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)

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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.