Wednesday, April 17, 2019

March meeting pics

The VPC welcomed three new members (Chuck, Neil and Sasha) to our March meeting, held at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library on March 21st! Attendance was down a bit (perhaps due to Spring Break holidays) but those who came to the meeting had fun chatting and seeing some wonderful & unusual fountain pens.

Group pic (clockwise from bottom left): Sasha, Joie (hiding), Julienne, Jenny, Dana, Jimmy, Daryl, Justin, Jerred (leaning in), Christopher, Maja, Tristan, and Neil:
All pen photos below are courtesy of Dana (~click on images to enlarge~)

Our theme/topic for the meeting was "Non-Round Fountain Pens". The topic (which we've never used before) was Jerred's idea and he kicked it off by showing us a great example---his Visconti Van Gogh in the "Sunflowers" pattern (inspired by the Van Gogh paintings of the same name), an 18-sided fountain pen:
A Levenger 'Facets'- a twisty, six-sided fountain pen owned by Jerred (sadly, this model was discontinued a few years ago):
Another cool pen belonging to Jerred--his new PenBBS '380', an eight-sided aluminum fountain pen, also with a twist design:
A vintage classic--Christopher's lovely twelve-sided Wahl-Eversharp 'Doric' with adjustable nib (there's some excellent info on this model here)
A Visconti Divina Elegance Maxi in Blue belonging to Jimmy. This spiral, five-sided pen is made of swirly blue vegetal resin with a Sterling Silver inlay spiraling around the pen's cap and barrel. Visconti designed the Divina models based on the Golden Ratio and you can read about those design features here:
Jimmy's wonderful Montblanc Jonathan Swift Limited Edition fountain pen, which features a triangular cap:
Montblanc Jonathan Swift LE-nib and cap closeup. From Montblanc's official description: "Its design is inspired by his novel “Gulliver’s Travels”. The barrel is made of black lacquer and decorated with multi-layered inlays reminiscent of the ropes that were used to bind Gulliver on the beach of Lilliput island. The cap is made of precious black resin and shaped like Gulliver’s tricorn. It bears the signature of Jonathan Swift. The clip depicts the staircase the mayor of Lilliput had to climb to be able to talk to Gulliver. Both clip and fittings are platinum-plated. The rhodium-plated 18 K gold nib is decorated with an elaborate engraving showing the imperial army of Lilliput marching between Gulliver’s legs."
An Sterling Silver octagonal Montegrappa 'Privilege' fountain pen in the "Deco" pattern, owned by Jimmy:
Nib closeup of the Montegrappa:
We always feature newest pen-related acquisitions as our secondary topic. This is Jimmy's new Waterman 'Edson' fountain pen:
The distinctive 'Edson' nib:
Jimmy's new Delta DolceVita Oversize, a classic modern fountain pen:
Delta DolceVita Oversize nib:
Another great new acquisition of Jimmy's---his new Pelikan 'Silver Screen' Limited Edition:
The 'Silver Screen' LE was limited to only 420 pieces worldwide, with the individual piece numbers engraved on the filling knob:
A very nice wood turned ballpoint pen, owned by new VPC member Chuck:
Chuck's Sheaffer '300' fountain pen in glossy black:
A no-name calligraphy fountain pen, also owned by Chuck:
Dana's brand-new Kaweco 'Student' fountain pen in the "70's Soul" (love that name!) colours:
Kaweco 'Student' cap & clip close-up:
A few pics of Dana's cool Sheaffer 'Pop' "Star Wars" fountain pen in the Darth Vader pattern:
Jenny's Visconti Van Gogh in the "Starry Night" pattern (below). Both Jenny and Jerred's (shown in the second photo in this blog post) are the new-style Van Gogh fountain pens which are faceted. The original Van Goghs had round barrels and caps.
Something you don't see every day---a TWSBI 'Eco' Special Edition made for Bungubox, owned by Jenny:
Closeup of the Eco's beautiful hand-painted floral cap:
Joie's Waterman 'Exception' in Raspberry, a elegant, four-sided (ie. square :) fountain pen:
Waterman 'Exception'- nib closeup:
Benu 'Chameleon', a gorgeous three-sided fountain pen belonging to Candice:
The Benu 'Chameleon' in closeup. The model name comes from the fact that the pen changes colors depending on the angle at which it is viewed:
Justin's lovely Benu "Briolette" fountain pen, a faceted fountain pen:
New VPCer Neil's TWSBI 'Eco' (a reliable, economical fountain pen) in clear blue:
Neil's TWSBI '580', a great fountain pen that started out as the '530' model wayyy back in 2010:
TWSBI 'Go'--another pen belonging to Neil:
Two pocket pens owned by Neil---Pilot 'Petit' (clear pen) and Midori 'Traveler's Company' brass fountain pen. The Midori's cap has a ring on it, so you can clip the pen to a bag/key chain or you can unscrew the ring to remove the clip, if you prefer a clipless fountain pen. Handy!
A Hugo Boss fountain pen, owned by Tristan:
The Hugo Boss insignia on the cap top:
A beautiful DuPont fountain pen, also belonging to Tristan:
Tristan's (new-style) OMAS 'Paragon' in the stunning brown Arco celluoid material. This 12-sided fountain pen is many people's (including mine :) Grail Pen:
OMAS Paragon's nib:
A beautiful Namiki 'Impressions' Medley fountain pen made of marbled celluloid, also owned by Tristan:
Namiki side view:
Julienne's Rotring '600', a classic hexagonal pen that (some say) resembles a tactical pen:
Rotring '600' nib:
Julienne's wonderful OMAS 360 fountain pen, a triangular model that was launched in 1996. The triangular shape enhances both the user's grip and comfort while writing with the pen:
OMAS 360 back view:
OMAS 360 nib:
So, there you have it--fountain pens with 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12 and 18 sides! We didn't get a chance to photograph everyone's fountain pens (e.g. I know Sasha brought in a Lamy 'Nexx' for our topic) but many thanks to all who attended, and special thanks to Dana for the great pen photos!

Our next meeting is tomorrow (Thursday April 18) at the Terry Salman branch of the VPL from 6:00pm-8:30pm (all details here in this post) so I hope you can make it! (no RSVP necessary)

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Next VPC meeting -- Thursday April 18th!

APRIL MEETING DETAILS:

When: Thursday April 18 from 6:00pm to 8:30pm
(Don't worry if you're late---we usually start at around 6:30 pm)

Where: the TERRY SALMAN branch of the Vancouver Public Library at 4575 Clancy Loranger Way, Vancouver (on the lower level of the Hillcrest Community Center) by Nat Bailey Stadium (near Queen Elizabeth Park).
This was where our February meeting was held. The meeting will take place in their Community Room (meeting room)--same place as before. No food allowed but covered drinks are ok. There's a little café inside the Community Center and vending machines as well, if you want to have a snack before the meeting. Hillcrest Community Center parking is free.

Topic/Theme: Fountain Pens with Animal Themes + our twice-annual Ink Swap/Sell!

If you have any fountain pens relating to animals (including birds/fish/insects), please bring them with you to our meeting for our topic/theme. They can be fountain pens with design features related to animals, nib imprints with animals on them, or just fountain pen models named after animals. Many thanks to Jerred for this great topic idea!

The Ink swap/sell is something we do twice a year and it is 100% voluntary. If you have ink (modern or vintage fountain pen ink, in bottles or cartridges) that you wish to sell or trade, please bring them with you (bottles that aren't completely full are fine). If don't have any inks to trade or sell--no problem! Oh, and if you're thinking of buying some ink, I'd suggest bringing some cash with you to the meeting.

Our secondary topic is always NEWEST ACQUISITIONS (pen-related)---eg. new pens/inks/paper/pen cases/other accessories/etc---so if you have any you wish to show, please bring them with you.

Hope you can make it to our next meeting! No need to RSVP for this meeting or any other not held at a restaurant. Any questions or concerns? Please let me know at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com