Friday, January 31, 2014

It's (almost) that time of year again---InCoWriMo month!

Yes, it's the eve of InCoWriMo (International Correspondence Writing) month , so prep your pens, inks, blotters, postcards, stationery, envelopes and stamps if you wish to accept the InCoWriMo challenge to hand-write and mail/deliver one letter, card, note or postcard every day during the month of February. Best of luck!

More info on this fun event here: http://incowrimo.org/

Thursday, January 30, 2014

February meeting theme finalized!

We've finalized the theme for February's meeting and it will indeed be Second- & Third-Tier Fountain Pens, but I think we will limit our theme pens to vintage pens only; we've never had this theme before and I'm sure there will be tons of examples to see. If you're not a fan of vintage pens, you might be convinced to give some of these "underdog" brands a try because their prices are often much lower than their first-tier counterparts and they can be easily found on eBay & elsewhere.

Hope you can make it to the meeting on Thursday February 20th. No RSVPs required!

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Sumgai Finds!

A couple of photos from our meeting last Thursday, which featured "Sumgai Finds" or pens acquired at ridiculously low prices (definition/origin of the term "sumgai" on this page). Many thanks to all 24 VPC members who showed up for the meeting! Now the photos.....

Louise's amazing vintage pen finds---from L to R: Wahl-Eversharp 'Doric', Parker Duofold Geometric (“Toothbrush”) , Waterman 52½V, Sheaffer BCHR flat-top, Sheaffer flat-top in jade Radite, Sheaffer Balance, Parker Duofold 'Big Red'. Louise also brought a nice Parker Vacumatic, but it's not in the photo above. I'm sorry I didn't keep track of how much Louise paid for each pen, but it wasn't much!

(click images to enlarge photos)

Maja's bargain finds--from L-R: Wahl All-Metal ringtop, Lamy cp1, Lamy Ratio 47P, another Lamy Ratio 47P, a no-name lever-filler with 14K three-tined stub music nib, Sheaffer PFM I, Bexley Scheherazade (rollerball), Rotring 'Core'. The pens cost me (from L-R): 10¢, $10 total for the three Lamys, $20, $30, $9.95 and 25¢. Many thanks to my mother for finding the Wahl and Rotring for me (great finds, Mom :)

Our next meeting will be on Thursday February 20 at Perks pen store on Cambie Street, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm (ie. usual place & time). Meeting theme/topic: to be announced soon! THE TENTATIVE MEETING THEME WILL BE "2nd- & 3rd-tier Fountain Pens". I need to reconfirm something before finalizing this, but I will update this post, and create a new blog post, in the next few days.

Friday, January 10, 2014

The 2nd Annual N.W. Pen Round-Up! (July 12th~Portland, Oregon)

Posting the message below on behalf of my pen friend, Michael McNeil, who co-organized the first Round-Up in 2013 (of which I blogged about here and here). Hope you can make it to this year's Round-Up! It sounds like a lot of fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s official, the 2nd Annual Northwest Pen Round-Up! will be held on Saturday July 12th, 2014, at the Lucky Labrador in Portland, Oregon, from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. It is the same weekend as the largest antique show in the Northwest, the Christine Palmer Antique Show.
We had quite a turnout last year. We hope to make this event even bigger this year.There were people there from B.C., Washington state, Oregon, California, Wisconsin, Iowa, and possibly from states that I was not aware of. There were plenty of fountain pens, mechanical pencils, desk top items, items from typewriters to cameras. There was plenty of commerce in writing instruments and plenty to buy, sell, trade,admire, learn about and discuss.
All pen collectors and users are invited, wherever you are. We do not limit this event to just people from the Northwest or the West Coast.
Admission is free. We only charge a nominal fee for vendors who want to set up. If you would like table space, please contact us early, as space is very limited. If you would like to reserve table space please contact Stuart Hawkinson (s.hawkinson@comcast.net) or me Michael McNeil (michael@northwestpenworks.com)
The address for the Lucky Labrador Brewing Co. is 1945 N.W. Quimby Street, Portland Oregon, U.S.A. The Lucky Lab offers very reasonably priced food and libations in a converted industrial space, near downtown Portland with easy freeway access.
Anyone coming should consider taking in the Christine Palmer Antique Show (http://christinepalmer.net/), at the Expo Center. It is the oldest and largest antique show in the Northwest. Early admission to the antique show is Friday and the show is Saturday and Sunday. The Summer show is the largest of their shows and has many booths indoor and outdoor. The weather in Portland is usually very mild compared to the rest of the country in the Summer. There are lots of things to do in Portland and it is often voted one of the more livable cities in the country. 


A couple of photos from last year's inaugural N.W. Pen Round-Up:

(click on images to enlarge)

Above: VPC member Charles (foreground) talking to longtime pen seller and founding member of the Pan Pacific Pen Club Alan Brooking (Photo by Mike Rosen)

 

Alan and the many writing instruments he brought to sell...

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year!


THINK fountain pen in the lovely "Giraffe" pattern
, a Christmas 2013 gift from my parents' wire fox terrier, Chandler, thus the small dog figurine. Update: Sadly, Chandler passed away on January 5, 2014 at the age of 14, but this wonderful fountain pen will always be a reminder of him. He was a great little dog.
Hope to see you at our next meeting, which will be on Thursday January 16, 2014 at the usual place (Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC) from 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm, to chat before the meeting). Our theme will be "Sumgai Finds!"(pens acquired at incredibly low prices--e.g. garage sale finds, great deals, etc )and, as usual, "Newest Acquisitions" will be our secondary topic..... No RSVPs required!