Workshops, and community events for the 2026 Philadelphia Pen Show are listed below.
Tickets for workshops are available for purchase at the bottom of this page.
Please Note: You must also have a ticket to the pen show itself to attend a workshop.
FRIDAY:
Noon to 1:00pm
Casual Broad Edge Calligraphy
Azizah Asgarali
Join Azizah to learn the basics of a broad edge script and how to make it extra beautiful with nib-kissing. Unlock the art of stylish, colorful calligraphy! You will be supplied with a Pilot Parallel fountain pen, ink, and a guide. No experience necessary!
This workshop is sponsored by the wonderful people at BLICK art materials.
Be sure to visit their tables at the show!
Price: $65
1:30pm to 3:00pm
Sketching with Fountain Pens
Claudia Berger
You’re at a pen show and have purchased another pen, let’s learn another way to use it! Join Claudia for a fun introduction to casual sketching, perfect for travel journaling. No previous art experience necessary or expected. Newbies to pens and art are welcome. All participants under 12 need to have a guardian with them.
Materials: All necessary materials are provided, participants will each receive a Platinum Preppy, Platinum Carbon Black cartridge, and a few pieces of mixed media paper to keep, as well as reference photos to draw. Please feel free to bring your favorite paper, coloring supplies (including fountain pen inks), and/or pens!
This workshop is sponsored by the wonderful people at BLICK art materials.
Be sure to visit their tables at the show!
Price: $65
4:00pm to 5:30pm
Elevate the Everyday: Improve your Handwriting with Kimberly Lau
Kimberly Lau
Do you get mistaken for a doctor with your chicken scratch? Has typing your life away taken its toll on your handwriting? Is your writing fine but you’d like it to look nicer? Join us for an interactive seminar on how to improve your everyday handwriting with Kimberly Lau (@allthehobbies on IG) who started her own handwriting journey in 2017 after discovering fountain pens. Kimberly will walk you through the different aspects of handwriting, providing tips and techniques to get you improving your handwriting in no time.
You’ll learn: How to break the process into individual and less daunting steps Steps to overcome your inner critic Practical methods for planning your practice Please bring any kind of pen (preferably with darker ink) or pencil to this 90 minute session and get ready to transform your everyday handwriting!
Price: $40
6:00pm to 7:30pm
The Philadelphia Vintage Pen Panel and Write Around
Moderator: Joshua Lax
One of the best parts of fountain pen shows is the ability to try different pens while searching for that great writing experience. But when it comes to older or vintage pens, many find it challenging to figure out where to start, who to talk to, what questions to ask, and what to know. On the other hand, older or vintage pens offer an amazing writing experience while bringing together history, design, and culture. To help bridge the gap, we hope you can join us for a panel discussion on exploring vintage pens for use, followed by a “write around.” During the “write around,” our team of vintage pen enthusiasts will be set up with vintage pens around the room, and participants will be able to move around at their own pace to write with and sample these pens. We hope to have ink and paper available.
This is a social event and is BYOB (B from the Hotel Bar only, please). The purpose of this event is to create a positive experience to bridge the gap between modern/contemporary and vintage/old pen enthusiasts and collectors without the dynamics that sometimes play out on the pen show floor.
All vintage pen enthusiasts are invited to exhibit parts of their collection (perhaps ten to twenty pens of various makes) with which they are comfortable allowing fellow attendees to use without concern of “something happening” or the need for instructions. Please contact Joshua Lax at jjlaxpenco@gmail.com if you are interested in exhibiting your pens during the event.
Free with Paid Admission to the Pen Show.
No reservation required.
SATURDAY:
10:00am to 10:30am
Pen Show Tour
Come along for a pen show tour! This is a great option for anyone who is new to pen shows, would like a pen show buddy to alleviate the jitters or anyone who would like an introduction to pen show etiquette. Host will answer questions and you’ll get to ease into the show experience!
Free with Paid Admission to the Pen Show
10:00am to 11:00am
Shape a Pilot Parallel for Hand Lettering
Azizah Asgarali
Join Azizah for this brand-new, hands-on workshop where you’ll learn to modify your own Pilot Parallel fountain pens (two!) to perfectly suit your hand lettering and casual calligraphy style, be that neat and tidy or inky-splashy! Bring your sense of adventure – all supplies included!
This workshop is sponsored by the wonderful people at BLICK art materials.
Be sure to visit their tables at the show!
Price: $75
11:00am to 12:30pm
Journaling with Imaginary Friends
Tom Forsythe | Sugar Turtle Studio
Join Tom of Sugar Turtle Studio as we create our own comic characters to populate the pages of our journal. We will use these new friends to tell our stories in new ways and to see the events of our day through a new lens. Journaling is often a solitary activity, but it certainly doesn’t need to be a lonely one!
Attendees will receive a kit with all the supplies they need to participate in the class.
Price: $75
1:00pm & 2:00pm
10 Steps to a Pretty Good Postcard
Michael McGettigan
A short (15-20 min.) and bitter-sweet re-introduction to the World’s First Social Network – the handwritten postal card.
Postcards are a great way to put your pens to paper, and share your writing on the regular. But a few tips can make your postcards swing.
In this free workshop, we’ll zip through postcard layout, pen choices, messaging, making the most of that small message area and more. By the end, everyone – and you! – will have completed a postcard ready for the mailbox.
Provided: Lots of postcards and stamps to choose from.
Please Bring: Some pens, mailing addresses of friends and family (including ZIP Code), your favorite words.
Free with Paid Admission to the Pen Show.
No reservation required.
2:00pm to 3:30pm
Sketching with Fountain Pens
Claudia Berger
You’re at a pen show and have purchased another pen, let’s learn another way to use it! Join Claudia for a fun introduction to casual sketching, perfect for travel journaling. No previous art experience necessary or expected. Newbies to pens and art are welcome. All participants under 12 need to have a guardian with them.
Materials: All necessary materials are provided, participants will each receive a Platinum Preppy, Platinum Carbon Black cartridge, and a few pieces of mixed media paper to keep, as well as reference photos to draw. Please feel free to bring your favorite paper, coloring supplies (including fountain pen inks), and/or pens!
This workshop is sponsored by the wonderful people at BLICK art materials.
Be sure to visit their tables at the show!
Price: $65
Noon to 4:00pm
Any Pen, Every Flourish: Add Ornamental Penmanship to Your Tool Kit
Formerly: Spencerian Script for the Fountain Pen User
Michael Ward
Many would say that Ornamental Penmanship is artistic and beautiful, but honestly, who wants to carry a dip pen nib, an oblique nib holder, and an ink well with them wherever they go? Who even wants to faff about with these items when at home? Very few, that’s for sure.
Enter Ornamental Penmanship with Fountain Pens (formerly called Spencerian Script for the Fountain Pen User). Joy!
In this four-hour class you’ll need only your favorite writing instrument (be that a fountain pen, a ballpoint, a rollerball, a pencil, etc.). Using the instrument of your choosing, we’ll start by learning the fundamental strokes and lowercase letterforms. We will then move on to the magical world of capital letters and explore the entry and exit flourishes that can add personality to your script. In places where shades are added to the script, you’ll learn to draw them in after the fact to replicate the look of a flexible nib. You will finish this class with the knowledge and confidence to further practice flourishing at home – and you’ll have an undeniable desire to use it in your own personal correspondence.
Price: $125
4:00pm to 5:30pm
Elevate the Everyday: Improve your Handwriting with Kimberly Lau
Kimberly Lau
Do you get mistaken for a doctor with your chicken scratch? Has typing your life away taken its toll on your handwriting? Is your writing fine but you’d like it to look nicer? Join us for an interactive seminar on how to improve your everyday handwriting with Kimberly Lau (@allthehobbies on IG) who started her own handwriting journey in 2017 after discovering fountain pens. Kimberly will walk you through the different aspects of handwriting, providing tips and techniques to get you improving your handwriting in no time.
You’ll learn: How to break the process into individual and less daunting steps Steps to overcome your inner critic Practical methods for planning your practice Please bring any kind of pen (preferably with darker ink) or pencil to this 90 minute session and get ready to transform your everyday handwriting!
Price: $40
SUNDAY:
1:00pm & 2:00pm
10 Steps to a Pretty Good Postcard
Michael McGettigan
A short (15-20 min.) and bitter-sweet re-introduction to the World’s First Social Network – the handwritten postal card.
Postcards are a great way to put your pens to paper, and share your writing on the regular. But a few tips can make your postcards swing.
In this free workshop, we’ll zip through postcard layout, pen choices, messaging, making the most of that small message area and more. By the end, everyone – and you! – will have completed a postcard ready for the mailbox.
Provided: Lots of postcards and stamps to choose from.
Please Bring: Some pens, mailing addresses of friends and family (including ZIP Code), your favorite words.
Free with Paid Admission to the Pen Show.
No reservation required.
