Saturday September meeting pics!

Our September meeting was held on the afternoon of the 19th (a Saturday) at the Fraserview branch of the Vancouver Public Library, a new venue for our pen club. There were 24 of us in attendance that day, including new/newer members Corinne, Daniel, Li, Steve and Tom! Jerred gave an informative talk on basic nib tuning, and it was so interesting that I forgot to take a photo of him during the meeting. My apologies, Jerred, but thank you again for taking the time to prepare your presentation--it was very much appreciated! 😊

I did snap a few photos of some fountain pens (and pen accessories) at the meeting, so here they are...

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

Longtime VPC member Leo (above) brought in a very interesting fountain pen, one that he was sure I'd never seen in person before. Well, Leo was right! Can you guess which fountain pen this nib belongs to??

If you said "Pilot MYU" or "Pilot M90", you'd be wrong, because it's actually the Parker T1!

The T1 was the first fountain pen to have an integrated nib, and this one is extra-special for two reasons--the material is made of Titanium and the nib width can be adjusted with the tiny screw underneath the nib! Because it was so expensive for Parker to produce, it was only made for one year (1970-1), and Leo was lucky enough to buy one in 1970 when he was in the U.S. attending university.

Now to some modern pens... starting with new member Daniel's Jinhao X450, a popular Chinese-made fountain pen with a #6 size nib that comes in a multitude of colours and patterns. It's a very good starter pen and it won't break the bank.

I haven't been able to find a model name/manufacturer for the two pens above, also belonging to Daniel, but I've seen them for sale on AliExpress...

Brand-new member Tom brought along a leather pen roll with some very nice fountain pens in it--(left to right) a Sheaffer 'Legacy 2' (a Touchdown-filler), a modern Parker  'Duofold' Centennial, a green-striped Pelikan M800, a Montblanc '225' (a piston-filler), and the original Pilot 'Justus' (ca. 1981), another fountain pen with an adjustable nib!

New member Steve also brought some cool fountain pens---his black Lamy 'Joy' and (above it) his Pilot 'Vanishing Point', both of which he told me are his "daily driver" pens.

Steve also brought an accessory---his Rhodia zippered pen/pencil case; I love how the orange stands out so well against the black...

Speaking of accessories, VPCer Ramiz has been hard at work making handcrafted leather products (a new venture for him), such as this really nice leather cover for a passport-sized Travelers Notebook, and a leather single pen sleeve for a Kaweco 'Sport' (or other small pen).

A couple of fountain pens I recently acquired--a Cross 'Peerless 125' Tokyo limited edition and my Opus 88 'Omar' clear. The latter pen was purchased from my fellow pen club member Skye---thanks, Skye!

And last but not least, my new Lamy 'Safari' "Neon Pink" (one of the two 2026 special edition colours...and it's not an obnoxiously loud pink! 😂) resting on a handcrafted fabric pen case made by my fellow VPCer Amy H (thanks again, Amy!)

Well, that's all for now! Thank you to everyone who came to our September meeting (it was a nice, sunny afternoon, so I suspect some members had other plans that day :) and especially to Jerred, for doing his presentation for us!

~ Blog post by Maja ~

**Information about our October meeting will be posted here on our website once the details have been finalized**

October meeting photos - part 2 (Sherman's pics)

A few more photos taken at our October meeting at the VPL's Kensington branch last Saturday (part 1 of photos posted here) ...

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

Vladan in the middle, flanked by Sherman and myself (Maja). In the background, you can see (left to right) Colin, brand-new member Lyndon (with glasses), David C, Mmina and Anson.

As I mentioned in part 1 of the meeting photos, Sherman and I did a little pen trade at our October meeting--I got the three nice Sheaffer and Cross ballpoints above, in exchange for the élysée fountain pen in the upper right corner of the photo...

Sherman's élysée 'Laque Lapis' collection, including the fountain pen I traded with him (and the matching ballpoint I gave him a few weeks ago), both on the far left

And here are some nice photos Sherman took of the fountain pen he got from me...

It's an élysée 'En Vogue (30 Line) Laque Lapis (1991), and it came in a nice metal box covered with soft felt--classy packaging for this classy German brand!

At first glance, Sherman thought he already owned this model, but when he examined the clip design, he saw that it was an earlier version of one he already had, so he gladly traded me for it. I couldn't believe that he didn't already own this particular model, as I had seen his entire amazing élysée collection at the CFPE picnic last month! (it's in the last three photos of this older blog post)élysée, sadly, went out of business in 2000. Fortunately, though, you can still find some of their elegant writing instruments for sale on the secondary market. For more information on the brand, check out N. Dean Meyer's excellent guide (to which Sherman contributed) here.

Above: All the wonderful writing instruments that Sherman brought to show at our October meeting

Sherman told me that his only new acquistion was a Leonardo stainless steel Bock Stub nib for the Leonardo 'Momento Zero' Turquoise-Green fountain pen he bought from fellow VPC member Skye last November. He mentioned that he's very happy with the new nib, which is his first Leonardo Stub. That pen can be seen (with the rest of Sherman's Leonardo fountain pen collection) in the photo above--it's the fourth pen from the left, on the bottom row. The pens in the lower right corner are Sherman's Pilot Custom 743 Black & Pilot Vanishing Point Matte Black fountain pens.

The attaché briefcase is one that Sherman has been bringing to our meetings ever since he joined our pen club in 2020 (note the spotless white cotton gloves that he wears to protect writing instruments he brings to sell or trade :) Sherman told me that his briefcase is from the late 1990s (which some might consider "vintage", esp. with the rise in popularity of soft-sided folio/satchel-style briefcases), but that it was still in such great condition that he decided to keep using it.

As we didn't have a formal "show & tell", our October meeting was a good opportunity to sell/trade inks --in bottles, ink vials or cartridges. Sherman said the clear box + prescription vials was his new set-up for his ink cartridges (and yes, those are all the cartridges he owns!).

At our "unstructured" meetings (casual get-togethers, like October's), our members are encouraged to bring writing instruments they want to show others, and they can be new pens or old, favourites or daily writers, singles or sets. For our October meeting, Sherman brought three sets of his "quads"---writing instrument sets of four-- to show us, starting with the Cross 'Classic Century' (aka 'Century I') Chrome set below...About this Cross set above, Sherman writes: "For the Cross Classic Century Chrome, there is a bit of a story.  My late Mom gifted the Porous pen (the top pen--a type of felt-tip pen--ed. note) to me when I went back to Hong Kong from Ottawa.  I did not like it that much at that time as it’s not the same as a rollerball (I was ignorant, for sure), but now, reminiscing about my lovely mom, I am passionate about it. Therefore, I sought the rest of the series, starting with the fountain pen."

Above: Sherman's élysée Parthenon (10 Line) Bi-Colour Platinum & 18K Gold quad set. He noted that the “rollingball” (élysée's term for "Rollerball") pen & mechanical pencil were swapped from the original fountain and ballpoint pens, respectively.

Some bottled ink Sherman brought to the meeting to trade (don't worry if you missed it--we'll be having another Ink Swap in December!)

And last, but certainly not least, Sherman's handsome Waterman Carène Black Sea Lacquer GT set!

Many thanks to Sherman for sharing his collection (and excellent photos of it) with us!

(~blog post by Maja~)

Some photos from our September meeting!

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Vancouver Public Library's Terry Salman branch last Thursday for our September meeting! It started out a bit chaotic --the building's fire alarms went off shortly after the meeting started, so we had to evacuate the library. It was a pleasant evening, but some of the people waiting outside with us had to leave the community center's swimming pool in their bathing suits :( After we were allowed back in, our pen club meeting resumed, and things went very smoothly.

We had a total of 15 people in attendance (including three brand-new members --Allan, Rosa, and Vincent) for the meeting, whose primary topic was "Underrated Fountain Pens" .  I snapped some photos of the stuff our members brought, so without further ado, here they are!

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

Newcomer Vincent brought along this wonderful Pilot 'Custom Legance Marble' celluloid (or Pilot-branded Namiki Impressions) fountain pen. I forgot to snap a photo of it, but Vincent also brought in his Pilot 'Heritage 91' with #5 nib, as one of his choices for underrated fountain pens.

New member Rosa brought her own gorgeous fountain pen, this Pelikan 'M600 White Tortoise' in the above photo (actually, I'm not sure if it's a M600 or M400, but the nib on it wrote very smoothly when I tried it). The third newcomer at our September meeting -- Allan--- actually attended our August meetup at the Vancouver Pen Shop, but he hadn't joined the club yet. Allan mentioned being a big fan of the TWSBI 'Eco' fountain pen.

Speaking of TWSBIs ... VPCer Oscar brought along his TWSBI 'Vac700R' Kyanite (above) as an example of an underrated fountain pen. Oscar also had high praise for his beloved Pilot Custom 823 fountain pen.

Paul brought these two Pilot 'Metropolitan' fountain pens (above) for our primary topic, as well as a couple of cool new acquisitions ---two Livescribe Smartpens!

Stuart brought along three examples of underrated fountain pens---(L-R, above) his Cross 'Apogee', Sheaffer 'Taranis' and Faber-Castell 'e-Motion' pens...

... and Jerred brought his Online 'Vision' "Nature Style Rosewood" (far left) as his example of an underrated fountain pen model. Jerred mentioned that Online fountain pens (which are German-made) are available in a wide variety of nib widths, another reason to give this overlooked brand a second look.

Our secondary meeting topic is always "Newest Acquisitions". The white fountain pen in the middle is Jerred's new Jinhao '10' (the newest member of the "Pilot Vanishing Point Fan Club" 😂), while the shiny black ebonite fountain pen next to it is another new purchase of his.

Above: David C. brought this Parker '21' (a model I was thinking of bringing!) for our primary topic. He also brought in an all-plastic fountain pen that strongly resembles a Parker 'VS' (but it might be a 'VS' clone--David's not sure), and a later version of a Wearever 'Pacemaker".

At the meeting, Grant told us that he brought the oldest and newest (by manufacturing date) pens in his collection --- the vintage Conklin 'Crescent-Filler' (ca. 1909) above...

...and this modern Conklin 'Crescent-Filler'. Grant (who's a big vintage pen fan) later told me that the modern Crescent-filler has been his daily writer for over a month! He commended Conklin for resurrecting their crescent-filling mechanism with this model, rather than using a cartridge/converter filling mechanism.

Above: David's Parker '21' and a new acquisition belonging to James--a handsome standard-sized Parker 'Vacumatic' "Burgundy Pearl" Lockdown-filler that he bought at the recent San Francisco Pen Show.

Above: At the pen show, James also acquired this exquisite red ripple ebonite Safety Pen. It's next to Stuart's cool mid-century modern Parker desk set, which consists of a cube-shaped base made of solid aluminum and a ballpoint desk pen.

Shona didn't leave the SF Pen Show empty-handed, either (although she and James said it was a very busy show, with a lot of vendors selling out of some items by Sunday) - at the pen show, she acquired this stunning Sailor x YouSTYLE 'Professional Gear Slim' "Hamachidori" Limited Edition. Hamachidori is the Japanese name for the plover, a small wading bird, seen in gold on the pen's cap and barrel.

More new acquisitions! These are Asifa's beautiful new Lamy 'Studio' "Royal Red" fountain pen and her vintage brushed stainless steel Parker '180', a dual-sided fountain pen; both pens were gifts/trades from her friend (and our fellow VPC member) Renz!

The pens on the far right are two Cross Century Classic (or Century I) fountain pens that I brought in for our primary topic, while the rest are my newer acquisitions (L-R): Radius 1934 'Settimo' "Cielo Blu", Cross 'All-American' "Courage", a Karas Pen Co. "INK V2" in white Delrin, a red Jinhao 51A with a 0.7 mm factory italic nib (a great deal for under $3 CAD shipped!), an Ensso 'Bolt' capless fountain pen, a Retro 51 rollerball "Harriet Tubman" edition, a Cross 'Tech2' ballpoint/stylus, and a vintage Sheaffer 'Reminder' ballpoint I got from Paul in July. The ink sample above is the official 2024 SF Pen Show ink---Colorverse's "San Francisco Bay" -- which I got from James & Shona (thank you both again!).

The eye-catching green, yellow and white fountain pen above my pen case is one that I purchased from fellow VPCer Anson during our meeting, a kitless fountain pen he made himself under his Springfield Pens brand! 😊 On his official website, Anson called the pen "Green Beach", but it's made of a polyurethane resin called "Aspen Valley". No matter the name, it's a gorgeous, well-made fountain pen with the Springfield Pens hummingbird logo engraved on it  ---a lovely touch. Thank you again, Anson, for this very special fountain pen!

Rene, as usual, brought in lot of interesting fountain pens for us to see! In the top row of the photo above are his vintage Wearever 'De Luxe 100' fountain pens, one of Rene's under-rated fountain pen models. For a modern example of an underrated model, Rene brought in some Sheaffer '100' fountain pens, including the "Friends of Winter" special edition line (not shown in photos).

There are also some Wearever sub-brands (such as Arnold, in the top row above) in Rene's pen case, as well as some Parker look-alikes (in the bottom row, above). Rene also showed us his newest acquisitions--a green Rotary fountain pen, a Gold Starry (?), an Eagle in a wonderful blue and gold plastic, a Parker Challenger, and a Wearever 'Pioneer' - that he acquired at the CFPE picnic earlier this month.

Many thanks to everyone who came to our September meeting, whether you brought in lots of pens to show, a few pens, or no pens at all -- the main thing is that you brought yourself and your enthusiasm for our hobby!

We look forward to seeing you at our October meeting on Saturday October 19th from 11:30am to 2:00pm at the Kensington VPL branch, which is a brand-new venue for our club---full info in the previous blog post!

Best wishes for a happy Autumn,
~Maja

Lots of photos from our February meeting!

We had a nice turnout for our second meeting of 2024, which was held at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library on Thursday February 15th. Seventeen VPC members --including brand-new members David L, Garrett and Peter R-- showed up, and we had a good time chatting about pens, inks and all things writing-instrument-related.

Our primary meeting topic was "Pen & Ink Combos That You Love" and our secondary theme (which is our *permanent* secondary theme) was "Newest Acquisitions". In all the excitement, I forgot to take a group photo of us, but I did snap lots of photos of what we brought to the meeting, so without further ado, here they are...

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

Paul and his wife Villoo (who wasn't at our February meeting) attended their first VPC meeting last month (the one that was almost cancelled due to the awful weather), and he returned for this meeting (which was held in much nicer weather :). Paul brought some interesting things for our little "show & tell", like this Christmas "self-gift" -- an elegant Montblanc 'Oblesse' fountain pen (photo above), which he found in a thrift shop!

Another item Paul showed us -- this clear Sheaffer Cartridge fountain pen (often referred to as a Sheaffer "School Pen") and the accompanying booklet--also produced by Sheaffer-- entitled "A Booklet to Help You Improve Your Writing"...

Brand-new member David L. only started collecting fountain pens last August, but he brought some really nice ones to show us, including a Benu 'Euphoria', a handmade pen from Bonecrusher 7 Studios, and a brown Pilot 'Prera' filled with Diamine "Chocolate" ink, one of his favourite pen & ink combos.

I forgot to photograph the fountain pens David brought, but I did snap a photo of his cool Titanium bolt-action ballpoint (seen in the photo above) made by Big Design, a company located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The red pen next to David's is my aluminum bolt-action ballpoint made by Bastion that I purchased from Blades Canada (formerly Warriors & Wonders) in Vancouver (Note that the bolt mechanism on mine is on the opposite side of the clip as David's; David later said that the clip on his pen can be moved to the other side--one of the many useful design features of the pen).

(Above) Two beautiful sterling silver fountain pens by Sheaffer! The top one is Grant's Sheaffer 'Silver Imperial' Touchdown-Filler model, and the pen below it is a Sheaffer 'Silver Imperial' cartridge-filler model owned by Karen. Both pens have 14K solid gold inlaid nibs and diamond-shaped etched patterns, but if you take a closer look, you can see that the diamond shapes on Karen's pen are elongated.

Karen introduced brand-new member Garrett to our pen club, and he showed us two fountain pens and a ballpoint he'd inherited from his grandfather ---two Montblanc 149s and a lovely Montblanc ballpoint! Not a bad way to start a pen collection 😉 (side note: I asked Garrett why his grandfather had two identical Montblanc 149s, and he said that they were filled with two different ink colours!)

David C. (who joined our club late last year) always has some nice vintage fountain pens to show, like this handsome Parker 'Vacumatic' in "Silver Pearl" (above).

Jerred also showed us a really nice vintage Parker 'Vacumatic' of his own -- the one in "Azure Blue Pearl" in the above photo. Jerred bought it from fellow VPC member Brian at a recent meeting of the South Fraser Pen Club, a new pen club based in the Lower Mainland.

Jerred also showed us a new acquisition that you don't see very often---a wonderful vintage Parker 'Royal Challenger' in Burgundy (with the later "spade" clip and broad cap band). The 'Royal Challenger' was the top-of-the-line model for Parker's 'Challenger' line, but was only around for a few years (1937-1941).

...and here's the last of the three new fountain pens Jerred brought to the meeting -- his Pilot 'Justus''. This Pilot model came out around 1981, whereas the Justus' larger cousin, the 'Justus 95' (which is still in production) came out in 2013. Both models have a cool feature -- adjustable nibs! Turning a collar at the nib-end of the sections changes the amount of nib flex, allowing the user to adjust it to their needs/preference.

Two vintage Parker Vacumatic fountain pens (both in the 'Maxima' size) --David C's "Emerald Pearl" and a glossy black Vacumatic belonging to Mark-- on either side of Yang's eye-catching bespoke fountain pen, handmade by Stephen Just of Just Turnings in Brisbane, Australia.

As for our primary meeting theme (favourite pen & ink combinations), Yang said that she enjoys using shimmer inks in her TWSBI ECO fountain pen(s), while David said he loves using iron gall inks (esp. Diamine Registrar’s) in his vintage Parkers.

Look at those sparkles! The pen's material is a custom resin called DiamondCast® 'Moissanite', made by McKenzie Penworks using Alumilite (a high-quality resin), various pigments and real diamonds! The nib is a #6 size (which looks smaller in my photo because of the camera angle) two-tone steel Cypress nib, made by Mr Cypress Pens in Taiwan.

Longtime VPC member Mark brought a wonderful assortment of vintage fountain pens to show us, including this demonstrator Parker '51' that utilizes their Vacumatic-filling system.

Another great vintage fountain pen --- a lovely smaller gold flat-top, also belonging to Mark...

(Above) Two vintage Sheaffer fountain pens --a timeless Sheaffer 'PFM V' (the "Pen For Men" model, fifth version) in black, sporting Sheaffer's beautiful inlaid nib and a blue Sheaffer 'Crest' Touchdown-filler, which has Sheaffer's iconic Triumph nib.

Back to modern pens now! That's Luc's Pilot 'Custom Heritage 92' transparent blue fountain pen (the lone piston-filler in Pilot's current lineup) and Phil's black Aurora 'Ipsilon Deluxe' fountain pen. Phil said that the regular 'Ipsilon' model comes with a steel nib, but that this model has a gold nib.

Regarding his favourite pen & ink combos, Luc said that his picks were the Pilot 'Custom Heritage 92' with a Sailor Studios ink (I forgot which number), and his Pilot 'Custom 823' (not pictured) with Pilot's Iroshizuku "Tsuki-yo" ink.

(Above) Julian's black Sheaffer 'NoNonsense' fountain pen and a classy Montblanc ballpoint that belonged to his late father. Julian also brought in his Wing Sung '699' (not shown), a clone of the Pilot 'Custom 823'. Julian's Wing Sung is the same colour as Luc's Pilot 'Custom 823', so it was neat to compare the two side-by-side.

Asifa's favourite pen & ink combos--Lamy 'Safari' "Aquamarine" and two TWSBIs (a Navy Blue TWSBI 'Diamond 580ALR' and a very pretty TWSBI 'ECO' Lilac) filled with matching inks.

I brought my pens to our meeting in this newly-acquired fabric 5-pen pouch, purchased from etsy seller "ChinesePen". I like the design because each pen has its own soft, lined "tube" that prevents the individual pens from touching each other. Total cost for this well-made pen pouch was $26.65 CAD including shipping.

For our primary theme, I brought my ivory Jinhao X450 (with a custom 0.7mm stub nib reground by Tyler Dahl) filled with Sheaffer's Amethyst ink and (below it, in the photo above) my gorgeous cream-coloured Waterman 'Elegance' (which I got from Lawrence---thank you SO much, Lawrence! 😁) filled with Noodler's #41 Brown ink, a dark sepia colour. The new pens in the pouch are: my red Bastion bolt-action ballpoint, a black Cross 'Scuderi Ferrari Townsend' with a matte black honeycomb etched pattern (a pen I've wanted for a /very/ long time), and a very colourful (and very beautiful :) fountain pen in DiamondCast® "French Quarter" resin, handmade by Jay Moffat of Tangent Pens in Kanata, Ontario (Jay also sells them on his Etsy storefront)

My very newest acquisition --- the Lamy 'Safari' "Violet Blackberry" special edition fountain pen I bought at Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery an hour before our meeting (the cotton Cavallini pencil pouch was also purchased at Buchan's, but on a different occasion)

Last, but not least, a pen holder made by Jerred from a repurposed waffle-patterned dish-drying mat he purchased at Dollar Tree. Jerred stitched it himself and added the Velcro closure. (Nice job, Jerred!)

Many thanks to everyone who came to our February meeting! Whether you brought stuff to show or not, thank you for sharing your pens and/or the stories behind them with all of us. I'm sorry I didn't photograph everyone's pens (Stuart's new Graf von Faber-Castell & Garrett's Montblancs--my apologies, guys :( but I'll try to at least take a group photo of everyone who comes to next month's meeting. 🙂

Speaking of which...Please check the top of our homepage for info about our March meeting -- it'll be posted there (in big red letters) as soon as I finalize the venue booking.

Cheers,
~Maja