Monday, December 27, 2010

New pen book---Boxing week purchase


Just bought a great new pen book at the downtown Chapters store called "The Ultimate Books of Pens" by Barbro Garenfeld & Dietmar Geyer. It is 496 pages in length, in hardcover, is written in English, German and French (the text is side-by-side) and is lavishly illustrated with photos (many of which I have not seen in any pen book). I heartily recommend this tome, esp. since Chapters had it for $29.95 CAD (it scanned at $40.00 but the sticker said $29.95, so they gave it to me for the cheaper price). Get yours while they are still available! (there was a pile of them on the 2nd floor of the downtown Chapters on Robson, by the gift area). Update: Looks like some members got an even better deal as the hardcover version is now 30% off (ie. only $20.96 + tax!) due to a sale on all hardcover books at Chapters! Update to the Update... Two copies left at the Robson Street store as of January 27th, but the sticker price says $49.99 now

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Season's Greetings!

Just a small reminder that there will be no December VPC meeting due to the holidays, but we will return to our regular schedule (meetings on the third Thursday of the month) in January 2011!

Next meeting: Thursday January 20, 2011
Meeting Theme: "A" is for Aurora (Aurora pens ~ Vintage & Modern)
Place: The usual place---Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie St, Vancouver, B.C.
WHITE SPOT restaurant inside Oakridge Mall, Vancouver, B.C (basically, across the street from Richard's store!)....See new blog post from January 11th for further details.
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm 6:00pm-8:30pm

Have a safe & happy holiday season!
~Maja

Thursday, November 4, 2010

VPC on CBC (radio)!

VPC's own Michael Assaly will be on CBC Radio One's "Early Edition" radio program tomorrow (Friday) at 7:15am, promoting fountain pens & the Vancouver Pen Club!

The show is on 88.1FM and 690AM so tune in to listen to Michael's live interview at 7:15am. If you like to sleep in (like I do), you can listen to the archive of the broadcast on their website (link here: http://www.cbc.ca/earlyedition/) but it will only be available for a limited time (five days, or possibly less) (Update: the segment with Mike starts at approximately 1:31:09---great job, Michael!). Many thanks in advance to Mike for doing the radio interview and promoting our club.

Don't forget our last meeting of 2010 will be held on Thursday November 18th at Perks pen store on Cambie Street in Vancouver at 6:30pm (see previous post for meeting details). If you don't have any "Bling" (flashy) pens for our monthly meeting theme, please feel free to bring any new acquisitions (new pens/inks/paper) or any pens you wish to show. Hope to see a good turnout!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

November meeting details---our last meeting of 2010!

Date: Thursday November 18, 2010
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet& greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm meeting
Location: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, B.C
Theme: "BLING PENS" (no, this isn't some obscure German vintage brand,
but, rather, what you might call "flashy" or "bejeweled" pens).

Many thanks to Bruce R. for coming up with the topic. The holiday season is fast approaching, so this theme might help some of you come up with items to put on your "Wish Lists". Please note: we won't be having a December meeting due to the holiday season, but will resume meetings in January 2011.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Diamine Inks at Perks store on Cambie Street!

Yes, the Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street in Vancouver now carries Diamine fountain pen ink!

This English-made (in Liverpool) fountain pen ink is highly regarded among fountain pen users and at $13.50 per 80mL bottle, it's a great deal. Richard at Perks just got in a shipment containing 22 different colours and they won't last long.......so come on down to Perks on Cambie Street and pick up a bottle (or more) today!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Rhodia lined pads and pad holders review

Hey, folks - I just wrote my very first stationery review, of Rhodia's lined pads and pad holders (Quo Vadis Canada sent me an #11 and a #16 for review), so I wanted to show it off while beaming like a proud new parent.

You can find it here!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Frankenpens etc. - our October meeting

Ever wonder how to fix that pen you can no longer get parts for? Maja had some answers to this question in her wonderful presentation at our October meeting on 'Frankenpens' - mixing and matching pen parts. For example, Waterman nibs will go into a lot of non-vintage, non-Waterman pens. And Esterbrook nibs, which are screw-fit, will fit British Osmiroid pens. A Cross 'Solo' nib-section will fit into the Parker ‘Big Red’ rollerball, turning it into a fountain pen. Those cheap Iridium nibs will fit into many brands, too. She has even found a way to get a standard Bic refill to work in her vintage Eversharp Skyline ballpoint. The secret, Maja says, is to experiment. You might be pleasantly surprised at the results.



As for our other theme, 'orange pens', Maja took top honours on that too with all her bright selection of fall colours. Plus as always, there were plenty of new pens on show.

Thanks everyone for being there and making it yet another great meeting. See you next month!






Saturday, October 2, 2010

October meeting --- themes: "Frankenpens" and "Orange Pens" (in honour of Hallowe'en)

Here are the October VPC meeting details:

Date: Thursday October 21, 2010

Time 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet & greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm (approx.) meeting

Location: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Ave.) in Vancouver, B.C., across from Oakridge Mall and just one block from the "Oakridge-41st Ave" Skytrain stop.

In honour of Hallowe'en, the primary theme for this meeting will be "FRANKENPENS" (many thanks to Bruce R. for the suggestion). For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, a "Frankenpen" is a pen that is made of components from more than one pen, in much the same way that literary figure Dr. Victor Frankenstein created his Monster from various body parts. To give you an example, I have a Parker 'Big Red' ballpoint that I fitted with a Cross "Solo" nib-section unit to create a nifty-looking fountain pen. Other examples I own are: an Epenco fountain pen fitted with a vintage Waterman nib and a modern rollerball pen fitted with a nib-section unit from a modern fountain pen. The possibilities are (almost) endless....so bring along some examples of pens you've put together from parts.

As a secondary theme we will have "ORANGE PENS" (again, in honour of Hallowe'en) so if you don't have any Frankenpens, bring along an orange pen or two (or more-----I love the colour orange!)....or your latest writing-instrument-related acquisition (new ink/paper/pens/etc).
A photo taken during the October 21st meeting (courtesy of Richard)


Thursday, September 16, 2010

.

Here's a picture of us all after a great dinner at Moxie's on Davie St. Thanks to Maja for organising it, to Richard who normally hosts our meetings in his store, Perks, to all our great members - oh, and thanks Mike for directing our waitress to compose this shot so artistically.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Recommended book


Hi All - I just picked this up from the Richmond Chapters. It's a history of handwriting: "Script and Scribble" by Kitty Burns Florey. Very good for the price too, reduced to $4.99 At the time I was there, they had a stack of these on the sale table.

A little departure from our usual venue---September 2010 meeting details

As a little departure from our regular venue, September's VPC meeting will be held at Moxie's Classic Grill restaurant on Davie Street in downtown Vancouver as a little "thank you" for our VPC host, Richard Clarke of Perks pen shop.

Here are the details:
Date: Thursday September 16th, 2010
Time: 7:00pm to (???)
Place: Moxie's Classic Grill restaurant (in the Sandman hotel),
1160 Davie St (between Thurlow & Bute)
Vancouver, BC
Tel# (604) 678-8043
Meeting theme: Newest Acqusitions (new pens/paper/inks/accessories you've acquired lately).

*** Please RSVP by emailing us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com as I have to re-confirm table space with the folks at Moxie's. I have tentatively reserved a large table for 12 (VPC history buffs, take note: this is the table where the very first VPC meeting was held!)

Photo taken at the first VPC meeting---December 7, 2006:

Sunday, July 25, 2010

August meeting information (Theme: "Parker By the Numbers")

Photos taken during August 2010 VPC meeting--many thanks to photographer Tristan

(click on photos to enlarge))





















Date: Thursday August 19, 2010

Time 6:30pm-8:30pm (if you'd like to come a bit early to socialize, that's perfectly fine, too!)

Location: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street(@ 42nd Ave.) in Vancouver, B.C, across from Oakridge Mall (and just one block from the "Oakridge-41st Ave" Skytrain stop)

The theme for this meeting will be "PARKER BY THE NUMBERS" (many thanks to Michael for another great meeting theme/topic). As many of you know, the Parker Pen Company produced many numbered pen models, such as the famous Parker '51' pen as well as the later classics such as the Parker '61', '45' and '75' (among others). If you have any examples of numbered Parker models (fountain pens/pencils/ballpoints), please bring them with you to the meeting to show. Numbered models include the: 15, 17, 19, 21, 25, 35, 41, 45, 50, 51, 61, 65, 71, 75, 85, 88, 95, 100, 105 and 180.
www.parkercollector.com is a great website run by Parker expert Tony Fischier that has entries for all of the above Parker models (and many, many more) and is very useful and informative.

Our secondary theme is always NEWEST ACQUISITIONS so if you have any new pen-related items (pens, inks, paper, accessories) you'd like to show, bring them to the meeting.

Monday, July 5, 2010

July meeting details

Date: Thursday July 15, 2010 Time 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet & greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm (approx.) meeting Location: The usual place---Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (@42nd ave.) in Vancouver, across from Oakridge Mall (one block from the "Oakridge-41st Ave" Skytrain stop) The theme for this meeting will be "PEN PACKAGING & STORAGE" (suggested by VPC member Graham---thanks for the great idea, Graham!). Please bring examples of interesting/unusual pen packaging (ie. the original boxes that the manufacturers made for their pens) as well as the types of things *you* use for storing your writing instruments. No, I don't mean those nice big display cases, but things like small leather pen cases, pen "briefcases", zippered nylon pen cases....that sort of thing. I am always fascinated by the things folks use to store their pens. Some people have converted old cigar cases to pen storage boxes. I've been using a small case made for eyeglasses (reading glasses) that I bought for $5.00 at the local dollar store; it only holds one pen but it is lined with velour and protects the pen inside nicely. Our secondary theme is always NEWEST ACQUISITIONS so if you have any new pen-related items (pens, inks, paper, accessories) you'd like to show, bring them to the meeting. If anyone has any ink sampler cards for Richard that they forgot to bring to the June meeting, please bring them with you on the 15th. Thanks to all who have already submitted their ink samples; I saw some of them and I think they will be very useful for Perks customers who are looking for ink to buy. A big shout-out to Charlene of the W. Broadway Office Depot store who donated the card stock for the ink samplers. Hope to see you on the 15th!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

June 2010 meeting details

Well, we've decided to go with monthly meetings during the summer months, so here are the details re: the upcoming June meeting:

Date: Thursday June 17, 2010

Time 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet & greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm (approx.) meeting

Location: The usual place---Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Ave.) in Vancouver, across from Oakridge Mall (one block from the "Oakridge-41st Ave" Skytrain stop)

The theme for this meeting will be FOUNTAIN PEN FILLING SYSTEMS (suggested by VPC member Bruce R---thanks for the idea, Bruce!). Please bring examples of fountain pens with various filling systems/mechanisms---eg. cartridge/converter-fillers, piston-fillers, lever-fillers, button-fillers, eyedropper-fillers, aerometric-fillers, Snorkel-fillers, Touchdown-fillers, Vacumatics ..the list goes on and on!

Our secondary theme is always NEWEST ACQUISITIONS so if you have any new pen-related items (pens, inks, paper, accessories) you'd like to show, bring them to the meeting.

Thanks in advance and hope to see you on the 17th!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Frontier PC sells fountain pens?

Who knew? They don't seem to have a whole lot - a few sub-$100 Parkers, Pilots (including the now-discontinued Knight at ~$55), and Crosses, as well as a few inks, mostly cartridges - but they do have stuff in-stock at their local warehouses. I stumbled across it while searching for ink.

Anyway, I searched for "fountain" here: http://www.frontierpc.com/

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Summer meeting(s) added, May meeting details....and more!

In the past, we've traditionally ended our pen club "season" in May, and then resumed our meetings in September (after a three-month hiatus), however.............by popular demand WE ARE EXTENDING OUR PEN CLUB SEASON BY HAVING A JUNE MEETING, AND (MORE THAN LIKELY) MEETINGS IN JULY & AUGUST, AS WELL

Now, here are the details regarding the upcoming MAY meeting:

Date: Thursday May 20, 2010
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet & greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm (approx.) meeting
Location: Perks pen store--5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Ave.) in Vancouver, BC (across from Oakridge Mall and only 1 block from the "Oakridge-41st Ave" Skytrain stop)

The theme for this meeting will be "YOUR 5 FAVOURITE INKS", suggested by VPC member Brian J. (thanks, Brian!), so please bring your 5 most-loved fountain pen inks to the meeting. If you're down to your last few ounces/mLs of a rare ink, you might want to leave that bottle at home as I suspect members will be sampling from each others' ink bottles (with permission, of course!) at the meeting. If you have less than 5 favourite inks, don't worry---just bring a bottle of your favourite ink/inks (having too many favourite inks can be hard on the pocketbook---trust me!) Our secondary theme is always NEWEST ACQUISITIONS, so if you have any new pen-related stuff (pens, inks, paper, accessories) you'd like to show, bring it along, too (and no--you don't have to do a "Show & Tell" ;).


Important info from our neighbours to the south now.....


The Seattle Pen Club (http://www.seattlepenclub.com) is planning to have
their May 15th meeting in Bellingham, WA at the Bellingham Public Market on Saturday
morning. VPC members are welcome to attend. Please watch this space for more
details as I get them the SPC.
UPDATE! The May 15th Seattle Pen Club meeting will be at the Public Market in Bellingham, WA. It starts around 10:00 AM and runs 'til about 1:00 PM
George Long of the SPC writes:
We will have to compete with the Gluten Free Fair that starts at 11:00, so we have been asked to set up at the far end of the food court area near the pizzeria, but it is not expected to be a problem. The place next to the Public Market is now a flea market and will have its grand opening on Saturday.

The Seattle Pen Club folks are super-nice, so it's a good opportunity to meet some friendly & knowledgeable pen collectors, as well as partake of the good food at the Market (and see this new flea market next door). Hope you can make it!

P.S. Themes! The Seattle Pen Club has 2 themes for the May 15th meetup in Bellingham----Demonstrators (clear pens or pens with inkview windows, etc.) and "Your favorite daily user" (the pen that you use most often).

Saturday, April 24, 2010

.

I think everyone enjoyed the theme of our April meeting, which was 'desk sets and accessories'. The counter of Richard's store was a forest of pens!


















Tuesday, April 6, 2010

April showers bring....another VPC meeting! (details below)

Important preamble---In the past, we have not held meetings in June, July or August (due to members' summer vacation plans), however, based on recent feedback from our membership, we are considering having at least one meeting (if not more) during the summer months. Please check this blog regularly for changes to our current schedule and/or meeting location.

Now, here are the details re: April's meeting!

Date: Thursday April 15, 2010
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm (time to get food and "meet & greet"); 6:30pm- 8:30pm (meeting).

Location: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Ave), Vancouver, BC
(one block from the "Oakridge-41st Ave" Skytrain stop)

The theme for this meeting will be "DESK PENS & ACCESSORIES (eg. inkwells, blotters, etc)", another topic suggested by VPC member Michael, who came up with last month's topic of Pen & Pencil Sets. Some of these items can be a bit heavy/unwieldy (not to mention fragile), so please don't feel pressured to lug your most cherished pieces to the meeting. If you don't have any desk pens or accessories in your pen collection---no problem; I'm sure other members will bring plenty of examples. Our secondary theme is always "Newest Acquisitions", so if you have any new writing-instrument-related acquisitions such as pens, paper, ink, etc. to show the club, please bring them along for us to see.
Hope you can make it to the meeting!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Next meeting: Thursday March 18, 2010

Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm (6:00-6:30pm--informal "meet & greet" for the early birds).

Location: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Ave) in Vancouver, across from Oakridge mall (and only 1 block from the Oakridge-41st Ave Skytrain stop).

Theme: "PEN & PENCIL SETS". Our fellow VPC member Mike A. came up with the idea, so please bring any of your own examples of Fountain Pens and their matching Pencils (or Ballpoints and/or Rollerballs and their matching Pencils) to the meeting. If you don't have any sets in your collection---no problem; I'm sure we'll get lots of fine examples to see and hear about. Our secondary theme is always "Newest Acquisitions", so if you have any new writing-instrument-related acquisitions such as pens, paper, ink, etc. to show the club, please bring them along, too. Hope to see a good turnout!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Another good reason to visit Vancouver! (Feb 2010 VPC meeting details)

In addition to hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic & Paralympic games, our fair city is also the site of the February 2010 Vancouver Pen Club meeting ;)

The details:
Date: Thursday February 18, 2010
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet & greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm meeting time.
Location: Perks pen store---5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Ave.) in Vancouver, across from Oakridge mall (and conveniently located one block away from the "Oakridge-41st Ave" Skytrain stop on the "Canada Line" train)


The theme for this meeting will be "What do you look for in a fountain pen for your own use?". It was recommended by Bill Kempton, who wrote to me that "(he's) sure everyone has their own priorities, like grip, nib, weight, brand - and even colour"....I think it's a super topic, so please bring your own examples to the meeting and let us know what qualities you look for when buying a fountain pen. Our secondary theme is always "Newest Acquisitions", so if you have any new writing-instrument-related acquisitions such as pens, paper, ink, etc. to show the club, please bring them along, too. Hope to see a good turnout next Thursday!

A photo from the Feb.18th meeting. Turnout was sparse, most likely due to the Olympic events and celebrations, but many nice fountain pens were brought for the show & tell. Thanks to all who attended!
(clockwise from far left--Brian, Michael, Maja, Graham, Barry, Bill K. Photo by Richard C.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Record-breaking attendance at the January 2010 meeting!


From L-R: Loan, Bruce, Tim (holding up his beloved Pelikan "Pelikano" :), Ralph, Bill K, Maja, Chris L, Mike, Aftaab, Julienne, Brian, Charles, Barry, Gordon, Graham and Glenn (photo by Derek L--not pictured). Also not pictured : Bill S and our meeting host - Richard. (click on photo to enlarge)

A total of 19 Vancouver Pen Club members showed up at the January 21st meeting---a new VPC record! Mike gave an excellent talk on industrial designers and writing instruments (many thanks, Mike!) and we had excellent participation with regard to our meeting theme -"First Pens". From the trusty Parker 45 to the ubiquitous Sheaffer Cartridge Pen, from the under-rated Sheaffer NoNonsense to the lovely Parker 75 and English school pens by Osmiroid & Platignum (and many more pen brands), we heard about and/or saw them all! Many thanks to all who showed up for this meeting; it was a great start to the VPC 2010 pen club season.Next meeting is scheduled for Thursday February 18th, 2010. Theme: to be announced....

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Happy New Year!! (January 2010 meeting details)

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a relaxing holiday season and are ready to start the new year with a new round of pen club meetings! Our meetings will continue to be held at Perks pen store on Cambie and 42nd St in Vancouver, on the third Thursday of each month, from September to May (inclusive) but with no meeting in December. We might amend this to include a summer meetup; if so, you will hear about it on our blog. In the meantime, here are the details regarding our next meeting........

Date: Thursday January 21, 2010.
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm (time to get food and "meet & greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm meeting.
Location: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Ave.) in Vancouver, BC (one block from Skytrain stop "Oakridge-41st Ave" on the Canada Line)


The theme for this meeting will be "FIRST PENS"---the first fountain pen you ever bought (or were given) and/or the first vintage fountain pen you ever acquired...or even the first fountain pen you bought online, etc..... or any combination of the above! This theme was used as the first meeting theme of 2010 by the London (Ontario) Pen Club and the Calgary Pen Club, so we thought we'd share the theme with our fellow Canuck pen club members. I think it's a great idea :)

Our secondary theme is always "NEWEST ACQUISITIONS", so if you have any new writing-instrument-related acquisitions such as pens, paper, ink, etc. please bring them along.


We are pleased that Mike A. has kindly volunteered to do an update on his excellent presentation entitled "Designer Writing Instruments of the 20th Century" at the January 21st meeting. These are fountain pens and other writing instruments that were designed by famous industrial designers (see a partial list of examples in our VPC blog entry here: http://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2009_01_01_archive.html).

Thanks in advance to Mike, and to Richard Clarke of Perks, who has been our pen club meeting host since November 2007!