WELCOME!

Welcome to my Custom Fountain Pen website/blog. I put this site together a while ago so that I could let some of my fellow pen enthusiasts and penmakers, as well as my customers, see what I have been up to lately in the workshop. I don't publish all of my pens here, but good percentage of them.

A Little About My Pens: I love doing fine work on the lathe, which is what got me into this work. That is, I enjoy the focus on the details of a project - the material and colour selection, the form, the fit and finish of the pen. I also test all of the my nibs before shipping. I fill the converter, run ink through the nib and feed, and write with it. I spend a significant amount of time smoothing and adjusting the nib of every pen that I sell. My goal, with each pen that I make, is to create a writing piece whose fit and finish will impress you when you first pull it out of the packing, and that will serve you well as a great writer when you fill it up with your favourite ink.

Have a look at my posts to see some of the work I am doing lately, or see my pricing guide in the link below to the right, or check the link to my current inventory of already-made pens (usually small, as most of my work is by commissions/orders).

Or, if you are interested, you can see some of the work I have done previously in my Custom Pen Gallery on Photobucket!

If you have a Twitter account, I am @drgoretex

If any of my posts generate particular interest, I will pin them as links on the right (eg 'Basic Nib Adjusting 101').

* ORDERS: Please contact me at kencavers@gmail.com to place an order.

* PRICES: Please see the link on the right side of the screen 'Pricing Guide' for an idea as to the cost of a pen.

* REVIEWS:
Have a look at the bottom of this page for some reviews done by previous buyers!

* HOW LONG WILL MY ORDER TAKE?:

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I am happily overwhelmed with pen orders. This gives me great joy in that my work is so well received, but saddens me that I cannot fill orders anywhere near as quickly as I would like. I am still trying to work through back orders, but if you have ordered from me and heard nothing for some time, feel free to email me and ask how things are going.
I still only make these pens in my spare time, when work and family time permit, and even then the productivity slows down during the coldest winter months thanks to my unheated workshop.
Given that I make these pens primarily as a hobby, I also reserve the right to pursue some other interesting pen projects in between filling orders.
I apologize for long delays in order fulfillment, which may in some case be over a year and a half. In the meantime, you are welcome to contact me to inquire about new pen orders, or to check up on a previously submitted order.

-Ken Cavers








Tuesday 16 October 2012

Blue Crush Cigar-Style Fountain Pen



Here, fresh off the bench, is my latest finished custom order, a cigar style fountain pen in the rather striking blue crush acrylic.  The order requested that the nib section be a little longer than my usual, and that the cap and barrel be closer to the same length than my previous cigar pens (like this black ebonite one).  

I tapered the barrel just a hint more than my previous cigars, and am rather happy with the result.  Must do more of these and play around a bit with that.




The pen is fitted with a polished steel JoWo broad nib, and is a cartridge/converter filler (converter already in the pen).

I keep coming back to this blue acrylic, and keep loving it.  One of these days, I'll make one for me.

Thanks for taking a look!

Friday 12 October 2012

White Wedding Pen



I received an order for a wedding pen, hoping that I could use a similar material to one which I had used before .  As it urned out, I had a couple of pieces of this material left, so having a bit of a deadline (well, the wedding), I got to it.



The pen is equipped with a signature-worthy broad steel JoWo nib, and is - you guessed it - a cart/converter filler.



The resin itself, acquired from a fellow pen maker, is quite fascinating stuff.  It appears at first glance to be simply pearly white with a nice shimmer to it, but held a certain angles, a nice iridescent green pops out.  Very cool.

Anyhow, I hope the one who ordered it likes it as much as I do :-))


Wednesday 10 October 2012

Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow



This pen is a custom order that was inspired by a previous black and yellow pen that I made.  In this case however, the one ordering it chose to have a clip on the pen, as well as to go with a more conservative shape.



In order to preserve the classic shape of the pen, I decided not to make it postable.  While the cap draws the most attention, the axial inlay on the barrel end serves to tie the cap and barrel together visually.



This black and yellow mix is one of my favourites as the black swirl in the yellow acrylic becomes framed so nicely by the black trim.



The pen, like the vast majority of my pens, is a cartridge/converter filler, and is fitted with a medium two-tone JoWo steel nib unit.

Well, another fun project comes to a close.  On to the next one!

Monday 8 October 2012

Green Swirl Bamboo and Pen Rest



While I have posted pics of a Green Swirl Bamboo before, I thought I would put this one up anyway.  The person who ordered this pen had seen pics of the previous one, and was drawn to the cool acrylic, but also wanted a matching pen rest for it, having seen the other pen rests that I recently did.










As I was making this pen rest, I thought I would try something a bit different - so I added some black trim to each end of it, and then inlaid some black and green swirl acrylic into the black trim.  I rather liked how it came out - I hope the new owner does as well!



Thanks for looking!

Ken