Still Life in a Coffee Shop

Still Life in a Coffee Shop
Originally uploaded by Tim Conklin

Here's a random photo I took way back in November 2005. It shows one of my favourite pens, in fact, it is probably the most reliable and hard-working pens I own. This photo comes from my flickr.com photo sharing site, and it's the most popular of my photos. I guess people like to look at it. -- Tim Conklin

VPC Invited to Bellingham for October Meeting of Seattle Pen Club

The VPC has been invited to attend the Bellingham meeting of the Seattle Pen Club October 18th. The meeting will get going around eleven o'clock at a downtown grocery store/coffee shop. Let's discuss this at our September meeting and perhaps we'll be able to organize a fieldtrip down south. Do give this some thought. It would be fun if we could get a group together to attend this Saturday meeting.

VPC Announces September Meeting

The next meeting of the VPC (and the first of the 2008/09 season) will be Thursday 18 September at Perks Pens on Cambie @ 42nd across from Oakridge Centre. If you come at six o'clock, you'll have time to grab something to eat and drink before our official 6:30 start time. We will try to finish up by 8:30.

Because September is back to school month, the theme for this meeting is school pens. Please bring a pen that you think would be an ideal "school pen". Any other pen or recent acquisition you would like to share is, of course, always welcome, as well.

Hope to see you there! -- Tim Conklin, VPC Prez

A Picture from our Last Meeting

From left to right: Richard Clarke, Kirsten O. , Amanda B. , Maja Furlong, Sabrina Sasaki, Tim Conklin. Photo was taken May 15th, 2008 at Perks Pens.

.

Here I am doing serious research for VPC in Brisbane, Australia. Yes I'm wearing a coat, because it's still winter there in August. I didn't buy much there because it's darned expensive, but it's interesting to see what they have and we don't. See you all at the September meeting and I'll show you what I did get.

VPC to Start New Season in September

Get ready everybody to begin another exciting season of VPC meetings commencing in September. While specific details are still being worked out as of this writing, you can plan on the following schedule: Meetings the third Thursday of every month from September through May with no meeting in December. Meetings will probably start around six or six thirty and we hope to maintain our current venue -- Perks Pens on Cambie (@ 42nd).

Check this space for updates and details. Cheers!

Portland Pen Show July 11-13, 2008

Just a little reminder about the upcoming Portland Pen Show (www.portlandpenshow.com). This is a wonderful opportunity for both newcomers to the hobby and seasoned experts to mingle, buy, sell and trade writing instruments (both vintage and modern) and attend free educational seminars on everything from pen repairs to calligraphic writing to tips on pen collecting in general.

I plan to travel down on the 10th so I can be there for the Friday bargains (open to dealers and those with a $50 full-weekend pass only). I try to go every year because the show is the closest one to Vancouver... and also because the folks that organize the show do such a darned good job of making sure everyone has an enjoyable time.

The pen show coincides with America's largest antique show (the Palmer/Wirfs antique show, being held on the Portland Expo grounds), so how many more excuses do you need to head down to Portland that weekend??
Hope to see you there! (I'll be the one drooling over the vintage Sheaffer pens for sale ;)

Photos from this year's Portland Pen Show show added:

(Fellow VPC member Mike A. inspecting some pens for sale by Ray Kuncz and his wife Louise on the show's last day)

(A lovely selection of Parker fountain pens for sale by the friendly dealers at Ink-Pen.com)

Don't take this too seriously...

...But am I the only one with a nostalgic affection for the Bic Classic? Humblest of the cheap throwaway ball-points, this pen was introduced in 1950 by Marcel Biche, in France, and remains virtually unchanged since.

The Bic’s runny and uneven ink flow graced many a school notebook of mine in the 1960s. And this is where nostalgia kicks in. As anyone knows, ballpoint tips wear down with use. It’s only in the last stage of the refill’s life that it loses its typical uniform, uninteresting ballpoint line and spreads to a glorious, rich, runny blobbiness.

Call me perverse, but I like that last inch of a Bic the best. So naturally it occurred to me that it should be possible to put a new ink tube on an old tip, and if course it is. It’s easy to pull the Bic refill apart, keep the old worn tip, and slip in just the ink reservoir from a new one. You might have to blow gently down the top of the tube to prevent an air bubble forming as you press the two parts together. Then you have a fresh Bic that will be runny all the way down! It won’t last as long as a new one, but of course Bics are cheap! Only be warned that the tip will break down completely in time, and start to leak horrendously after you’ve used it about five times. Then it’s time to start another one.

Namiki Vanishing Point

Here’s a plug for a pen shop I must pass along. I was looking for a Namiki Vanishing Point, and Maja recommended Oscar Braun, who are in the Detroit area of USA. She said their prices and service both are second to none. So I checked them out, and can only agree in both respects. I received my pen promptly, and at a very good price. Their website is:

http://www.oscarbraunpens.com/

While not a heavy-duty pen collector, I knew I had to have the VP after seeing another member’s. This pen necessarily has quite a heavy barrel, but I like that, plus I was fascinated by the mechanism, as well as the history of this pen – it being virtually unchanged since its arrival in the mid 1960s.

Here it is stripped down. Really it's just a very thin fountain pen, enclosed in a retractable body. And yes, there's a little hatch that closes behind the nib to prevent it drying out.

Come one, come all! (May 2008 meeting of the VPC)

Date: Thursday May 15th, 2008
Time: 6:00 pm -- "Meet & Greet"; 6:30 pm-- Start of meeting
Place: Perks pen shop, 5844 Cambie St (at 42nd), Vancouver (across from Oakridge Mall...same place as last month's meeting)
Theme: Pens you would never sell ...or the first pen you bought for a future pen collection
If you have a sentimental favourite, or a pen that was the start of a collection (or both), please bring it/them to the meeting, along with any other pen-related items that you'd like to show to the other members...

Thanks in advance to Richard Clarke of Perks (www.perksperks.com) for volunteering to host the meeting at his fabulous pen store. This might be the last meeting before the VPC summer break so I hope we get a good turnout.