Tuesday, July 28, 2015

VPC Summer Dinner for members (in place of regular meeting) - Thursday August 20

The summer dinner for VPC members will be held on Thursday August 20. VPC members - please RSVP me no later than August 17th, as per the instructions in the members' group email I sent on July 28th. Please note: this is not a regular meeting, and there will be no regular meeting in August, just the dinner. We will return to our regular "themed" meetings at Perks on Thursday September 17th (theme: to be announced). Have a great summer, everyone!

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Extra topic for Vancouver Pen Club's July meeting!

I just thought of an extra topic for our July meeting, which will be held next Thursday----PENS & INK FOR SALE!

Last month, we had a voluntary pen/ink trade, but I don't think any folks were actually selling pens or inks (which you can do at any meeting, actually) so I thought I'd tack that onto this month's topic of Pen Cases. There is absolutely no obligation to bring anything to sell. I just remembered this because of the mini pen show--the Northwest Pen Round-Up!-- being held in Portland on Saturday July 11th (you can read about it in this link (<--click)).

Unfortunately, I can't make it to that one and thought "Why doesn't our club have a pen & ink sales night of our own for our members?" We won't have tables, of course, but just bring some stuff you want to sell that is pen-related (with the prices you want for them, even if they are just in your head :) You might want to come earlier (at 6:00pm) so you can get a jump on stuff for sale or to sell, but it's up to you. Hope you can make it!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

June meeting topic-- "Pen Maintenance 101"

Many thanks to VPC member Mark Harcourt for his excellent presentation on "Pen Maintenance 101", the topic of our June meeting. We had excellent attendance that night---27 members (including two newcomers---Erin and Richard---as well as Ben's daughter Kelly, and Alejandra's daughter Natasha)!
Mark talks about pen maintenance, as our members listen with rapt attention
That orange object on the counter is an ordinary salad spinner, converted to a makeshift centrifuge for drying fountain pens that have been rinsed of ink. You can either use ordinary tap water for rinsing, or a water-household ammonia mixture (if I recall correctly, the recipe is a 1:10 solution of clear household ammonia in water). The pens are attached to the inside of the spinner with pipe cleaners. Make sure that the nibs do not stick out, or they can be damaged when the spinner is engaged. A useful tool that isn't very expensive, but effective if used correctly!
Another useful tool (albeit one more expensive) for cleaning pens is an ultrasonic cleaner. Some pen types should not be cleaned in these devices, such as pens made from casein (the material will soften and start to dissolve), hard rubber pens (they can discolour in water) and Parker '61' pens (the decorative arrow on the hood can fall off), among others.
Mark briefly spoke about one of his favourite polishing compounds, a product called Wenol, which is made in Germany. He also spoke about a plastic polishing compound that he likes to use, called Ultra Gloss.

Many thanks, once again, to Mark for taking the time to teach us about maintaining our fountain pens in good working order---it was a very interesting talk! Mark operates a local pen repair business out of Perks pen store on Cambie Street (where our club meets) and has always been very helpful and enthusiastic about getting old & new pens working again, so it was great to hear his advice and tips.

Friday, July 3, 2015

July meeting info

(please note: I added an extra topic---Pen + Ink sale --- to the regular topic of Pen Cases)

Date: Thursday July 16, 2015
Place: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm, to chat before the meeting)
Theme: Pen Cases & Pen + Ink Sale!

I was talking to my husband about our July meeting and how I was having trouble thinking of a topic and he suggested "Vacation Pens", but we did that in February (while I was at the L.A. Pen Show), so then he said "What about stuff you carry pens around in--pen cases?". I checked and we did do this topic already.....but it was back in April of 2010, so I think five years is long enough to re-use an old topic :) As always, Newest Acquisitions is our secondary topic, so if you have some new-pen related stuff you want to show, please bring it with you.

We will be having our annual VPC Summer Dinner at the White Spot restaurant at Oakridge Mall on Thursday August 20 (I'll send out an email to members about this later in July that will confirm the date and venue, as well as ask for RSVPs), in place of a regular meeting. So, this month (July) will be a regular meeting at Perks, then we'll have our dinner in August, then back to regular meetings in September at Perks.

A reminder.... The 3rd Annual Northwest Pen Round-Up! will be held on Saturday July 11th, 2015, at the Lucky Labrador in Portland, Oregon, from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. The address for the Lucky Labrador Brewing Co. is 1945 N.W. Quimby Street, Portland Oregon, U.S.A. Full post about this event in this link (<--click)