January 2013 meeting at Perks pen store

We had another meeting with excellent turnout---24 members were in attendance, including two newcomers! (Rustem and Wallace). The topic of "Demonstrator Fountain Pens" was well-represented, with both old (Sheaffer Snorkel & Parker 51 Special aerometric) and new examples (Noodler's 'Ahab', Pilot 'Crystal', Reform 'Skywalker', TWSBI 530s, 540s, a Vac 700 & two 'Minis', Pilot 'Petit1' pens, as well as some really nice demonstrators by Visconti, OMAS, CONID & Sailor).

The evening also saw two (unexpected) door prize draws! The vintage desk set (lever-filler fountain pen and base), generously donated by Dave M, was won by Graham, and the bottle of modern Sheaffer ink (courtesy of Perks) was won by Mark H. Many thanks to Dave and Richard for their donations, and congratulations to the winners!

The meeting was also notable because one of our long-time members (Michael A.) is moving away this month. We will all miss his knowledge and enthusiasm a great deal; Michael did two wonderful talks on famous industrial designers who also designed writing instruments, and always had something interesting to contribute to our meeting themes/topics. His talks on pen designers were very educational, well-researched, and gave us a much greater appreciation of writing instrument designs (you can see the list of pens Michael talked about here ).Thank you, Michael, for entertaining and enlightening us with this interesting pen-related topic! We wish you all the best in Toronto, and hope that you will enjoy being part of the Toronto-area pen club :)

The next Vancouver Pen Club meeting will be held on Thursday February 21, 2013 at Perks pen store (the usual place---5844 Cambie Street in Vancouver, B.C) from 6:30pm to about 8:30pm or so. Our topic will be "Lamy Writing Instruments", and will include the full range----fountain pens, rollerballs, ballpoints, propelling pencils and multisystem pens. Hope to see you there!

Now, here are some photos taken by Richard at the January 17th meeting...

From L-R: Graham, Dexter, Michael, Rustem, Glenn C, Bruce (with his back to the camera), Christopher, Joe and David S.

Michael sharing a laugh with (from L-R) Maja, David S and Brian P, while Dave M looks on in the right foreground....

That's Ian peeking out from the left foreground, along with Derek, Greg (partially hidden), Graham, Dexter, Michael, Rustem, Glenn C and Bruce.

The Perks store also carries a wide variety of (non-pen related :) gift items, and our club is fortunate to have such a nice space for our meetings...

My apologies for forgetting to take close-ups of the demonstrator pens, but it was a bit of a whirlwind of an evening!

Season's Greetings!

... and best wishes from the Vancouver Pen Club for a very Happy New Year, too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our next meeting will be held on Thursday January 17, 2013 at Perks pen store (5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC). The meeting will start at 6:30pm, and the theme will be "Demonstrator Fountain Pens" (e.g. the lovely new TWSBI Mini fountain pen I got from the Alexander Pen Co. in Ontario, shown in the photo with Santa above). As usual, our secondary theme will be New Acquisitions. Hope to see you there!

Record-breaking attendance at our November meeting!

We had excellent attendance for our meeting on November 15th at Perks pen store! Twenty-five VPC members showed up to see some exciting new Sheaffer writing instruments that are on the near horizon, as well as some older Sheaffer fountain pens brought in for our monthly theme. Thanks to all members who attended, as well as special guests Patrick Clarke and Nathaniel Clarke of Morton-Clarke & Co. Ltd, the Sheaffer distributors for Canada, who took time out of their busy schedules to come to our meeting and tell us about the new Sheaffer pens that will be launched very soon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reminder---we have no meetings in December, so the next VPC meeting will be on Thursday January 17, 2013, usual place & time (unless we need to change it, so please check our website) Theme: to be announced "Demonstrator Fountain Pens"! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (~all photos courtesy of Bill K ~ click on images to enlarge ~)

(above: Patrick (just right of center, holding pen) and Nathaniel (far right, with cap), representatives of Morton-Clarke & Co. Also in the photo are (L-R) David S. (partially hidden), Sam, Dexter and Christopher R.)

(above: Patrick and Nathaniel talking to VPC members about the Sagaris model (coming out in late 2012) and the Taranis (due: early 2013).

(above: a close-up of the pens Patrick brought---(from left to right) seven Sagaris pens and five Taranis pens, all very attractive and classy-looking additions to the Sheaffer lineup)

(above: (from L to R): Bill K, new member Peter, Michael, Glenn C--in the background--and Glenn Marcus, in the foreground)

(above: It was a busy meeting, but I had enough time to resack Bill's Esterbrook desk pen, which I had traded to him a couple of years ago)

(above: Ralph looking on as I attempt to remove the old sac remnants. For some odd reason, the sac detached itself from the section, and simply disappeared. The mysteries of vintage pen repair!!)

(above: new member Al Brunelle, Sam and Dexter looking at some pens in Sam's orange Delta Markiaro pen case, while my vintage Sheaffers look on in the foreground)

(above: VPC member Mark Harcourt doing some in-store pen repair at Perks during our meeting. Mark has set up a workbench inside the Perks store on Cambie Street and has opened up shop for local pen repairs)

(above: It was great to get a hands-on demonstration of the Sagaris and Taranis lines of Sheaffer pens coming out---photos don't do them justice!)

Sheaffer night at Perks!

Many thanks to Patrick Clarke and Nathaniel Clarke of Morton-Clarke & Co. for coming to our pen club meeting on Thursday (November 15) to talk about the new offerings from the Sheaffer Pen Company. Patrick brought some prototypes and samples of the not-released-yet "Sigaris" and "Taranis" models for us to see (you can see the trays of pens that he brought in the videos below).

Both the Sigaris and Taranis are handsome writing instruments, and it's great to see that Sheaffer is still coming up with innovative designs. Patrick's talk was well-received and we had record attendance that night (25 members!), so it was a fun evening. Many thanks to Christopher R. for taking the videos!



The Sagaris isn't on the official Sheaffer website yet (and it's coming out in December 2012, we were told), but I found some nice photos on Jim Mamoulides' amazing Penhero.com site: http://www.penhero.com/News/SheafferSagaris.htm



The Taranis is due out in the first quarter of 2013 (probably March, according to Patrick). Here's a photo of the model that was posted on Fountain Pen Geeks, one of my favourite pen sites: http://fpgeeks.com/2012/08/sheaffer-knocks-one-out-of-the-park-with-the-refreshing-design-of-the-new-taranis/

Visconti Divina Medium Size Black Fountain Pen

Posting this great photo of a Visconti Divina fountain pen on behalf of one of our pen club members who has a keen interest in pens and digital photography. Many thanks to Al for the photograph & text below! (~click on photo to enlarge~)

Al writes: I have been doing photography since I retired from the workforce nine years ago and have now expanded to studio photography. I started collecting pens this year and this fall I decided that I would attempt to take photos of my pen collection. Photographing pens is a real challenge with the biggest challenge being the lighting due to the shape of pens and reflective materials used in the manufacturing of pens.

The Visconti Divina Medium Size Black Fountain Pen is modeled after Visconti’s Divine Proportion limited edition. This new collection represents a simplification in style and construction with the result being an attractive and original design. The Divina is more suitable for daily use and a pleasure to write with. The Divina Proportion is inspired by the Nautilus, or “Golden Spiral”, built according to the sequence of Fibonacci and the Golden proportion of 1618, comparing the length of the cap with the length of the pen, both opened and closed. The pen comes with Visconti’s unique Push and Pull Touch down filling system with a 14K nib.

The photo was taken with a Canon 5D Mark II using a Canon EF 24-105mm 1:4 L IS USM lens. Edited in Photoshop CS6. The photo background is the January 2008 issue of Pen World.

More photos can be viewed at: http://alsmcphotos.smugmug.com/Other/My-Pens/26359471_XVQddh#!i=2197293852&k=Pbd4BHq These photos are available for downloading.

Feedback is always welcomed, email me at: alfo2010@gmail.com

Cheers Al Brunelle

November meeting details (last VPC meeting of 2012)

Since we do not have meetings in December (due to the holidays), our November meetup will be the last one of 2012. Here are the details:

Date: Thursday November 15, 2012
Place: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC (ie. the usual place)
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).
Theme: "Sheaffer Fountain Pens--Past & Present" (ie. vintage and modern fountain pens made by Sheaffer). As usual, "Newest Acquisitions" is our secondary topic, so if you have some cool new pen/ink/paper/accessory to show, please bring it along, too.

No RSVPs necessary for any meetings held at Perks pen store. We're a very friendly, casual club with no membership dues or duties. New members are always welcome! Hope to see you there!

Happy Fountain Pen Day!

Yes, the first Friday of November has been deemed "Fountain Pen Day", the very first such day dedicated to our favourite writing instrument! Here is the link to the official website with suggestions on how to celebrate the occasion: www.fountainpenday.com/

Some photos from our last meeting

Our October 18th meeting at Perks was well-attended, with 14 members (including two brand-new VPC members---James and Al) braving the wet, miserable weather to see and hear about some very nice fountain pens made in France (the topic of our meeting). Examples of pens made by companies such as Cartier, Dupont, Recife, Stypen, Jean-Pierre Lépine, Reynolds, Gold Starry as well as Parker and Waterman were seen. Many thanks to those who brought pens for our monthly theme, and to everyone who attended!

Here are a few photos snapped by Richard during our meeting (click on photos to enlarge):

(clockwise from far left: Al (in bright green jacket), Dexter, James, Glenn M, Bruce, Bob M, Julienne, Graham, Michael and David S. That's me (Maja) standing on the far right in a green t-shirt (more about that at the bottom of this blog post! ). Ralph and Mark were present, but, unfortunately, not in the photo.

A photo of me in a cool Retro 51 t-shirt, a prize I won in the Retro 51 blog crossword puzzle contest last month (thanks to Julienne for taking the photo, and to the good folks at Retro 51 for the prize!).

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday November 15th at Perks pen store on Cambie Street (usual place & time) and our theme will be "Sheaffer Fountain Pens--Past & Present". Hope you can make it!

Seattle Pen Club meeting in Bellingham, Washington--updated info

I just reconfirmed with Seattle Pen Club (SeattlePenClub.com) President George Long that their October meeting will be held at the Bellingham Public Market in Bellingham, Washington on Saturday October 20th from 10:30am to 1:00pm. There may or may not be a theme for their meeting---George hadn't come up with one as of yesterday night, and their meetings are even more casual than ours :) I would just say that if you want to bring something interesting (pen-related) to show, please do so. Their members will be bringing a variety of pens, if past meetings are anything to go by. If there is a theme/topic for that meeting, I will post it here on our blog. Alternately, you can contact the SPC via their website (see link above). The address of the Bellingham Public Market is 1530 Cornwall Avenue in Bellingham, WA, and the SPC will be meeting (as usual) in the Food Court area--just look for a bunch of tables pushed together with lots of fountain pens on them :) Update to the update: The theme for the Seattle pen club meeting on Oct. 20th is "Your Oldest Pen and Your Newest Pen". I just got the info from George today (Oct. 18) and he adds "As usual, if you don’t like the theme, bring what you want, it’s all good."

And don't forget about our own pen club meeting on Thursday October 18 at Perks pen store (usual place & time---more info in the blog post below this one). Our theme will be French Fountain Pens, so it should be interesting. Hope to see you there!

Happy Autumn! (October meeting details & more!)

~ Japanese maple (momiji) in beautiful Miyajima, Japan; photo taken November 2008 ~

Many thanks to all who attended our September meeting. It appears the cold & flu season has started up already, as evidenced by some of the emails I've received from members who were unable to attend that meeting. As an aside, there is no pressure to attend all VPC meetings---we realize that not all topics are of interest to everyone, and of course, many members have work & family commitments, etc. Oh, and the only RSVPs we require are for meetings held outside of Perks.

Now, here are the details about our upcoming meeting!

Date: Thursday October 18, 2012
Place: Perks pen store, 5844 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC (ie. the usual place)
Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm ("early birds" welcome at 6:00pm to chat before the meeting).
Theme: French Fountain Pens (note: these can be French brands such as: Cartier, Dupont, Michel Perchin, Recife, Stypen, Jean-Pierre Lépine, Oldwin, Stylomine, Edacoto, Bayard, Unic, Gold Starry, Météore, Mallat & others....OR fountain pens made in France, by companies such as Waterman, Parker, et al.)

As usual, "Newest Acquisitions" is our secondary topic, so if you have some cool new pen/ink/paper/accessory to show, please bring it along, too. Hope to see you there!

Seattle Pen Club -- October meeting in Bellingham, WA: The Seattle Pen Club (SPC) is planning to have their October meeting in Bellingham, WA on Saturday October 20th (pending approval by the Bellingham Public Market, the proposed venue) and Vancouver Pen Club members are warmly invited to attend. Normally, SPC meetings are held in Seattle, but a couple of times a year they have them in Bellingham to make it easier for folks in northwest WA state & the Lower Mainland to attend. The Bellingham meetings are normally held in the morning, usually from 11:00am to 2:00pm or so, but check your Inboxes for details re: exact time & place once I get them from SPC President George Long. Please check their website at SeattlePenClub.com. for more info on this active & friendly pen club.

Future VPC Topics/Themes: "Sheaffer Fountain Pens" will be our November 15th meeting theme/topic, and will include both modern & vintage Sheaffers. We don't have meetings in December due to the holiday season, but we'll be back in January 2013 with some great new topics, such as: Vintage Pencils, Calligraphy Pens, Limited & Special Editions, Demonstrator Fountain Pens and a topic that that Bruce calls "Errors of Commission" (pens which have been commissioned from a maker and sold under a house name). Many thanks to Bob Morgan for October's theme/topic of French Fountain Pens.