We are organizing the Netherlands Pen Club - - and its first in-person meetup!

[OldTravelingShoe]

8 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

Sounds like you all had an awesome time! I'm envious.

Any trip to Europe, @A Smug Dill? What could prevent it? It would be great to see you here; note we could also do an online zoom-in, although clearly it's a poor substitute 😄

[OldTravelingShoe]

9 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

It was a fun and interesting meetup on Monday, with some amazing pens to try! And it was wonderful to be able to finally meet some other local fountain pen enthusiasts in real life rather than just on the interwebs.  

 

A small group of us got together in Utrecht for this first meetup. Our theme for the afternoon was a pen ‘tasting’ – like a wine tasting but different. You get the idea. Each of us brought along a selection of pens for everyone to try out. (It was also just in time to prepare our shopping lists for the Dutch Pen Show this Sunday, June 12^th, of course!)

 

Photo: The big table being set up for our pen 'tasting'

 

And boy, oh boy, were there some fantastic pens on the table! We had fun pocket pens by Platinum, Pilot, Sailor, and Schon DSGN to try. There were assorted models of the big brands, such as Pelikan, Montblanc, and Sailor, including a beautiful orange and black King of Pens. We also got to try out @OldTravelingShoe's Sailor 1911 fude, which I quite liked and even sort of figured out how to use. 😅 (It has gone on my wish list.) 

 

There were giant Rangas and lots of other fun, fancy, and even flexy pens to try, from Aurora to Esterbrook and from Franklin-Christoph to Marlen’s Aleph, plus a few vintage pens. There were (custom) pens from smaller pen makers, and even a couple of self-turned pens to try out. @MrRogueWolf of Giants' Pens also brought a big case full of wonderfully colorful pens turned from blanks by Brooks and others to show us. I brought along a 'history of Diplomats in 10 pens' (what else did you expect??) for everyone to try. There was even a Kakimori dip pen - really fun to experiment with!

 

Photo: an assortment of pens to 'taste'

 

The pen that was the biggest surprise for me personally was @Strangebird's Nakaya Long Cigar. I didn’t think I liked urushi until I got hold of this pen! It’s a long and elegant pen with equidistant cap and barrel. Strangebird says the choice for such a long pen was so that it still felt as long and balanced as if it were posted. The Toki-Tamenuri finish sparkled and glowed in the light, and the color variation at the section and end of the cap are subtle but striking. And, of course, it writes beautifully. (This one is also going on my overloaded wish list. 😊)

 

Photo: Nakaya Long Cigar in Toki-Tamenuri Urushi

 

All in all, some great pens to play with for an afternoon, while also getting to know other pen enthusiasts! I’d say it was an excellent first meet-up (quite literally for OldTravelingShoe and me).

 

I’m already excited for the next one!

 

(All photos by @OldTravelingShoe)

 

Wonderful write-up, @DvdRiet! Many thanks, also to all participants. 

[A Smug Dill]

19 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Any trip to Europe, @A Smug Dill? What could prevent it?

 

Lack of monies and good travel deals in the current climate, LOL

 

My wife is actually pushing for us to have “a holiday” (as she’s being pushed by her employer to take some time off, after not going on annual leave for some years due to having nowhere to go the past couple of years with all those lockdowns), but to her — as it does many people — it means “going somewhere”. Visiting the Netherlands (and Belgium, too!) would certainly be nice, and a special visit to Tilburg is probably called for! But, right now, I don’t think there are many international travel deals to jump onto; and I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone here that I’m more driven to take advantage of deals opportunistically than to actual plan to do or get “something I always wanted”, haha.

 

[OldTravelingShoe]

2 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Lack of monies and good travel deals in the current climate, LOL

 

My wife is actually pushing for us to have “a holiday” (as she’s being pushed by her employer to take some time off, after not going on annual leave for some years due to having nowhere to go the past couple of years with all those lockdowns), but to her — as it does many people — it means “going somewhere”. Visiting the Netherlands (and Belgium, too!) would certainly be nice, and a special visit to Tilburg is probably called for! But, right now, I don’t think there are many international travel deals to jump onto; and I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone here that I’m more driven to take advantage of deals opportunistically than to actual plan to do or get “something I always wanted”, haha.

 

Hehe. We would like to have 3-4 real-world meetings annually, so there should be time to plan. 

 

The Netherlands and Belgium are very nice in the summer, with plenty of greenery next to wonderful historical places and amazing cozy cities, so they offer the background of a great vacation. 

 

To fellow FP lovers from the Netherlands: surely we can make @A Smug Dill an offer he cannot refuse! Perhaps chairing the meetup? Giving a lecture? Hehe, signing autographs? 😃

[MvE]

Indeed it was a pleasure being there… and being able to discuss fountain pens with others for the first time IRL… 

[A Smug Dill]

On 6/9/2022 at 9:10 PM, DvdRiet said:

We also got to try out @OldTravelingShoe's Sailor 1911 fude, which I quite liked and even sort of figured out how to use. 😅 (It has gone on my wish list.) 

 

Then you may want to keep this in mind:

 

and, at a glance, the Sailor Profit Fude de Mannen pen will have one of the largest price increases by proportion out of all the listed models, when the time comes.

[DvdRiet]

11 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

and, at a glance, the Sailor Profit Fude de Mannen pen will have one of the largest price increases by proportion out of all the listed models, when the time comes.

 

Yikes! Thanks for the heads-up!

[NeKa]

Morning to all,

 

I am new to this forum but would like to participate in any upcoming meeting of the NL pen club. 

 

All the best,

 

Nicolas 

[DvdRiet]

2 hours ago, NeKa said:

Morning to all,

 

I am new to this forum but would like to participate in any upcoming meeting of the NL pen club. 

 

All the best,

 

Nicolas 

 

Hi Nicolas and welcome to FPN! We plan to have an in-person meetup every three months, so you are more than welcome to join us then. We will certainly post about it here for anyone who wants to attend.

 

In the meantime, you might also want to join the NL Pen Club chats on Discord. We also hope to hold an informal virtual meetup on there every month, as well as having the space for chatting at any time. I can DM you an invite, if you'd like.

 

Cheers,

Darla

[NeKa]

Thanks Darla, it would be great if you can invite me to the group on Discord. 

 

 

All the best,

 

Nicolas 

[DvdRiet]

58 minutes ago, NeKa said:

Thanks Darla, it would be great if you can invite me to the group on Discord. 

 

 

All the best,

 

Nicolas 

 

Have sent you a DM with the link. See you there!

[OldTravelingShoe]

Wow, @A Smug Dill, guess this puts on hold any thoughts of getting a Cross Music nib. Time to move on to... using the pens 😄

[OldTravelingShoe]

On 6/16/2022 at 10:30 AM, DvdRiet said:

 

Have sent you a DM with the link. See you there!

Welcome to the Club, @NeKa. @DvdRiet, we keep growing, so everyone wins! 😄

[benslot]

I just stumbled upon The Netherlands Pen Club and would like to join. I live in Castricum and consider myself a medium size eclectic collector of mainly fountain pens. Last pen is an Aurora Hastil and upon looking for information I saw the publications. Thank you in advance for your response.

[DvdRiet]

3 hours ago, benslot said:

I just stumbled upon The Netherlands Pen Club and would like to join. I live in Castricum and consider myself a medium size eclectic collector of mainly fountain pens. Last pen is an Aurora Hastil and upon looking for information I saw the publications. Thank you in advance for your response.

Hi @benslot! You're very welcome to join! (I'll send you a PM with the link to our Discord where most of the 'action' happens.  ) And your timing is good, as well. We've just decided on our second quarterly in-person meetup that I'll be announcing on here more formally soon. Tipje van de sluier: we've been invited to the Giants' Pens workshop where Teun will show us how he and Joep make pens! 

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, DvdRiet said:

Hi @benslot! You're very welcome to join! (I'll send you a PM with the link to our Discord where most of the 'action' happens.  ) And you're timing is good, as well. We've just decided on our second quarterly in-person meetup that I'll be announcing on here more formally soon. Tipje van de sluier: we've been invited to the Giants' Pens workshop where Teun will show us how he and Joep make pens! 

🎉 Welcome, @benslot, and thanks, @DvdRiet, for the speedy reply!

 

Ben, eclectic sounds great, you will find even more people to talk to and share ideas with, than if your collection was unimodal. 

[bartje-p]

Is this Dutch group (still) active? If so, how can I get some more details? Is there a website, FB group or something else?

 

Thanks from a complete fp noob 😀👍

[DvdRiet]

19 hours ago, bartje-p said:

Is this Dutch group (still) active? If so, how can I get some more details? Is there a website, FB group or something else?

 

Thanks from a complete fp noob 😀👍

Hey Bartje, 

Yes, we are (still) very active! We have a very lively Discord and are organizing in-person meetups every six weeks or so. I can send you an invite to our Discord if you’d like. Just DM me! 
 

And welcome to the rabbit hole! 😉

 

Groetjes!