Pelikan Hub 2024

And how I swam through rainwater to get there only 30 minutes late

Note: this post was supposed to be published just after the Pelikan Hub, but Helene delayed the actual gathering, and then Milton decided to mess up everything including my writing abilities, and here we are. Thank you for staying with me.

Tampa has been having some poor weather for the last month, or, in Florida terms, regular hurricane season (on steroids). Well, Helene was the main reason Pelikan Hub got delayed 6 days, and I’m glad that happened as I was able to be there relatively unscathed. I mean, after having to clear half an hour drive in over an hour and a half. Through water higher than my shins (and I’m relatively tall). Wondering if I should invest in a sailboat. Wondering if the pickup truck my friend drove me in would float at least a tiny bit if we were to hit flash flooding. Wondering if there are enough Chappell Roan’s songs to last us the trek.

And so on.

I arrived drenched and happy.

For those who may not know what Pelikan Hub is, it’s an annual gathering of (Pelikan) pen enthusiasts that is held at the same time around the world. Well, mostly in Europe and the US. Pelikan sends each Hub Master (the person who is in charge of organizing the gathering in their city) a bunch of gifts for the attendees. There is always food and drinks, and people are encouraged to bring their inks if they’d like to swap them, or other things that they may wish to sell. There first Pelikan Hub was held in 2014, and there was about 900 people attending; the one last year was attended by 5,000 people in 47 countries, per my quick google search. Naturally, I missed that one by several hours, and then vowed to come the following year.

And so I did!

The event was absolutely worth the trek. Pelikan Hub 2024 in Tampa was held at the Paper Seahorse, a ten-year-old shop that’s both super cute and extremely cozy. The turnout was a bit smaller than expected, mostly due to the weather, but even the smallest group of pen enthusiasts can party like it’s 1454 and Gutenberg just dropped the first printed book. There was ink galore, a swab station, a heap of postcards, and two big tables where people gathered to talk all things pens. The Paper Seahorse organized three giveaways — or rather, rewards, if you won at trivia or knew how old they were or were cool like I wasn’t. I quite like that concept, as it’s not just luck that gets you the goodies but also your prowess in the niche that is this hobby.

Pelikan Hub in Tampa; we were able to take a pic before we split up.

As you enter the shop, the Hub Master greets you and gives you a bit of a background about the gathering. You’re then given the goodie bag and told to sign the big Pelikan flag. You may grab a postcard and fill it out for the elderly (one visitor wrote a long letter for them!) You can roam and join people as they’re playing with inks. I took the liberty of sampling Lamy Mango before I grabbed a postcard and wrote to a person I would probably never meet, but I’m hoping I made their day.

The giveaways happened every half an hour. I believe a member of the Orlando Pen club won one. Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough people in some neighboring towns for the Pelikan Hub to be held, so quite a few people had to travel for hours to reach Tampa. On the flip side, that meant that people who’d never meet otherwise got to meet each other, and I think that’s amazing.

Note: if you’re signing up for Pelikan Hub next year, you can opt to jot down your hometown name. If enough people from your place sign up, there just may be a gathering in your town!

Quite a few people brought their Traveler’s Notebooks and showed off their spreads, and let me tell you, yours truly is everything but talented compared to that lot. One person writes a daily journal and uses washi tape to “color code” the pages so they can skip the entries that mark unpleasant memories; I think I may have to steal that idea. I also realized my pointy handwriting is comparatively ugly compared to most other people’s. Nothing like a gathering of pen people to remind oneself how much one needs to slow down when writing… in order for their handwriting to appear legible.

I managed to catch up with a friend and to meet new people and make new friends. I would highly recommend visiting the Paper Seahorse whenever you’re in Tampa as well, just to see where the magic happens. They also have a good selection of mostly J. Herbin inks but also paper, Traveler’s Notebook accessories (I almost bought a coffee bean and now I am sad I didn’t), some pens, and other stationery.

I bought J. Herbin Bleu des Profondeurs ink cartridges because I love the little tin and wanted to support the local business.

Note: not everyone signed up on time; some people didn’t know about the event (I didn’t know last year), but if you emailed Tona, who was the organizer, they were happy to have you. I was able to spread the word as I could, and I was happy to see a friend¹ there. And, as I mentioned, the weather almost prevented the gathering again, but enough people showed up for the party to be held without a hitch. Usually, if you don’t sign up officially, you don’t receive the goodie bag that is sent by Pelikan to the Pelikan Hub Master, but there were some left after everyone who had signed up received theirs.

What was in the goodie bag, you ask?

Many things. A postcard, some paper, swatch cards, bookmarks, and Pelikan’s ink of the year for this year. The base color of the ink — a rich blue — is relatively standard for Pelikan inks (and Edelstein line too), but what isn’t standard for them is the fact it has enough shimmer to shame Tinkerbell. From the looks of the ink while still in the bottle, I’d say it is reminiscent of Van Dieman’s Azure Kingfisher. The ink, as all of the Edelstein line, comes in a 50ml bottle that looks like a perfume bottle. I prefer the regular Pelikan 4001 bottles as you can tilt them and fill your pen a tiny bit easier, but I can see why some people prefer the rich cousin from abroad aka Edelstein.

Writing sample of the Pelikan Edelstein Golden Lapis.

As I said, it looks a bit like Van Dieman’s Azure Kingfisher, but the latter feels more lubricated and has more shimmer. This ink has a smaller amount of shimmer, which feels like a good stepping stone towards hella shimmer.

The shimmer. And also yes I love you too, dear reader.

I mean, YMMV, as I like to say; I had a tiny bit of a skipping problem in my Eco with a 1.1 stub due to the shimmer particles, but that’s not unheard of with this type of ink. If you play with your pen like you would with a pencil (please don’t bite the end of it), as in roll it around your fingers, you’ll agitate the shimmer enough for the pen to start writing. It’s a beautiful ink that is gentle on the eyes. I like it. I definitely prefer the Azure Kingfisher but I cannot express how much I’m happy Pelikan is venturing out into weird inks. And yes, if you only get this one, you won’t need the Kingfisher. I promise.

All in all, I’m quite happy I went to this event. I wish I wasn’t as socially awkward as I am in person and that I had sat down with more people and talked more pens. Alas, me in person is too dorky; me online would tease me in person.

Next time, however, I am sure I will mingle more. If you see me, please say hi. I love meeting pen friends.

Have you ever been to a Pelikan Hub? How was your experience? Will you go next year?

Note: as of writing of this post, after Milton hit, the Paper Seahorse don’t have power. They will reopen as soon as it is restored. Thankfully, no one was harmed and the building still stands.

1. The friend is @pourlycontrolled on Instagram. Check out her work, she’s super talented and her blanks are insane.