Write Turns Ink

Since there was no Downtown Market on Saturday, July 4th, my buddy John came over to see how I do my pen blank casting. He has purchased most of the tools to do it, but wanted to see it being done live, not a YouTube video. We went through the entire process casting some hybrid Maple and blue resin blanks, a couple of Sweet Gum Pods blanks and used the extra resin for an entirely resin blank.

While the resin was curing I practiced my presentation for the club meeting with him. He is an accomplished turner and had good questions and suggestions for me.

An hour and a half later the resin was cured so we took the blanks out of the molds. We then cast a different style of resin with printed labels. These are still in the pressure pot curing but I will post them tomorrow when I take them out.

I turned one of the hybrid Maple blanks this morning and used it on a Retro Fountain pen.

I did a couple more of the Closed End Jr Gentleman pens this morning. I am still tweaking the body and cap sizes to get them into better proportions. I think the blue one is just about right. The cap on the Copperhead is a bit long for my liking but unless they are side-by-side I don’t think anyone will notice. I

played a bit with adding a clip this morning and I think I have the procedure ready. My next one will probably have an imbedded pocket clip.

Father’s Day is Sunday and I had an order for a Space Shuttle pen for a dad who used to work for NASA. The daughter saw these and knew that it was the perfect gift. I love that I can help provide items for these special times. Made my day!

It was a rather slow market Saturday but I wound up selling three fountain pens. One was a green Loong Dragon, one Honeybee with Osage Orange body, and the other a Magnetic Graduate made with Cocobolo.

I don’t usually display too many fountain pens but they have been selling surprisingly well. I received a shipment of parts including some of the orange honeycomb blanks. I have been out of them for a month so I made a replacement Honeybee Fountain and a Honeybee ballpoint for this week. More Dragon parts on order.