Many thanks to everyone who came to our June meeting (at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library) on the 15th. We had fourteen members in attendance, including two newcomers (Asifa and Harris). Our thanks also go out to Christopher for donating the Cross Soft Tip 12K gold-filled pen which Chris M. won as a door prize! The primary theme for our June meeting was Vacation Pens & Ink (which 3 fountain pens and ink you’d take with you) and, as usual, our secondary topic was Newest Pen-Related Acquisitions.
Since it's related to vacations, I thought I'd kick off this meeting report
with a photo of an elegant old postcard that Stuart found while cleaning out his storage unit...
(all photos by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge)
The postcard was sent from Antwerp, Belgium in 1908 (!) to Stuart's maternal grandmother in Canada by a friend of hers who’d travelled to Europe. The recipient's address takes up most of the other side of the postcard, so the sender's message was written on the front. There’s no slick, glossy paper to deal with, as you do with modern postcards! (I tend to write them with ballpoints ;)
Here's a pen accessory that instantly caught my eye during the meeting---a gorgeous handmade leather three-pen case belonging to brand-new member Asifa! The case was handmade in Turkey by Galen Leather.
Now, here's a fountain pen you don't see every day....
It belongs to another brand-new member, Harris, and it's his Pilot 'Custom Urushi', the largest of the Pilot 'Custom' family (there's a good comparison shot of the Pilot 'Custom' models here). I believe it's currently the largest fountain pen in Pilot's lineup (ie. not including the Namiki-branded models) -- an impressive writing instrument that's also a wonderful writer.
The pen is made of Japanese ebonite, hand-finished with pure urushi lacquer that's applied in layers --over a period of several weeks or even months-- a painstaking process expertly done by Japanese maki-e artisans. The lacquering technique used for this Pilot model line is Roiro Urushi, a black urushi lacquer.
More lovely black fountain pens belonging to Harris! These two handsome Italian-made OMAS fountain pens are the iconic 'Paragon' old-style (a faceted pen), and the equally-iconic '360' (a triangular pen) below it.
That's Jerred's new Delta 'Unica' Limited Edition in orange celluloid (made exclusively for retailer Goulet Pens) in the photo above. Jerred recently acquired this eye-catching Italian-made pen from a member of the Calgary Pen Club. The PenBBS '268' fountain pen below it is Jerred's choice of vacation fountain pen. It's a clear demonstrator vacuum-filler that has an ink shut-off valve, a very useful feature if you are traveling by plane (where air pressure changes might cause ink leakage).
For his vacation ink, Jerred said he'd take some Higgins 'Fountain Pen India" Non-Waterproof Black (ie. washable) ink, available from Michael's craft supplies store for less than $7 CAD (Note: make sure you get the one made for fountain pens as there are other Higgins inks that are /not/ made for FPs)
Here's a handsome new acquisition that new owner Hadi said he'd be taking on future vacations-- a CONID 'Minimalista' Bulk-Filler! It was made in Belgium by CONID, a small subsidiary of a company called Komec that designed and made machines for the pharmaceutical industry (Komec was later acquired by a Swiss multinational called Lonza). Hadi said the demand for this pen was very high, as only a small handful were released (they sold out very quickly).
Three great modern German fountain pens that Stuart would take on vacation-- his "Graf von Faber-Castell 'Guilloche' model in "Gulf Blue", his Montblanc '146' and his Lamy '2000'.
Stuart's Montblanc '146' is resting on a notebook that he recently bought at the Vancouver Pen Shop--a Penmanship Notebook by the Unemployed Philosophers Guild (photo of notebook's interior here).
My own three travel fountain pens (L-R)---Ensso 'Piuma Pocket' fountain pen made in Ultem (a very durable plastic used in the aerospace industry), a red-orange Jinhao '100' (whose nib I swapped out for a steel Knox nib), and a brushed stainless steel Waterman 'Graduate'.
The ink I'd take on vacation is my Noodler's Black (shown above, and inside the Ensso pen, too) because I love doing crossword puzzles and Noodler's Black dries quickly and doesn't feather on newsprint.
Some of my newest acquisitions (L-R): an ebony wood Jinhao '9056' fountain pen, a taupe-coloured Sailor 'Lecoule' fountain penin "Safari Gray" bought at Nikaido in Steveston (Richmond), a Retro 51 'Honey Bear' rollerball and two ballpoints --a Lamy 'Xevo model in burgundy, and a chrome Sigma 'Olympian' chrome silver ballpoint that my Dad recently gave me :)
Julienne selected two fountain pens that are great choices for vacation pens because of their high ink capacity--her grey Opus 88 'Demo' demonstrator and a Mooonman 'C1' clear demonstrator!
Above: Julienne's "Mature" ink made by Wearingeul, a Korean company that claims to "re-interpret(s) novels and poetry with colors"; this particular ink was inspired by the novel 'Demian' by Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse. Julienne also showed us her very cool Wearingeul Lit. Collection Wonderful Wizard of Oz Spell Book inks, complete with bottles of Glitter Potion that you can add to the inks.
This pretty pen roll belongs to Joie and it has some of the fountain pens she said she'd take on holidays with her -- a Pelikan 'Pelikano Up' in "Champagne" colour (the second pen from the left), a Lamy Safari in 'Neon Lime' (I think that's the colour...it's the pen in the middle of the photo...obviously lol), and a Pelikan 'M205' in Aquamarine.
Kelley's trusty black Pilot 'Falcon' fountain pen and her uber-cute Fountain Pen Revolution 'Himalaya V2" (version #2) in "Candy Pink". Kelley said she likes using Noodler's "Rome is Burning" and Platinum "Sepia" inks in her pens, as well as inks by Organics Studio.
Kelley likes to sketch on vacation, too, so she brings along this mini paint kit (shown above), as well as a water brush.
Christopher showed us a couple of nice vintage fountain pens and a ballpoint he likes to take on holidays (top to bottom of photo)--a Parker 'Jotter' ballpoint in the ladies' size, his Parker '51 Vac Demi' fountain pen and his Parker 'Vacumatic' Slender fountain pen in "Emerald Pearl". Christopher said he takes some Diamine "Meadow" ink with him on vacations, as well as his Visconti Travelling Inkwell.
The pen at the very bottom of the photo is a new acquisition of Christopher's -- a vintage Waterman '502' that we'll be featuring in the next blog post.
Like Christopher, Chris M. also travels with a couple of "non-fountain" pens ---this Montblanc rollerball engraved with his name on it (classy!), and a full-sized Parker 'Jotter' ballpoint (not pictured). As for vacation fountain pens, his lovely Pilot Custom 74 in "Wine Red" (not shown here, but photographed at our February 2023 meeting) would be Chris' first choice.
You can't see the nib on this checkered Jinhao 'X750' fountain pen, but Amy added some noticeable flex to it, using a Dremel tool. Well done, Amy!
Amy also worked on the Medium steel nib on Marisa's TWSBI Eco fountain pen (not shown) and reground it to a Cursive Medium. Marisa said she'd take her trusty Sailor fountain pen and some J. Herbin ink on vacation (sorry I didn't get a photo of them, Marisa :/
This is Luc's Opus 88 'Omar' demonstrator fountain pen, which uses a "Japanese-style" eyedropper-filling system to minimize the chances of the pen leaking or drying up. Although the 'Omar' model is a large pen, it's very comfortable to hold and use. It's filled with an aptly-named (for our meeting theme) ink called "Road Trip" ink by Standard Bindery, a stationery store that was located in Brisbane, Australia (now permanently closed).
Luc also showed us two more fountain pens (not shown in my photos) that he'd take with him on vacation--his equally-aptly-named Traveler Company's brass pocket fountain pen, and his TWSBI '580'.
Some vintage pens and pencils (all restored by longtime Vancouver Pen Club member Christopher) that he brought to sell after our meeting!
Christopher has been repairing & selling vintage pens and pencils for several years now, so if you are interested in his repair/restoration services (or wish to buy or sell pens), here's his contact info:
Thanks again to everyone (new members and old) for coming to our June meeting, and bringing some nice pens and inks for us to see and talk about :)
~Blog post by Maja~
No comments:
Post a Comment