First Fountain Pen 13 year old

[Cody Winters]

Here's my first effort at a fountain pen. It's Willow Burl, and Olympian Elite Chrome pen kit. Not that I'm gonna sell this, my first one, but I'd like some help with pricing. The kit was $11.00, and I turned it in about an hour. The wood I stole from my Dad's stash! Hah!!
Thanks in advance....

 

[Charlie_W]

Great start Cody!
Keep turning. Read all you can here and you will pick up some techniques to advance your pen turning.

 

[plantman]

Cody: Very nicely done !! I would look in some of the higher price shops in town to see if anyone has pens in them, and what they are asking for them. Being a resort town, there should be some high end stores there. Jim S

 

[thewishman]

Pretty pen, nice piece of wood. Good job for your first fountain pen.

To get a good price, you'll probably need to get the pen barrels to meet up with the pen parts more exactly. You got them pretty close, and it is hard to tell from photos how well the parts match up. It looks like the wood is a bit bigger than the lower cap centerband, and at the pen bottom finial.

Keep going and you can improve with each pen. Also, if you're going to sell them, put a little bit of Locktite inside the tubes where you press the parts in, that will keep the parts together. Wish I had learned that when I first started - would have saved me the embarrassment of returned pens with clips that spun around and Euro pen tops coming apart.:redface:

 

[OZturner]

Nice piece of Timber you picked up Cody,
As you said keep this pen and use it as a comparison for future pens, to see what progress you have made.
I also support all that thewishman said, take it on board.
I am suprised that you have time to Turn Pens with all the Snowboarding you do, and school etc. keep it up.
Congratulations,
Brian.

 

[pshib]

Looks good. Not bad for your first attempt. Even after about 2 years I still get some that aren't sellable.
Some people say to triple your costs to determine cost. I usually start with a 30% mark up on parts and add $20 for labor then adjust from there. Even if you get something free or on sale still base price on what the full price would be.
That being said if the barrels matched the hardware better I'd sell it for somewhere between $50 and $75 depending on the final product.

 

[StuartCovey]

That's great for a first! Keep up the awesome work!

 

[Cody Winters]

thanks guys what do you like to use as props for pictures

 

[robutacion]

Well Cody, you know...! if you are going to "pinch" something for your dad, why not pick the good stuff, same effort, huh...??:wink::biggrin:

Before I even read the text, I looked to the pics and thought, "hey... that's my Tortuosa Willow Burl...!". I don't know if he got it from me or there is a very identical Willow burl, in your neck of the woods, you may need to ask him...! Well, that may just get the cat off the cage, and you may prefer to keep it quite, huh..??:biggrin:

Either way, you done a terrific job with that blanks, regardless from where it came from...!

Congrats.

Cheers
George

 

[OZturner]

thanks guys what do you like to use as props for pictures

Cody, I prefer to see the Pen on it's own, well focused over the depth of the Pen.
Many Photographs, with props or items, bold textures or colours, tend to draw your eyes and your attention away from "The Object", "The Sole Reason" for the Photograph.

There are many Great Pen Photographs on this site, look up some, study them, and see "What is it you like about that Photograph".
This way you will develop a keen eye, and appreciation to display your work, so that "IT (the pen) SPEAKS FOR ITSELF".

I am not a photographer Cody, but I really Appreciate a Good Photograph.
Brian.

 

[wildbill23c]

Cody, very nice pen. Excellent job. Great wood choice as well.

As for the props, I've seen many people who don't have pen stands use a wood blank to prop the pen up a bit so its not just lying flat on a table or stand. I'd stick with the same type of wood though if you go this route.

Otherwise, if all you can do is lay it flat on the table, just use a good clear background that doesn't stand out, usually something in a gray, silver, or very light blue will work. You don't want bright colors as it can cause eyestrain looking at the pictures.

Very good work, and something you may consider as well since you are doing fountain pens, get you a bottle of ink and prop the pen up on the ink bottle.