If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em

24Nov08

  I hate to admit it, but I have finally succumbed. I bought some wooden pens and matching boxes that were imported from China. For the price, they are actually not too bad. I get a lot of comments from people who say they love my laser engraved pens, but just can’t bring themselves to plunk down that much money for a pen. I understand that. I  have no problem with that.

 I have been working on some new designs to engrave these pens. The import prices will let me put together an affordable package of an engraved pen with a matching engraved wooden box.

Here is the first new design

 I’m happy with the results, and would like to know what you think. I spend many hours preparing these designs to get a good 3D effect. This teacher pen box was certainly no exception.

left side - strapped books with an apple on top

Have a look at the close ups.

right side close up - chalk board

And now for the pen.

Engraved Teacher

  I had to change the intro to my web site. I had claimed that all of the pens on the site were hand made by Wooden Pen Works, obviously that is no longer the case. I have created a seperate section for the imports so there will be no confusion as to what the visitor is looking at. I’m certainly not trying to pull a fast one here.

  I hope my customers will see it as a good value, with a nice pen and box and some superior engraving.

The plan is to continuously add new designs, so be sure to visit the web site often.

http://www.woodenpenworks.com

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Tags: 3d, apple, books, engraved pen box, laser engraving, teacher, teacher christmas

Going Green – Saving the Planet One Pen at a Time

30Jul08

It’s no secret. Pick up any newspaper or tune in to any news broadcast. All you hear about is Global Warming. There is a movement toward alternatives to Petroleum.

  Now look around at all of those Plastic Disposable Pens you have been using. Just where do you think that plastic comes from? If you guessed Petroleum you are correct. You don’t win anything for being correct, as a matter of fact, you lose.

  I read one report that said Americans throw out 1.6 Billion of these pens each year. Yes, that’s Billions with a B. Feeling pretty guilty now? Wondering what you can do to help solve the problem? Well, I just happen to have a solution for you (what a coincidence huh?).  Here it is. Handmade Wooden Pens

  A simple, yet elegant solution to the problem. Wood as a renewable resource is preferable for the body of the pen. The pen should last a lifetime, as the refills are replaceable.

  The Plastics can’t compete with wood when it comes to beauty and warmth. The first time you pick up a wooden pen you will notice the feel of the wood. It just feels right.

Four Color Segmented Wooden Pen

And for those who say” I don’t use nice pens because I loose them all of the time”, I say you loose them all of the time because the pens you use are just crappy plastic throw aways that you couldn’t care less about. People who use my pens tell me they quickly get used to keeping track of their pen just as they would with any of their other belongings, and not one of them has lost a pen yet. Another thing that helps is to have your name engraved on your pen.

Laser Engraved Olive Wood Pen

One other nice thing about wooden pens, is that in addition to text, you can laser engrave some pretty detailed carvings.

Wavy Maple Pen with Firefighter Emblem

To see these pens and more, visit:

http://www.woodenpenworks.com

Filed under: crafts, Global Warming, lathe, pen, Petroleum, Plastic, Uncategorized, Wood, wooden pen   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: fire fighter, firefighter, fireman, Global Warming, Petroleum, Plastic, wooden pen

Coat of Arms Laser Engraved Pen

18Jun08

I have always been fascinated by the Coat of Arms hanging on the wall in my father’s house. After a little on-line searching, I was able to find a source for Heraldic art that I could modify to be compatible with my laser engraver.

 

 

http://www.woodenpenworks.com/coat-of-arms-engraved-pen.html

 The Coat of Arms begins as a color version, approximately 4″ x 5″. That’s a little too big to fit on a pen. The trick is to get it small enough, while retaining just enough detail to engrave successfully. If you leave too many features, they start to run together, and the design becomes a big blob. After doing enough of them, you get to know what works and what doesn’t. 

  I currently have list of over 11,000 available names including Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese heraldry. The designs get modified  as needed. There is no way I could do the entire library in advance. 

 The pen itself is hand made from Bethlehem Olive Wood. The wood engraves very well, and I have been able to pick through my inventory to get pieces that have some nice clear sections. I have tried several other wood types, but their grain makes the result unpredictable. Hickory for instance. Some of the grain engraves more deeply, and results in deep grooves within the pattern.

 Who wouldn’t like to see their family crest engraved on a beautiful hand made pen?  I am selling these for $65.00 on my web site. Considering the time that goes into the preparation, and the fact that you can’t get one anywhere else on the planet, I think that is reasonable. Like anything else, value is in the eye of the beholder.

Filed under: coat of arms, crafts, family, Family Crest, Heraldry, Irish, laser engraving, lathe, pen, personalized, Uncategorized, Wood, wooden pen   |  1 Comment
Tags: coat of arms, Family Crest, Heraldry, laser, laser engrving, wooden pen

No Blarney – An Engraved Claddagh Wooden Pen

15Feb08

 

  I have been working on a few new patterns to engrave onto (or is it into?) my wooden pens.  I know that women really like the Claddagh and it’s romantic connotations. Men on the other hand, are less inclined to sport anything with a Claddagh design , like the ring in my jewelry box.  That started me thinking about a Claddagh that a guy wouldn’t mind being seen with. 

For starters it would have to be a nice big rugged looking pen, so I chose this cigar pen style. Next, I drew up this Claddagh design, and sized it to go about 2/3 ds of the way around the pen.  The pen clip will be placed in the 1/3 gap in the pattern. A fair amount of trial and error went into the final design. I know its only personal choice, but I like the look of a deep background, which allows the main features to stand out. It looks more like a carving than an engraving that way. I have done a fair amount of wood carving, and tried to give the background a scooped out look, as if done with a gouge.

 You can be the judge as to whether I succeeded or not.      

        

I tried the pattern in Hickory.The contrast of light wood to dark engraving looked great, but the grain led to too much variation in depth within the pattern.  Olive wood had a nice contrast without the grain issues. Another nice thing about the olive wood is that many of my pen blanks have a section with very few if any features. That leaves a nice clear area for the engraving, while at the same time having some really beautiful features on the rest of the pen. 

The picture below shows multiple views of the finished pen.

  In all modesty, I think I nailed it on this one.  What do you think? Comments are welcome.

To see more of my work, visit:

http://www.woodenpenworks.com

Filed under: Celtic, Claddagh, crafts, Holiday, Irish, laser engraving, lathe, pen, Shopping, Uncategorized, Wood, wooden pen   |  2 Comments
Tags: Celtic, Claddagh, Handmade, Irish, laser engraving, Olive Wood, pen

Finally, the perfect gift for your mother.

05Nov07

We all share a common problem. What do I get for my mother for Christmas, Birthday, or Mother’s Day?

 

   Since we are all in the same boat on this problem, I took my best shot at a solution. Here is a nice looking pen designed just for Mom. Think about it for a minute…

  First of all it is a nice pen. Who wouldn’t like a nice pen? More importantly though, the pen is engraved with all of Mom’s kids. The lower barrel has all of the names in any order that you would like to see them. Even though you might like to see your name first on the list, I think order of birth might be more appropriate. But you get to decide, so knock yourself out. If you are an only child, you get to put your name anywhere you want.

  When your Mom takes out her pen and waves it around like Norton signing a check, someone is bound to say “what an interesting pen”. That will be your mother’s cue to show the pen and glowingly describe each child in turn. What mother could resist such a chance. She is also likely to go on about how thoughtful it was of you (her favorite child) to have gone through all of the trouble to have the perfect gift designed especially for her.

  And now to the pen…..

As with all of my pens, this one was hand turned on a my wood lathe. The engraving spirals down and around from the center band down to the tip. The names are separated by a nice little heart. The overall design lends itself to other possibilities to follow. Dad, Grandms, Grandpa etc…

  The spiral design was a little tricky to work out. Font size and spiral angle have to be carefully planned, to keep the names from overlapping on the way around. A fair amount of time was spent working out the details, but I think the result is pretty good. The ornate font for MOM works best for a short name like MOM. Longer names like Grandma will look better in another font.

  Hickory was used because it is a nice looking wood, but more importantly, it engraves with a nice contrast.

So what are you waiting for? There is nothing left to think about.

Your MOM will love it.

You can view this pen, and many others at :

http://www.woodenpenworks.com

Filed under: christmas, Christmas gift, Christmas Shopping, crafts, Etsy, family, Mom, Mother, Mother's Day gift, pen, personalized, Shopping, Uncategorized, Wood, wooden pen   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: birthday gift, christmas, laser engraving, Mom, mother's day, wood pen, wooden pen

Handcrafted Pens made from Dupont Corian

02Apr07

  While most hand crafted pens are made from wood, there is another material that you should consider trying.

 Dupont Corian. Yes, the very same material used in counter tops. Corian is a great looking material, that comes in over 100 colors.

 Starting out, I had my hands full just trying to perfect my technique with wood, but I was intrigued by some pictures I had seen of Corian Pens.

 In searches for pen blanks on ebay, I kept seeing Corian blanks, but they were only 1/2 inch wide. Most of my pens were finishing around that thick, and my drilling was pretty shaky at best, so I just passed them by. I then read of a guy who was gluing the 1/2 inch pieces together to make thicker blanks, with virtually invisible glue lines. That’s all I had to hear. I went to ebay, found a huge assortment, and placed my order.

My aim, was to glue 4 pieces together for a 1 inch square, but there were so many different colors in the collection I bought, that I could only match up a couple of groups of four.  I glued up what I could, and began making pens.

  To my pleasant surprise,  Corian  is fairly easy to work with. Since there is no grain, your drill doesn’t tend to wander. It is a little tougher than many woods, so be sure to keep your chisels sharp.

 This is a pen from my original group of Corian blanks:

 I quickly used up all of my 1 inch blanks, but still had a big box full of Corian. Then I saw a segmented wooden pen that  Kenn Osborne put on line, along with a tutorial.

http://www.penturners.org/content/OsborneSegPen.pdf

 With a little practice, I started getting some good results from my Corian glue ups. With so many complimenting colors, the combinations are virtually endless.

I think the results speak for themselves:

You can see more of my pens at:

http://www.woodenpenworks.com

wpenw

Filed under: Christmas gift, Corian, crafts, Dupont Corian, How To, howto, lathe, patchwork, pen, segmented, segmented pen, Uncategorized, Wood, wooden pen   |  Leave a Comment

Where is the real money in wooden pen making?

31Mar07

   For anyone thinking about making wooden pens for the first time, please don’t let this change your mind. Making wooden pens is an artistic endeavor that is not only therapeutic, but actually borders on fun.

  What I am saying is don’t quit your day job. For every person selling a fair number of high end pens in the hundred dollar and up range, there are probably thousands of people making pens.

We have become a  throw away society, where true craftsmanship has no value. Sure there are exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, consumers have gotten used to ridiculously cheap imported goods.

  Couple that with the fact that no one writes anymore, and finding an easy customer for that pen you just took off of the lathe, is an uphill battle.

Here is how it goes. You read everything you can get your hands on. You’re sure you can do this with a little practice. You pore over the catalogs nearly breaking into a sweat with anticipation.

You finally think you have it figured out. You plunk down your hard earned dough on a mini lathe, and all of the stuff that was suggested in that how to get started article. If you bought it locally, you rush home. You can’t wait to get started.

 If you bought your outfit on line, you sit on your front steps like a kid on Christmas Eve. Jumping at the sound of every truck that ventures into the neighborhood. Finally it arrives, and you get to show off your talents.

  You stumble your way through with a fair amount of trial and error. You keep thinking  ”So that’s what they meant? Why the f@%k didn’t they just say so?”  Then it happens. This chunk of wood is actually beginning to look like a pen. You need to call someone. Surely such an historic event should not go unwitnessed.

 You polish that baby up. Swear a few more times while trying to figure out how to press in all of those metal parts. And then it’s done. You hold it up to the light. Stare at it in awe. You have arrived!

You are so sure that your only problem now, is how I am going to make enough of these to keep up with the orders that are sure to come flooding in; once the word gets out that a new Master Craftsman has arrived on the scene.

You load up on wood. You buy kits in bulk. You hone your craft. You take on the world. But the world only says “You want how much? I steal these plastic ones at work for nothing.”

It seem sad that a world that will pay a mechanic ninety dollars an hour to perform questionable repairs on their car would begrudge you a few dollars for the passion and skill that went into making a true piece of art.

Don’t give up. Your pens will make great gifts, and with determination you can sell your share.

So now back to the original question.  Where is the real money in wooden pen making? Sum up all of the cash that you laid out for books equipment and materials. I think the question just answered itself.

Now, my only question is, how do I get in on it?

Filed under: Christmas gift, crafts, How To, howto, lathe, pen, Uncategorized, Wood, wooden pen   |  2 Comments

20Mar07

WPW Pen Making Video

Not your typical pen making how to. Worth a look.

Filed under: crafts, Etsy, How To, howto, lathe, movie, pen, video, Wood, wooden pen   |  Leave a Comment

Not your typical how to video

20Mar07

 I try not to take most things too seriously.

I needed to take photos of some of the wooden pens that I make, so I started thinking about different backgrounds or settings. If you’ve had to take these kinds of pictures, then you know what a pain it can be.

Nothing was really working. Too dark. Too light. Too busy. Damn!

Then I looked up at the shelf above my monitor. Looking back down at me were a couple of characters that I had received for Christmas a couple of years ago. I could have sworn I heard them ask if I needed any help. I took them up on their offer. One thing led to another, and soon I had a series of photos of each step of the pen making process.

String them together, add a little music and voila! A video is born.

Take a look for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBoC_A2iQOE

Let me know what you think.

 wpenw

Filed under: crafts, Etsy, How To, howto, movie, pen, video, Wood, wooden pen   |  Leave a Comment

Tired of feeling like a bum every Christmas?

10Mar07

Its never too early to be thinking about Christmas Shopping.

You can save 20% by acting before May 1st

Come on all of you procrastinators, get this done.

Guys tell me if I’m wrong. Every year you wait till the last minute to do your Christmas shopping, and then panic, and wind up bringing home some lame piece of crap. Then you feel guilty, and promise yourself that you won’t do the same thing next year. But then you do!

Its time to break the cycle. Be a hero this year. Just look at this Chimneypiece. Its Personalized, so whoever gets one knows that you actually went out of your way to make them happy for a change. Your Wife would love one, your Mother would love one, your sister would too.

If you don’t act now, and later, you forget where you saw that perfect Christmas gift, don’t come crying to me.

Look, I’m trying to keep you out of trouble and save you 20% at the same time.

So do us both a favor and just get it done. http://www.woodenpenworks.etsy.com

Filed under: christmas, Christmas gift, Christmas Shopping, crafts, Etsy, family, Fireplace, guys christmas shopping, Holiday, personalized, Shopping, stockings, Wood   |  Leave a Comment