Walnut and Bamboo: what's up lately in the pen workshop?

It's been a while since I posted a new entry here, so I thought I would share a few pics of some of my recent pens.  I didn't want to make a new post for each one this time, as it could be just a bit...repetitive.

First off, here are a couple of Bamboo style pens that I finished recently - one headed south to the US, and one flying off to Singapore.  These two are made out of cumberland ebonite, one of the most popular materials out there for fountain pen making.  While it can be a bit trying while turning one the lathe (strong smell, dusty (must wear a mask!), dull the tools quickly), it is absolutely wonderful in a pen - comfortable to hold, has a nice warm feel to it, easy to grip, resilient, and does not break easily.

One of the things that the first picture above highlights is just how variable a material is from one batch to another, and even from one blank to another.  One of these blanks yielded a rather brightly coloured red and black pen, while the other came out much more toned down.  Regardless, both pens are now fitted with nicely smoothed nibs and are ready for some serious writing!  As I write this, they are en route to their new owners.

This next one is a Bamboo style pen that I just finished a couple of days ago, created out of a beautiful rusty coloured acrylic with a lighter reddish swirl in it.  The iridescence of the acrylic makes this pen look quite fiery in the right light.  Oddly enough, I have only used this material a couple of times before, even though I have lots of it.  Might have to change that :-)

One of the cool things about this particular pen is that it is the first of my pens to sport one of JoWo's 1.1mm stub nibs.  I had a little too much fun smoothing and write-testing this one.

Finally, I'd like to introduce a small group of pens that you will undoubtedly be seeing again at some point in the future.  This set of four walnut pens, made in a modified 'cigar' style, were created as part of a collaboration with Ernest Shin of Hakumin Urushi Kobo, to demonstrate a hand-rubbed urushi technique (suri urushi), which will be decorated with a maki-e design.

I am posting these pens here largely to show how they look 'before'.  The walnut has absolutely no finish on it, and the ebonite fittings and nib section are all in matte finish in order to allow the urushi lacquer to adhere.

The urushi finish takes quite a long time (months) to do, so the next instalment of this story may be a long way off yet.  I have to say, I am very excited to see how these come out!

Thanks for looking!

Ken