'Dark Fire' Cigar Style Fountain Pen

So here is a Cigar style fountain pen that is a commission from some time back (sadly, all my commissions are 'from some time back' - but this will get better…).  There was a last-minute change of materials after the last few posts in which I used some of my new Brooks blanks.

As seems to be the way with pen makers, I have renamed the material after my own fancy, calling it 'Dark Fire', which seemed appropriate looking at the material.  The fiery flames are the first thing to grab your attention, but one closer inspection, the dark background, which at first glance seems to be plain black, is actually quite alive and opalescent!  Truly a lovely material, once again.  Bravo to Jonathan Brooks!

The pen is fitted with a 1.1 mm stub in the picture, but will actually be sporting a freshly smoothed and tuned fine nib when it catches a north wind to its new owner.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Multicolour Swirl 'Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen'

Here is a very unusual material, also made by fellow pen maker Jonathan Brooks.  This one is a wild assortment of transparent and opaque colours swirled together.  It has a certain jarring quality in its garish colourfulness, but at the same time, the transparent swirls give it an amazing depth.  From certain angles, you can see the nib inside the cap, and the converter inside the barrel.  Very cool.

I made this material into one of my 'Shirt Pocket Fountain Pens', as I had someone expressing interest in this style.  I have installed a polished steel fine nib into the pen, and will be giving the nib a good smoothing and tuning before it goes (to wherever it goes).

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Blue Nebula Cigar!

Here is the second of a set of blanks that I bought from pen maker (and blank maker) Jonathan Brooks.  Again, I turned this one into a Cigar style pen the get a good look at it.  I can see already that I will be going back for more!

This particular material ('teal pearl with black') I am going to call 'Blue Nebula' because that makes me happy.  The pics came out OK, but the camera really can't catch the beautiful shimmering swirls in this material.  Truly beautiful!

I have matched the material with a polished steel JoWo fine nib.  And now, I think I will smooth and polish the nib (i.e. 'my excuse the spend some time writing with the pen').

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Slender Green Striated Ebonite Bamboo Style Fountain Pen

Here is one that represents something a little new for me.  I have made many, many of my 'Bamboo' style fountain pens, as they have prevent to be quite popular (to my delight).  However, like all diameter-matched styles of pen (another example being the Cigar style), the barrel ends up being rather thick, especially with the dimensional requirements of the #6 nib and its housing.  So, I had a request for a 'Bamboo' style pen, only slimmer for smaller hands, and she noted that a #5 nib would be fine.  Using a #5 nib allows my to take down the dimensions a bit, making for a significantly slimmer pen.

One rather nice feature of this slimmer model is that the cap to barrel threading is 'triple-start', which makes for fast and easy capping and uncapping.

The diameter of the barrel on this pen is 13.7mm, rather than the usual 15.5mm.  The length is preserved, at about 155mm capped, and 133mm uncapped.

The material that I used for this pen is a striated green ebonite, which seemed fairly suited to the Bamboo style pen.

The nib is JoWo, as is my usual brand, and is a #5 two-tone steel fine nib.  To add a bit of spice to it, I have done a custom grind on the nib to a nice, surprisingly smooth cursive italic.  The fill system is c/c.

Here is a side by side comparison of the slender Bamboo with one of my first regular sized Bamboo pens

Thanks for looking!

Ken