While in Chicago I visited the Smith Stained Glass Museum on Navy Pier. I love stained glass and Chicago was a center for that craft in the United States. Most people know about Frank Lloyd Wright and his famous windows but the museum holds more than just examples of those. There are four focuses for its exhibits: victorian, prairie, modern, and contemporary. It’s the only museum in the U.S. to focus solely on stained glass.
I hope you enjoyed the factoids. I took some pictures that day which are below.
Last weekend I hit the road to travel to Northern Virginia to attend the Washington D.C. Collectible Fountain Pen Supershow. It’s the largest pen event in the world (according to its web page at least.)
To answer the question I know you have: Yes, it is overwhelming. My brain turned to mush rather quickly as I aimlessly wandered around. Luckily my first day there I was accompanied by two wonderful people who were kind enough to put up with me. On top of that sacrifice Kim and Telf chose a great Thai restaurant for a pen lunch. It’s always good to know someone else’s feet hurt and head is swimming at times like these.
There was something for everyone who likes pens there. Vintage pens, modern pens, stationary, parts, and some weird stuff. I’m rather quiet but the people I talked to were very helpful and didn’t mind stupid questions. This was especially true of Aaron and Kim Svabik of Pentiques who generously spent some time conversing with me.
Indeed I got to do and see some great things. Viewing the large educational display of all the colors and models of Sheaffer Snorkels was incredible. I also got to sample some great Nakaya pens with specialty nibs at the Nibs.com table which is something I’ve wanted to do forever.
I left at the end of my visit rather tired and dizzy but satisfied I’d been to the show of shows. Enjoy some pictures I took below.
This is the first entry in a series that could be called “nice things people have given me and I’m guilty about.” Getting a gift throws me off guard since I’m probably unworthy of the kindness. That doesn’t mean I’m not both appreciative and moved when someone thinks well enough of me to send something.
In this case one very generous friend hand made two pen wraps and another was considerate enough to ship them the great distance to me. If you don’t know what a pen wrap is let me explain. Let’s say you have a lot of pens (and I do) and transporting them somewhere is your goal. There are a few choices: You can put them loose into a container which could damage them (bad). Maybe you could fill your pockets with them (worse). If you have a lot of little one or two pen cases you could slip your pens into those and put the lot into your backpack (me).
My new leather pen wrap open. Beautiful lining.
Actually, the last time I needed to bring numerous pens with me I rolled them into an old stringy towel I had. That concept is really quite like a pen wrap where you have pockets that pens fit into, a flap that folds over the top, and a ribbon to hold it together when rolled up. I’ve never had a pen wrap…until now.
An orange and green felt pen wrap with pens in it.
And what lovely wraps they are! Hand made out of some neat materials in lovely colors. As you can tell I was thrilled and remain so. I have used one already to take some pens on my recent trip to Chicago. This weekend I’ll use both to cart even more pens to the Washington DC pen show.
To close this wrap you fold the flap over first.
Thanks, May, for taking the time to create these totally unexpected wraps for me. Ack! The guilt! I don’t deserve them. I’m going to try and make the level of guilt unbearable for me by showing some more gifts in future posts.
Last step is to roll it up and tie the ribbon to secure it.
The post before last I showed some pictures of a Sheaffer Imperial that I was restoring. I’ve finished it and thought I’d put the pictures of the final product up here with a few comments.
A bit of color and an Imperial IV.
The Imperial has had many versions and a long production run. The one most people think of when hearing the name is what we have here, a Sheaffer Imperial IV. Introduced in 1963 and made till 1968 (with a reintroduction of the basic look and name from 1995 to 1998) some people might say this was the last classic that Sheaffer turned out. You’d probably be more prone to say that if you didn’t like the pen that replaced this one, dubbed the Targa, which was sold for decades. That’s another story.
Made to look like a thinner Pen For Men (PFM) the Imperial has a sleek, attractive design. I’m fond of this model no matter what variation because they write and work well. They were also among the last Sheaffers to have the Touchdown filling system. The years this pen was made pinpoint when the cartridge overtook pens with permanent ink reservoirs. As the cartridge fill Imperial got more popular less and less Touchdowns were made until they disappeared.
Although you can see this example has been used for many years it still works great with no functional problems. It writes a nice smooth medium line and it a pleasure to doodle with. I was going to end this with some pun having to do with empire but I think the post title is bad enough.
Until this year I don’t think I ever mailed a postcard. It’s not like I was unaware of them since over time I saw them so often in various places like tourist traps at Niagara Falls, state park welcome centers, and airport gift shops that I grew to treat them as a part of the background. A few months ago through the auspices of some friends I learned that in the internet age they are still alive and kicking even if reduced in popularity.
Getting told while chatting that someone “got a postcard from…” was my first reminder of the venerable card stock rectangles. The story involves a person who lives a very long way from me and was very excited to get this item from someone who lived a very long way from her. It took days and days to arrive, carried very little information due to space considerations, cost a moderate sum to send, and in all ways was inferior than just typing on your keyboard and pushing “send” in your email program. That, In a nutshell, was what appealed to me so much about the postcard idea.
Finding a postcard to send proved a lot harder than I thought. Living in one of the least interesting parts of the country you don’t find many postcards since this locality doesn’t have much to put on them. Come and Visit the Mediocrity!, A Remarkably Low Cost of Living!, Anyone with Low Ambition Will Love It Here!,People Flock Here Two Days A Year Before They Hurry Away!, and Traditionally High Unemployment! are not the kind of slogans that you’d want to mail off to a loved one. For a couple of weeks I kept forgetting to look for them in the larger nearby city I visit once a week or so. Finally on a weekend I asked a friend who had worked in a local civic organization if she could think of someplace I could find a postcard. To my surprise she suggested the area Visitor Information Center. In the back of my mind I remembered something about that recently being set up but promptly forgot about it since I have all the information I can take about the area. With that hot tip I drove uptown one lunch hour to see if I could drum up the elusive item I was seeking. The Center wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Some local arts and crafts were scattered around a woman who looked like knitting filled 95% of her work day. I asked about the cards and was told there were some on the wall and they were free! Excitedly I went over to a few hanging wire retainers that were replete with colorful items of the right shape and thickness. Yes, they were free but that was only because they were basically advertisements for a bird house builder on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the local NASCAR track. Oh well, you take what you can get.
Since then I’ve grabbed postcards whenever I see them and I have a nice stack. I try to remember to send them but my memory for duties like that is terrible. I even joined Postcrossing which is a website for people around the world to send postcards to each other at random. It’s a nice idea and promotes learning about other peoples and countries. So far I’ve remembered to send one postcard. I guess it’s a start.
But now back to my friends who send the little flat parcels of good cheer: Below I’ve shown some postcards they’ve sent from the Philippines. I’m not going to say too much about them since Google is at your fingertips. However I’ve learned a good deal about that country over the last year but the most important thing I’ve picked up is how kind and friendly people can be for no reason besides enjoying it.
Two very pretty volcanoes.
Boracay is a beautiful beach resort area. Banaue has incredible terraced rice patties.
IRRI Campus which does advanced research on Rice agriculture. Colorful costumes of the Masskara Festival.
Gazing over the water at the beautiful El Nido in Palawan. The last card was sent while a friend was visiting this country.
Nice bird stamps and the postmark. Pilipinas is the Tagalog name of the country.
A friend sent me a special pen to see if I could get it working again. It belonged to his Godmother and displays her name proudly on the barrel. Oddly enough one of her two surnames was condensed to a single initial which makes it seem like this was either a present or that the stationers who engraved it couldn’t hot stamp that many characters and took a strange shortcut.
The pen is an early Sheaffer Imperial IV with Touchdown filling. Imperials went up to VIII with each increment a slightly fancier pen. They were made as cartridge/converter fillers as well. If you want the whole scoop check out the excellent article at PenHero.com. This one’s section unit seemed pretty gummed up so I decided to take it apart for a thorough cleaning. I’ve got a similar later Imperial section that I disassembled first to make sure I was familiar with the procedure before working on the heirloom pen.
Note markings on early and later shells. (click to see larger)
The first oddity I noticed was the difference in the markings on the nib between the two. My friend’s said “Sheaffer’S” in the style you see on older vintage pens from that manufacturer. My nib just said “Sheaffer” in the block letters I’m used to seeing on those pens from the 60’s and later. A quick web search and I found that the former company logotype was on the first Imperials and it changed over in the mid-60s it seems.
Later shell on left is cutout. One on right is enclosed.
Even odder that the markings was the structural differences I saw. On the newer Imperial section the front of the feed is exposed through a cut-out in the shell. It was what I was used to seeing on this model. However, the older one had the feed totally encased in the section and a small ink intake hole under the point was the only opening I could see. When I took them both apart you could see a larger end on the newer feed and a smaller one to fit inside the outer cover on the other. Not too much else was different except for a shorter feed channel and no joint washer on the earlier pen.
Old section parts on top, new on bottom. (Click to see part labels)
Still, it’s a pretty major running change for a pen and I’m not sure why they did it. It could have been due to problems noticed with ink flow or a problem flushing the older design out easily. The answer might never be known. When this pen is finished I’ll evaluate how it writes and see if it is lacking in some way.
Overall the Imperial is a great, well made pen that is often overlooked. I can’t wait till this one is up and running again.
Last weekend I went to the Triangle Pen Show in Cary, N.C. Generally known as the “Raleigh Pen Show” it’s physically the closest one to me here in Southwest Virginia. I decided to spend the Saturday at the show and arrived a little over two hours of driving later.
It’s not a huge show but that works in its favor since I could cover all the vendors in my single day there. One couldn’t say there were not a lot of pens to see and try. Yes, the candy store metaphor can be used here. Like most shows it runs the whole weekend and has seminars, an auction, and other events scattered throughout. I also got to meet names I’ve only read about like Dr. David Isaacson and Howard Levy which was a pen geek thrill.
My temptations were many but in the end there were a few things on my short list. Dr. Isaacson had several peacock blue Snorkels for sale. That’s the only Snork color I don’t have yet. Steve Braun showed his very reasonably priced Indian made hard rubber eyedropper pens there. I loved the matte and textured finishes in the ripple patterns. I had a nice conversation with Rob Morrison and looked closely at a Sheaffer vacuum filler with a stub nib and a clear barrel at his table. Which one did I get? I’ll blog about it some day.
Lastly, but certainly not leastly, I got to meet someone in person who I had only been a friend with on Facebook. She was as nice and interesting in person as online. No “B” movie plot played out and she wasn’t a homicidal maniac who killed fountain pen collectors met on the internet. Her husband was a great sport and followed her around the show actually taking an interest in the event.
Next show I plan to go to is the one in the Washington, D.C. Supershow. That one will surely tire me out.
Apologies to those who already saw these photos. This post is for the 2 people who might not have.
I’ll admit right off that I’m biased. I have two suppliers when I need something to write on: Crane for more formal stationary and Clairefontaine for daily use items like notebooks or pads. That’s why when I discovered the Vice President of Marketing at Exaclair (who distributes Rhodia and Clairefontaine products in the U.S.), Karen Doherty, was offering a notebook for review I jumped on it.
Not too long later I received an example of Clairefontaine’s “Basics” cloth-bound journal in the 6 x 8 ¼ inch size. Looking at the attractive, understated textured brown cover and smooth white, ruled sheets I thought: “So, how do I review this?” Originality is not my strongpoint so I’m going to do what everyone else does with this kind of thing.
First, let’s take a look at the journal itself. It’s spine shows that, indeed, this is clothbound with sewn signatures. When open it’s pretty flexible and lies rather flat. Still, there is a bit of a peak to the page edges nearest the spine but I found this acceptable in this type of binding.
Attractive looking journal, I think. (click for larger image. ditto for all pics here)
The paper is 23lb high resistant, pH neutral, white vellum (yes, I got that from a sales blurb) and, as usual, a delight. The wonderfully fountain pen friendly sheets between the covers are the reason I’ve bought Clairefontaine products for so many years. Since I’ve never found a more satisfying paper then this, which you’ll find in many of their products, I haven’t much in the way of criticism.
With that love fest over let’s put some ink on the paper. I used a variety of fountain pens from a Vacumatic with one of my finest (width) nibs to a Danitrio that puts down a small river of ink. As expected feathering is almost non-existent and bleed through very minor in my simple test. One could not ask for more in something like this.
Fine to medium nib samples.Nibs that put a good deal of ink down.I see almost no feathering on this paper.This is the back of the page with the high ink-flow nibs. Amazing there's so little ink to see.
The journal itself does not look or feel “basic” in the least. The grained cardboard covers feel good and are flexible. Rounded corners are another little extra that helps to raise this item above the fray. While this Clairefontaine journal is not incredibly fancy or hand crafted it’s sturdy and delivers in all the important areas. I’d even buy one…but first I’m going to enjoy this free one.
It’s odd how the internet can extend your reach. I can buy goods from places I never heard about as a child. I read people’s thoughts from lands I didn’t expect to glean insights from. I see images taken minutes, even seconds, after events extremely remote to me. Beyond all that what still strikes me as the most unbelievable is I have friends on the other side of this planet whom I’ve never actually met.
How that happened is a long and rather boring story. Logic dictates that the underlying reason is that my likability is directly proportional to the distance you are away from me (Overfield’s law). If I lived on the moon the entire world would love me. What all of the people I know overseas have in common is using and collecting that odd throwback I love: fountain pens. Forming a small (but rapidly growing) group centered in metro Manila they meet for food, friendship, and fountain pens (is that the “3 Fs”?) How do I know this? After corresponding with one of the members I started following these gatherings online via Jenny Ortuoste’s blog or photos sent directly to me by people such as Leigh Reyes (blog plug). Now I can supplement that with quite a few picture galleries put up by attendees on Facebook. This happy band calls themselves the Fountain Pen Network-Philippines or FPN-P for short.
The reason I like this group so much (besides the fact that some members will actually put up with me) is their enthusiasm and camaraderie. It always looks fun when they meet at someone’s home, get a room in a tasty looking restaurant, or even take over a whole coffee shop to see pens, talk pens, use pens, and eat (not pens). Often they go out for sightseeing and pen paraphernalia hunts afterward. I’ve been at pen meets that were barely alive by comparison. The people are all ages and from all walks of life including a broadcaster, an award winning novelist/playwright, an advertising executive, professors, business people, creative professionals, writers, students, etc. etc. Certainly it’s a diverse and interesting group of folks. Seeing young people interested in what some think stodgy like fountain pens is rare, but there are some here. I never thought I’d use the term “young people” in a sentence…I am getting old.
This is leading up to my mention of another ritual they have at the meets: raffles. Members bring in items and all are raffled off to attendees for free. Last time they met there were so many items a second round of drawings had to be made. Everyone (or nearly so) seems to come away with a nifty doodad given out of the goodness of another person’s heart. Pens, notebooks, inks, and even panda shaped pens are put into the great redistribution pool. Next month is the meeting that will mark their one year anniversary and the raffle is sure to be bigger and better than ever. Also, odd as it might seem, I’ll be sending a couple things 8,000 miles for it as kind of a thank you for enjoying a bit of the fun remotely and being able to meet so many good people at the same time.
So….all gaze upon RAFFLESTEIN and his trusty helper PENCIGOR!!! (um…at the top of the page.) A more monstrous pair has never been seen in the pen world. I found just enough leftover parts for what may be my last Frankensnork class pen. It’s green, brown, and blue which I think is a nice color combination. The barrel comes from a desk pen since Sheaffer never made a brown pocket pen. Finishing it off is a Palladium-Silver triumph nib (fine) which has the script identification on it I find so charming. Pencigor has a top from a tuckaway pencil contrasting with a generic bottom assembly.
Pd-Ag nib.
So congratulations to my friends in the other hemisphere on their 1 year anniversary. I hope there are many more. Oh, and whoever wins this owes me some adobo if I ever visit. 🙂
Brown & Bigelow of St. Paul, MN knows promotional products. In 1896 they came out with some of the first advertising calendars and eventually created many iconic ones like the Norman Rockwell Boy Scouts of America series. They did more than just that, though. The “Redipoint” pencil was a B&B product usually sporting the name or logo of a business on the barrel. You’ll be happy to know they still are in the same line of business today.
In 1922 William H. Ingersoll, the marketing maven for the Ingersoll Watch Company (“The Watch That Made the Dollar Famous”) left that industry after a takeover of the eponymous company. He went to the Redipoint Company which reorganized as Ingersoll Redipoint. Still distributed by B&B the products of this company continued to rely heavily on promotional writing instruments. Besides pencils they also had a line of plastic and metal fountain pens one of which is the topic of this post.
Redipoint pen and paraphernalia. (click for larger image)
The fountain pen shown here is a very nice insurance promotional item. The top has an enameled company name and you can find identical pens with variety of companies and cities in this spot. The Redipoint pen itself has a gold-filled metal barrel and cap covered with a fleurs-de-lis design. It’s similar to a Wahl metal pen of the same era in looks and the lever filling system. The nib is a semi-flex medium which really can put down a good amount of ink. Overall it’s quite nice for a piece of insurance advertising.
Pictured here is a near mint example with all the original paperwork. Sometime in 1924 Mrs. G. E. Sanford got this pen at Christmas but didn’t use it very much. I have no idea where it lived for the many intervening years until the pen found itself on the other side of the world with my friend in Metro Manila. It did come back to this hemisphere and stayed a little while with me before I gave it this past weekend as a graduation present to a good friend. So the legacy of Mrs. Sanford of Bunker Hill, IL lives on in an odd way.
