Photos from our May meeting!

Another great turnout! I counted 35 members in attendance at our May meeting (which was held at the Renfrew branch of the Vancouver Public Library on the 21st), including newcomers Kevin and Matthew, as well as a couple of members I hadn't met before -- Angelo and Vena!

This was one of our "themed" meetings with a casual "show & tell"; the primary theme was "Fountain-Pen-Friendly Paper" and our secondary theme was "Newest Pen-Related Acquisitions". This time around, I remembered to get some photos of people to post on our blog (lol), so without further ado....

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

Above: Group photo taken by Vena just before the "show & tell" started (some folks arrived a bit later--which is perfectly fine--so they weren't in the photo)

Above: Happy pen people! (in the foreground, counter-clockwise from bottom left: Dominique, Christopher T, Cindy, Paul, David C and Anson) 

I took a couple of photos to make sure everyone's smile was captured 😄 -- left to right, on the far side of the table--Kyle (who joined our club in March), Jerred, Andrew, Stuart and Andrii; L-R on the near side of the table: Mark (with hat) and Steve K.

It was Steve who originally suggested the primary meeting topic, and he gave a nice talk on his recent trip to China before telling us about his favourite stationery--Maruman's spiral Mnemosyne notebooks.

Thanks to Rumi for snapping this photo of me (on the far right) with the guys (that's Barry K sitting to Steve's right)

We saw some great pens at the meeting, including this Platinum 3776 Century Urushi Maki-e Sansui (above), a lovely modern Japanese fountain pen belonging to Stuart...

..and some attractive vintage Japanese fountain pens (photo above), including these post-WWII Pilot (top pen) and Platinum fountain pens belonging to David C. I forgot to remove it from its gift bag (because the packaging is exquisite), but behind David's vintage pens is a lovely small handmade notebook that Steve got at Joseph Art Space in Tianjin, China on his recent trip there (thank you so much for the gift, Steve! 😀)

Angelo brought some great pens (above) to show...

 

...including a Pilot 'Justus 95' with an FA nib (bottom pen), a Nakaya 'Aya' (middle pen) with a bouncy gold nib that's a dream to write with, and a Lamy '2000' rollerball with a Uniball refill (Lamy pens usually take proprietary refills, so bravo Angelo, LOL!)

Above: Steve trying out Angelo's Franklin-Christoph fountain pen with nib reground by Jose Munuera (of @nib.lab on Instagram)


Now, you might be wondering "Where are the paper/stationery photos??" 😂
Well, I didn't photograph any (including my own-ha!) because you can find photos of them everywhere online, but I did take notes on what everyone's favourite fountain-pen-friendly paper was... and here are the results!

Fountain-Pen-Friendly Paper Popularity (at May 2026 VPC meeting)

Rank	Paper Brand
1st (tie)	Hobonichi/Tomoe River
1st (tie)	Kokuyo
2nd (tie)	Clairefontaine
2nd (tie)	MUJI
3rd	Rhodia
4th (tie)	Traveler's Notebook
4th (tie)	Maruman
5th	Leuchtturm1917

All of these brands can be found in local pen/stationery stores (Buchan's & the Vancouver Pen Shop --both in Vancouver-- and Nikaido in Richmond, among others), so please give a thought to shopping locally to support them. 😊

Many thanks to everyone who came out to the Renfrew VPL branch for this month's meeting (whether or not you brought stuff for the "show & tell" topics :) and to Rumi and Vena for taking some photos! ** June meeting details will be posted very soon!**

 (~blog post by Maja~)

Photos from our January 2026 meeting

Our first pen club meeting of 2026 was held on Thursday January 15th at the Renfrew branch of the Vancouver Public Library with 40 members in attendance, including six newcomers (Cindy, Elle, Enkay, James Y, Joe, and Samuel)!

The format of this month's meeting was a casual "show & tell", and the topic was "Newest Pen-Related Acquisitions". I think the two-minutes-per-person show & tell time limit moved things along nicely and gave us extra time to chat amongst ourselves after show & tell was over. Many thanks to Amy, Mark, Paul and Sheila for the door prizes they generously donated (3D-printed ink vial holder, wooden pen display case, Crocodile fountain pen set, hardbound books, Platinum Carbon Black ink), which were won by James Y, Shona, Mindy, Kerwin, and Samuel respectively! 👏

It was a busy meeting, however, I did remember to take some photos for our blog, so here they are...

(all photos by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge) The meeting was very well-attended (more people arrived after this photo was taken!) and we saw a multitude of new acquisitions brought in by our members, such as ...

(Above, left to right) Liz R's TWSBI Eco 'Cosmos' fountain pen, Vladan's two Stabilo 'Grow' fountain pens (Beech (Blueberry Blue) and Oak (Moss Green)), Liz's TWSBI '580 ALR' Caribbean w/ Onyx (a special edition which came out in November 2024), Stuart's new-style MUJI aluminum fountain pen, two vintage Waterman C/F fountain pens,  his Sheaffer Imperial Triumph, and Jinhao X450 in matte black. 

Some cool facts about the Stabilo 'Grow' model (taken from its Amazon listing): 
The Stabilo 'Grow' is a climate neutral product (saving approximately 70 percent CO2 emissions in raw material compared to a filler made of conventional plastic; the remaining CO2 emissions are compensated by a certified climate project) with a shaft (barrel) made from 100% FSC-certified wood from Germany, an ergonomic grip made from almost 100% renewable raw materials, and a cap made of conventional plastic partially replaced with natural fibres (sunflower seed shells). The renewable raw materials used are waste products from the food and paper industry and therefore ethically harmless. 

(Above, top to bottom) Fred's black Pilot 'Custom 74' fountain pen (with a BB nib Architect grind done by CY of Tokyo Station Pens), Asifa's new red Jinhao '20' fountain pen and Jerred's light green Online 'Icone' model resting on Aumbrine's ink swatches (and lovely calligraphy) ...

A close-up of the Online 'Icone' fountain pen (which includes a stylus tip).... 

(Above, left to right) Stuart's Otto Hutt 02 sterling silver fountain pen, Vladan's Stabilo 'Grow' Plum Red (Cherry) fountain pen, an elegant vintage Lady Sheaffer "White Tulle" set belonging to Jerred, Yang's dazzling Benu 'Euphoria' "Vibrant Summer" fountain pen (a Cult Pens exclusive), and a beautiful Montegrappa rollerball owned by Aumbrine. Kai's new Akkerman "Zuiderpark Blauw-Groen" (Blue-Green) ink is in the upper left corner of the photo. 

(Above, top to bottom) Aumbrine's maroon Sailor fountain pen, and then a mystery pen I'm trying to identify (lol), Aumbrine's Visconti 'Rembrandt' "Khaki Green Ops" fountain pen, and Asifa's Jinhao '20' glittery clear demonstrator with rose gold trim (a limited edition). Several of our members (Asifa, Amy, Allan, Mindy, and myself) brought their new Jinhao 20s for the topic; due to its low price, it's quickly become a very popular fountain pen (and it's available in a large variety of colours!).

(Above) James D's handsome Springfield Pens fountain pen (with a modified Architect nib done by fellow VPCer Jerred) resting on Liz R's colourful ink swatches...

(Above, top to bottom) A wonderful four-pen cloth case handmade for me by fellow VPC member Amy (thank you again, Amy! 😊 ), my new Asvine C80 in "Galaxy" (which comes with a #8 size steel nib), a Springfield Pens fountain pen (in an unnamed poly-resin material) that I recently acquired from its pen maker (Anson), my Champagne Pink Pilot 'Decimo' and my new limited edition "Ice Blue" Jinhao 20 with rose gold trim (the Pilot Decimo isn't new, but I brought it in to show its similarity to its clone, the Jinhao 20 :)

(Above) Sheila's brand-new (she did a quick unboxing during her "show & tell"😂 ) Pelikan 'M300' fountain pen in Pelikan's classic striped green. The M300 is the smallest model in the Pelikan Souverän lineup, but it's as beautiful as its larger counterparts...

(Above) Last but not least, that's Phil's brand-new Springfield Pens fountain pen in Inlace Acrylester material. The pen is a 'Robin' model that was handmade by Anson and finished the day of our meeting!

Thank you to everyone who came to our January meeting, whether you brought anything to show or not; you brought yourselves -- that's the main thing! 😀 I had fun at the meeting, and I hope you did, too. Information about our February meeting will be posted very soon!

(~ blog post by Maja ~)

May meeting pics! (Topic: Design Features You Like in a Fountain Pen)

Our May meeting was held at the Kitsilano branch of the Vancouver Public Library on Thursday the 16th. Seventeen members were in attendance, including two brand-new members (Christina and Mmina).

The meeting's primary topic was "Design Features You Like in a Fountain Pen" and we saw several examples, as well as some new fountain pens that our members recently acquired. I took some photos during our meeting, so here they are!

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

Clockwise around the table, from lower left corner: Asifa, Nathan, Stuart, me (Maja), Grant, Christopher, Phil, Peter R, Paul, David C, Hadi, Jerred, Peter H, and Christina (missing from photo: Mmina, Shona and James, who arrived later).

The design features mentioned by our members (for our primary meeting topic) ranged from favourite filling systems and materials to decorative elements and favourite colourways. For my examples, I brought the top two pens above - my Magna Carta 'Sapphire Grand' brown demonstrator fountain pen (because I love how its coppery-brown nib colour matches the pen's metal trim--an aesthetically-pleasing design choice) and my Penlux 'Masterpiece Grande' Blue Swirl fountain pen, whose grip section matches the rest of the pen body (another feature I love). Grant brought in a handsome Parker 'Vacumatic' Golden Pearl (third pen from the top) because he's a huge fan of the Vacumatic's patented filling system, and he likes the size of this Vac model. 

Our secondary topic (which is always "Newest Acquisitions") was also well represented; among other new writing instruments we saw were Christopher's beautiful sterling silver vintage mechanical pencil, also seen above. I should have photographed both sides of it because I believe it’s a demonstrator model, used to show customers its inner workings.

Two more new purchases --a very cool modern Wahl-Eversharp 'Skyline Technik' fountain pen in shiny black aluminum belonging to Phil, and my bright red Kaweco AC Sport, which I bought online from Blades Canada this week.

The lovely vintage Pelikan in the middle is Shona's '400NN' model. Shona said that she likes it when piston-filling fountain pens have an ink view window, so you can tell how much ink is left in them. Some pen barrels---like her Pelikan's---are translucent, though, which also allows the pen's user to see the ink level.

Another new acquisition belonging to Phil---a vintage Parker '51' fountain pen in the rare Plum colour! Phil found the pen --in its original cardboard presentation box--- at the annual Fraser Valley Antiques & Collectables Club Show last month. I love the shape of the box's sleeve, which is a tribute to Parker's famous "arrow", a design feature found on Parker clips.

Peter R's gorgeous new Aurora '88' (top pen) and James' new Asvine 'P20' fountain pen.  This attractive (and economical!) piston-filling Asvine has been getting great reviews, including this one on YouTube, done by our fellow pen club member, Nathan.

Above: Paul's newest acquisitions, including two fountain pens he found at a Muji store-- a white plastic Muji-branded Platinum 'Preppy' and the well-known & well-loved Muji metal fountain pen (middle pen). The shiny hammered copper pen was given to Paul by his nephew, who made the pen using pen kit parts (the barrel and cap body were made by hand, though, not pre-made).

That's James' eye-catching Opus 88 'Demo' Red fountain pen at the top of the photo (James loves that the pen is a bulk-filler, but wishes there was an all-ebonite version) and, below it, Jerred's newest Delta fountain pen, a beautiful green marbled ‘Write Balance’. This unusual Delta model has a weight-balancing system -- a small metal weight hidden in its barrel's blind cap, which allows the user to adjust the pen's balance to their liking. Jerred mentioned that he liked pens with hourglass-shaped grip sections, such as the one on his new Delta.

The pen on the bottom is, of course, a classic vintage Parker 'Duofold' belonging to David C., who is an avid fan of vintage Parkers. David is a huge Parker 'Vacumatic' fan, but he said he brought in this 'Duofold' for our primary topic because he liked its girthiness. David also brought a Sheaffer 'Snorkel' (not pictured) and told us how much he admired its unique filling mechanism.

Above: Another Opus 88 fountain pen —new member Mmina's nice blue 'Koloro' (she likes the ink shut-off valve feature, as it allows you to prime the nib)  — and one of Hadi's favourite fountain pens, the sterling silver Parker '75' Cisele that was his first fountain pen.

Hadi also showed us an Asvine V200 fountain pen (top pen), a Titanium and clear resin-bodied demonstrator that uses a vacuum-filling system. Hadi's particular example has a replacement Bock Titanium nib. You can purchase the pen with a stock Asvine nib or pay extra for a Bock steel nib. Hadi opted for the latter, bought the Bock Titanium nib separately, and then swapped the steel one out. It's a very cool nib on a cool-looking fountain pen.

The three pens below it belong to Asifa, who got them for free from Jessica at our last meeting! The attractive red fountain pen with cream-coloured ends is the ubiquitous Jinhao 'Century 100'. I'm not sure what brand the other two pens are, but the cute light blue Lamy Safari clone has a rainbow-coloured nib :)

(a closeup of Hadi's Asvine V200, showing the Titanium trim and section)

Above: My little red Kaweco 'AC Sport', next to another pocket pen, Nathan's stainless steel Gravitas ‘Pocket Pen’. Nathan explained how well-made the Gravitas was, with its expertly-machined cap & barrel threads, and excellent cap seal --  features crucial to producing a well-performing pen. 

Nathan also brought a newer pen to show us, his Ensso 'Bolt' (not pictured), a bolt-action capless retractable fountain pen that was introduced via Kickstarter. The pens haven't been shipped out to Kickstarter supporters yet (that's happening this summer) , but Nathan got a sneak preview for his YouTube channel and did a review of it there.

  Last, but not least, here are some of the fountain pens that Stuart brought! (I didn’t photograph his newest Parker ‘51s). The middle one is Stuart's brand-new Graf von Faber-Castell 'Tamitio' India Red, purchased from the Vancouver Pen Shop. Flanking it are two pens that have design features that Stuart really likes--a glossy black Sheaffer 'Snorkel' with a wide cap band (Stuart said that it makes the pen look longer when posted...and it does!) and a stunning Montblanc 'StarWalker Doué' (pen at top of photo). Stuart liked how Montblanc cleverly incorporated its famous snowflake logo into the cap's finial as a snowflake suspended in clear resin.


Many thanks to everyone who came to the meeting on Thursday! Special thanks to VPC member Steve --who couldn’t make it to the meeting-- for the door prize fountain pens and free ink flush (both of which he also gave away at April’s meeting), as well as to Christopher for donating a cancer charity novelty ballpoint prize.

I'll post the details about our June meeting once I finalize the venue booking. Have a happy & safe Victoria Day long weekend, everyone! 😁

( ~Blog post by Maja~ )

A few photos from our August 18, 2022 in-person meeting!

Many thanks to everyone who turned out for our first in-person meeting since February 2020! It was great to see so many familiar faces (even behind your masks :) We had 14 members in attendance, and I think a very good time was had by all. In fact, in all the excitement, I forgot to get a group shot of us.... but I did snap some photos of what our members brought. Enjoy!

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

(Above) Just some of the pens and inks we saw on Thursday night at the Vancouver Public Library's Kitsilano branch meeting room. Our meeting topic/theme was "Newest Acquisitions", but because our club hadn't had an in-person meeting in over two years, some members brought a mixture of very recent purchases and older acquisitions for us to see, which was great!

Nathan brought some amazing fountain pens he purchased, including a couple of platinum fountain pens he later anodized himself, and some KWZ sheening inks (in the lower left of the photo) for us to sample (thanks, Nathan!) Kelley also brought some really nice fountain pens for us to see -- her Lamy 'Al-Star' in "Pacific Blue", a black Pilot 'Falcon', an orange Noodler's 'Nib Creaper' and a gorgeous Benu 'Euphoria' "French Poetry" fountain pen (all in the pic's lower right quadrant). The grey marbled pen next to her Lamy is a vintage Parker 'Challenger' that Kelley bought from Christopher, who brought an assortment of vintage fountain pens (the ones with the price tags on them :) to sell.

(Above) Stuart's beautiful Montblanc 'StarWalker Doué' fountain pen that he bought at the Vancouver Pen Shop's annual sale in the Fall of 2020. Every October, the Pen Shop has a month-long anniversary sale with reduced prices for almost all of the brands they carry, so start saving your pen money now!

(Above) The handsome Pelikan M605 Streseman fountain pen that Joie brought to our meeting.

If you're reading this and would like to attend the Vancouver 2022 Pelikan Hub, make sure you register at  https://www.pelikan-hubs.com/ before August 21, 2022. This isn't a Vancouver Pen Club event, but I'm sure a lot of our club members will be there.

(Above) Rene's gorgeous vintage Parker 'Moderne'/'Duette Jr' fountain pen in the amazing "Bronze and Blue" celluloid. Rene also showed us many more great vintage pens, including two large Eclipse flat tops, some Parker 'Vacumatics' and more. We saw a lot of vintage Parkers (belonging to several different members) at the meeting, which attests to their enduring popularity among vintage pen fans.

(Above) Stuart's 1948 Parker '51' Aerometric "Magnetix" desk set (reviewed by Stuart here), which positively glows! Photos cannot do this beautiful vintage desk set justice.

(Above): The wonderful Robert Oster "Australian Shiraz" ink I got from Alejandra (thanks, Alejandra!), and a brand-new Pilot 'Lightive' fountain pen that Stuart bought earlier this week at the Vancouver Pen Shop. From what I've read, the 'Lightive' appears to be the same model as the Pilot 'Explorer', but with a better inner-cap design to prevent the pen from drying out.

(Above) Last, but certainly not least, Christopher's vintage Parker 'Duofold' "Big Red" fountain pen and mechanical pencil that he acquired recently. We'll post Christopher's full review of this set on Sunday, so watch this space...

I was so excited to see everyone that I forgot to take more photos, including any of my own pens (lol) or Jerred's, but happily, the majority of the pens we brought were reviewed by Jerred and myself on this blog already. Jerred brought the highlights from his "pandemic era" Delta acquisitions, including his newest Delta fountain pen --a sterling silver Delta 'Prestige' with a guilloche pattern.

Trevor showed us his brand-new silver-plated Parker '95' ballpoint in the elegant "Fileté'" pattern (purchased the day of our meeting), and a couple of cool Lamy 'Vista' rollerball clones that take fountain pen ink (a piston-filler version + a C/C version) that he got from fellow VPCer Steve. Julienne brought along all the wonderful fountain pens she purchased during the pandemic, including some beautiful Narwhals (including two 'Nautilus' models), a handmade London Pen Company fountain pen, and a couple of amazing Pilots, including one urushi model (if I recall correctly).

Alejandra and Nox brought both modern (Nox's Rotring 600 mechanical pencil, Alejandra's Charles Lethaby 'ION' fountain pen) and vintage writing instruments to our meeting. The latter included some vintage treasures Alejandra found at a local antique store --a Wahl-Eversharp 'Skyline' and a 1970s Pelikan '120'. Peter showed us his own vintage treasure---a black hard rubber Waterman '52' fountain pen that he bought from fellow VPC member Mark (Peter said that the Waterman had one of the most flexible nibs he's ever tried). Ben showed a lot more restraint than any of us, with regard to pen-buying during the pandemic, as he didn't have any new acquisitions (Bravo, Ben!) but he did show us his current daily users - a TWSBI and his trusty Muji fountain pen. 

P.S. Many thanks to Trevor for the wooden pencils he gave away at the meeting! :)

~ Information about future in-person monthly meetings (including location, which may or may not be the VPL Kitsilano branch) will be posted on this blog, and will also appear in the blog header ~

July 2019 Meeting Pics ~ Part 2

Some more photos from our July meeting, this time courtesy of Ricardo!
(part 1 of our July meeting pics posted here)
(~all photos courtesy of Ricardo ~ please click on photos to enlarge~)

Our primary theme for this meeting was "ASTRONOMICAL!" (large fountain pens & any type of pens relating to space/astronomy) . Jerred brought in a few large fountain pens for the theme, including this lovely Delta Limited Edition pen from their "Indigenous People" line. This one is the Kanaka Maoli "Hawaii" model:

As you can see, it is quite a large writing instrument...

Another large fountain pen that Jerred brought in for our main topic was this giant Japanese eyedropper-filler!

Our secondary meeting topic/theme is always "Newest Acquisitions", such as Mary Anne's new Esterbrook "Estie" fountain pen. which she is holding here:

Mary Anne's Esterbrook 'Estie' in the "Blueberry" pattern:

That's our club's founder, Tim Conklin, in the middle talking about the pens he brought in to show:

Tim holding up his favourite writer - his vintage Waterman '94' fountain pen (there's a better photo of the pen in Part 1 of our July meeting pics):

Jenny (middle) talking about some pens she brought in:

Our meetings are done in a 'show & tell' format which allows everyone who has something for the primary or secondary topics to tell us a little bit about what they brought to the meeting. This is the largest fountain pen Jenny owns---a gorgeous Visconti 'Homo Sapiens' "London Fog" Limited Edition:

This lovely demonstrator fountain pen uses celluloid strands embedded in the clear acrylic barrel to create a swirly, fog-like effect....

...and only 888 pieces were made worldwide...

Brand-new VPC member Dion (center) brought in some really nice fountain pens, including a Platinum Century '3776' and a Pilot 'Vanishing Point' (which are in Part 1 of our July photos)...

One of his newer/newest acquisitions was this fluorscent orange Caran d'Ache '849':

Ben checking his cel phone while Mindy (with cap) talks to Maja & Jacqueline...

Ben brought his titanium Namisu 'Nexus Minimal' fountain pen, which was a Kickstarter campaign (now closed). According to the manufactuer "The Nexus’s ergonomic body, born of one seamless arc, fits naturally in your hand. It is precision machined from aircraft grade 6061 aluminium or Grade 2 Titanium. This means that it is carved from solid bar of metal, rather than through complex moulds or mass production techniques; just a CNC controlled blade taking away metal one pass at a time."

That's me (Maja) holding up the largest fountain pen I own--a bright orange fountain pen adorned with metal dragons on the cap & barrel made by Namixin, a Chinese manufacturer (the pen is in the very last photo of Part 1 of our July meeting pics):

(L-R) Maja, Jacqueline, Rene, Daryl and Justin. Rene brought in lots of pen-related items for our primary theme as well as some recent acquisitions from the recent 2019 Northwest Pen Round-Up! in Portland. You can see some of those items in Part 1 of our July meeting pics...

Justin's newest acquisition---a glossy black Montblanc '147' (aka "Traveler) fountain pen. The model's name refers to its portability during traveling in that it's a cartridge/converter (rather than a piston-filler requiring bottled ink):

Going around the table (L-R): Tim, Jenny, Mindy, Dion, Stuart...

...Jenny, Mindy, Dion, Stuart, Ben...

...Stuart, Ben, Maja, Jacqueline...

...Jacqueline, Rene, Daryl, Justin and longtime VPCer Bruce:

(L-R) Forbes Benning, longtime VPC member Christopher, and Jerred:

Forbes is a member of the London Pen Club, which meets weekly at a cafe in London, Ontario. Many thanks to Forbes for coming to our meeting and letting us know about the "fountain pen-friendly" Muji paper he bought at one of the Muji stores in town!

Jerred inspecting a fountain pen nib...

(L-R) Tim, Dion and Jenny:

Jenny's 'Momento Zero' Limited Edition (LE) in orange ebonite made by the Italian pen company Leonardo Officina Italiana. This LE was specially made for the Dutch pen store Fontoplumo in very low #s (reputedly only 20 pieces were produced worldwide!)...

Jenny's ebonite 'Momento Zero' LE in the middle, flanked by Ricardo's new "Momento Zero" in the "Hawaii" pattern and his bright yellow 'Momento Zero' "Yellow Brick Road" LE made for the Dutch pen store Fontoplumo (a scant 15 pieces of the chrome-trim model were made!)

Ricardo's wonderful pen drawings...all done during our meeting!

Many thanks to Ricardo for the great photos he took and shared with us and, of course, many thanks to everyone who came to our July meeting :)