'Colour Eruption' Compact Style Fountain Pen

Well, this pen is the 'start-over' that I had to do after forgetting to make that last one clipless.  Didn't have any more of the 'Lava Flow' alumilite, but I had this.  This pen is actually for a co-worker, who wasn't specific about the material.   He did want something colourful, and I think this fits the bill perhaps better than the Lava flow.  The name I am using for this resin might be a bit of a stretch, but it is what came to mind.

So this is another of my 'Compact' style pens, which is the name that am giving what is essentially a clipless 'Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen'.  Compact enough for larger pockets, and posts securely for convenience while writing.

It is fitted with a two-tone fine JoWo nib, and a converter for ink filling.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

'Lava Flow' Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen

Here is another one of my 'Shirt Pocket Fountain Pens', made to be compact enough to fit nicely in the shirt pocket, and posts securely for convenience while writing - a great 'daily carry' model.

This one is made using another of Jonathon Brooks' creative alumilite mixes, with swirls of white and pearly red and grey, giving the pen a beautiful eye-catching depth.

The only problem here is that as I was finishing up this pen, I suddenly remembered that the person who ordered it had wanted a clipless pen.  D'oh!  Off to the 'for sale' page...

The pen is fitted with a medium steel JoWo nib, with a chrome ball-end clip to match.  The fill system is cartridge/converter.

Thanks for looking!

Colour Splash Cigar Style Fountain Pen

This was kind of an impromptu project.  I picked up one of these Jonathon Brooks blanks that I had in stock, and decided I wanted to know what it looked liked turned.  So, I went into the shop and started working on a cool Cigar style pen.  I love this!  Each of these blanks is like a bit of discovery - you can't tell at all what it will look like from the outside of the blank, but as the layers come off on the lathe, the final colours start to show.

In any case, this is a very bright and cheerful, 'upbeat' kind of pen, perfect for those who like colour.  Lots of colour.  Garish, wild, out-of-control colour.  For those who don't, it may give you a migraine.

                                          Another profile view to show the different colours

The nib is a broad, two-tone JoWo nib that has been tested and smoothed, and is a true pleasure to write with.   The pen is a cart/converter filler, but the nib unit threading has a bit of silicone grease on it, and the grip section threading made to be tight in order to allow the new owner to use this as an eyedropper filler, if so desired.

Now, to pack it up and ship it off the the one who claimed it!

Thanks for looking,

Ken

'Curvy' Style Fountain Pen with Clip and Inlay

This has been a very good week for shop time :)

Here's one that I finished last night, a Curvy style fountain pen in black and white.  The request was initially for  mix of plain black and white, but the one who ordered it settled on the pearly black and white swirl for the cap, and plain black for the barrel.  The finial is in plain black to match the barrel, and the barrel itself has an end-inlay of the pearly white to match the cap.

The pen's curves are a bit subdued compared to my usual Curvy style - this was so that the cap could accommodate a clip, which it doesn't do very well with to much curve.

The pen is fitted with a broad polished steel JoWo nib, which will shortly be receiving a custom grind to cursive italic to spice up the writing.

Fill system is as with the vast majority of my pens, cartridge/converter.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

'Jungle Life' Large Size Cigar Fountain Pen

I have to say, I am really enjoying working with these amazing alumilite resins.  They have demonstrated such incredibly vivid colours, and this one is no different.  Gorgeous rich browns and greens in very organic swirls - to me, this material's brilliant colour immediately evokes thoughts of rich Jungle life.   So, I dropped that name on it (though I bought it as 'Genesis' alumilite from the supplier).

This Cigar is one of my large size ('Big Hand') Cigar style pens.  Not for tiny-handed!

The buyer for this pen wanted to be able to use two different nibs JoWo nibs with it (which she kindly supplied for the making of this pen), so I have made two different grip sections, one to house each nib.  This allows for the easy swapping of nibs without having to grip the nib and feed itself to unscrew (risk putting nib tines out of alignment).   One nib is a lovely 18K medium, the other a very cool music nib.

Accompanying this pen is a matching pen rest made out of the same resin - to keep the pen from falling to its death from desk-height.

Thanks for looking,

Ken

Wedding Pen: Pearly White with Roll-Stop Jewel

Here is a pen that was a true pleasure to make - it is a wedding pen for my son and his fiancée, who are to be married this summer.  

The pearly material is an alumilite from Jonathon Brooks, and is rather nicely suited to this particular occasion.  The pen of course did not need a clip, but as it will be sitting on a table at the wedding itself, preventing its sudden fall to the floor seemed wise.  So, the pen has a matching pen rest, and the cap itself has a small roll-stop jewel.  

I actually started out with two of those jewels on the cap, thinking proudly how this might symbolize the two of them together….  When I finished, something seemed odd about it.  I showed it to my wife and asked what she thought.  "Honestly?"(uh oh), "It looks like two little eyes".  Ah.  Yes, in fact, that was exactly what seemed so disconcerting about it.  Had a good laugh, and then removed one of the 'eyes' and re-turned the pen.  Well, it seemed like good idea at the time…

The pen is fitted with a nice broad nib for the signing of the forms.

Thanks for looking,

Ken

Curvy Style Fountain Pen in Copper Lightning

Here is one of my 'Curvy' style fountain pens, a comfortable, more whimsical looking style ideal for purse/briefcase or desk.  By special order, I made this one out of a Rhino Plastic named 'Copper Lightning'.  This is the first time not only that I have used Copper Lightning, but that I have used Rhino Plastic at all.  I was not sure what sort of plastic/resin this material was, as Rhino Plastic is obviously a trade name.  But, I figured it must be pretty tough stuff with a name like that.  Wrong!  As soon as I started turning it, I realized by smell and feel that this material is actually Poly Resin, which is incredibly brittle.  In fact, as careful as I was, I made the threaded tenon on the end of the barrel four times - The first three times, regardless how careful I was, the threaded end of the barrel kept shattering while threading.   But, the fourth time was the charm, and it worked well, with enough blank left to make the barrel as long as I planned in the first place.  Yep, there is a good reason that I stopped using Poly Resin to make pens…   Now - here's hoping it never gets dropped…

On the very positive side, Poly Resin can make some absolutely beautiful material, and takes an incredible glossy shine when polished.  This Copper Lightning is certainly no slacker in this respect - gorgeous stuff indeed.

When the pen's buyer found out about how brittle it is, she wisely requested a pen rest to help keep this beauty from rolling off a table or desk and shattering.  So, I made this three-groove pen rest to keep this pen as secure as possible.

The pen is fitted with a broad two-tone JoWo steel nib, which I have custom ground to a cursive italic/stub as requested.

OK.  Enough computer screen time.  Time to get back into the workshop.  Or, more likely, to start working on the 'other' to do list….

Thanks for looking,

Ken

'Urushi Red' Bamboo Style Fountain Pen

This is another of my 'Bamboo' style fountain pens, done up in a specially ordered acrylic, which was called 'Urushi Red' for it's dark reddish brown urushi-like colour quality.  Nice looking material, and enjoyable to work with.

I was asked by the one who ordered it to make it as slim as I could while still using a #6 nib.  I shaved a fair amount off the diameter, making the cap as thin as is sound, which allowed for a somewhat smaller step between the barrel and the grip section.  Certainly quite comfortable to hold.

The pen is fitted for the photos with a polished steel JoWo broad nib.

Thanks for looking!

Cool Mint Water Cone-end Cigar Fountain Pen

Despite the enormous amount of work these transparent acrylics take, I was so taken with the last one (once I re-did it, that is) that it did not take much convincing to try it again.  So, this order came up and I jumped at it.  And, even had enough material left over to create a matching pen rest!

The transparent acrylic really is quite tricky - drilling speed need to be at a snail's pace, and the polishing of the inside is incredibly time-consuming.  That is especially true because you can't see any faults in the finish until you are completely done.  Then, 'there that blemish in the finish…gotta start over again'…  Still, I am quite pleased with this one.  I did have to do make a second barrel, as I forgot to drill super slowly the first time, resulting in a barrel that even when sanded and polished inside, had lots of tiny surface fractures (crazing).  I only had to re-polish the cap once.

This pen is fitted with a medium steel JoWo nib, as well as a colourless converter to allow showing off of ink :-)

Thanks for looking!

Ken