A nice thank you from a pen gift...

[MattTheHat]

I've been working on a matching ladies & gents rollerball using a couple of TruStone Sugi with Black blanks. This was the job from hell. Fortunately it was a gift...if it had been a paying job I would have lost my shirt. After some initial drilling problems (read ruined at least two blanks), I finished the pens a few weeks ago. They looked fine in the dimly lit garage, but when I brought them inside, I wasn't happy with the quality of the finish. Too many fine scratches. After trying unsuccessfully to disassemble the pens in order to re-polish them, I ended up purchasing a couple more blanks. A couple more drilling blow outs, and I had two nicely finished pens. Problem was, the colors didn't match closely enough. So more blanks were ordered. At least one more drilling blowout occurred before I was finished. I think I had gone through ten blanks!

I mailed them off Tuesday to a friend in Florida who received them today. She put the following pic and comment up on Facebook:

"What do these his/her fabulous pens have in common with fine Lenox china and Waterford crystal? All of them are too wonderful for everyday use! Thank you, Matt, for your talent, and your generosity!!!"

I'm glad she likes them, but I think I was even more pleased to get them finished off and out of my hair!


-Matt

 

[seamus7227]

Very well done Matt! Sometimes it can be frustrating, but look at it like this: your name is attached to that work, and so anyone that see's your work(while they may not know what you went thru to finish these) will see two fantastic looking pens. If you leave it only 98% complete, someone is bound to notice and think that if you dont put that extra 50% into the attention to detail on something so minor, that you may not put fourth that extra effort in anything else. Hope that makes sense. I think its this quality in you that will shine far past others and people will recognize it!

 

[D.Oliver]

Very well done Matt! Sometimes it can be frustrating, but look at it like this: your name is attached to that work...

and not only is your named attached to that work, it was also favorably compared to waterford crystal. I'd call that a good day....10 blanks or not.

 

[IPD_Mr]

Persistence pays off. I am glad that everything ended up fine and that you seem no worse for the wear. Kudos to you.

 

[InvisibleMan]

totally worth it! They look great.