First completed Fountain pen

[mredburn]

This is my first completed fountain pen I have made. I have made several parts for other people and I have 4 more prototypes I'm working on but this is my first. The pen is made from blanks from Exotics. A dark blue something and pure white lower. There are 51 pieces of opal inlay-ed into the pen. The smallest are 2mm x 2mm x 1mm thick. It took over 12 hours to cut and inlay the opal alone. I took almost a week to build it total and I didn't finish it until 3pm Saturday, the last day of the freestyle contest. I almost didn't submit a pen in the freestyle contest this year, I didn't have a clue as to what I would build until the prior Sunday night. Because this one was a little rushed I have some room for improvement. I am not as thrilled about the finial shape on the cap. The next one will mirror the lower body finial shape closer. Enjoy and comments are welcome.
Mike

I forgot to put in the description that I used K&S Engineerng brass tubes. The top piece is a
1/2 tube piece and the bottoms is a 13/32 tube.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Michael your making us mortals seem inadequate. I loved it when I first saw it but this group of photos really shows it off and leaves me speechless

 

[Jim15]

That is just awesome work.

 

[BRobbins629]

That's a real nice design Mike. Should be a good seller. Hard to appreciate the inlay work unless you've tried it.

 

[witz1976]

Love it! Excellent work Mike!

 

[David Keller]

The opal inlay looks great... I don't recall seeing much of that done before, but it certainly adds a lot of color and interest.

 

[thewishman]

Have been wondering what that new pen in your signature was, now I know. What a beauty! Love the opal inlays.

 

[crabcreekind]

it looks like it took a while to make... good job.

 

[johncrane]

Beautiful pen and work Mike!

 

[ed4copies]

Great look, Mike!!

I was impressed with the opal parts when I did NOT know what they were, now even MORE impressed.

 

[Mason Kuettel]

beautiful pen, can't imagine the time and patience involved in that process!

 

[workinforwood]

It's a real beautiful pen Mike. As worthy a winner as any. Only part I would change is the tip of the clip..I'm not crazy about that part myself..just a bit over the top, and just 1 man's opinion.

 

[mredburn]

Thank you for the comments guys, Jeff, point well taken on the clip. I didnt have time to redo it and still finish in time. I have acouple more designs in the works I will have to get to them. Im ok with the tip of the clip on some things but want to do a couple other configurations.

MIke

 

[drgoretex]

Holy smokes, that's a beauty! Stunning work!

Hmmm....maybe I will take the plunge and get a set of silver parts...

Ken

 

[IPD_Mrs]

I am sorry but Despite the beauty of the pen I have to agree with Mr. Powell. In the photo the tip looks like it bends a little to the right. For future design ideas if you could carry the shape of the cap dome to the end of the clip and add another piece of Aussie Opal separated by silver, I think it would carry your design throughout. Not by any means saying what you did was wrong or bad. I just think it would complete the design more. I could never come up with a design to save my life, but I can take aspects of it to hopefully enhance the designers creativity.

 

[mredburn]

I am sorry but Despite the beauty of the pen I have to agree with Mr. Powell. In the photo the tip looks like it bends a little to the right. For future design ideas if you could carry the shape of the cap dome to the end of the clip and add another piece of Aussie Opal separated by silver, I think it would carry your design throughout. Not by any means saying what you did was wrong or bad. I just think it would complete the design more. I could never come up with a design to save my life, but I can take aspects of it to hopefully enhance the designers creativity.

I will look to see if the clip is bent or if its just the photos. I cant disagree about the clip not completeing the design. I will add a seperated circle of opal to the lower end of the clip and make one up. It may well be that this clip is one of those "seemed like a good Idea" designs.

Thanks Mike

 

[Edward Cypher]

Mike awesome. Really like the addition of the inlay. WOW very very time consuming but well worth it.

 

[bluwolf]

I was lucky enough to see this pen in person also. It really has a very nice feel to it. It's got a nice balance in your hand and the cap threads work beautifully. In other words it doesn't just look good, it works well too.

Mike

 

[wiset1]

I can truly appreciate the effort put into this pen. It truly makes me sit back and think about how cool this is. I mean really...just sit back and look at this! So cool

 

[airrat]

Great job Mike.

 

[cnirenberg]

Mike,
That looks fantastic.

 

[wizard]

Mike, All I can say is "WOW". Well actually, I can say more..That is a unique and creative piece of art which demonstrates your wide range of talents as a craftsman!! Absolutely beautiful! Thanks so much for showing. Regards, Doc

 

[Rangertrek]

Very nice Mike, quality workmanship and excellent design.