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 347

At the end of 2020, I bought an Indian-made Kanwrite 'Heritage' piston-filler and raved about it and its great BB (double broad) Stub nib on this blog. A few months later, I discovered that Kanwrite offered another interesting nib option on a different model of theirs, so I bought two pens of that model in February/March 2021. Here they are:

 (please click on images to enlarge)

~ Kanwrite 'Desire' pens in "Fire Blast Marble" and "Opaque Pearl Brown" ~
Some specs (my measurements):

Capped Length : 5.4 inches (13.7 cm)
Uncapped (nib tip to barrel end): 4.8 inches (12.3 cm)
Posted Length : 6 inches (15.2 cm)
Weight: 14 grams (with no ink/converter/cartridge in pen)

These Indian-made cigar-shaped fountain pens are made of plastic and have chrome, gold-coloured double cap rings and clips. The plastic does have a smell (not unexpected, due to the specific type of plastic used to make the pens) but the smell dissipates over time. The design of the pens is simple, but classic....


...and best of all---the sections match the rest of the pen! :)

The pens take standard converters (supplied) or international ink cartridges, but they can also be used as eyedropper fillers. The caps screw on well, and I haven't had issues with the ink drying out. The pens are light in weight and well-balanced posted or unposted, but I prefer to use them posted.

I ordered the pens from two different sellers in India (one on eBay, the other on etsy) but with the same nib type....

...and here's the nib type I ordered for both pens - a #6 size Kanwrite "Dualtone gold plated Broad Full flex" steel nib!

Kanwrite nibs are made in-house and I'm very impressed with their quality. The nibs have flex, but not as much flex as some vintage gold flexy nibs. Still, the Kanwrites are smooth writers and a lot of fun to write with...and for $26-$29 CAD (incl. shipping from India) each, you really can't go wrong.

Side note: The opaque pearl brown pen (from etsy.com) actually arrived with the wrong nib --a Fine-- on it (yes, just like with the PennaRossa Modena pen I reviewed two weeks ago!). The nib width is stamped at the very bottom of the nib...but you can't see it when the nib is in its section, so it was an understandable error. It took five months for the seller to mail the replacement nib to me, though, due to the terrible surge in COVID-19 cases in India (and some natural disasters they were battling, as well :( He sent the nib to me via expedited registered mail, which I thought was very considerate.

(side view of the nib showing the cutaway parts)

There are a variety of nib width options with the 'Desire' model---EF, F, M, B and BB 'Zoom' nibs--- so make sure you read the descriptions carefully so you don't accidentally order the wrong nib for yourself (that's actually why I ordered the pens from two different sellers--one didn't have the nib I wanted in the colour I wanted).

I love the swirly "Fire Blast Marble" (top) and "Opaque Pearl Brown" resins....

Note: the "Opaque Pearl Brown" model that I bought on etsy is described as "Coffee Grey Marble" on eBay. Also, there's a "Red Marble" version that resembles the "Fire Blast Marble" model, but they're actually two different resins.

All in all, I am extremely satisfied with all of my Kanwrite fountain pens---they look nice, feel great in the hand, and the nibs on them are well-made and highly enjoyable to write with.

I would not hesitate to recommend the 'Desire' model (or the 'Heritage' model I reviewed in late 2020) to someone looking for an affordable, well-made, attractive resin fountain pen with an "exotic" (Stub or flexy) nib. Kanwrite is a family-owned and operated business that's been around for 26 years and they make very good pens that are an excellent value for the money, in my opinion.

(~photos & review by Maja~)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 121

While trolling Etsy last month, I came across an interesting-looking fountain pen from a brand I wasn't familiar with. After watching a couple of enthusiastically-positive YouTube reviews about it, I decided to take the plunge and ordered it. Meet my new Kanwrite 'Heritage' fountain pen....

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

Made by Kanpur Writers, a family-owned pen manufacturer founded in 1986 and located in Kanpur, India, the 'Heritage' fountain pen is a piston-filling fountain pen that's about the size of a Pelikan M800 (although it's slightly bulbous in the middle). I got mine from 'WriteNowTreasures' on Etsy for $38 USD/$52 CAD, including free trackable shipping from India.

 

 It's a lovely acrylic pen with a swirly white cap, section & blind cap, and a beautiful, multi-coloured (predominately orange) resin barrel which lives up to its name -"Fire Blast". The Heritage comes in several different acrylics, as well as a demonstrator model.

 

One of the YouTube reviews I saw mentioned that the pen was reminiscent of an Indian mace called a gada, likely due to its distinctively-shaped, unadorned cap top (see photo above). There's a plastic inner-cap liner to prevent the pen from drying out when inked, which is a nice feature. The cap itself screws on and off the barrel in 2.5 turns (which may or may not irritate some people :) 

The simple 23 gold-plated clip (with "KANWRITE" stamped on it) reminds me of my Noodler's 'Konrad' fountain pens (most of whose parts were made in India), as does its piston-filling mechanism.  If you don't clip your fountain pens to your shirt pocket, the clip should be fine---it clips onto a dozen sheets of paper easily--but it is quite tight. The very top of the cap unscrews, though, and the clip is removable, so theoretically you could adjust the clip tightness by carefully bending the clip slightly outward after removing it.

 

The section is nicely flared and matches the colour of the cap and blind cap (I think that's what initially drew my eyes to the pen). The ink-view window has two attractive 23K gold-plated rings on either side of it. The ink-view window can't be seen when the pen is capped, but that's a relatively minor point.

 

The piston-filler unit has a true blind cap that covers the clear plastic turning knob. Note: the plastic turning knob has a smell that many find off-putting (ditto for many Noodler's brand fountain pens). This is from the material the pen is made of - Cellulose Acetate Butyrate (CAB). Thankfully, the blind cap covers the turning knob, so the smell isn't noticeable unless you remove it. On the plus side, CAB is considered eco-friendly and is tougher than Cellulose Acetate.

 

My 'Heritage' pen has a #6 size, two-tone gold-plated steel BB (double-broad) stub nib, made in-house by the manufacturer. They make both steel and gold nibs in a variety of nib widths (from XXF to BB) and there are also flexy, ultraflexy, oblique and stub options available for their pens.

The BB stub on mine writes very well and lays down a true stub line that's slightly wider than my 1.1mm Lamy italic nib's. There is definitely some "feedback" when writing with the nib, so if you're expecting a butter-smooth writing experience, this might not be the nib for you (unless you want to get yourself some nib-smoothing material and smooth the nib...carefully). Personally, I like the nib's toothiness on rougher paper, and more importantly, I've had no problems with skipping, railroading or hard-starting.

 

According to the official website's description, the 'Heritage' model's nib and ebonite feed are in a  "replaceable screw in nib unit", but I wasn't able to unscrew it from the section. Erring on the side of caution, I didn't try to force it after a couple of tries. The nib and feed are friction-fitted into the nib unit, though, and can be removed fairly easily (tip: remove the nib first by pulling it straight out-- rubber gloves really help---and then remove the feed).

 

According to the Etsy seller, the total weight of the pen (uninked) is 28 grams. The length is 6¹⁄₁₆ inches capped...  

... and 6¹¹⁄₁₆in inches posted. Without its cap, it's 5⁷⁄₁₆ inches long - long enough for me to use comfortably unposted. When posted, it is very long, but it's incredibly well-balanced. It's a fairly light but chunky fountain pen with a section diameter just a tad over 0.5 inch (at the barrel threads) that feels really good in the hand.

All in all, an attractive, well-made fountain pen and at slightly over $50 CAD shipped (in an oval metal box with a small cleaning cloth), I think it's a good deal for a piston-filling fountain pen (especially with a factory BB stub nib).

 For a comprehensive review, check out this excellent YouTube video review.

~Write-up & photos by Maja