April meeting photos

Happy May Day! 😄
Apologies for the slight delay in posting these photos from our April meeting, which was held at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library on Saturday April 18th. It was a well-attended casual gathering (ie. a non-themed meeting with no "show & tell") with 31 members in attendance, including newcomers Hyein, Kathleen, Mein, Richard and Ruslan. Many thanks to all who attended!

I was busy welcoming new members during the meeting, so I only had time to snap a few pen photos; I hope to take some "people photos" at our next meeting, which will be held on Thursday May 21 at the VPL's Renfrew branch (and which *will* have a meeting theme and "show & tell" - full details here). Without further ado, here are the photos I took at our April meeting...

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

Our fellow pen club member Anson of Springfield Pens brought a plethora of his handmade kitless fountain pens to the meeting, including two brand-new fountain pens --one with a matte finish and one shiny example (which was purchased by Phil)-- made of cocobolo wood (near the bottom of the photo above). Fantastic work, Anson!

David C brought some lovely second-hand fountain pens to sell, and this one was purchased by his friend Sean. It's a handsome vintage Parker '51' fountain pen -- a true classic!

Stuart's recent acquisitions ---a Hongdian M2 fountain pen, a passport-sized Traveler's Notebook in blue leather, and some gifts from fellow VPCer Asifa from her recent trip!

The pocket-sized aluminum Hongdian M2 fits perfectly in the leather TN loop after Stuart stretched it out a bit...

It was nice to see Matthew at a non-pen-store meeting (lol--just kidding, Matthew!); he brought his Sailor 'Pro Color' demonstrator fountain pen, seen in the photo above resting on my Natami pen pouch. The Natami case opens and closes like an eyeglasses case and was very reasonably priced (around $19 CAD)...

That's my new Visconti 'Mythos' fountain pen (the "Aphrodite" model) atop a wonderful fabric pen case made by our fellow pen club member Amy H. Amy has a new Etsy store (link) where you, too, can buy/custom order one for yourself :)

Last, but not least, a classy Montblanc ballpoint I purchased from David C. at the March meeting. When you hold it up to a bright light, you can see Montblanc's precious resin's dark red tint...

We will be having another Saturday afternoon meeting sometime this Fall (date & time: TBA later). Hope to see you at one of our meetings! If you have any questions about joining our pen club, please drop us a line at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com 

(~ blog post by Maja ~)

Happy National Ballpoint Day! (June 10th)

Happy National Ballpoint Day! 

Today is a day to celebrate "that other pen" (just kidding--our club members *aren't* fountain pen snobs 😉), so here are some photos I took of a lovely handmade twist-action ballpoint I recently acquired. The pen is the "Copper Diamonds" model and it was made by Dylan Swain of The Pen Den in Gatineau, Quebec...

(click on images to enlarge)

Since I don't know the first thing about making handmade ballpoints, I'll let Dylan explain how he made this lovely writing instrument: "I designed the mold for this pen, printed it in white resin, and cast copper and pearlescent black mica before shaping and polishing to a high gloss."

Dylan adds: "I like how the black is reminiscent of marble and the copper has depth and captures the light very nicely." He's correct on all counts, and I hope my photos captured the beautiful colours and depth of the materials. I'm so glad that Dylan chose metal trim with an "antique" finish---it goes so well with the rest of the pen :)

Dylan's pens can be found for sale in his Etsy online store - ThePenDenShop. I've bought several handmade ballpoint pens from him over the years (they're featured in this post) and I've never been disappointed. Dylan--thank you again for another great handcrafted one-of-a-kind ballpoint!

(~Blog post by Maja~)

A few photos from our May meeting

We had excellent attendance at our May meeting, which was held on Thursday May 15th at the Vancouver Public Library's Renfrew branch. At least 32 people (including brand new members Janet, Jennifer and Frederic) were present for a casual gathering where our members chatted about, traded, bought and sold all things pen-related. It was a busy night, but I remembered to snap a few photos during the get-together, so here they are...

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

I forgot to take a photo of it at the April meeting (which featured pocket fountain pens), so I'm glad that Allan also brought his brass Hongdian 'M2' pocket fountain pen to our May meeting. It's a very nice (and affordable) pocket fountain pen with some heft to it; there's also an aluminum version of the 'M2', if you prefer a lighter pen...

Andrew brought a newly-acquired vintage fountain pen to the meeting -- his Parker 'Duofold' Jr. in shiny red 'Permanite' (Parker's name for their patented plastic). The 'Junior' model first came out in 1922, a year after the introduction of its full-sized counterpart. Doesn't it look great for a 100-year-old pen? 😁

Vladan brought a beautiful new modern fountain pen to the meeting -- a Graf von Faber-Castell that he recently bought from Charals. Sadly, Charals announced that after 39 years in business, they will be permanently closing their lovely store this summer 😢 (link to their Instagram announcement from April here)...

On a happier note, during our meeting I managed to acquire a pen I'd been seeking for a very long time. It's one of the two colours I was missing from my Signum 'Orione' fountain pen collection --the dark green with yellow flecks model (on the far right above)--and I bought from Hyung-Gu, a local pen aficionado (thank you, Hyung-Gu!)

Phil also brought some newly-acquired pens to the meeting ---a black and teal Pelikan 'M75 'Go!' model (top pen) and a vintage Pelikan '120'. The '120' was a piston-filling fountain pen made from 1955-1965, while the M75 was only made from 1992-1996 and came in two forms--piston-filler or cartridge/converter filler.

Larry B, a local penmaker, came to our meeting with lots of lovely handmade kitless resin fountain pens to show and sell...

Among the ones Larry was selling was this gorgeous teal and brown swirly fountain pen (with matching pen stand!)

We also saw some new accessories at our meeting, such as Asifa's cool new Peanuts-themed laptop holder (converted to a pen and notebook case)...

It's not a new acquisition, but it was newly discovered by Stuart --a handsome burgundy vintage Sheaffer 'Tuckaway' Touchdown-filler that he very recently found in an old desk drawer at home!

This is Rumi's cute pen roll by TheCoffeeMonsterzCo (a local artist) with four colourful fountain pens on top of it --(left to right): a Jinhao '10' in yellow/green gradient, a Gravitas 'Entry' in the wonderful "Skittle" finish and two PenBBS fountain pens. The one on the far right is a model '266' that Rumi purchased from fellow VPC member Jerred during the meeting.

Several members of our club who are avid ink swatchers attended our May meeting---that's Catherine's ink journal closest to the camera...

...and this is a page from Michelle's ink journal (the Vinta ink is one that I bought at Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery just before the meeting and showed to the swatching gang).

My apologies for not taking more photos during the meeting--I wanted to take a posed group shot, but I didn't want to interrupt all the fun everyone was having 😀. Thank you to all who came to the meeting!

(~Blog post by Maja~)

February meeting photos (new acquisitions)!

Despite the big hockey game going on at the exact same time 🙄 (the Canada vs. USA 4 Nations Face-Off championship game), 28 excited Vancouver Pen Club members showed up for our February meeting, held on the 20th at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library! We had two brand-new members in attendance---Jeff and Patrick---and a good time was seemingly had by all.

During the meeting, I snapped some photos of items our members brought in for the evening's topic/theme, Newest (Pen-Related) Acquisitions, so without further ado, here they are...

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

We'll start with a stunning Graf von Faber-Castell ' Classic' platinum-plated fountain pen that Stuart actually acquired late last year. He'd brought it to a previous meeting, but I forgot to photograph it, so I asked him to bring it this meeting (isn't it beautiful?)

From the official Graf von Faber-Castell website: "The fluting - the filigree groove structure - is the defining design element of the Classic line. The writing instruments in the series are available in solid 925 sterling silver, in a completely platinum-plated finish or with a finely fluted barrel made of ebony, pernambuco, grenadilla or macassar wood."

The lovely dip pen set that Paul generously donated for our door prize draw (which was won by Jerred---congrats, Jerred!) that evening...

Dana's new Jinhao '10' fountain pen resting on my leather Sonnenleder pen case. The Jinhao is, of course, a Pilot 'Vanishing Point' clone (specifically, a "tribute" to the 2024 limited edition "Seashore" VP) and Dana's came with a very smooth steel nib.

David C's wonderful vintage Parker fountain pens--a 1928 Parker 'Duofold' "Big Red" and a Parker 'Vacumatic' "Golden Pearl" from 1946 above it... 

Not all new acquisitions we saw were new pens--Asifa's newest pen-related purchase was the "Fountain Pens" book by Peter Twydle!

The two (real) pens on Asifa's book are Stuart's newest finds --a vintage Parker '51' in "Midnight Blue" and a Faber-Castell 'Ambition' in "Italic Ice Blue" spiral precious resin (one of two special edition 'Ambition' pens that came out this year to celebrate the model's 20th anniversary).

And here's another non-pen new acquisition---Jerred's Parker-branded wristwatch!

Rene's new Montblanc 'Around the World in 80 Days' Doué Classique fountain pen (and matching ink), inspired by author Jules Verne...

Above: A lovely assortment of custom fountain pens handmade by our fellow VPC member Anson (of Springfield Pens) that he brought for folks to see and/or buy. I bought the lovely pink, blue and white pen that's second from the bottom of the photo, but if you're interested in buying any of the others, please check out his official website at SpringfieldPens.ca

Above: Rene's new Sheaffer '100'"Coffee Edition" fountain pen. The Sheaffer "Coffee Edition" (a special edition) writing instruments include: the '100' model in ballpoint, rollerball and fountain pen, and the more economically-priced Sheaffer 'VFM' line in the same three writing forms.

Above: Two more great new acquisitions that Rene showed us--a Parker '75' in the elegant "Prince de Galles" pattern (check out this comparison to it and the very similar 'Ecossais' pattern) and a vintage mottled hard rubber fountain pen (I missed the manufacturer's name).

Another one of our fellow pen club members, Vladan, just started making fountain pens of his own (bravo!). That's Vladan's first creation (a "Churchill" kit pen) above and, below it, is his new black Sailor 'ProGear" fountain pen. I asked Vladan about the wood used to make the kit pen, and he said he used cocobolo for the cap, and ash for the barrel.

Mmina brought in another pen we hadn't seen before---a Jinhao '82' with a glass nib! We'd seen Jinhao 82s with steel nibs at our meetings before (David L. brought in his newest, in red--not pictured), but we'd never seen one with a glass nib. You never know what you'll see at one of our meetings :)

Audrey's newest acquisition---a Faber-Castell 'Ambition' "Rhombus" that she bought from Stuart during our meeting...

Grant's wonderful collection of vintage fountain pens...

... and Grant's newest acquisition--- a very-hard-to-find first year Parker 'Vacumatic'! (there's good information on them here on Vacumania.com)

Tony joined our club last month, but that meeting was so busy that I forgot to snap a photo of his wonderful Hero fountain pen, so I was glad that he brought it to this month's meeting, too. The pen was a gift from his mother, who bought it in China, and it was made for the Hero Pen Company's 90th anniversary. It's a lacquer-coated fountain pen with an attractive plum blossom motif on its cap and barrel.

Of course, I forgot to photograph the two new pens I brought to show at our meeting :/ so when I got home, I quickly snapped these photos of them. That's my new red Platinum 'Curidas' (purchased from local online-only retailer Noteworthy Stationery in Burnaby) and my Natami 'Super Warship' clipless vacuum-filler fountain pen (bought on Teemu).

The Platinum 'Curidas' has a retractable nib and mine came with a Medium nib that wrote extremely smoothly right out of the box. My Natami's nib needed a tiny fingernail tweak to make it write more smoothly (the tines were a bit misaligned), but it writes beautifully now. 

Many thanks to everyone who came to our February meeting! Information on our March meeting will be posted on our website as soon I get confirmation from the venue.

(~Blog post by Maja~)

Brand-new attendance record! (January get-together photos)

Our January 2025 meeting (held at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library on Jan. 16th) set a new record for meeting attendance---at least 36 people were in attendance, including brand-new members Adam, Audrey, and Tony! 😮 (our previous record was 32, set in December 2024)

The meeting was actually an informal get-together (such as those we also have at pen stores once in a while) and not a regular meeting (which is a sit-down "show & tell" with a meeting theme/topic), so if you're wondering what goes on at these casual gatherings, read on!

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

At our informal get-togethers (and at regular meetings, too), you might find some members selling vintage fountain pens ... like Mark (seated, above), who restores the pens himself! The happy bunch behind him are-- from left to right-- Rene, James, Shona and David C.

You also might see some vintage fountain pens that our members recently acquired, such as this nice Parker '51' fountain pen belonging to Andrew that he purchased from Christopher (another pen restorer in our club) earlier that day...

... or this Parker '25' fountain pen that he bought from fellow member Grant during the meeting...

You're guaranteed to see newly-acquired modern fountain pens that our members brought to show others, such as Peter H's new Waterman 'Hemisphere' (far right, above) ... or old favourites and/or daily users, such as his Waterman 'Laureat' (far left) and Platinum #3776 Century fountain pens...

You might even see a member's entire fountain pen collection, such as Alex's Lamy '2000', TWSBI Mini, TWSBI 'Precision' (left side of pen case in the above photo) and "Vivid Pink" Pilot 'Prera' (photo below) fountain pens.

Although we're primarily a fountain pen club, we occasionally see other writing instruments, such as mechanical pencils. Alex brought some of those to show-- his Pilot 'S30' and the two black Rotrings (an '800' and a '600') seen above....

....as well as his Pentel 'Kerry' pencil (above, far left) and collection of Pentel 'Graphgear 1000' pencils that take different lead widths. Sometimes we even see rollerball pens---the black Pilot 'G2' and a bright green no-name (seen above) are what Alex calls his "loaner pens" 😄.

Our club welcomes collectors/users of all types of fountain pens -- from economical pens to their luxurious counterparts (like David J's Pilot 'Custom Urushi' fountain pen above)...and it doesn’t matter if you own one fountain pen or a thousand --- everyone is welcome!

In addition to pens made by big pen companies, we also see fountain pens handmade by small pen makers, such as the beautiful fountain pens fellow VPC member Anson of Springfield Pens makes and sells (above)...

At our casual gatherings, some of our ink aficionados use the opportunity to trade ink samples and swatch them (that's Michelle's ink swatch book in the photo above)...

In any case, there will always be lots of interesting pens to see, and friendly, helpful pen-loving folks that you can chat with, in a relaxed atmosphere....

...so please come to a meeting and see for yourself! 😁 As as our club's President, I try to attend every meeting, so when you come to your first meeting, please find me (that's me--Maja--- on the far left) and say "hi"! If you need a nib tuned or repaired, you can talk to our fellow pen club member Jerred (standing next to me)... and if you're looking for a beautiful handcrafted fountain pen to buy, look for pen maker Anson (far right of photo)!

Many thanks to everyone who came to our January meeting! Information about our February meeting (which will be a regular--ie. themed--- meeting) will be posted by the end of this month.

(~blog post by Maja~)