DC Fountain Pen Supershow 2022 and Silver Harmonics
This is my 2nd ever blog post, so I am very new to writing these. Please bear with me.
Earlier this month I was given the opportunity to attend what is said to be the biggest pen show in the world: the DC Fountain Pen Supershow. Having never attended a US pen show before and having only just released my very first batch of gold harmonic nibs (you may read about them here), this was bound to be an exciting experience, seeing as I was also set to hand-deliver some of my handmade nibs to people attending the show, meaning I would get to see their live reactions as they first tried their new pens in front of me.
Pre Pen Show
In ecstatic anticipation for the show, I foolishly decided to make another batch of nibs in an incredibly short amount of time, which is not something I’d recommend anyone to do.
I announced the nibs on Instagram just as I hopped onto the plane to DC, and didn’t check my phone until 8 hours later when we landed at Dulles International Airport.
I had plenty of time to read through the comments as we waited for 2 1/2 hours to be let through customs, but the reactions seemed positive, and I was so very excited, to show these nibs nobody had seen yet IRL.
The Pen Show
At this point, I’ll try to summarize my experience at the show without rambling on for too long.
Meeting the Colleagues
The weekend of the DC Fountain Pen Supershow may have been one of the best weekends of my life. This may seem silly, but after all these years of being one of the only people on the entire European continent who does the kind of work I do, with little to no exchange with people doing the same kind of job as me (John Sorowka, a nib specialist in the UK, and Teun from Giants’ Pens being the big exceptions) getting the chance to sit down and chat and banter with fellow nib specialists and makers simply itched a scratch I didn’t know needed scratching. It was genuinely a privilege being welcomed into their midst so warmly and enthusiastically and I truly hope I didn’t make a fool of myself in front of them.
Meeting old friends and new
There were a handful of people I got to see and hang out with that, whether I’d met them IRL before or not, I have grown incredibly close to, and hanging out with them in person just filled my heart with so much joy. I won’t go into details but my goodness, some of these pen people… are excellent, excellent people.
The Harmonic Nibs
On Friday, the second day of the pen show, at noon, I officially launched my sterling silver, hand engraved, and pre-ground to cursive italic nibs. Friday, at noon, I had a whole queue of people at my table, lining up to get their hands on one of my nibs. I am writing this rather matter-of-factly, but I am still in absolute disbelief.
What’s more, it was around this time that people came to pick up their gold harmonic nibs from the previous release. I was in no way prepared for how these nibs would be received, and how validating it would feel to have people try and enjoy these nibs I had slowly developed in my tiny apartment over the course of months, without knowing whether what I was working on would be a real thing that people could potentially enjoy, or whether it was all just in my head.
To give you an idea of this, feel free to check out Azizah’s review of my 14k gold harmonic nib.
Battling for Charity - The Nib Wars
Friday night, I participated in a charity event organised by the lovely folk of Kenro called the Nib Wars. It sounds scary, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little intimidated, as the concept of the event was that me and 3 fellow nib specialists/technicians/meisters/whatever you want to call them, would compete against one another in a war or creative nib grinding. The idea was to highlight our craft, and later have the nibs we ground during the night to be raffled off to attendees of the show, with any earnings from the raffle to be donated to a good cause.
These were the general highlights of the show. As most other shows, the days were spent grinding and repairing nibs for customers. The evenings were filled with delicious meals and excellent company. As we approached the end of the show, the first goodbyes were said, the last nibs were ground, and it was time to get ready to go home with fewer pens and nibs than we had arrived with, but with infinitely more swag, goodies and snacks (pen people love making stickers. So many stickers. Should I be making stickers?).
Post Pen Show - Future Harmonics?
It’s been a few weeks now. The dust has mostly settled, the stickers have been stuck, and I am left with an eagerness to return to as many shows as my boss will allow me. Since the show, the interest in my harmonic nibs doesn’t seem to have died down either, and whenever I get a chance to reply to messages regarding them, there is never much to report other than: they are (mostly) gone, I’m not sure when there will be more, I want anyone interested in one to be able to get one eventually, and I am trying my best.
This is it. This was my DC pen show blog post. I hope it wasn’t too agonizing of a read, and you have gotten a little insight into what it was like for this European nib lady to attend the biggest pen show in the world.
Have a good one!
- Anabelle
