.

Here's a picture of us all after a great dinner at Moxie's on Davie St. Thanks to Maja for organising it, to Richard who normally hosts our meetings in his store, Perks, to all our great members - oh, and thanks Mike for directing our waitress to compose this shot so artistically.

Recommended book

Hi All - I just picked this up from the Richmond Chapters. It's a history of handwriting: "Script and Scribble" by Kitty Burns Florey. Very good for the price too, reduced to $4.99 At the time I was there, they had a stack of these on the sale table.

A little departure from our usual venue---September 2010 meeting details

As a little departure from our regular venue, September's VPC meeting will be held at Moxie's Classic Grill restaurant on Davie Street in downtown Vancouver as a little "thank you" for our VPC host, Richard Clarke of Perks pen shop.

Here are the details:
Date: Thursday September 16th, 2010
Time: 7:00pm to (???)
Place: Moxie's Classic Grill restaurant (in the Sandman hotel),
1160 Davie St (between Thurlow & Bute)
Vancouver, BC
Tel# (604) 678-8043
Meeting theme: Newest Acqusitions (new pens/paper/inks/accessories you've acquired lately).

*** Please RSVP by emailing us at vancouverpenclub@gmail.com as I have to re-confirm table space with the folks at Moxie's. I have tentatively reserved a large table for 12 (VPC history buffs, take note: this is the table where the very first VPC meeting was held!)

Photo taken at the first VPC meeting---December 7, 2006:

August meeting information (Theme: "Parker By the Numbers")

Photos taken during August 2010 VPC meeting--many thanks to photographer Tristan

(click on photos to enlarge))




















Date: Thursday August 19, 2010

Time 6:30pm-8:30pm (if you'd like to come a bit early to socialize, that's perfectly fine, too!)

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

The theme for this meeting will be "PARKER BY THE NUMBERS" (many thanks to Michael for another great meeting theme/topic). As many of you know, the Parker Pen Company produced many numbered pen models, such as the famous Parker '51' pen as well as the later classics such as the Parker '61', '45' and '75' (among others). If you have any examples of numbered Parker models (fountain pens/pencils/ballpoints), please bring them with you to the meeting to show. Numbered models include the: 15, 17, 19, 21, 25, 35, 41, 45, 50, 51, 61, 65, 71, 75, 85, 88, 95, 100, 105 and 180.
www.parkercollector.com is a great website run by Parker expert Tony Fischier that has entries for all of the above Parker models (and many, many more) and is very useful and informative.

Our secondary theme is always NEWEST ACQUISITIONS so if you have any new pen-related items (pens, inks, paper, accessories) you'd like to show, bring them to the meeting.

July meeting details

Date: Thursday July 15, 2010 Time 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet & greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm (approx.) meeting Location: The usual place---Perks pen store at 5844 Cambie Street (@42nd ave.) in Vancouver, across from Oakridge Mall (one block from the "Oakridge-41st Ave" Skytrain stop) The theme for this meeting will be "PEN PACKAGING & STORAGE" (suggested by VPC member Graham---thanks for the great idea, Graham!). Please bring examples of interesting/unusual pen packaging (ie. the original boxes that the manufacturers made for their pens) as well as the types of things *you* use for storing your writing instruments. No, I don't mean those nice big display cases, but things like small leather pen cases, pen "briefcases", zippered nylon pen cases....that sort of thing. I am always fascinated by the things folks use to store their pens. Some people have converted old cigar cases to pen storage boxes. I've been using a small case made for eyeglasses (reading glasses) that I bought for $5.00 at the local dollar store; it only holds one pen but it is lined with velour and protects the pen inside nicely. Our secondary theme is always NEWEST ACQUISITIONS so if you have any new pen-related items (pens, inks, paper, accessories) you'd like to show, bring them to the meeting. If anyone has any ink sampler cards for Richard that they forgot to bring to the June meeting, please bring them with you on the 15th. Thanks to all who have already submitted their ink samples; I saw some of them and I think they will be very useful for Perks customers who are looking for ink to buy. A big shout-out to Charlene of the W. Broadway Office Depot store who donated the card stock for the ink samplers. Hope to see you on the 15th!

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

June 2010 meeting details

Well, we've decided to go with monthly meetings during the summer months, so here are the details re: the upcoming June meeting:

Date: Thursday June 17, 2010

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

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

The theme for this meeting will be FOUNTAIN PEN FILLING SYSTEMS (suggested by VPC member Bruce R---thanks for the idea, Bruce!). Please bring examples of fountain pens with various filling systems/mechanisms---eg. cartridge/converter-fillers, piston-fillers, lever-fillers, button-fillers, eyedropper-fillers, aerometric-fillers, Snorkel-fillers, Touchdown-fillers, Vacumatics ..the list goes on and on!

Our secondary theme is always NEWEST ACQUISITIONS so if you have any new pen-related items (pens, inks, paper, accessories) you'd like to show, bring them to the meeting.

Thanks in advance and hope to see you on the 17th!

Frontier PC sells fountain pens?

Who knew? They don't seem to have a whole lot - a few sub-$100 Parkers, Pilots (including the now-discontinued Knight at ~$55), and Crosses, as well as a few inks, mostly cartridges - but they do have stuff in-stock at their local warehouses. I stumbled across it while searching for ink.

Anyway, I searched for "fountain" here: http://www.frontierpc.com/

Summer meeting(s) added, May meeting details....and more!

In the past, we've traditionally ended our pen club "season" in May, and then resumed our meetings in September (after a three-month hiatus), however.............by popular demand WE ARE EXTENDING OUR PEN CLUB SEASON BY HAVING A JUNE MEETING, AND (MORE THAN LIKELY) MEETINGS IN JULY & AUGUST, AS WELL

Now, here are the details regarding the upcoming MAY meeting:

Date: Thursday May 20, 2010
Time: 6:00pm-6:30pm ("meet & greet"); 6:30pm-8:30pm (approx.) meeting
Location: Perks pen store--5844 Cambie Street (@ 42nd Ave.) in Vancouver, BC (across from Oakridge Mall and only 1 block from the "Oakridge-41st Ave" Skytrain stop)

The theme for this meeting will be "YOUR 5 FAVOURITE INKS", suggested by VPC member Brian J. (thanks, Brian!), so please bring your 5 most-loved fountain pen inks to the meeting. If you're down to your last few ounces/mLs of a rare ink, you might want to leave that bottle at home as I suspect members will be sampling from each others' ink bottles (with permission, of course!) at the meeting. If you have less than 5 favourite inks, don't worry---just bring a bottle of your favourite ink/inks (having too many favourite inks can be hard on the pocketbook---trust me!) Our secondary theme is always NEWEST ACQUISITIONS, so if you have any new pen-related stuff (pens, inks, paper, accessories) you'd like to show, bring it along, too (and no--you don't have to do a "Show & Tell" ;).


Important info from our neighbours to the south now.....

The Seattle Pen Club (http://www.seattlepenclub.com) is planning to have
their May 15th meeting in Bellingham, WA at the Bellingham Public Market on Saturday
morning. VPC members are welcome to attend. Please watch this space for more
details as I get them the SPC.
UPDATE! The May 15th Seattle Pen Club meeting will be at the Public Market in Bellingham, WA. It starts around 10:00 AM and runs 'til about 1:00 PM
George Long of the SPC writes:
We will have to compete with the Gluten Free Fair that starts at 11:00, so we have been asked to set up at the far end of the food court area near the pizzeria, but it is not expected to be a problem. The place next to the Public Market is now a flea market and will have its grand opening on Saturday.

The Seattle Pen Club folks are super-nice, so it's a good opportunity to meet some friendly & knowledgeable pen collectors, as well as partake of the good food at the Market (and see this new flea market next door). Hope you can make it!

P.S. Themes! The Seattle Pen Club has 2 themes for the May 15th meetup in Bellingham----Demonstrators (clear pens or pens with inkview windows, etc.) and "Your favorite daily user" (the pen that you use most often).

.

I think everyone enjoyed the theme of our April meeting, which was 'desk sets and accessories'. The counter of Richard's store was a forest of pens!