The Portland Pen Show is quickly approaching! If you are planning on attending and staying at the Embassy Suites hotel, where the show is again being held, I would suggest making your reservations soon, as rooms are quickly disappearing. The cut-off date for the hotel's Pen Show price is JUNE 8th.

The show will be held July 11-13, 2008

Where:
Embassy Suites Downtown Portland
319 SW Pine Street
Portland, OR 97204
(503) 279-9000

More information can be seen at: http://www.portlandpenshow.com/

The show promoter and contact person for show attendance reservations and more info is Carla Mortensen: mortensen.carla@gmail.com

This is show is shaping up very well and appears that it will be our best show yet, and the past shows have all been real winners!

A few of the pen dealers and pen companies we know whom will be attending this year are:

Sam and Frank Fiorella from Pendemonium (and helpers)
Jim and Jane Marshall - Jim is the author of several pen books, including the coauthor, with Laurence Oldfield, of the new pen repair book, simply titled "Pen Repair".
Rick Propas "The Penguin" and current President of the Pen Collectors of America
Saul Kitchener aka "just4halibut"
Joel and Diana Hamilton and Sherrell Tyree of Inkpen
Gary and Myrna Lehrer from Go Pens
Mary Burke from Conway Stewart
Ward Dunham - Atelier Gargoyle
Laban Pens
Taccia Pens
Bruce Hershman - Bruno Corsini Pens
Greg Minuskin
Brian Johnstone - B. J.'s Pens
Maximo Aguirre
Stuart Hawkinson - pen tool maker
Michael McNeil - Northwest Pen Works
Alan Brooking
Bruce "The Great" Grembowski aka Grem
Sam Moore
Paradise Pens
Kim Sosin
Mitch Patton - Pen Maker
And many others, whom I did not list!

Late info: One addition to the schedule that is verified: Janet Takahashi (Greg Minuskin's wife), a professional calligrapher and illustrator, will be signing her new illustrated book "Artful Journals : Making and
Embellishing Memory Books, Garden Diaries, Travel Albums & More" on Sunday from 2-4 pm.

I am not sure who else is attending, in the way of pen sellers, but lots of people always show up and sometimes put some [amazing amounts of] vintage pens on their tables for sale. There are always pen folk from Canada, Seattle, up and down the West Coast states and from all around the county, including some pen book authors, who usually just have only a first name on their name tags.

We always have great seminars and this year is no exception. See list below.

The Portland Pen Show always coincides with the largest antique show in the U.S. The Palmer/Wirf's Antique Show. It is easily accessed by about a 20 minute ride on our modern trolley system, called MAX. The MAX "Yellow Line" is a short walk from the hotel. If you are a book lover, the largest book store West of the Mississippi River, Powell's City of Books, is just a short walk away. It is open 7 days a week, until 11:00 p.m. and they have great coffee and tea. We also have the one of the largest City Parks anywhere, Forest Park and the smallest city park Mill Ends Park. That is if they haven't moved it again. The last time I was down there, they were doing some work on Naito Parkway and had closed the park and moved it temporarily. Yes, it is that small!

There are always receptions and parties at the pen show with wonderful food and drinks. Saturday evening we will have music by "Gypsy Jazz".

You could throw a stick almost anywhere in downtown Portland and it would land in front of a restaurant or brewpub, coffee house (or a jewelry store).

I have included below a list of our pen seminars for this year:

We hope to see you all in Portland in mid-July!

Michael McNeil

Seminars

One of the best parts about attending a pen show in person is the amount of information that is available through many of the collectors in our hobby. Fortunately for us, the following experts and aficionados have agreed to host small gatherings to learn from their experience and expertise.

Pelikans by Rick Propas Saturday, 12:00 PM

Pen Collecting 101 by Saul Kitchener and John Strother, Saturday, 2:00 PM

Tools for Pen Repair by Joel Hamilton and Stuart Hawkinson, Saturday, 4:00 PM

Pen Repair by Michael McNeil and Sherrell Tyree, Sunday, 11:00 AM

Journaling by Susan Thom, Sunday, 1:00 PM

The Art of the Italic by Ward Dunham, Sunday, 3:00 PM

Nibs Revealed by Greg Minuskin

More information on the seminars may be seen here:

http://www.portlandpenshow.com/seminars.html

More info on Portland may be found here: http://portland.citysearch.com/

Correction: Bruce, of Bruno Corsini Pens, last name is spelled Hirschman. Sorry Bruce!

Me n' Eranowitz mite go out this year.

d

Thanks for the info Michael!! My wife and i will most certainly be there.

Jim

Well, I sure hope to see you n' Eranowitz there!

Thanks for the reminder, Michael
I am happy to say that I will be attending this year's show in Portland I wasn't expecting to go as we are saving money for home renovations and a future trip to Hawaii this year...but hubby surprised me by asking if I wanted to go to the pen show in Portland this year!

Every time I've gone to the Portland show, I've had a wonderful time. The show is so well-organized (thanks again to Carla M.) and everyone is so friendly---the dealers, fellow attendees, the hotel staff, etc. The amazing pens there, the informative seminars...oh, and the delicious free food! I could go on and on!

Anyway, looking forward to seeing you there as well as Jim (Handlebar), Bruce (Bruno), hopefully Dr. I. (never had the pleasure of meeting him in person!) and many others.

Can anyone give me an idea of the schedule of the show? I'll be in Portland that weekend, but I'll be busy friday and saturday. Is it worth coming just on sunday? Will all of the sellers still be there?

More than an idea... here's the full schedule...
http://www.portlandpenshow.com/schedule.html

Sunday will be a great day to attend the show!

-Bruno

Anyone else from FPN attending the Portland show??? My wife an i will be there drooling over things (bringing our bibs!)
I'm looking forward to seeing Maja again as well as the otehrs we met last year.And this year i actually have some money to spend!!!! Wow. I cannot believe it.

Jim

Wish I could go, but I have back to back business trips to New England the week before and the week following the Portland Show. It would be too hard to fit it in. Maybe next year. Even though Portland is far from DC, I have a sister and a good friend in the area, so it would be a multi-purpose trip.

Well then i look forward to meeting you in person next year!!!

Jim

I'm going to check it out. I'm a relative newbie but enjoying my pens and all the things I've gleaned from this site.

I'm a newbie too, and I hope to be able to make it for at least a couple of hours on Saturday. I'm in town for other business, but figure if I just throw my bags into my hotel and dash across town I should be able to see at least something. I'm very excited, this will be my first pen show!

(I hope that isn't like admiting you've never been to a RHPS screening before! )

I will be at the show on Saturday. My second pen show. I attended the Raleigh pen show and will be in Portland for a business conference so I have plaanned to go for several months. I got so anxious that I went ahead and went to Raleigh after finding out about that show. I now have about eight fountain pens including a couple of snorkels and an old Parker. See y'all in Portland.

I'm going too! Woohoo!

We will certainly have to meet up!!

Jim

I'm new to fountain pens, and to FPN. My wife and I will be there Saturday (taking the train down from Seattle) and I'm hoping to escape the show with only a few additions to the collection.

Only three more days!

Tomorrow I leave for my summer vacation! A ten day motorcycle tour along the Oregon coast with a stop in Seattle and of course a stop-over in Portland for the pen show. See you there.



Michael

Can anyone recommend a CHEAP motel somewhere near the show? I emailed Carla, but got a list of "luxury hotels" . I just looking for a place to lay my head, don't need anything fancy, think "Motel 6".


Thanks,


Dan

Hotels near the show are almost all higher priced as the show is right downtown.You could get a room at hotels near the airport (Extended stay,motel 6) and also on Interstate ave but i would stay away from those.Might try these:

http://www.motel6.com/accormaps/M6Proximit...px?searchtype=C

Also try La Quinta off Multnomah.Still,they will run you $98 a night.It is tourist season still and they are high close to downtown.

Jim
Vancouver,Wa

I really did want to attend this year, but things have been a bit hectic. By time was sure could go, the air ticket hit $800 round trip. Ah well, next year i hope. Earlier planning will be needed no doubt.

Hope folks out west have fun there.

-d

Ouch! Thats a mighty expensive ticket.We looked forward to seeing you.Maybe next year.

Jim

You can search online for Hotels and Motels here, and get a discount:

http://www.travelportland.com/

That was the link that Carla sent, which seems to have luxury hotels only. She did get back with a link to a nearby Motel 6, so I'm covered. Guess it can't be any worse than camping in my pickup, which is what I usually do when I'm on vacation.

Dan

This show sounds like lots of fun - especially some of the seminars. The site lists the dates as July 11-13, so I was all set to drive into Portland this afternoon. Good thing I went online to double-check the address and saw that the "Show" part doesn't start until tomorrow.

Wow! My first pen show!

It was so nice to finally meet Jim (aka Handlebar), Sam from Pendemonium, Greg Minushkin, Jonathan and Sarah from Nibs.com, and so many more! I think there were more Seattle folks than I've ever seen at any of the club meetings!

I found a couple of things..... some antique Parker Quink Washable Blue with Solv-X, a pen case, some blotter paper, some micromesh.

But my one big purchase, more than I have ever spent on a pen, was a Visconti Divine Proportion. I had never seen one in person, and after oohing and aahing, the seller let me test write, and pretty much gave me a deal that I couldn't turn down.

Oh... my aching wallet.
Oh... my beautiful pen!

Good for you Mike!!! I knew you said it was on your list.Nothing better than a new pen!!!
I only came away with some new Diamine ink(burnt sienna) and another Stipula Muschiato.The best part was meeting up with everyone!!!

Jim

Portland pen show 2008 Review

This was my first time at a pen show. I only made it on Sunday, but I tried to make the most of my time there and had a great time meeting with everyone there.

Carla Mortensen, Michael McNeil, and the rest of the gang in Portland did a great job of organizing and putting on the show.

I got to chat with Joel Hamilton and Sherrell Tyrell, and found myself back to their table over and over just to eavesdrop on what they were says while trying out some of their great pens. Sheryl spent a great deal of time with me talking about an old Wahl/Eversharp ringtop pen that I had telling me about the history of the pen, and how repairs on these pens are best handled by the experts because of the barrel's tendency to crack when the section is pulled out of these by those not used to repairing these pens. Joel gave me a history lesson in Parkers, the virtues of the vacumatics vs aerometrics and the differences between the 51's, 61's and 21's.

Pendemonium was there and I filled my backpack with books and supplies from Sam and Frank's booth, and even got my FP repair book signed by Jim Marshall who was there at the booth next to Sam and Frank's. The book is great for general knowledge even if you don't plan on doing any repairs. I also picked up Frank Dubiel’s “Da Book” which is also fun to read and full of information.

I had the pleasure of speaking of Greg Minuskin about retipping pens and why the sheaffer conical nibs and targa nibs are difficult because it melts the plastic when the nib is heated, he even showed me an example and it wasn’t pretty, but I did pick up a great Sheaffer Streamline from him that he restored with a Stub/Italic nib, that is a lot of fun to use.

Bruce Hirschman was there with some of his hand made pens, I really like his idea of taking the nibs from vintage pens and integrating them into new pens he makes himself. I really like his deskpens and maybe someday I'll get one.

I talked about learning to write with a flex nibbed be and how to best go about it with Dave Smith a fellow Washington resident and pen restorer. Both He and Michael McNeil gave me a lot of insight in the local fountain pen scene in the Northwest.

Everyone I met there was friendly and helpful to a newbie like myself. I did forget to do a few things, I wanted to try out a few of John Mottishaw's custom nibs, but complelely spaced out and only met with Johnathan and Sarah for a short time, and I forgot to get a photo of Greg and his wife who was there for only a short time autographing her new book which looks amazing, the illustrations she did are fantastic. But he has already promised me a photo at the show next year.

I was so excited forgot to take many pictures at the show so I only have a dozen or so, but some are better than none.I had a great time, learned a lot, and got to try some fantanstic pens out. Portland is a great city, and the weather was fantastic. I will definitly be back to portland in 2009.
you can see my pictures from the show here.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?...mp;conn_speed=1

Great pics, Bong! Please e-mail me, there's one in your album that I would like permission to use. My e-mail address is:

michael@northwestpenworks.com

Michael

Thanks for the complement, glad you like the photos.
I send you an e-maiil, let me know which one and I can send you the full size original files.

I'll echo the sentiment. Great pictures, Bong!

Victoria and I were there on Saturday shortly after the doors opened. Traffic was quite heavy and it was difficult at times to see the pens lovingly displayed at the tables. I walked around with my jaw hanging open, muttering "Beautiful!" so often that my wife charged me one kiss for each time I said it. (I owe her a lot of kisses. ) With all the traffic there was little chance for me to chat with any vendors, and I didn't want to ask newbie Q's when there were some serious sales going on. I can always ask the Q's at the Seattle Pen Club meetings -- but I still wished I could have chatted with some folks more. They all sounded like great people to know.

We had with us an antique pen rack / inkwell combination that a friend of mine's aunt left him when she passed away. It's in the shape of a fish, lovingly ornamented and etched, with plenty of detail. Jim Marshall and Sam Fiorella both guessed it was of India origin, but beyond that hadn't much of an idea. Hopefully Sam's investigations through her inkwell collector's society will provide more hints as to its history.

I didn't contribute much to the pen show, cash-wise: I only bought a couple bottles of ink and some "remaindered" notebook paper from Sam and Frank at the Pendemonium table. I hope the other vendors were happy with their sales over the weekend, as the people on Saturday all seemed to be serious pen aficionados with serious money to spend.

Looking forward to next year's pen show. From our perspective everything went smoothly and was a great experience for a newcomer to fountain pens. Thanks to Carla and the gang for all the hard work!

Bong,
Thanks for the great review and the pictures! It was nice chatting with you when you stopped by my little table.

TTFN,
Grem

The Portland Pen Show 2008 is in the books now, and I am still recovering! This was the best show yet for me; I actually sold quite a few pens instead of just buying.

There were so many people there that I didn't have a chance to talk to everyone individually. That's the only problem with having a table.

Here's who had tables at the show, in no particular order (please let me know if I got any names spelled wrong):

Joel & Diana Hamilton and Sherrell Tyree, Mary Burke of Conway Stewart, Marilyn Zornado for "Adventures in Pen Land," Gail Arno (PDX local), Brent Selnau, Greg Minuskin and his wife, Janet Takahashi, signing her book on journaling, Pendemonium, Jim Marshall, Gary & Myrna Lehrer, Taccia Pens (Shu-Jen Lin), Bruno Cassini Pens, Laban Pens, Paradise Pens (local retailer), PCA table run by Kim Sosin, Rick "The PENguin" Propas, John Schwab, Stuart Hawkinson, Michael McNeil, Harvey Rabinowitz, Brian Johnstone, Bruce "Grem" Grembowski, John Strother, Garry Hart, Ray Kuncz, Dave Smith, Jonathon Goss and Danielle Behar of John Mottishaw's www.nibs.com, Saul Kitchener, and Alan Brookings.

Whew! I tried my best to check everyone's wares; I saw quite a few pens that I lusted after, but settled for a Waterman Edson, Waterman Serenite, Waterman Executive trio, a Bruno Cassini "desk" pen with flexi Waterman #2 nib, Jim Marhsall's new pen repair book, some Waterman tools from Stuart, and of course misc. items from Pendemonium.

We had quite a crowd on Saturday, and Laurel got a few kids in to see the Pens for Kids presentation.

Carla did a fabulous job, as usual, keeping everything under control; whenever I saw her on the floor, she seemed like she was everywhere at once helping everyone.

Lastly, I want to make a special shout out to Mike Schultz, John Schwab, and Michael McNeil for getting the word out about the show this year.

To see the pictures I took at the show, check out:

http://www.grembowski.com/Pens/PPS2008.htm

TTFN,
Grem

Hello Bruce,
It was nice to meet you too,

Thanks for chatting with me and helping me get my feet wet at the show. You have quite the collection of Watermans. I enjoyed trying out your factory Waterman stub, I didn't know they made such a nib.
You have nice collection of pictures yourself, did you take them on Saturday, it looks like it was much more busy that day.

See you again next year.

Thank Mike,

Sorry I missed you, I could only make it there on Sunday,

You did well in restraining yourself, I walked out a couple Bennies lighter, but I was really happy with what I got.

I completely spaced out that it was the same weekend as the STP, you did well in taking the train there, Traffic was pretty bad coming back Sunday night.

Bong,
I took pictures Saturday and Sunday. I did find my camera is not quite up to snuff, though; many of the pictures are slightly out of focus. The camera (Canon PowerShot A540) works great for pen close-ups; that's why I got it, but my old film SLR would have done better with the "candids."

TTFN,
Grem

I took a few shots with my Nikon D50.I will try to post them here later this week.Not nearly as good as Grem's but serviceable as reminders.


Jim

Good way to put it, that is how I felt about mine.

Hi,
I made at least two mistakes identifying people at the show.

First, it's Bruno Corsini Pens (not Cassini) that Bruce Hirschman runs. I had the Saturn probe on my brain when I wrote that.

Second, it's Jonathon Goss and Sarah from Classic Fountain Pens (www.nibs.com), not Danielle.

My apologies for getting your names wrong.

TTFN,
Grem

You going to the Seattle Pen Club this Saturday? Maybe you can bring your new purchase(s) along for the ride.

We forgot about STP too. The train was packed going back on Sunday; I'm glad we did the train rather than drive though. Great weekend weather all around!

I'll Be in Vancouver BC this weekend, but I'll bring it and a couple other new acquisitions to the August meeting.

4,570 miles! We got back in from the Portland Pen Show and vacation jaunt this evening. And while I'm a little late here, just wanted to send a big THANKS, big round of applause and a thumbs up to everyone who was involved in putting on this show - Carla and crew does a fabulous job, so thank you to all! Great to meet some new friends this year and catch up with folks we only see in Portland every other year, not to mention see many of our regular pen show friends. Portland rocks and even our granddaughter and her friend who came along for the trip thought so, too. You know it's gotta be good when a pen show ranks up at the top of the list with Yellowstone and the Zoo in Omaha!

The Portland Show grew a lot since we were there two years ago, we were pretty swamped on Saturday and didn't get to talk to people quite as much as I thought we would, but a little fractured conversation is better than none and on Sunday I got to sneak away a little more and see what was at the show which was lots! Sold lots of pen stuff, bought some nice things and all in a such a pleasant venue. Couldn't have had a nicer time!

Regards to all and we'll see you in a few weeks in DC.

Sam
www.pendemonium.com

I just returned home from Portland after two weeks in Oregon for a work conference, vacation, and the Portland Pen Show! I first must thank Carla for putting on the show and being such a gracious host. The hotel, the food, the music at the reception, the seminars, and the vendors at the show were all terrific. I was there Saturday and returned Sunday with my wife who flew in Saturday night. Met and spoke with some really great pen people including Sherell Tyree, Marilyn Zornado, Greg Muniskin, Rich Propas, Stuart Hawkinson, Harvey Rabinowitz and many others. I escaped buying only one pen, a Shaeffer Snorkel from Stuart(and left him one to repair), but bought a number of other items-ink, repair books, pen stand, blotters, etc. The two seminars I attended were on pen repair in general and one deling with all the tools. Really informative.

My wife and I enjoyed Portland for a few days visiting the Chinese, Japanese, and Rose Gardens, the Sunday Market, and everything in between. We drove 1100 miles and visited Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach, the 3 Capes Drive, Tilamook, Garabaldi, Newport, Florence and loved the Coast, especially the drive between Newport and Florence! Also saw Crater Lake for which the word awesome is truly meant for, and did the Mount Hood loop. A very nice vacation for us and they even pump the gas for you! I may not get to attend the show again because of the distance, but I will defineitely try to. Please put it on your must do list.

Thanks again Carla.

doxiedaddy AKA Steve Sandler