I agree with the seam. In person it does blend together with the design but I'm going to work on a few ideas to minimize it. There actually isn't much gap there but the ends were lower than the rest and did not get sanded to reveal the white spots. The only fill I did was with crystal clear thin CA. This was the only thing I used in addition to the leather. The leather has a thickness similar to 7-8 oz cow leather. Probably 40% of that is the nodules. Not much room for error when sanding. I didn't reduce this thickness any before sanding. Also, I was very careful this first time and only sanded on the lathe - no cutting.
At the time I only had slimline and bolt action kits in the shop and there is no way this would wrap around a slimline. In fact, it started cracking when putting it on the bolt action kit cylinder. I think the fishing rod clip is also a good idea. I'm going to look into iguana skin but most places are just selling "lizard" skin and don't specify the species. I do have a few exotic pieces ordered and hope to share them in new work.
Kenny - You're right. There is a white diamond in the center of each ray skin. However this is much thicker and bends even less than the rest. It would be very difficult to use this part on a tight radius and make it blend together. With normal leather work I always center it for appearance.
Thanks again for the feedback and let me know if I missed any questions.
P.S. If anyone is interested, I went ahead and added this pen to my shop in the signature link below.