'Mirkwood' Cigar style Fountain Pen

Hello folks,

Figured I'd move this one from the sale page, now that it is gone.  Here is one of my Cigar style fountain pens in a material that has been begging to be used.  I keep collecting cool materials, but since most of my orders are custom, new materials can sit around for a long time before I get a chance to work on them.  Well, I decided to give this one a go, mostly because I really love earth tone colours.

The blank was as usual pretty boring looking before turning it.  A mottled mix of dull, flat browns and greens.  Blah.  But having turned so may of Jonathon Brooks' blanks before, I know better - once you start turning it, it's like a butterfly emerging.  And this was certainly true here - the gorgeous pearly swirls are definitely eye-catching, and yet still reminiscent of the dark swaths of brown and green of a deep forest.  'Mirkwood' - this was well named indeed.

The pen is fitted with a broad two-tone steel JoWo nib, and is a cartridge/converter filler.

Sigh… I still have so many really cool looking blanks crying out to me…

Thanks for looking!

Ken

'Golden Sunrise' Cigar Style FP with Black Accent Bands

This material, one of J Brook's alumilites, is amazingly cheerful.  I just had to rename it for this pen as 'Golden Sunrise' - the colour alone makes me happy.

Still, I wanted to add something to break up the single colour, so I decided to add in some accent bands in black acrylic, and am pretty happy with how it came out.

The pen a bit smaller than my usual Cigar style, making it a bit more portable.  It is fitted with a fine nib, and is cart/converter fill.

Like many of my pens, this one has found a new home in Singapore.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

'Dragon Fire' Cigar Style Fountain Pen

I have to say that the sale of this pen was one of the most fun sales I've had.   While on a work trip to Toronto, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with a great group of fellow pen fans who arranged a get-together so that we could all meet while I was in town.  So last friday, an excellent evening of conversation around pens, paper, and ink, accompanied by a decent quantity of beer (and even some top notch single malt scotch - thanks, Bob!) was had by all.  During this meet up, this pen was claimed by its new owner, Gerald.

It is however still in my grasp, as I will be swapping out the 1.1mm stub ruthenium coated nib for a broad one.

In any case, I thought I would take opportunity not only to thank the wonderful folks that I met last friday, but also to put up a few pics of this pen.

The material used here is another of Jonathon Brooks' alumilite blanks which he calls 'Dragon Fire'.  And, once again, it looked brutally dull before I started turning it.  In fact, it just looked plain black, so I wasn't sure how the name 'Dragon Fire' came about.  Then I put it on the lathe and started opening it up to reveal this amazingly nice deep translucent red mixed with opaque, smoke black.  Great name for this material, Jonathon!

Thanks for looking!

Ken

'Arctic Night' Curvy Style Fountain Pen

Finally got to this order after having been just itching to get to it.  I love this gorgeous material, so reminiscent of the dark winter night sky (outside the city, that it…).

The buyer wanted this pen done in my 'Curvy' style, but with the news coned instead of flat as I usually do them.  Good choice, as it turns out.  Somehow suits the style very nicely.

The pen is fitted with a medium steel JoWo nib, and is of course a cart/converter filler.

I would write more about it, but it is bed time.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Compact Style Fountain Pen in 'Emerald Fusion' Alumilite

Hello folks,

Here is another one of the pens that I made this week for the sheer pleasure of using a material that I have been wanting to try out.

This material is another of Jonathon Brooks' cool alumilites.  I have to admit that I can't recall what he called it, but let's call it 'Emerald Fusion'.   Awesome swirls of different hues of rich pearly green that your eyes can get lost in.  Well, not literally - that would be awkward.

The pen is made in my 'Compact' style, which is one of my current favourites.  It is a nice, portable size for carrying, and is made so that the cap can post very securely on the barrel while writing - a great style for small hands and large hands alike.

This pen is fitted with a broad steel JoWo nib, and the fill mechanism is cartridge/converter (but with a bit of silicone grease, it could easily be used as an eyedropper fill).

Thanks for looking!

Compact Style Fountain Pen in 'Ghost Koi' Alumilite

Hello folks,

I have a number of alumilites and acrylics in stock that I just never seem to be able to get to.  So every once in a while, I just decide to pull out some cool looking materials and turn them into pens for the sheer pleasure of it (since this one is not spoken for, it is going up for sale on my sales page).

This material is one of Jonathon Brooks' lovely alumilites, which he called 'Ghost Koi'.  And typical for Jonathon's blanks, it looked kind of boring on the outside - a couple of blocky looking purple patches on a white blank.  But having turned so many of his blanks, I knew better.  Sure enough, as I turned the blank down to size, a very, very cool pearly purple swirl began to emerge (in fact, I'm pretty sure I yelled "cool!" as I was turning this one…).

The pen is another of my 'Compact' style pens, which is one of my current favourites.  It is a nice, portable size for carrying, and is made so that the cap can post very securely on the barrel while writing - a great style for small hands and large hands alike.

This pen is fitted with a broad steel JoWo nib, and the fill mechanism is cartridge/converter (but I have made the grip/barrel threads snug enough that with a bit of silicone grease, it could easily be used as an eyedropper fill).

Thanks for looking!

Santa's Workshop: A Couple of 'Compact' Style FPs for the Stockings

As soon as I started my 'Christmas' holiday (actually the two weeks before the Christmas week - luck of the draw…), I got to work in my workshop to put together a few Christmas gifts.

Here are two of the pens that I made - a couple of pens in my 'Compact' style (which is a modified, clipless version of my Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen).  One is done in Ruby Flake acrylic, and the other in 'Raku Lava' alumilite.  This style of pen is very nicely suited for carrying in a small pouch in a purse or backpack.

Both are fitted with steel JoWo fine nibs, and are cart/converter fills.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Colour Splash - Warning: Not for the faint of heart!

Every once in a while I get a request for a wildly colourful pen that grabs attention.  I used to make a number of what I called 'Pen of Many Colours'.  Unfortunately, having many adhesive joints can render a pen a little more susceptible to breakage - especially when dropped.  So, I don't make a lot of those any more, but instead have started using one of Jonathon Brooks' materials that he calls 'Primary Manipulation' - an alumilite that is wildly, garishly colourful, and one that is definitely not for all tastes. This is the pen for one who wants to catch peoples' eyes and start conversations.  Conversations like "Wow - that pen is crazy - where in the world did you get it?", or "Cool pen - never seen anything like that before", or quite probably, "Aaaaargh!  What IS that thing?! My eyes - they're burning!!"

This pen is another Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen modification - slightly longer, and made not to post.  So, really, it's maybe more like my Classic style, but with simple convex ends.

In any case, I hope it suits the new owner.  Now, to write test and smooth the 1.1mm steel stub, and get it packed up to ship to Ireland.

Cheers,

Ken

A First: Modified 'Mini' Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen for Shallow Pockets

Well, this was a fun challenge.  The commission was for a Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen style, but for carrying in very small, shallow shirt pockets (polo shirts).   In the end, we had to give up on making the pen a converter fill, opting to go with cartridge-only in order to allow for a shorter barrel length.

The cap itself could not be shortened much more than is already the case with my standard SPFP, given  a reasonable threaded tenon, grip size, and #6 nib.  The barrel, however, need only be as long as the contents: converter or cartridge.  So, in this case, the barrel was designed to be just long enough for a standard international cartridge.

The end result is a pen that is not unlike those '70s Japanese 'short' fountain pens made for shirt pocket carry.  The pen is quite short at 110mm capped, and 97mm uncapped; but once posted, it is a comfortable 125mm long, very pleasant to write with.  See below for a side by-side with one of my standard sized SPFPs.

The material used here is 'Golden Smoke' alumilite which I obtained from the folks at Bear Tooth Woods, framed with plain black acrylic trim and grip.  The nib is a steel 1.1mm stub made by JoWo of Germany.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Tuxedo Style: Inlaid Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen in Black and White Acrylic

One of my colleagues where I work is a bit of a fountain pen guy, like me.  Several years back, he commissioned a fountain pen/rollerball kit pen set from me, followed a short time later by another pen, and another…all of which he still uses at work.  More recently, he has commissioned a whole series of Shirt Pocket Fountain Pens as gifts for various family members and friends' kids for graduation gifts.

Along the way, he expressed a very strong liking for the black and white SPFP, especially with the end-inlay.  So, I thought it was time to make one of these for the one who has supported my hobby/business so kindly.

As noted, this is one of my 'Shirt Pocket Fountain Pens', done in black and white swirl acrylic for the cap, with a black finial, and a black barrel with an matching axial end-inlay - tuxedo style!

Merry Christmas, to a colleague and a friend.

Thanks for looking!

Ken