Monday, November 18, 2019

A few photos from our October meeting

Our October 2019 meeting was held at the Kitsilano Yacht Club located on Vancouver's beautiful English Bay. Many thanks to Daryl for booking this venue for us again!

There were 23 members (including newcomers Thomas and Yugo) at the meeting, whose theme was "Textured Fountain Pens" (Jerred's idea). I was having camera problems, so my apologies for this abbreviated blog post!

(~click on images to enlarge~)
A lovely array of fountain pens (counterclockwise from far left): a Pilot 'Decimo' & a Pilot 'Vanishing Point' both owned (& recently-hand-decorated using nail art supplies) by Candice (great job, Candice!), Jim's new Pelikan M205 in the sparkly "Star Ruby" colour, Ricardo's two Otto Hutt model '04' fountain pens in the "Pinstriped Guilloché Sterling Silver" and "Black Square Guilloché" pattern and his Graf von Faber-Castell 'Guilloché" in the lovely 'Burned Orange colour. The pen drawings were all done by Ricardo, who somehow manages to both draw *and* photograph pens!
I usually forget to photograph my own pens at meetings (because I'm too busy scribbling notes and/or taking photos of other peoples' pens for this blog :) but I remembered to snap a couple of very quick shots this time. The ones I brought for our October topic (textured fountain pens) are shown below (from L-R): Parker '105' in the "Rolled Gold Bark" pattern, a Parker '75' "Ciselé" model, Parker 75 "Diamante", Parker 'Sonnet' "Ciselé" model, a Parker 'Sonnet' in the "Tartan" pattern, Sheaffer 'Imperial' "Sovereign" (gold-filled), Sheaffer 'Intensity' in the "Medici" pattern, a vintage Waterman 'CF' set in the attractive "Crocodile" pattern, a vintage Wahl-Eversharp "All-Metal" fountain pen in the "Dart" machine-turned pattern from the 1920s (there are some gorgeous photos of the "All-Metal' fountain pens on this Penhero.com page) and two vintage aluminum (or vanadium??) no-name pens with two different machined patterns:

(~click on images to enlarge~)
More fountain pens I brought for our monthly theme (from L-R): Faber-Castell "WRITink" fountain pen with fingerprint pattern, two Creeks n' Creeks fountain pens with textured finishes, a Sheaffer 'Lady' fountain pen in a pretty "Paisley White" pattern and another pen marketed towards women by Wearever called the "Lady Fair" in orange (there's a nice little writeup on the Wearever model here), a small Eclipse fountain pen and two no-name (possibly Eclipse??) fountain pens all with black chased plastic patterns, a German-made Matador fountain pen and a vintage Wahl-Eversharp "All-Metal" fountain pen in the "Niagara" machine-turned pattern. The last two fountain pens are my newest acquisitions (which is always our secondary meeting theme)- two plastic Zebra fountain pens from my local Staples store:


Many thanks to all who came to our October meeting, whether you brought anything for our topics or not; our club is all about having fun learning about fountain pens and other writing instruments in a very casual atmosphere. If this is of interest to you, please drop in and see what our club is all about! (no need to RSVP for any VPC meeting not held in a restaurant).

Our next meeting will be held on THURSDAY November 21 at a brand-new location---all details in this very recent post.
Any questions? Please email us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com
Hope you can make it to our next meeting!
Cheers ~Maja

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

November meeting info --- brand-new venue!

VANCOUVER PEN CLUB NOVEMBER 2019 MEETING DETAILS:

When: THURSDAY November 21 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm (don't worry if you're late, as we usually start at around 6:30 pm). Please note: this meeting falls on a Thursday, not a Friday.

Where: A meeting room in a smaller building located next to Vancouver City Hall, 453 W. 12th, Vancouver, BC (on the corner of W. 12th and Cambie). If you wish to attend but are not a member yet, please contact us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com for more info re: the location.

Location info: The meeting room we will be using is called the Strathcona Room and it is located in a smaller building next to City Hall. Further information about the location is in the group email sent out to VPC members.

Parking: There is free parking along Cambie Street after 6:00pm, or in the underground parking at the VanCity Building at 10th & Yukon when VanCity is closed. Parking along Yukon Street is $2.00 per hour.

Topic/Theme: OPEN FORMAT (ie. bring anything pen-related you want to show us---pens, inks, paper, accessories, books, etc).

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

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

Monday, November 4, 2019

September meeting photos (Part 2)

Here are some photos I took at our September meeting, held on Friday September 13th at the Kitsilano Yacht Club...

(~Please click on photos to enlarge images~)

Our theme for September's meeting was "Good Luck!"--pen-related experiences where good luck has played a role. The pen in the photo above is a vintage Waterman '94' fountain pen belonging to our club's co-founder, Tim. Tim acquired the pen by chance thanks to a virtual flea market run by a local radio station in his hometown of Austin, Minnesota. Tim called the station to say that he was looking for fountain pens and eventually got in touch with a person who was selling old pens, one of which was the Waterman above. Tim told us that the Waterman is one of his favourite fountain pens with which to write, so it truly was a lucky find :)
That's Bill Kempton, our club's other co-founder on the right, and next to him is our mutual friend Glenn from Brisbane, Australia. Glenn brought some examples of his own lucky finds (see photo below)...
...such as his first-year Parker '75' fountain pen (8th pen from the right in Glenn's pen pouch above) and his lovely Waterman 'Edson' (2nd pen from the right), both acquired from eBay for a very good price...
Another lucky find was Jerred's sterling silver fountain pen made by the Delta pen company...
Speaking of luck....The lucky winner of our door prize was VPC member Ben R. (one of our newer members), who won a handsome Pelikan pen case in black leather (generously donated by our Aussie guest Glenn). I forgot to photograph the actual case that Ben won, so I snapped a quick photo of its twin (a gift given to me by Glenn a few months ago) when I got home.
Melodie's newest acquisition, a "Maui Makai" fountain pen made by the Kanilea Pen Company and purchased by Melodie at the San Francisco Pen Show in August of this year...
As mentioned in Part 1 of our September meeting photos, the pen's Jowo steel nib was reground at the pen show by nibmeister Yukio Nagahara. This close-up above shows the result---a fun, exotic nib that produces fine lines when used in the normal position and wide strokes when used in the upside-down position...
Continuing on with Newest Acquisitions (which is always our secondary meeting theme)...
This is Barry's vintage Parker '51 Special', a lower-priced version of the famous Parker '51' which arrived on the scene in 1950, nine years after its higher-priced cousin. The '51 Special' almost always came with a steel alloy (Octanium) nib (the original '51' sported a 14k gold nib) but some '51 Special' models that were made in the late 1960s came with gold nibs.
Two of Bill's newest acquisitions---a Lamy 'Al-Star' in the "Pacific" colour (a special edition made in 2017) and a Pelikan M215 in the hard-to-find "Blue Stripes" pattern (only made from 2005-2006). The M215 is my favourite smaller Pelikan fountain pen because of its weight---the M215 barrels were made from brass rather than resin (which is used in the M200/M205 models) so the M215s have a nice heft to them, and yet are nicely balanced in the hand.
René always has some interesting new finds to show us, such as these Parker IM Deluxe special editions in "Midnight Astral" and "Metallic Pursuit".

Some information about these lovely patterns from Parker's official website:

"The IM Special Edition Midnight Astral is inspired by the universe in the palm of our hand. The cap and barrel, embellished with a star chart constellation, guide us on our journey towards creating a positive impact on the world. The kind of impact that will shine through the night and celebrate our purpose in life."
"The IM Special Edition Metallic Pursuit is inspired by the unlimited opportunities which direct us towards our purpose. The cap and barrel, emblazoned with the energetic trajectory of growth, remind us that our path towards success is a unique journey that only we as individuals can take."

Last but not least, a couple of lesser-known vintage pens recently acquired by Daryl (our host at the yacht club)---a green striped Traveler fountain pen and a Hero (unknown model name/number, but most likely an earlier Hero pen)...
Daryl (far left in the photo above) taking a break after a job well done, as our meeting draws to a close...
One last photo----Bill K. Glenn and myself (Maja). Thanks for coming to the meeting, Glenn!

Many thanks to everyone who came to the September meeting (whether you came from Australia or the Lower Mainland :), to Daryl for being such an excellent host, to Glenn G. for the door prize, and to Ricardo and Jim for sending me their photos so I could post them on our club's blog!

Next up: info regarding our November meeting coming very soon!

Sunday, November 3, 2019

September meeting photos (part 1)

Many thanks to Daryl for hosting our September meeting (held on September 13) at the Kitsilano Yacht Club! We had a great turnout for our meeting----25 VPC members (including newcomer Mariana and a special guest---Glenn Garside from Australia, a mutual friend of mine and Bill K's who had previously attended our 2014 Summer Dinner).

September's meeting theme was "Good Luck!" (pen experiences in which the element of luck has played a part), a great theme for a meeting held on a Friday the 13th ;) Thanks again to Bill for the idea. Now, without further ado, here are Ricardo's photos from that evening...

(~all photos courtesy of Ricardo ~ please click on photos to enlarge images~)

The stairs on Point Grey Road leading to the Kitsilano Yacht Club...


From their website: The Kitsilano Yacht Club was founded in the summer of 1934 to foster amateur yachting on English Bay in Vancouver and encourage competition at the highest level.


The Yacht Club has a great view of English Bay and downtown Vancouver (it's even better at night!)


Tristan (left) & Vancouver Pen Club co-founders Tim (center) & Bill K (right) getting ready...


Daryl (our host) giving our pen club a little bit of background information on the Yacht Club...


Jenny and Tristan... 

 

Chuck Z (one our newer members) was kind enough to bring some bear and moose jerky as snacks!


Jerred brought some fountain pens to sell at the meeting, including this Waterman 'Expert II'...


That's me (Maja) talking about my lucky pen experiences...


Longtime VPCer Bruce telling us about the great Visconti fountain pens he came across on eBay...


Another pen from Jerred's pen sale---a Parker 'Sonnet'...


My pen case with some new acquisitions (the 4th, 5th and 6th pens from the left---Waterman 'Kultur' Tomb Raider special edition, purple Paili 013/Wing Sung 3013 vacuum-filler and a Jinhao model 51A) and some lucky finds. The Wahl 'All-Metal' fountain pen on the far left was bought for me by my mother (who had a great eye for spotting 'treasures') so it's technically not *my* lucky find, but the vintage no-name grey pen next to it and the black vintage Sheaffer 'Snorkel' (both with 14K three-tined music nibs) were :)
 
 
 
I can't remember whose purple Pelikan 'Pelikano' this is, but I love the colour! The 'Pelikano' has been in production since 1960 and although originally meant as a student pen, it is used and appreciated by people of all ages, world-wide (there's a nice writeup on this popular student fountain pen on Pelikan's official website here)...
 
 
Natasha (center) really got into fountain pens not too long ago, thanks to the efforts of her mother Alejandra, a longtime VPC member.


That's Joie (center) talking about her lucky find---a Sailor Special Edition Hello Kitty 35th Anniversary fountain pen---acquired with the help of VPCer Julienne...


Stuart showing us his lovely new(ish) desk set--a Sheaffer desk set made of mirrored canary-yellow glass, with a pen groove cut in it (I posted some photos of it that Stuart sent me here)...


Melodie telling us about her recent trip to the San Francisco Pen Show and the lovely fountain pens she acquired there...






...and here's one of those lovely pens Melodie bought in San Francisco---a stunning fountain pen made by the Kanilea Pen Company (this is the "Maui Makai" model). Melodie had the pen's stock #6 Jowo steel nib reground by the Sailor Pen Company's nibmeister Yukio Nagahara (son of the late nibmeister Nobuyoshi Nagahara, who also worked for Sailor) at the pen show (I took a close-up of the reground nib and will post it in part 2 of our September meetings pics)




Jenny also attended the San Francisco Pen Show and told us about her pen-hunting adventures...


(L-R) Tristan, Ben, Maja, Rene, Jerred, Glenn and Bill. Rene had some lucky finds of his own to show us at the meeting, including a vintage Waterman 'PSF 12' he bought for a mere $25! 
 
 
That's Glenn from Australia talking to Stuart (in red coat). Glenn has been collecting fountain pens for several years and has acquired a lovely, eclectic collection, so he happily accepted my invitation to attend the September meeting while he and his wife were in town (I snapped a photo of the pens he brought to the meeting and will post them in part 2 of the Sept pics)


Our newest member, Mariana, who heard about our pen club from one of our members...


Glenn talking to longtime VPCer Barry, while Jerred packs up at the end of the meeting...




Ricardo's wonderful pen drawings---all done during our meeting!


The Visconti 'Opera Club' fountain pen in the "Cherry Juice" material (far left of photo) is one of Ricardo's lucky finds. He found this now-discontinued model in rollerball form for an excellent price, ordered the proper nib-section unit for it and converted it to a lovely fountain pen. Well done, Ricardo, and thanks again for the great photos you took during our September meeting!

Part 2 of our September meeting pics coming soon! (Update---Part 2 posted here)

Friday, November 1, 2019

Fountain Pen Day 2019! (Friday November 1st)



From the official website: "Taking place on the first Friday in November each year, Fountain Pen Day is celebrated by enthusiasts worldwide as a time to embrace, promote, and share the use of fountain pens."