Los Angeles pen show report - part 2 (new faces)

(To clear up any possible confusion...The 2015 L.A. Pen Show ran from Thursday Feb 12th up to & including Sunday Feb 15th. The Sunday was the only public day; the other days were for dealers & traders only)

I've always maintained that at least half the fun of attending a pen show is the people, and this year's amazing show in L.A. only reinforced my belief. Part two of this report is about some folks I've never had the pleasure of meeting until last month's show. For example, I've been buying pens from Lisa & Brian Anderson of Anderson Pens for years, but never had a chance to meet them in person until I went to L.A.

(That's me--Maja--with Brian & Lisa ~ Click on photos to enlarge ~)

They are among the nicest people you'll ever meet...and know their stuff when it comes to writing instruments, both vintage and modern. It was a pleasure talking to them and seeing their professionalism in action when dealing with customers. Brian & Lisa --- many thanks for the TWSBI pen & cool Retro 51 pencil!

Oh, and this is what they brought to L.A:

Another pen person I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time was Dan Smith, from FPGeeks . Dan & I have traded emails and letters, but I've never talked to him face-to-face until we met up at the show. Dan is a great guy and is just as funny and personable as he is on those "FPGeeks TV" podcasts you might have watched.

I didn't have a chance to talk to Eric Schneider of FPGeeks, but he swung by the Andersons' table and I got him to pose with Lisa for a quick shot:

And here's a photo of Lisa with Dan:

It was nice to finally meet Bryant Greer of Chatterley Luxuries . I'd been buying lovely Italian pens from Bryant for many years, so it was great to chat with him and see what pens he brought with him to the L.A. show.

As you can see, he brought a lot!

That's me with Ross Cameron of YAFA .Ross helped our pen club import the gorgeous Delta Delta Dolcevita Caruso Vancouver Pen Club limited edition pens from Italy late last year, so it was nice to thank him in person!

YAFA had a really nice display at the L.A. show, as you can see:

I forgot to photograph the one-and-only Susan Wirth, she of the famous pen show calendar , but I had fun chatting with her on the first day of the L.A. show. To be honest, I was a bit overwhelmed by the size of the show and didn't photograph much until day three! Here's Susan's display from this year's L.A. show. It's is very "user-friendly" and consists of tables & chairs and inked pens ready for potential buyers to try---a great idea!

I feel really badly for not photographing the awesome new friends from FPN (the Fountain Pen Network) I met on Saturday (day three)--- Amberlea ("amberleadavis" on FPN) and Frank ("Frank C") from Vegas, Steve ("stevesurf") from Arizona and Pierre ("PrestoTenebroso") from Chicago. Amberlea was kind enough to invite me to join them for dinner at a great sushi place in Manhattan Beach on Valentine's Day. Thanks for making my day, guys, and thank you very much for the meal, Steve ;) Incidentally, Pierre is the man behind the amazing creations at Desiderata Pens. I had the pleasure of trying one of his amazing flexy-nibbed fountain pens at the dinner, and I was suitably impressed. Well done, Pierre!

Here is the ink specially made for FPN by Noodler's that Amber was selling at the pen show, on behalf of FPN. She drove down from Vegas with her daughter Eleanor (a very cool fountain pen person in her own right :) on Saturday and spent the day promoting the FPN website and the three FPN Noodler's inks--Noodler's Galileo Manuscript Brown, Noodler's Van Gogh Starry Night Blue and Noodler's Dumas Tulip Noire:

Amberlea had the great idea of pre-filling fountain pens with the various FPN inks (the red pens below), so that people could try them out on paper. She also brought some Noodler's ink made for Dromgoole's pen shop in Houston, Texas, including Noodler's Texas Live Oak (a lovely dark green ink) and Noodler's The Alamo's Twilight (a very interesting dark red ink):

Many thanks for the ink, Amberlea, and for your thoughtfulness in including me in your group's dinner plans; I had a blast! :)

Part three of my L.A. pen show report coming later today (March 14)...! (Update: Part 3 was posted on a bit late---a few minutes after midnight on March 15th!)

Los Angeles Pen Show report - part 1 (the loot)

Half the fun of attending a pen show is meeting and hanging out with like-minded pen folks, but I thought I'd start my L.A. Pen Show report by posting some photos of the stuff I bought there ( ~ Click on photos to enlarge ~ ).

In addition to the fountain pens and pencils below, I bought some Noodler's Ink specially made for Fountain Pen Network (the Van Gogh "Starry Night" and "Dumas Tulipe Noire") as well as a bottle of ink from Scribe's Pens and a nice brown leather "Girologio" 3-pen case from Matt at Toys From the Attic:

Group photo below (from left to right): a nifty Retro 51 Crossword mechanical pencil from Anderson Pens, a Romet Asia fountain pen in the "Pomegranate" design, a Stipula Gaudi 'Casa Batllo' Limited Edition fountain pen from Penquest , a pink Pelikan 'Pelikano' fountain pen (purchased from fellow VPC member Dave Moffat), a Sheaffer 'NoNonsense' fountain pen and Pelikan "Twist" fountain pen from Sherrell Tyree of Ink-Pen.com, and a cool vintage mechanical pencil by Ritepoint with advertising for Orange Crush on it (also from Dave---thanks, Dave!).

(photo below) A TWSBI 580 Aluminum (580AL) fountain pen, purchased from the awesome Andersons (Brian & Lisa) of Anderson Pens.

(photo below) A lovely all-metal Kosca button-filler, purchased from Peter Crook of Carneil Pens in Scotland. Probably my best deal from the whole pen show---only $60 for this lovely fountain pen!

Sometimes you find a pen you've been seeking for a long time, and other times you find something you never knew you really wanted... until you saw it in person. The former pen is the red Romet Asia in the red "Pomegranate" pattern (see photo below) . I'd been looking for this discontinued model for ages, with no success. I spotted it on the first day of the L.A. Pen Show but didn't buy it. Why? I have no idea, but I won't do that again! I found it again on day two and quickly purchased it. It's fitted with a 1.1mm Conklin stub nib but I don't mind---it's a gorgeous pen that has been on my Wish List since I saw it online a few years ago.

The Stipula Gaudi 'Casa Batllo' LE (in the same photo as the Romet pen below) was purchased from Kim Sosin of Penquest.com, a respected pen seller from whom I'd bought many pens in the past. I visited Barcelona with my husband in '98 and saw the building that inspired this pen, so I jumped at the chance to acquire it. It's a gorgeous writer with a responsive 14K Stipula white gold nib. My particular fountain pen is #147/193.

Part 2 of my pen show report coming soon! (Update: part 2 has been posted today---Sat March 14!)
Thanks for reading
~ Maja

Late edit: I forgot to include a couple of cool print ads I got from Pendemonium, and a nice vintage Parker '51' box I bought from Sule S! Here they are....

(Not pictured---the Parker '51' book by David & Mark Shepherd, also purchased from Sam & Frank at Pendemonium. I purchased the book as a gift for my good friend Glenn in Australia. Happy birthday in advance, Glenn! :)

Some photos from our February meeting

Many thanks to Richard, our pen club host at Perks pen store, for snapping some photos during our February meeting. I was attending the big pen show in Los Angeles (I'll post a report about it, here on our blog, later this week) and couldn't make it to our meeting, so I was glad that he took a few photos to document the event. Grateful thanks also to longtime VPCer Bruce Reeves for leading the meeting in my absence.

We had several new members in attendance---Catherine S, Michael Q, and Richard D. Also in attendance were two guests---author Ted Bishop (his website) who was in town to read from his newest work The Social Life of Ink, and Evy van Nobelen, veterinarian and artist-in-ink from Whitehorse (her blog). Nice to see that Leo C. from Edmonton was able to attend another meeting of ours. Thank you to all members (new & old) and visitors for coming!

Our February meeting topic was "Vacation Pens" and of the examples brought in for this topic, Bruce writes "...there were many differing views on what to bring on vacation – ranging from pencils to near-disposable fountain pens to top-of-the-line Italian celluloid." Before I left for L.A, I wrote and told Bruce my three "Vacation Pen" choices--a Lamy Safari fountain pen (they're durable--made of ABS plastic---and light), my Sailor Sapporo fountain pen (it's small in the pocket, but a decent size when posted; also has a gold nib), and my new Levenger True Writer ballpoint in the "Bouquet" pattern (because you need a ballpoint in order to write on postcards---a fountain pen just won't cut it! ). As for ink, I'd take my Noodler's #41 Brown--a great shade of brown that is also waterproof.

Quick reminder: our next meeting will be held at the same place (Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street) & time (6:30pm-8:30pm) on Thursday March 19th and the topic will be "Green Fountain Pens".

(~Click on photos to enlarge ~)

(Photo above: Ted Bishop, with his new book, The Social Life of Ink)

(Photo above: VPC member Mark Harcourt, with his newest acquisition)

March meeting information

Date: Thursday March 19, 2015
Place: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm, to chat before the meeting).
Theme: Green Fountain Pens!
We did this topic a few years ago (6 years ago, to be precise), so I thought we'd re-use it now, in honour of St. Patrick's Day. Please bring any fountain pens that relate to the theme. Our secondary theme is always "Newest Acquisitions" so if you have any new pen-related stuff to show, please bring it with you for us to see. I'll bring along the stuff I bought at the Los Angeles Pen Show last month and let you know how it went (I had a blast :)

February meeting details

Date: Thursday February 19, 2015
Place: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm, to chat before the meeting).
Theme: Vacation Pens---If you could only take 3 pens on vacation, which 3 would they be, and why? And what ink would you travel with? (Many thanks to Charles for the topic idea!)

Please bring any pens that relate to the theme to the meeting above. I think we can include non-fountain-pen writing instruments (ballpoints, rollerballs, etc) for this topic; I know I always bring a ballpoint with me on vacation because fountain pen ink and glossy postcards don't work well together (fountain pen ink always smears!) Our secondary theme is always "Newest Acquisitions" so if you have any new pen-related stuff to show, please bring it with you for us to see. Hope you can make it!

Our very own pen - the Vancouver Pen Club Delta Dolcevita Caruso!

I can't say enough good things about this gorgeous fountain pen, specially created for our pen club by Delta Pen. It is, quite simply, a stunning piece of workmanship and Italian design.

For the full story on how this beautiful limited edition piston-filler was made for us, please check out Glenn Marcus' online article (with better photos than mine) here.

Many thanks to Delta's President Nino Marino and designer extraordinaire Salvatore Matrone for producing this pen---Grazie mille!--- and to Ross Cameron at YAFA, Delta's distributor in North America, for getting the pens safely to us in Vancouver. Last but not least, many thanks to our fellow VPC member Glenn Marcus for his tireless efforts, and to Richard Clarke of Perks pen store (our pen club host) for importing the pens on our behalf.

Without further ado, here is my lovely pen, number 07/25...

~Click on photos to enlarge~

Delta had our club's initials engraved on the cap top, at our request.

The sumptuous celluloid material takes on different hues under different lighting conditions; in this low light, it appears to be composed of mostly dark brown shades...

In brighter light, the different shades of brown are easier to distinguish...

In very bright natural light, the celluloid material takes on even richer, warm brown tones...

The orange & black pen in two of the photos is the gorgeous Delta Dolcevita Slim that Delta sent me last year (I did a write-up on it here). Both pens are wonderful to use---the Fine "Fusion" nib on my Dolcevita Slim is lovely to write with, and the Stub "Fusion" nib on my new Limited Edition VPC pen is silky smooth. My orange two-pen case (shown above) is part of Delta's Markiaro leather line of pen accessories.

~Photos and blog post by Maja Furlong~

Photos from January meeting

A total of 29 VPC members turned up for our January 2015 meeting, whose theme was "Fountain Pens Marketed To Specific Genders". Many thanks to all our members (including new members Bill M. and Muhammad) who attended - both those who brought in pens for this topic and those who showed up just to listen and learn.

Oh, and just a quick reminder---you don't have to bring in examples for our monthly topics in order to attend a meeting! Our club was formed primarily to share our knowledge & enthusiasm for fountain pens...and our meetings are pretty casual (as befits our West Coast lifestyle ;)

(click on individual photos to enlarge ~ all "people photos" by Richard, pen photos by Maja)

The topic was well-represented with examples by the "Big Four" vintage pen companies (Parker, Sheaffer, Wahl-Eversharp and Waterman), as well as some modern fountain pens. Many thanks again to Stuart for the topic idea. Stuart brought in a wide variety of pens, foremost of which was his ever-growing Lady Sheaffer collection. These clipless fountain pens were introduced in 1958 and came in a wide range of finishes and patterns, as you can see in the photo below:

(from L-R) Mido, Penny, Derek and Ralph listen to Stuart's short talk on the evening's topic:

In addition to the Lady Sheaffers, Stuart also brought a Aurora Style Gemstone fountain pen in the Rose Quartz Pink finish, two vintage Wahl-Eversharp Skylines in the smaller "Demi" size, a Lamy Safari in the "Neon Coral" colour, a Sheaffer Agio Compact (?) in a purple pastel colour, a Sheaffer Tuckaway (a pen model made to be carried in men's trouser pockets), a Sheaffer Balance with so-called "military clip" (more on that below), a Sheaffer Imperial and a Sheaffer "Pen For Men". These pens (in addition to one more Lady Sheaffer--the orangey-red pen) can be seen in the photo below (listed from L-R in the pen case):

There's that Sheaffer Balance with military clip I mentioned earlier. There's a nice write-up on them at Richard Binder's informative website here. The article mentions that Sheaffer started putting military clips on some of their "Balance" line of pens in the year 1941. The wrap-around clip (which was not attached to the front of the pen at all) was a design triumph in that it was both functional and elegant:

Mark Harcourt, the resident pen repairperson at Perks, showed us some lovely examples of smaller-sized vintage Parkers, presumably made for their female customers:

VPCer Rohit brought in a Schrade Tactical fountain pen, a decidedly masculine-looking writing instrument made of aluminum, that can also be used for self-defense. Yes, there exists such a creature!!

In addition to the pens he brought for the topic (shown in the blog post below), Derek brought in a lovely "Parker Pen" makeup powder compact:

Last but certainly not least (and completely unrelated to the evening's topic)...Here's a very quick shot of VPC member James K. trying out his brand-new Delta fountain pen Vancouver Pen Club LE (Limited Edition), a pen specially made for our club by Delta Pen of Naples, Italy. Happily, the pens arrived just in time for our January meeting! More about that in a separate post coming up :)

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday February 19th at the usual place and time (6:30pm-8:30pm or so, at Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street in Vancouver, BC). February's topic will be announced at the end of this month, so please check back then!

Lady Pens.

Fountain Pens Marketed To Specific Genders was the theme of our last meeting.

I presented a Parker Lady Duofold along with a magazine ad from 1931.

Here is the ad and a photograph of the same model pen. In the photo I've included a tiny 18 kt gold filled Peter Pan and a well made unknown brand hard-rubber and gold plate pen and a Parker Duofold Senior, for scale.

(This ad is courtesy of Nathaniel Cerf of The Pen Market in Illinois <http://www.thepenmarket.com>.

I expect these tiny pens were designed for a ladies purse. Many pen companies advertised lady sized pens in the same style of the Lady Duofold. Parker also advertised a smaller Duofold as the vest pocket pen, for mens waistcoats.

There's another ad I found in my collection, a Canadian one from 1953 that tells us the sex of the Parker 51.

Cheers,
Derek

Happy National Handwriting Day (Jan 23, 2015)!

From this page on the website of the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association (WIMA): "The purpose of National Handwriting Day is to alert the public to the importance of handwriting. According to WIMA, National Handwriting Day is a chance for all of us to re-explore the purity and power of handwriting."

Coincidentally, one of my fellow VPC members (Barry K) just sent me this article a day ago :)

Christmas present

(click on image to enlarge)

Happy New Year, everyone!! Here's a quick shot of my new Conklin 'Duragraph' fountain pen with factory stub (italic) nib, a Christmas 2014 present from my parents. I love the "cracked ice" design!