Happy Fountain Pen Day 2025!

Yes, it's that time of year again---Fountain Pen Day! 😁

From the official Fountain Pen Day 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."

How will you celebrate Fountain Pen Day this year?

Some photos from our October meeting!

A total of 32 VPC members and guests came to our last monthly meeting, which was held on Thursday October 16th at the Renfrew branch of the Vancouver Public Library. The meeting was a casual get-together (ie. a meeting with no "show & tell") that also featured a writing workshop by Paul! 

It was a fun evening and the time flew by quickly, but I remembered to take a few photos during the event, so here they are....

(all photos by Maja, except where noted ~ please click on images to enlarge)

With his wife Villoo and son Pierre in attendance, Paul (above) gave an inspiring talk on the use of pen and ink for creative/reflective writing. His talk was followed by a short handwriting exercise--an opportunity to write whatever we wanted, with the fountain pens we brought to the meeting. Paul explained that this exercise was inspired by Mario Levrero’s novel "Empty Words", a book about a novelist who attempts to better his life/himself by improving his handwriting.

Paul provided the handout above, which hopefully will look familiar to some of you :)

Some of the workshop participants (like Paul's friend Drew) were inspired to create art; this is a sketch of a painting that Drew is currently working on...   (photo courtesy of Drew)

We saw many interesting fountain pens in use in the meeting room (both modern and vintage)-- from a bright yellow Sheaffer calligraphy fountain pen (bottom of photo above) that Paul loaned to Amy and a couple of vintage Parkers (a Vacumatic & a Duofold) that Catherine brought (right side of photo)....  

...to some fountain pens that Phil recently acquired--- (top to bottom) a black Pelikan M205 with a 12K gold nib (very unusual), a modern Caran d'Ache, and a vintage Aurora '88'.

Catherine brought two lovely handmade items to the meeting with her ---a fountain pen in a beautiful abalone-like resin made by our fellow VPC member Anson of Springfield Pens ... and a leather notebook cover Catherine made herself!

Phil holding a vintage Lady Sheaffer ballpoint (not something you see every day)...

Speaking of vintage, longtime VPC member Mark (the friendly pen repair guy at PenDen.ca) brought a nice selection of wonderful vintage writing instruments with him (in the black pen cases above). In addition to doing vintage pen repairs, Mark also sells vintage writing instruments (and a few moderns, too).

Lyndon brought a handsome fountain he acquired a little while ago---a Pelikan M805 Black-Silver...

...and Rumi brought her lovely Gravitas 'Entry' "Rainbow Skittles Paisley", an anodized aluminum fountain pen made in Ireland by Ben Walsh (my photo doesn't do it justice!). The pen stand was made by Larry Bennett, a local penmaker.

In addition to Paul's family members and his friends Drew and Lionel (Lionel came with his support dog, West Highland White Terrier Maggie 😊)...

...we were happy to have two avid fountain pen fans from Saskatchewan at our October meeting -- Thomas and Nadya! They brought some fountain pens of their own to show us, of course 😄 :These are ones that Nadya brought to our meeting (L-R) -- a TWSBI 'Diamond Mini AL Grape', a wooden Kakimori dip pen, a Sailor 'Pro Gear Slim' - Cult Pens exclusive, a Pilot 'Metropolitan 'Grey Houndstooth'' and an Esterbrook 'Niblet' "Botanical Garden" pocket fountain pen...

 ....and here are Thomas' fountain pens (L-R)--a green-striped Pelikan Souveran (not sure of the model #), a Pilot '74' "Merlot" , an Esterbrook 'Estie' "Nouveau Bleu" and a black Sailor fountain pen.

Many thanks to everyone who came to our October meeting, especially to Paul for doing his writing workshop during our get-together! 👏 
Our next meeting will be held at Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery on Thursday November 20th at 6:00pm (all info in previous blog post) Hope you can make it! (no need to RSVP beforehand)

(~blog post by Maja~)

November meeting at Buchan's!

November 2025 meeting information!

When: Thursday November 20, 2025 from 6:00pm to ???

Where: Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery, 2141 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. The store is located on the north side of West 41st Avenue, half a block west of West Boulevard. Parking behind the store is *very* limited, but there's metered parking along West 41st Avenue. Store's website: https://www.buchanst.com/

This meeting is just a social gathering (with no topics/themes), but please feel free to bring any pen-related stuff you want to show other members/staff while you're mingling at the event! And don't worry about arriving right at 6:00pm :)

⭐The store will stay open during the meeting for our shopping convenience! ⭐ Hope to see you there! 😊
Any questions? Please email us at: vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 554

Many thanks to all who attended our October meeting yesterday; I'll post some photos from the event later this month. In the meantime, here's another vintage treasure recently acquired by Christopher! (thanks for the writeup, Christopher :)

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

Christopher writes: 

"Today I will relate a wonderful vintage pen that recently came my way, the Waterman 752. Right off the bat, I noticed that there is not a lot of difference between the Waterman standard 52 and this Waterman 752. But what grabbed me was several features that set this Waterman model aside in its make up and made it easy to see that this is an upper end player with features only offered on the finest of vintage Waterman pens.

 Let us first look at the cap. The finish on this part of the pen is truly impressive, with deep repeated 'V' shapes circling around the cap over and over again, down the entire surface. The cap also sports a 14K 'Solid' Gold Waterman 'Globe' logo Ideal marked clip, held in place by two well placed 14K solid gold rivets. Further south on this cap, is a spectacular and equally wide jeweler's, Sheraton finished 14K solid Gold banding. While the barrel, other than a Gold-filled Waterman boxed lever filler, has a totally plain surface, free of any chasing but with an indent to welcome cap posting for writing. On the end of this barrel, is the unmistakable Waterman numeric model coding of 752. 

The section at the other end, is both substantial and responsible and sports a truly beautiful Canadian marked 14K number 2 Waterman Ideal nib. It should be noted that the first numeral of this pen's Waterman model coding stands for a barrel banding, but it was also possible to acquire from Waterman a 0752 which meant that the banding was 14K Gold filled. As for the measurements, posted this pen is all of 6 ¾ inches, but caps back to 5 ¼ to pocket. I should add that this pen holds a good measure of ink and lays it down with a smooth medium flex to perfection. Definitely a real pleasure to write with, and a perfect candidate for my vintage pen collection."

Reminder -- Meeting this Thursday! (Oct 16)

Details here! 
(Note: Paul's presentation will start at 6:00pm!).

September meeting photos (part 2)

 (⭐Information about our October meeting⭐ is in this blog post -
https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/09/october-meeting-information-including.html )

We had record-setting attendance (at least 40 people!) for our September meeting at the VPL's Champlain Heights branch on the afternoon of Saturday September 13th, and both Sherman & I took photos during the meeting. I posted my photos a few days ago (link to post) as part 1 of the photos taken, so here are the photos Sherman wanted to share - part 2! (thanks, Sherman :):

(All photos courtesy of Sherman ~ please click on images to enlarge)

 Bird's-eye-views of the hustle and bustle of this busy gathering...

(I'm so glad the library meeting room's official capacity was 40 people -- we needed the space!)

We didn't have a themed meeting with a "show & tell", but the two-and-a-half hours flew by as our members talked pens, inks and all things pen-related :)

VPC member Godwin (who wasn't present) had very generously donated a whole bunch of inks and Chinese-made fountain pens for our door prize draws, so we gave away the last of the ink & a good chunk of the pens at our September meeting. That's Grant helping me (Maja) with the draws that afternoon (I just realized how tired I looked lol); thank you so much for your help, Grant!

This is the Jinhao '992' fountain pen that Sherman won in the door prize draws. The Jinhao is essentially a clone of the Sailor ProColor 500, but it's a nice little fountain pen in its own right.

Sherman wound up trading fountain pens with Audrey (above); for his Jinhao '992', he got Audrey's Jinhao '950' Ceramic Blue model with Dragon design. 

Sherman with Abhijit, who came from India to attend our meeting! Abhijit came to our July 2024 meeting and had so much fun that he decided to come back for this one while he was in Vancouver :)


Sherman also sent in some photos of his newest acquisitions that he took after the meeting ended. Here here they are, starting with...

...his Jinhao '950' Ceramic Blue with Dragon design fountain pen...

Sherman writes: "The blue paint on the Jinhao 950 Ceramic Blue is quite unique, and I couldn’t find a good match with my current inventories. I inked it with Namiki Blue and this EF nib writes quite okay."

Sherman's new Snowhite 'FP20' disposable fountain pen (link), one of many that our fellow VPCer Steve G. gave away during the meeting. For a modest pocket fountain pen, Sherman was impressed with how smoothly it wrote (and I agree).

Sherman got this lovely notecard from longtime VPC member Mark Harcourt, who created a very nice pen sales & restoration website (PenDen.ca) earlier this year. 

Sherman's Chinese & Taiwanese fountain pen collection (including his Hero 1921 90th Year Commemorative Red fountain pen, with its impressive display stand). The four pens on the extreme right side of the case are (L-R) two of Sherman's beloved élysée fountain pens and his two VPC Limited Edition fountain pens by Leonardo and Radius 1934. Sherman reviewed his very special Hero fountain pen here on our website in 2023.

Many thanks, once again, to all who attended our September meeting, to Godwin for the wonderful pen and ink door prizes, Steve G. for the fountain pens and ballpoints he gave out, and VPCer Sam L. for the many notebooks & other stuff he donated for our de-stashing table! 

(~blog post by Maja~)

October meeting information (including a Special Presentation!)

Where: The Branch Meeting Room of the Vancouver Public Library's RENFREW branch at 2969 East 22nd Avenue, in Vancouver, BC. The library is located on East 22nd Avenue, between Renfrew and Nootka. Free parking on the street & in the library's underground parkade (link to branch's web page here).
Date: THURSDAY OCTOBER 16, 2025

Time: 5:00pm to 7:30pm (we have to leave the room by 7:30pm, as per the library's room rental policy). Paul's presentation will start at 6:00pm.


Special Presentation on WRITING!✍️
Our fellow VPC member Paul will be doing a short (<30 min.) workshop called "Words Worth Writing" that's centered around encouraging the use of pen and ink for reflective or creative writing practice. Please bring a favourite fountain pen to use during the "exercise" part of the workshop. Our thanks in advance to Paul for volunteering to do this talk!

We will not be having a "show & tell" at this meeting, so you can use the rest of the time to chat, buy/sell/trade pen-related things and socialize with other pen-loving folks :) 

Hope you can make it! (no need to RSVP)
Questions? Email us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com

September meeting photos (part 1) *New record for attendance set! *

Happy Autumn!🍂 Our September meeting was held on the afternoon of Saturday September 13th at the Champlain Heights branch of the Vancouver Public Library. There were at least 40 of us in attendance, including brand-new member Tim S. and two out-of-town (actually, out-of-country) guests - Abhijit from India and Glenn G. from Australia. Incidentally, this meeting smashed the attendance record previously set in January of this year, when we had 36 people present! 😮

The meeting didn't feature a "show & tell", but was a fun gathering where folks could chat about all things pen-related, swap inks, and trade stories about their latest finds. We also had door prize draws for the many inks and Chinese fountain pens donated by our fellow VPCer Godwin (thank you so much, Godwin! 👏 ) Steve G. was kind enough to hand out some cool disposable fountain pens by Snowhite and multi-colour ballpoints--thanks, Steve!

I snapped some photos during the meeting (part 2 of this meeting report --which features Sherman's photos--- was later posted here), so without further ado, here they are ...

(all photos by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge)

(Above - clockwise from bottom left corner) Abhijit (👍), Monika, Kimberly, Sherman, Catherine, Audrey, Tony, Michelle, Andrii and Lisa (✌️).

(Above photo - left to right) Allan, Stuart, Mark, James, new member Tim S., Leo, Shona, Ben and Grant.

(Clockwise from bottom left corner) Stuart, Jerred, Amy, Rebecca, Grant, Phil, David C, and Francis.

That's me (Maja) on the left and our pen club's co-founder Bill K. on the right. Sandwiched in the middle is Glenn, our mutual (and dear) friend, who came all the way from Australia to attend our meeting. This wasn't Glenn's first VPC meeting, though; he attended our September 2019 one, as well - Good onya! 😁

I didn't take many pen photos -- it was a very busy meeting! -- but I was glad I snapped a photo of this bright yellow pocket fountain pen belonging to Phil, as I hadn't heard of the brand before. It's a Maruzen 'Lapita', and Phil acquired it during a recent trip to Japan.

(Above) A lovely Sailor 'Pro Gear' "Kure Azur" fountain pen (part of Sailor's cocktail-themed series) that Phil bought at the Marui Shoten store in Tokyo's Ameyoko Shopping Center (in Ueno).

According to Sailor's website: "The Cocktail Series is a collection of fountain pens themed around cocktails, which began in 2011. The 2020 edition, marking the 10th release in the series, is named "Cray Azure," meaning "Clear Blue of Kure and Seto Inland Sea." This pen is inspired by the Seto Inland Sea and Seto lemons from Kure City in Hiroshima Prefecture, where Sailor Pen originated."

Abhijit (who came all the way from India) brought several fountain pens from his collection to show us, including this handsome red and black "Carbon Fiber" model made by Lotus Pens in India.

While the pen's body is made of carbon fiber (a very strong, yet lightweight material), the accents are made of red Nikko ebonite -- a very attractive combination of materials and colours.

The glossy black fountain pen above is another fountain pen that Abhijit brought - the all-black dark edition of the Kanwrite Ebony Heritage. Kanwrite, an Indian manufacturer, make their own nibs and feeds in-house. Both Abhijit and I are big fans of their nibs, and I reviewed several Kanwrite pens here on our website.

Last, but not least, a swirly black and cream ebonite fountain pen made by Ranga, a well-known Indian pen company. Ranga offer a dizzying array of models and materials to choose from on their official website/webstore.

A big "thank you" to everyone who gave up part of their Saturday to come to our September meeting this month!
🌟Details about our October meeting are posted here: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/09/october-meeting-information-including.html

(~blog post by Maja~)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 553

Here's another review from Christopher about a new acquisition!

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)

Christopher writes:

"Rarities in the vintage pen department can be quite interesting, if not fascinating. Just how a 1940s Parker pen product with a notable mistake had got out into the wild really has to be something of a mystery. Case in point, a Canadian 51 Vacumatic just past the midpoint of the 1940s, with a double struck cap, has to be a very rare pen indeed. It seems that the reference to the gold marking on this pen's cap is repeated, thus double struck, around the banding, something I will have to admit that I have never seen. It reads:

        "51"                                                     "51"

   Gold Filled                                          Gold Filled

Made In Canada    - (and beside it)-   Made In Canada

Otherwise, the only other markings on the pen are featured on the barrel in very clear and strong relief. That is the company, model, again 'Made in Canada' and a 1946, 4^th quarter Parker Date Coding. The general makeup of the pen involves a plastic amber button Vacumatic filler, Cedar Blue coloured barrel and Blind cap and at the other end of the pen, an exquisite Custom 14K Gold filled with four grouped vertical lines with gap between finished cap.. This cap sports a Gold-filled Parker arrow clip with a Blue Diamond Parker lifetime warranty, which meant that this pen sold for $8.75 or more back in the day. The hooded 51 section covers a good portion of a extremely responsible writing 14K Gold Parker tubular 51, Medium general-purpose nib. Plus, the overall condition of this fine Parker pen is remarkably good for all its years of service. Although I have a good number of vintage Parker 51 pens in my collection. I am happy to add this one which will be used accordingly."

Many thanks to Christopher for sharing this very cool oddity with us; what a handsome vintage fountain pen!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 552

Many thanks to all who attend our busy September meeting on Saturday; I'll post photos from the event in the next week or so. In the meantime, you can enjoy reading about Christopher's newest acquisition (thanks for sharing, Christopher!) here on our club's blog...

(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)




(all text below by Christopher)

"Personally, over and above the acquiring of and serious collecting of vintage pens, the history behind all of them fascinates me. This particular vintage pen is unique in its background and definitely one of a kind. But let me relate that just after World War 2 the Parker pen company was experiencing the strongest market ever. Their pens were selling so well that they could hardly keep up with the demand. In fact, the Parker sales department sold a staggering 5 million Parker pens in 1946. Still Kenneth, the son of George Parker, founder of the Parker company,realized to keep this marketing gold mine alive, he had to invest at least some of this wealth in creating new product to keep customer interest. At the same time, there had been some notable problems with the customer's use of the Parker Vacumatic filler. For a good number of customers, it had proven just too complicated. Subsequently, the idea of a new, less challenging filling mechanism was well worth considering. 

Prior to, the Parker Duofold button filling system had been a total success, so maybe some sort of button filling mechanism was the answer that Parker was looking for. To this end, he set the wheels in motion for his design department to come up with a button filler Parker 51. Right off the get go, a threaded filler housing was needed and instead of a steel or brass plated button, an aluminum one seemed the way to move forward. The Parker Vacumatic blind cap had to be somewhat modified, but the Duofold pressure bar could still be used. There was also an idea of moving away from the hooded 51 section in favour of an open nibbed pen and in turn, lengthening the section for better handling. But at all costs, the clutch ring was to be hopefully maintained to accommodate the Parker 51 slip on cap. After many months of research and development, two new Parker pens were introduced in 1946. The first was the Parker VP, a button filler, open nibbed fountain pen with a longer section and what became to be known as, the Parker 51 'Red Line'. The Red Line had a red plastic threaded filler housing with an aluminum button filler. Plus, the pressure bar had been totally modified to be more effective. But sadly both new models did not stand the test of time and were dropped after only a short time of market production.

Parker abandoned the idea of a 51 Button filler in favour of a rubber blub filler, which shortly after was modified with a metal bulb or ink sack guard to become the Parker 51 Aerometric. The pen I now will carry on describing, is definitely one of the prototypes that was part of the development in this process and path to the Parker 51 Aerometric. It carries a mixture of the features that the Parker Design department was working on and considering. Starting off with the filling system, it has the threaded button filler housing of the Red Line 51 but in matching blue to the barrel and modified blind cap. The pressure bar inside this pen is a typical Duofold button filler type, but the section is a long one that appeared on the Parker VS as is the open nib, which does not look like a nib that was ever intended for anything but design and development as marked. Between the section and the barrel is a standard Parker 51 clutch ring, which holds a Parker 51 slip on cap in place.. The cap looks to be a definitely Parker design department afterthought, in that it is a 51 Special cap. Consider that the Parker Special was not introduced until 1950, my educated guess was that this pen was never intended to be retailed and just had most of its time at Parker. This is further supported by the Later Parker logo on the cap, which was not applied until the late 1950s. With all considered, I would have to say that this pen is a true Parker 51 Prototype and in turn a valuable addition to add in turn to my vintage pen collection."

Meeting this *SATURDAY AFTERNOON* at the VPL's Champlain Heights branch (2:00-4:30pm)!

Just a little reminder that our next meeting is this Saturday (September 13) at the Vancouver Public Library's Champlain Heights branch from 2:00pm to 4:30pm. More details in this blog post:
https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/08/september-meeting-new-date-time-location.html

Photos from our August meeting at the Vancouver Pen Shop!

At least 43 members of our pen club showed up for our August meeting, which was a get-together held at the Vancouver Pen Shop on the evening of Saturday August 23rd! (late note: that number doesn't include the folks who joined our club during/shortly after the meeting - Kay, Lawrence C, Michelle N, Sean, Susan R and Yolanda -welcome to the club!)

The event was a fun-filled celebration of store manager Shannon's 30th anniversary of working at the store & Sunshine's 15th year 🥳  As it was open to all local pen/ink/stationery lovers, it was a packed house that night!

(photo courtesy of the Vancouver Pen Shop) 

I didn't take many photos this time around, but Sherman & Ralph did (thanks so much, guys!), so here are the ones that were taken during the event:

That's the Vancouver Pen Shop's elegant owner Margot & myself --Maja-- on the right (with my brand-new Vancouver Pen Shop tote bag :) Margot and her staff did an amazing job hosting the party, so I'm glad the turnout was so good! (~photo taken by Rumi~)

Normally I take a lot more photos during our meetings (and more photos of pens that members brought lol), but it was really busy that night. I did snap this quick photo of store manager Shannon with (L-R) Grant, David L, Anson, Anson's friend Lawrence, and David C...

.... and I took this shot of Pen Shop staffer Dom (right), helping Sherman with the famous Kaweco DIY machine!

The machine is a manufacturing tool that is used to press together various components of the Kaweco 'Sport' DIY fountain pen (the colour "Emerald Eve" was chosen for the 2025 version of the pen). The machine is sent by Kaweco to various pen stores in different cities around the world for their customers to use to assemble their own fountain pens. The machine will be at the Vancouver Pen Shop for two weeks (starting the night of our meeting, I believe) and the price of the pen was the same as that of a regular --ie. plastic-- Kaweco 'Sport' fountain pen ($45 CAD before taxes).


Speaking of Sherman, here are the photos he took that night!

Sherman's famous selfie pose showing the back part of the store (and a smiling Rumi in front of the Caran d'Ache glass display case)...

That's Stuart and Asifa with Sherman (Allan is smiling at the camera in the background)...

...and here's Sherman's selfie with (L-R) David C, Audrey (sitting), Lisa, Dana, Rob and David L.

Above: Asifa and I with Sherman (doesn't Asifa look great in yellow??).

Shannon and Sherman with Dom (✌️) & his wife Alex, sitting to his left. On the other side of the table are Vancouver Pen Shop regulars Emily & Sean.

There were some more attendees (more regular Pen Shop customers, I'd guess) who weren't in our pen club... like these happy pen fans next to Sherman in the photo above.

(Counterclockwise around the table): Alejandra (orange top), Leo, Deborah, Grant, David C, David's friend Sean (who joined our club after this meeting), Shawn, Lawrence C, Vladan and Sherman. Grant brought a lot of nice vintage fountain pens to show (and some to sell). Vladan brought his crutches 🙁 and Van Pen Shop staffer Marlon (not in photo) also showed up, despite a recent injury, but both bravely made it to the store for the celebration - yay!

Above: (L-R) Collin B, Allan and Sherman. 

Smile for the camera! 😀 (L-R) Rebecca, Amy H., Sherman, Rumi and Yang.

Our hosts made sure there was lots of food (including pizza!) to eat & drink. Many thanks to Sunshine for the delicious cookies 😊

In addition to the snacks (and awesome goody bags :), the store very generously donated some wonderful raffle (door) prizes, including the gorgeous Caran d'Ache 'Ecridor' Milanese Mesh Rhodium-plated fountain pen that Stuart (above) won; I was standing next to Stuart when his ticket number was called and he was very excited lol (and rightly so--what a fountain pen!)

 That's me using the Kaweco DIY machine to assemble my brand-new Kaweco DIY "Sport" "Emerald Eve" fountain pen, with Dom and his wife looking on. I forgot to snap a photo of my pen at the store, but it's a gorgeous green shade. I selected a Medium (gold-plated steel) nib for it, and it writes /so/ smoothly...

Above: A closer look at the Kaweco DIY machine, and Sherman's entire Kaweco collection (to the left of it). The Kaweco 'Liliput' pens are on the right side of the pen case, the Kaweco 'Sport' models are on the left side, and Sherman's newly-made Kaweco'Sport' DIY "Emerald Eve" fountain pen is in front of the case.

Sherman also brought his Kaweco 'Student' "60’s Swing" fountain pen in sage green (it's clipped to the inside of his shirt) and said he purposely wore something in light green to match with the Kaweco 'Sport' "Emerald Eve" DIY fountain pen, too!

👍 Sherman and Dom 👍


Longtime Vancouver Pen Club member Ralph also snapped a few photos...

Above: Me with longtime pen club members Bruce R. (left) and Glenn Marcus. Bruce and Glenn were among the first twenty people to join our club (photographer Ralph was the 9th to join)! Our pen club has grown so much since it was founded in December 2006 (with five original members, of which I am one); we now have over 350 people on our membership list! 

That's me talking to Leo about his wonderful Japanese pocket fountain pen collection. Leo joined our club way back in 2009...

...and Stuart (above) joined back in 2013 -- time flies!

Anson (above) joined our pen club during the pandemic, which is when he started making beautiful handmade kitless fountain pens and selling them under his Springfield Pens brand (link to his web store: https://springfieldpens.ca/). He debuted his newest fountain pen model, the "Hummingbird", the night of our club's meeting at the Vancouver Pen Shop. It's a lovely pocket fountain pen that's available in a variety of attractive materials.

Vintage Parker fountain pen fan David C (above) attended his first pen club meeting in December 2023...

...and Paul (above) attended his first meeting the following month! That's Paul's friend Yolanda with him; Yolanda was another attendee who joined our club the night of the meeting at the Van Pen Shop (*if you are interested in joining our club, please email us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com)

Now that I think of it, a lot of our recent new members were introduced to our club by existing members--e.g. Andrii (far left of photo) introduced his friend Ramiz (far right of pic) to our club, and Asifa told her friend Denzel (in white shirt) about our club.

Vladan carefully working the Kaweco DIY machine... 

That's part-time Pen Shop staffer Dierdre (Dee) above. The staff were --as always-- all incredibly patient and helpful during our busy get-together (the store kept the tills open during the event so we could purchase items).

Above (L-R): New member Dennis (with maroon t-shirt), Sunshine (wearing a black t-shirt, with their back to the camera), (an understandably-tired!) Shannon, and VPC member Andrew (dark blue shirt). It was a very long day for Sunshine, Shannon & company (the event ended after 9:00pm), but the good folks at the Vancouver Pen Shop were real troupers and amazing hosts 😊.

Thank you to everyone who attended our club's get-together (special thanks to Sherman and Ralph for their photos) and many thanks to Margot, Shannon and the staff at the Vancouver Pen Shop for a wonderful evening of pens, inks, paper, great food, great prizes and great company; thank you for always making our pen club members feel so welcome! 💛 And congratulations, once again, to Shannon and Sunshine on their 30th and 15th anniversaries working at the store!👏

If you're in downtown Vancouver, stop by the store and see what they have in stock--they get new items in all the time. The Vancouver Pen Shop is located at 555 Howe Street in downtown Vancouver, and open every day except Sundays and holidays. Check out their official Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/vancouverpenshop/ for info on store hours and photos of the newest stuff they're carrying.

**Our pen club's September meeting will be held on Saturday September 13th at the Vancouver Public Library's Champlain Heights branch from 2:00pm to 4:30pm. All info in this blog post:
https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/08/september-meeting-new-date-time-location.html (and no need to RSVP!)

(~blog post by Maja~)