I finally got out the serious camera and some speedlites to try and take some slightly nicer photos of recent pens. I'm a nature photographer who rarely uses artificial lighting, but decided to give it a shot anyway 
I found out just how dusty it is in my house, how well the black velvet background shows off that dust, how much lint comes off of the paper towels I used to clean off fingerprints, and how well my relatively hard, dual side lighting highlights every tiny little scratch in the plating and finish (all of these pens have been getting used for days or weeks at this point).
So despite not being totally happy with the photos yet, I figured I'd show some of the pens, most of which I am pretty happy with. And I'll be experimenting with softer light sources and better control of dust and lint in the future. Not to mention probably some more forgiving backgrounds.
In no particular order...
Modified slimline. Acrylic, bocote, and drink can aluminum. My segmenting scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
Modified slimline. Snakewood, brass shim stock, and ash.
PSI Classic. Stabilized redwood burl. A new favorite wood for me, I like it at least as much as amboyna or thuya burl.
CSUSA Jr. Zen. Pinecones cast in acrylic blank. Really difficult to turn without exploding. Definitely had to glue chunks back on mid-turning a couple of times. Looks cool though.
CSUSA Zen Rollerball. Spalted beech and diamondcast acrylic. I'm a huge fan of these kits. Understated and elegant design, easy to turn, long barrel shows off the blank, hefty diameter (I find a thick pen so much more comfortable to write with), the magnetic cap is awesome, and they take a Schmidt 5888 to boot.
Another Zen Rollerball I made to be a pair with the previous one. Bloodwood and Trustone Malachite. That Trustone is absolutely brutal on my tools. I think just this 1/3 of a pen barrel was enough to take a brand new carbide cutter edge from "new" to "time to rotate". Looks awesome though.
I found out just how dusty it is in my house, how well the black velvet background shows off that dust, how much lint comes off of the paper towels I used to clean off fingerprints, and how well my relatively hard, dual side lighting highlights every tiny little scratch in the plating and finish (all of these pens have been getting used for days or weeks at this point).
So despite not being totally happy with the photos yet, I figured I'd show some of the pens, most of which I am pretty happy with. And I'll be experimenting with softer light sources and better control of dust and lint in the future
. Not to mention probably some more forgiving backgrounds.In no particular order...
Modified slimline. Acrylic, bocote, and drink can aluminum. My segmenting scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
Modified slimline. Snakewood, brass shim stock, and ash.
PSI Classic. Stabilized redwood burl. A new favorite wood for me, I like it at least as much as amboyna or thuya burl.
CSUSA Jr. Zen. Pinecones cast in acrylic blank. Really difficult to turn without exploding. Definitely had to glue chunks back on mid-turning a couple of times. Looks cool though.
CSUSA Zen Rollerball. Spalted beech and diamondcast acrylic. I'm a huge fan of these kits. Understated and elegant design, easy to turn, long barrel shows off the blank, hefty diameter (I find a thick pen so much more comfortable to write with), the magnetic cap is awesome, and they take a Schmidt 5888 to boot.
Another Zen Rollerball I made to be a pair with the previous one. Bloodwood and Trustone Malachite. That Trustone is absolutely brutal on my tools. I think just this 1/3 of a pen barrel was enough to take a brand new carbide cutter edge from "new" to "time to rotate". Looks awesome though.
