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~)

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 ~)

Some photos from our March meeting (theme: Skinny/Slender Fountain Pens)

Happy first day of Spring! We had our March meeting on the 16th, and although there were only nine members in attendance (possibly due to Spring Break vacations), we had a great time discussing our newest pen-related acquisitions, as well as our March meeting theme -- Skinny/Slender Fountain Pens. I snapped some photos during the meeting, so without further ado, here they are...

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

Jerred (who suggested our meeting theme--thanks again, Jerred!) kicked off our "show & tell" with three slender Delta fountain pens, two of which are shown above--a gold-plated one he reviewed here, and one with a lacquer finish that resembles the "thuya lacquer" used on some Parker '75' pens. Jerred also showed us an ultra-slender fountain pen --not photographed--- that he reviewed here three years ago. 

Jerred also brought his Faber-Castell 'Neo Slim' fountain pen for our meeting theme. He pointed out that it was actually made in China (check under the top of the clip), which surprised me as so many of their fountain pens are made in Germany. I always learn something new at our meetings!

Above: Jerred's Pilot Grandee Urushi, a slender, elegant fountain pen made of ebonite and coated with urushi lacquer. Jerred reviewed the pen here on our blog a couple of years ago.

Stuart brought in some slender vintage fountain pens, including these two handsome Sheaffers  - a black 'Snorkel Valiant' and a green 'Craftsman TM (thin model)' Touchdown-filler.

The Snorkel has a beautiful conical, two-tone gold nib, while the 'Craftsman' has an open gold nib. I think the gold trim really suits the pens' colours.

And this is the pen Stuart bought for himself for his birthday earlier this month---a very short, very skinny brass Kaweco 'Liliput' pocket fountain pen!

The pen has a 1.mm italic nib and posts by screwing the cap onto the end of the barrel

This is the slender fountain pen Stuart bought last October during the Vancouver Pen Shop's annual sale--a Graf von Faber-Castell 'Guilloche' Rhodium. Its barrel is made of rhodium-plated guilloched metal, and the pen sports a 18K gold nib. Stuart also brought in a new desk set, which we will be featuring in Wednesday's blog post (link).

Mandy brought two skinny pens to our meeting for the evening's theme--a Pelikan 'Steno' (P470 model) and a Traveler Company's brass pocket fountain pen that was made in Japan. The Traveler has a clip that can be removed to make it even more portable.

Above: A photo of all the skinny fountain pens (and one not-so-skinny) that I brought for the meeting's topic. From L-R: Sailor Chalana, Pilot Birdie, Pilot Juliet (all three of which I got as gifts from my good friend Glenn in Australia :), Cross 'Century'/ 'Century I' (which I reviewed here), Cross 'Metropolis', Montblanc 'Noblesse' (first generation - reviewed by me here), Lamy 'cp1', Jinhao 65 (reviewed by me here), Diplomat 'Traveller' "Flame" (I did a review of that one, too -- link), Sheaffer 'Slim' Targa and a standard Sheaffer 'Targa' (to show people the big difference in width).

I also showed four new fountain pens (not photographed for this blog post)--a Benu 'Talisman' "Foxglove" & a Platinum 'Preppy' Limited Edition I later reviewed here---bought both at Buchan's the day of our meeting--as well a Conklin 'All American' "Rainbow" Limited Edition (a purchase inspired by the one Kelley brought to our January meeting---thanks, Kelley!) and a Kaweco 'Liliput' in brass (like Stuart's, but with a different nib). I will be reviewing my Kaweco 'Liliput' next week here on our blog (update--review later posted here), and the Benu probably next month or May.

My tiny Sailor 'Chalana' below my Cross 'Century' (a/k/a 'Century I', to distinguish it from the slightly-girthier 'Century II)'

Look at the difference in their nib sizes! (and yes, that's a gold nib on the little Sailor)

A tiny Sailor converter on the tiny Sailor 'Chalana'...

That's Phil's vintage Conway Stewart 'Dinkie' ringtop fountain pen below my Sailor. The Conway Stewart pen came with its original box, which was in fantastic condition for its age.

Above: Two more slim fountain pens Phil brought for our meeting theme---a modern Diplomat 'Magnum' and a grey vintage Esterbrook 'SJ' lever-filler that he found at the Vancouver Flea Market for $5! Phil also showed us his new Sheaffer Triumph 440.

Our meetings' secondary themes are always "Newest Acquisitions'. Those are Julienne's two lovely new Pilot fountain pens in the photo above--a black Pilot 'Custom 742' and a blue Pilot 'Custom 74', both purchased during her recent trip to Japan. Julienne also brought a chrome-plated Caran d'Ache 'Ecridor' for our meeting theme.

This is Vladan's gorgeous new Kilk 'Epigram' fountain pen. The resin is a beautiful shade of green and the pen looks even better in person, believe it or not! Oh, and in case you're wondering why we didn't have "Green Fountain Pens" as our March meeting theme, it's because we'd done that theme (at least) four times already :)

The Kilk fountain pen was designed and manufactured in Turkey and has a Latin motto on its sterling silver cap band--“Vincit Omnia Veritas”, which translates to “Truth Conquers All Things.”

Vintage fountain pen lover Christopher brought several slender fountain pens for us to see, including this Moore BCHR (black chased hard rubber) fountain pen (which he reviewed here) and the Webster BCHR ringtop below it (update - Christopher wrote a review about the Webster here).

He also brought along a very interesting Parker ringtop and a beautiful vintage all-metal Rexall 'Signet' fountain pen (the bottom two pens)...

(photo courtesy of April)

I was so distracted by the /amazing/ nibs on April's fountain pens that I forgot to photograph them, but she was kind enough to snap a photo of them for this blog post.
Photo above, top to bottom: Pilot 912 with AF nib, Jinhao 100 with replacement Wing Sung 629 nib, vintage Waterman 12 PSF in black hard rubber.

April also included some notes about the pens' wonderful nibs:
--Re: the Pilot 912 FA nib, April writes: "...(it has a) Spencerian grind (adding flex and regrinding to needlepoint) by Nibs.com (not by John Mottishaw himself but his students) - It has a lot of tipping materials left as a needlepoint grind, which I find very interesting."

 --Re: the Waterman 12 PSF:"It's a XXF nib with full flex capacity. The lever was replaced with a 3rd party part. That’s why it’s a different color than the clip. The 12 PSF was made between 1915 - 1917 and "PSF" stands for Pocket Self Filling, which was how Waterman called their lever filling system at that time. Later on, Waterman changed the naming system and used #5 on the decimal point to represent lever filling system. This 12 PSF was the precursor of the widely known Waterman 52 model."

--Re: the Jinhao 100 with replacement Wing Sung 629 nib that was modified by her friend in China: "The (nib's) flexibility was achieved by both chemical and physical modification. It was first chemically treated then it was reduced in thickness. Part of its shoulder was also cut off to increase flexibility."

(photo above & all photos below courtesy of Sherman)

Sherman couldn't make it to our meeting, but he's obviously a fan of slender fountain pens, as you can see by the group photo that he sent in for this blog post!

From left to right:
élysée Jewelry (90 Line) Bi-Color Barleycorn Gold & Platinum
élysée Jewelry (90 Line) Laque Intarsia Antique Greek Black
élysée Design (80 Line) Rolled Gold
élysée Design (80 Line) Laque Jade
élysée Design (80 Line) Laque Coral
élysée Classique (70 Line) Laque élysée
élysée Classique (70 Line) Laque Brown
élysée Classique (70 Line) Laque Cobra
élysée Classique (70 Line) Carré Gold
élysée Classique (70 Line) Barley Silver
élysée Spherical Finial (60 Line) Damascene Globetrotter Stainless Steel
élysée Spherical Finial (60 Line) Dynamic Steel GT (Gold Trim)
élysée Spherical Finial (60 Line) Dynamic Steel CT (Chrome Trim)
OMAS 88 Slim Line Champaign Black
Montblanc Slim Line Satin Black
Montblanc Slim Line Satin Blue
Montblanc Slim Line Satin Burgundy
Montblanc Slim Line Brushed Stainless Steel
Sheaffer® TRZ Model 63 Matte Burgundy
Cross Classic Century Chrome
S.T. Dupont Classique Laque de Chine
Waterman Exclusive Tortoise Shell Lacquer GT

Sherman adds: "I'd like to draw to your attention that the OMAS 88 (above) is really, really tiny and slim. It’s a really cute pen indeed. But if I knew it was that slim, I wouldn’t have bought it, I believe. But I was at the very beginning stage, so I didn’t even know the size impact even though the seller did reveal the measurements!"

(Above):"The nib of the Montblanc Slim Line did have at least two versions from my collection...

I like the one with the Montblanc logo on the nib."

"The Sheaffer TRZ (the stickered pen in the photo above) is also very slim; I had a hard time in finding a converter or cartridge. Glad that I bought both of them from Peyton Street Pens.

For the élysée, I would say the Design Line is quite small when you hold it. I did not take measurements, but I'm just sharing a handfeel. Maybe I should try to measure them, to validate my saying this.

In any case, I have all these as my slimmest collection so far. Enjoy." 

Thank you, April and Sherman, for sending in photos and notes about your pens, and many thanks to everyone who came to the meeting last week! It was great to see so many fountain pens that matched the meeting topic/theme, but please remember--even if you don't have anything that matches our monthly meeting themes (or any new acquisitions), come to the meetings anyway --they're all about having fun seeing, learning and talking about pen-related things in a casual setting!

**The date and venue of our April meeting will be posted on our blog as soon as I confirm them. Meeting information will always be posted at the top of each page on our website (in big red letters, so you can't miss it :)

(~ Blog post by Maja ~)