Staples bagasse paper, Cross Townsend Medalist

For anyone who's been reading the FPN posts on the new Staples bagasse ("Eco-Friendly") paper, it's available at the Staples on West Broadway near Granville. They have notebooks, three-ring binder refills, and pads. The paper takes fountain pen ink quite nicely and also dries more quickly than something dense like Clairefontaine or Rhodia.

It's not perfect - there can be a bit of bleed with really wet-writing pens and the paper also tends to rumple up a bit - but it's a lot cheaper than a lot of the alternatives and I think it's definitely worth checking out.

I'll try to remember to bring one of the books to the next VPC meeting.

That Staples also has a single Cross Townsend Medalist for $87, which is a good deal considering the online price seems to be more like US $110-120. There were two but I bought one of them. I may post a couple of pictures. First impressions are good - it's been a little bit skippy but a flush helped, and the M nib is very smooth and actually a little bit stublike. It's a heavy metal-bodied pen, but most of the weight's in the cap and it balances quite nicely in the hand unposted. The nib and trim are gold-plated steel.

Lamy Studio at Perks

Thanks Maja for reminding me - I couldn't resist going back down there and getting one of the Lamy Studios. Basic black for me, as shown - my favourite if unimaginative colour for pens - but Richard tells me there are some nice bright coloured ones there just waiting especially for you!

Designer Writing Instruments of the Twentieth Century

Here is Mike A's introduction to the topic on which he will be giving a short presentation at this Thursday's meeting.

Designer Writing Instruments of the Twentieth Century

My interest in fountain pens began not long ago when I was fortunate to have inherited my father's Parker 51. This pen was a gift he received from my mother when they were dating in the late 1940's.

In my search for someone to repair this pen I discovered a whole world of writing instrument enthusiasts.

One day perusing The Fountain Pen Network I saw the mention of a pen designed by Raymond Loewy. As a fan of twentieth century industrial design and an owner of a Rosenthal china set designed by Loewy I knew I would have to have an Eversharp Symphony.

I soon discovered that many prominent designers had been commissioned to design writing instruments. This became the focus of my collection. I will be discussing this aspect of industrial design at our January meeting.

Here is a list of pens by major designers; I hope that if you own any of these you will bring them to show.

Aurora 88
Aurora Sele
Aurora Hastil
Aurora Thesi
Aurora Kona
Eversharp Skyline
Eversharp Fifth Avenue
Eversharp Symphony
Lamy 2000
Lamy CP1
Lamy ST
Lamy Unic
Lamy Persona
Montblanc No.12
Montblanc No.14
Omas Tokyo
Parker 25
Pelikan Colani
Pelikan P80
Waterman's Hundred Year Pen
Waterman C/F















Photo taken after Mike's excellent presentation on Designer Writing Instruments of the Twentieth Century at the January 2009 VPC meeting.
From L-R: Richard, Bruce, Graham, Bill, Derek, Maja, Mike, Christopher, Tim, Frank and Dave.

Happy New Year! (and new meeting announcement)

Now that the holiday season is behind us, we are resuming our monthly Vancouver Pen Club meetings, starting with this Thursday's meet-up:

Date: Thursday 15 January 2009
Time: 6:00pm - "Meet & Greet"; 6:30pm - Start of meeting
Location: Perks pen store on Cambie @ 42nd St, across from Oakridge mall
Theme: Industrial designers and the pens they created (***See list in post above and please bring any examples to the meeting***)


We are very pleased to announce that Mike A. has kindly agreed to do a short presentation on this topic at this Thursday's meeting, so I hope we get a good turnout.
As always, if you have any new writing instruments/ inks/paper/ephemera that you've recently acquired, please bring them to the meeting for our informal "Show & Tell".

Hope to see you there!

Sabrina Sasaki Wins the Door Prize

Originally uploaded by Tim Conklin

VPC Members at their November Meeting

Another picture from our November meeting.
Originally uploaded by Tim Conklin

VPC Members at the November Meeting

Originally uploaded by Tim Conklin

VPC Members Enjoy a Lighter Moment

Here's a picture from our November meeting. We had a great time. You should have been there.
Originally uploaded by Tim Conklin

VPC Members Attend the Bellingham Meeting of the Seattle Pen Club

VPC Members Attend the Bellingham Meeting of the Seattle Pen Club
Originally uploaded by Tim Conklin

Here is a recent picture of some of our members who took a roadtrip to Bellingham. You'll see Bill Kempton, Maja Furlong, Tim Conklin and Dave Moffatt in the photo.

VPC Announces November Meeting

The Vancouver Pen Club announces its November meeting as follows:

Date: Thursday 20 November 2008
Time: 6:00 for "happy hour" (meet & greet) and 6:30 for meeting start
Location: Perks Pens on Cambie @ 42nd across from Oakridge Centre
Theme: Deserted Island Pen/Ink/Paper -- if you were marooned on an island with only one fountain pen, some paper and one bottle of ink, which would you hope to have with you?

Alternatively, bring your look alikes. You know, those "off-brand" pens that were designed to look just like a more famous pen. Probably the most imitated pen is the Parker 51. How many other pen manufacturers tried to copy the design features of that pen? Let's see what you've got.

Hope to see you all next Thursday. -- Tim Conklin