February 2011 meeting details

Many thanks to all who attended January's meeting at the White Spot in Oakridge, including our three new members-- Christopher, David and Mark. We had a nice turnout and saw many lovely examples of Aurora pens, both modern and vintage.

Speaking of Aurora, there is an interesting video (5 minutes long) on YouTube.com from the TV show "How It's Made" that shows how Aurora creates their pens, specifically the beautiful Aurora Optima. Link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMQ6oDoFE3w (turn on your computer speakers)

Now, here are the February meeting details:

Date: Thursday February 17, 2011.
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet & greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm (meeting).
Location: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (at 42nd Avenue), Vancouver.
Theme: "Decorative Pens-Maki-e, Lacquer, Enamel, Overlays & Hand-Painted"......and INK SWAP!

I'm sure we all have at least one bottle of fountain pen ink that sits on the shelf, gathering dust, lonely and unused....Well, bring it (and any other inks you don't want) with you to the meeting this month and trade with a fellow VPC member for ink/inks that you *will* use! (no obligation to bring any inks if you love and use *all* your inks, of course :) Bottles and cartridges for trade are both fine for the Ink Swap.

The main theme of the evening will be Decorative Pens, specifically ones that were made using the Maki-e process, lacquered or enamel pens, modern & vintage pens with overlays and hand-painted pens. Richard Binder's website (link: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/glossary/A.htm)has an excellent glossary if you aren't 100% familiar with some of terms above. As always, newest pen-related acquisitions are our secondary theme.

Hope to see a good turnout! No need to RSVP as the meeting is at our usual venue (ie. not at a restaurant). Many thanks, as always, to Richard of Perks pen store on Cambie Street for his ongoing support for our club!

Change of venue for January 2011 meeting

Happy New Year 2011!

Richard and his family will be taking a well-deserved holiday in Mexico next week, so the venue for our meeting on Thursday January 20th has been moved from Perks pen store to the WHITE SPOT restaurant inside Oakridge Mall (Oakridge Mall is located on 41st Ave & Cambie St. in central Vancouver). There is ample 4-hour free parking at Oakridge and the "Oakridge-41st Avenue" Skytrain stop is right in front of the mall.

Meeting time: 6:00pm-8:30pm

Richard has booked several tables (that can be pushed together to accommodate a large party of up to 20 people) in a separate dining area of the restaurant, with the agreement that some of us will be ordering food or drinks (which I think it pretty reasonable, given that we'll be in a restaurant :). Many thanks, Richard!

Don't forget to bring any Aurora writing instruments (pens, pencils, rollerballs) for our January theme, as well as any new acquisitions to show. Hope to see you there!
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Update-Oct 30, 2011---Just found a photo taken by Bill K. at the January 2011 meeting above. It was held at the White Spot restaurant in Oakridge Mall and I think we all had a good time---good food, good pens & good company!
(Click on photo to enlarge):

New pen book---Boxing week purchase

Just bought a great new pen book at the downtown Chapters store called "The Ultimate Books of Pens" by Barbro Garenfeld & Dietmar Geyer. It is 496 pages in length, in hardcover, is written in English, German and French (the text is side-by-side) and is lavishly illustrated with photos (many of which I have not seen in any pen book). I heartily recommend this tome, esp. since Chapters had it for $29.95 CAD (it scanned at $40.00 but the sticker said $29.95, so they gave it to me for the cheaper price). Get yours while they are still available! (there was a pile of them on the 2nd floor of the downtown Chapters on Robson, by the gift area). Update: Looks like some members got an even better deal as the hardcover version is now 30% off (ie. only $20.96 + tax!) due to a sale on all hardcover books at Chapters! Update to the Update... Two copies left at the Robson Street store as of January 27th, but the sticker price says $49.99 now

Season's Greetings!

Just a small reminder that there will be no December VPC meeting due to the holidays, but we will return to our regular schedule (meetings on the third Thursday of the month) in January 2011!

Next meeting: Thursday January 20, 2011
Meeting Theme: "A" is for Aurora (Aurora pens ~ Vintage & Modern)
Place: The usual place---Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie St, Vancouver, B.C.
WHITE SPOT restaurant inside Oakridge Mall, Vancouver, B.C (basically, across the street from Richard's store!)....See new blog post from January 11th for further details.
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm 6:00pm-8:30pm

Have a safe & happy holiday season!
~Maja

VPC on CBC (radio)!

VPC's own Michael Assaly will be on CBC Radio One's "Early Edition" radio program tomorrow (Friday) at 7:15am, promoting fountain pens & the Vancouver Pen Club!

The show is on 88.1FM and 690AM so tune in to listen to Michael's live interview at 7:15am. If you like to sleep in (like I do), you can listen to the archive of the broadcast on their website (link here: http://www.cbc.ca/earlyedition/) but it will only be available for a limited time (five days, or possibly less) (Update: the segment with Mike starts at approximately 1:31:09---great job, Michael!). Many thanks in advance to Mike for doing the radio interview and promoting our club.

Don't forget our last meeting of 2010 will be held on Thursday November 18th at Perks pen store on Cambie Street in Vancouver at 6:30pm (see previous post for meeting details). If you don't have any "Bling" (flashy) pens for our monthly meeting theme, please feel free to bring any new acquisitions (new pens/inks/paper) or any pens you wish to show. Hope to see a good turnout!

November meeting details---our last meeting of 2010!

Date: Thursday November 18, 2010
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet& greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm meeting
Location: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, B.C
Theme: "BLING PENS" (no, this isn't some obscure German vintage brand,
but, rather, what you might call "flashy" or "bejeweled" pens).

Many thanks to Bruce R. for coming up with the topic. The holiday season is fast approaching, so this theme might help some of you come up with items to put on your "Wish Lists". Please note: we won't be having a December meeting due to the holiday season, but will resume meetings in January 2011.

Diamine Inks at Perks store on Cambie Street!

Yes, the Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street in Vancouver now carries Diamine fountain pen ink!

This English-made (in Liverpool) fountain pen ink is highly regarded among fountain pen users and at $13.50 per 80mL bottle, it's a great deal. Richard at Perks just got in a shipment containing 22 different colours and they won't last long.......so come on down to Perks on Cambie Street and pick up a bottle (or more) today!

Rhodia lined pads and pad holders review

Hey, folks - I just wrote my very first stationery review, of Rhodia's lined pads and pad holders (Quo Vadis Canada sent me an #11 and a #16 for review), so I wanted to show it off while beaming like a proud new parent.

You can find it here!

Frankenpens etc. - our October meeting

Ever wonder how to fix that pen you can no longer get parts for? Maja had some answers to this question in her wonderful presentation at our October meeting on 'Frankenpens' - mixing and matching pen parts. For example, Waterman nibs will go into a lot of non-vintage, non-Waterman pens. And Esterbrook nibs, which are screw-fit, will fit British Osmiroid pens. A Cross 'Solo' nib-section will fit into the Parker ‘Big Red’ rollerball, turning it into a fountain pen. Those cheap Iridium nibs will fit into many brands, too. She has even found a way to get a standard Bic refill to work in her vintage Eversharp Skyline ballpoint. The secret, Maja says, is to experiment. You might be pleasantly surprised at the results.

As for our other theme, 'orange pens', Maja took top honours on that too with all her bright selection of fall colours. Plus as always, there were plenty of new pens on show.

Thanks everyone for being there and making it yet another great meeting. See you next month!

October meeting --- themes: "Frankenpens" and "Orange Pens" (in honour of Hallowe'en)

Here are the October VPC meeting details:

Date: Thursday October 21, 2010

Time 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet & greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm (approx.) meeting

Location: Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Ave.) in Vancouver, B.C., across from Oakridge Mall and just one block from the "Oakridge-41st Ave" Skytrain stop.

In honour of Hallowe'en, the primary theme for this meeting will be "FRANKENPENS" (many thanks to Bruce R. for the suggestion). For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, a "Frankenpen" is a pen that is made of components from more than one pen, in much the same way that literary figure Dr. Victor Frankenstein created his Monster from various body parts. To give you an example, I have a Parker 'Big Red' ballpoint that I fitted with a Cross "Solo" nib-section unit to create a nifty-looking fountain pen. Other examples I own are: an Epenco fountain pen fitted with a vintage Waterman nib and a modern rollerball pen fitted with a nib-section unit from a modern fountain pen. The possibilities are (almost) endless....so bring along some examples of pens you've put together from parts.

As a secondary theme we will have "ORANGE PENS" (again, in honour of Hallowe'en) so if you don't have any Frankenpens, bring along an orange pen or two (or more-----I love the colour orange!)....or your latest writing-instrument-related acquisition (new ink/paper/pens/etc).
A photo taken during the October 21st meeting (courtesy of Richard)