bar, trying out pens and paper, talking ink, being useless at trivia night—fun times with old and new friends.

Collage of two stacked fountain pen nibs and the infamous multi-color Delta fountain pen affectionately dubbed the Tiger King of Pens.

I also got what was nearly my only pen purchase at the show at the bar Saturday night, a pre-loved Franklin-Christoph Model 45 in a neat material. I like this better than the Model 45 I currently have, so I'll move the nice nib in that pen over to this one and find a new home for my old pen.

A Franklin-Christoph Model 45 in a dark black material with swirls of pearlescent shimmer and cream tucked into the elastic of a B6 Roterfaden.

Carve Your Own Rubber Stamps with Ana Reinert

On Sunday morning I took a class I've really been looking forward to. I've gotten the materials to carve stamps in the past but have had a hard time getting into it because it's overwhelming to decide on designs and get started, but taking this class to learn from Ana's experience and carve along with other people was a great way to get inspired.

Initial stages of carving a rubber stamp with a carving tool on a cutting mat covered in sketches and shavings.

To keep it simple I sketched some smaller versions of my stained glass flowers and animals, and had time to carve one flower and a little owl during class.

Two completed carved stamps of flowers and a tiny owl in the midst of sketches, shavings, carving tool and pencils, additional erasers to carve, and notebook with test stamp impressions.

The best part was getting to try other freshly carved stamps from others in the class! I also stamped some of Ana's examples. The class worked, and I'm excited to do more carving. Since returning home I've carved a sunflower into the other side of the first flower block.

Notebook with stamps of flowers, owls, leaves, a pen nib, and a dinosaur.

Painting with Ink: Color Mixing with a CMYK Palette

In my second free seminar (more of a workshop) I did an intro to mixing CMYK fountain pen inks for painting. CMYK stands for the "cyan, magenta, yellow, and black" colors often used for color printing and can produce a very wide range of shades when mixed.

Social media graphic with details for the CMYK painting seminar on Sunday at the pen show.

After a brief introduction to using the worksheets I provided for practicing the basics of mixing colors, participants were able to keep mixing colors and paint simple "stained glass" designs. It was well-attended and everyone did a great job making color wheels and painting!

Table setup at the ink painting seminar with an envelope of practice sheets and painting tools including a water brush, glass stir rod, small glass rinse jar, white flour sack towel, and small squeeze bottle of water.

Table with multiple stained glass designs printed out for painting, stickers, and CMYK ink palette swatch sheets for Diamine and Anderillium inks.

Resources for getting started with painting with inks.

Little Hollow Customs

In the last hour of the show I stopped by the Little Hollow Customs table to look at their Little Miss pens again—I nearly bought one in Atlanta but my time at that show was short. This model uses the same set of threads in the middle to cap and post the pen.

Turned fountain pen in transparent, yellow, and smoke swirled resin from Little Hollow Customs along with custom Rickshaw sleeve and sticker.

I was tempted by one with a metal section and transparent purple material that reminded me of amethyst, but I've really been enjoying eyedroppered pens of late and this transparent yellow, clear, and smokey material was the one I couldn't put down. When I got home I filled it with the KWZ show ink.

Uncapped turned resin fountain pen showing the logo on the nib and the cap posted using the same set of threads in the middle of the pen.

Final Thoughts

I received such a warm welcome at the St. Louis show and am grateful for the multiple opportunities I had to share my love of ink swatching and painting. A lot of care and hard work went into the planning of this show, especially to provide a lot of added value for participants beyond shopping with vendors and paid classes. I don't know what my plans for next year will be but I'd happily recommend and return to this show.

Because of how I prioritized my time I may not have made it around to see a lot of new things or every vendor at the show, but it was really good to meet people I've known online for a while in person and spend time catching up with so many friends—flipping through inky art notebooks, trying out incredible nibs and pens, talking late into the evening.

A matted piece of art with a quote about education, a green Nock pen case, Pen Addict sticker, stamp style watercolor paper and sticker from Scathingly Brilliant Idea.

I came home with great memories and many gifts (not pictured—trying local delicacy Gooey Butter Cake!), thank you St. Louis for an amazing weekend!

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