Saturday, September 22, 2012

Flexy Nibs!

We had a good turnout for our September meeting two days ago---15 members braved the heat & humidity of a late summer's evening (well, it was warm inside the store) to see some very cool fountain pens with flexible nibs.
(first three pics courtesy of Richard, the rest taken--poorly--by myself, Maja ;)
Photo above (L to R): Charles, me, Sam & Graham chuckling as I attempt to fill my ultra-flexy Blackbird twist-filler with ink.
I brought a few pens with flex--an Eversharp Skyline, an English-made Waterman lever-filler, a Parker Vac in the Demi size, a no-name lever-filler with a three-tined music nib, the Blackbird (made by Swan) and a Noodler's Ahab. Sam brought some nice examples of Ti(Titanium)-nibbed pens with flex (or perhaps "with spring" is a more accurate description; there's also some nice 'feedback' with Ti-nibbed pens)---an OMAS Emotica, a Stipula Modello T and a Delta Titanio---and Graham brought some gold-nibbed examples, including his Pelikan M1050, and a couple of steel-nibbed flex pens by Noodler's (the Ahab & Konrad)
Photo above (L to R): Graham, Ralph & Mike M enjoying a well-attended meeting.
Photo above (L to R): Mike M, Dexter, Greg S, Bruce & Anne (in foreground), all watching intently.
Greg brought several examples of vintage fountain pens with very flexible nibs (his three Salz pens) & semi-flexible nibs (Noodler's original flex pen, Noodler's Ahab and a Conway Stewart), as well as some pens whose nibs have little to no flex to them (TWSBI 540, Pelikan M200, Pilot VP), just for comparison. Bruce brought his wonderful CONID bulk-filler with Titanium nib, a recent acquisition.
Greg talking about the pens he brought:
Writing samples of the pens Greg demo'd at the meeting (click on image to enlarge--sorry for the blurry photo!):
Charles brought a pen with an interesting nib (see photo below)-- a Visconti Rembrandt fountain pen with a very flexible 0.5mm italic nib (only available as part of the Visconti Rembrandt calligraphy set) that produced the lovely copperplate-type calligraphy shown at the top of the page:
Thanks to all who attend this meeting! Our next meeting will be on Thursday October 18, 2012 at Perks on Cambie Street (usual place & time). Theme: TBA.

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