Pink and Blue, and Curvy!

Here is the latest pen to come off my bench, a clipless fountain pen done up in an eye-catching iridescent pink and blue swirl acrylic, with subtle curves to the cap and barrel.  All in all,  decidedly feminine.

This pen was the result of a 'special order', which came in the form of a few subtle hints.  Took a while for the hints to register, but eventually, I clued in - and made this pen for my dear wife.

The pen is fitted with a fine nib, which can easily be swapped out for any other nib.  Like most of my pens, it is a cartridge/converter filler.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Matte Black 'Bamboo' Style FP With Matching Pen Rest

Well, I finally got back into the shop the last couple of days, after a long stretch of duty time at work.  Managed to finish the next order on my list, which is this matte black 'Bamboo' style fountain pen in black ebonite.

The request was triggered by the last matte black bamboo fountain pen that I made, but with one difference:  the buyer wanted a matching pen rest.  Initially I was going to simply make a cylindrical styled pen rest, with plain flat ends, and a matte finish to match the pen, but then I thought I would try to match the ends on this pen rest to the inset 'bamboo' ends of the pen.  Tricky work, as the piece is quite small, but seems to have come out not bad.

In any case, I hope the gentleman who ordered this pen and rest is happy with them.

Comments welcome.

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!

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 :-))

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!

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

Pen Pillow! And now for something completely different...

I had almost forgotten, until reminded by the gentleman ordering the Red Flake Simplicity II, that he had requested a 'pen rest' (or 'pen pillow') with it - a common presentation with a number of high end pen manufacturers.

Not having done a pen rest before, I had a bit of a challenge figuring out what I could do, given the tools at hand.  Well, I have a lathe, and I have a belt sander, among other tools, so I put them to use to make this shiny little thing.

I'm pretty happy with how it came out.  It was a great deal of fun going through an exercise like this!

OK.   On with the day now.

Ruby Red 'Simplicity II' Style Fountain Pen

This has been a good week for shop time so far!

This design, the 'Simplicity II' is one that I have not made for many months, being sidetracked by other projects.  However, it was - and still is - one of my very favourites.  The original, which I had named 'Simplicity of Heart' was made to try to embody a clean, simple uncomplicated pattern - one that could show off the beauty of a nice acrylic without the distraction of curves, clips, bands etc.  The first one was made with a black grip section, which I quickly replaced with a matching one (and so, 'Simplicity II').

In fact, it was the 'Simplicity' design that led to a variation on a theme, the 'Bamboo' style pens.

This material, the red flake acrylic is an incredibly vivid dark ruby red, very suitable for this style of pen.  The pen is fitted with a medium two-tone steel JoWo nib, and is a cartridge/converter filler.

The pen will be headed to Malaysia in the next day or so.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Matte Black Ebonite 'Bamboo' Style Fountain Pen

Yes, another Bamboo.  This style seems to be a very popular one!  This pen was ordered by a pen lover in Singapore, who requested that it be made in black ebonite, with a matte finish.

Doing the matte finish was actually a lot of fun, and I am pretty happy with how it came out.  Kind of a cool, 'stealth' look to it.  I may have to try doing some more classic style fountain pens in this material and finish..

This pen is fitted with a two-tone medium JoWo (German) steel nib, which has as usual been write-tested, adjusted and smoothed.

Hope its new owner likes it as much as I do!

Anyhow, thanks for having a look.

Ken

Cumberland Ebonite 'Bamboo'

Well, it seems these 'Bamboo' style pens are just taking over all my production.  This one is a special order headed for Beijing, made (as requested) out of red and black ebonite.

I actually started out making this one from a slightly different material, which the fellow commissioning the pen had picked out.  That ebonite was also red and black, but more of a marbled pattern rather than the 'wood-grain' look of Cumberland.   In any case, when I got to turning it on the lathe I found it to be really quite soft and surprisingly porous.  In other words, it was a cheap material that doesn't polish to a shine very well.  So, I made the decision to switch to a different material, the Cumberland ebonite.  This  stuff, which is made in Germany, is wonderful material - dense, hard, beautifully grained, and takes on a glossy shine when polished.   By far and away my favourite ebonite.

So, now it's finished and tested out, the nib adjusted and smoothed, and ready to head to China.  Of course, I hope the buyer likes the ebonite that I used as much as I do!  ;-))

Thanks for looking.  Comments welcome.

Ken