Raising the pen off the surface can help but so can selecting a surface that either compliments the pen or disappears - a common technique for shooting small pieces with a colored and floating background involves painting the back side of a piece of glass with black paint - which does not limit you to a black background - its part of the technique - the object is then placed on the glass (painted side down) and the reflection off of the glass - behind the pen and glass - is lit with a color, black or even an image - this shows up in the camera as if the pen is floating on the reflected color - it takes a little playing with it to understand completely but once you have done it once, its really easy to set up and repeat -
Having a large enough surface so that the entire background is one material or having a distinct "horizon" at the edge of the flat surface can both clean up the image - many products are shot on a "sweep" - be it paper, cloth or other materials that can be curved - the front portion is flat for the product but the surface curves up to a vertical in a gentle curve that makes the foreground and background the same continuous surface but much more uniformly lit than shooting on the front edge of a large flat surface - also enables a lower angle shot without "running out of background" -
Also loved your Exacto "rehandle"
Black Glass - blue reflection
Cedar "Fish grilling" plank as background
