What can be turned?

The beauty of natural wood

At Pen Studio, I source the most beautiful woods of the world, historic and Holy woods and seek to bring out the best of each species. I fell in love with wood, or better put, wood grain when I was a kid. My Grandparents had a massive maple tree that shaded the entire front yard and yielded several burls removed from dying limbs pruned over the years. I still have one of those gnarly burls, shaped like a skull and covered with mysterious swirls and eyes. Nature provides an amazing diversity of color, grain structure and opacity, not to mention, the pleasure derived from running your fingers over the warm smoothness of wood polished to a flawless finish. Experience the pleasure of a beautiful, one-of-a-kind, hand-turned wood ball point, rollerball or fountain pen.

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Acrylics and resins

It seems imagination is the only limit on the color combinations and patterns created with modern polymers. Alumilite, Acrylester, RhinoPlastic, PolyResin, Acrylics ...do you really care what the chemical compounds are? No! I find unique, beautiful blanks and pair them with just the right hardware. From semi-transparent ribbons of rich color to swirls of shimmering mica to the blackest depths of galactic stardust, acrylics offer a never ending variety of turning material for making fine writing instruments. Explore the possibilities.

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Alternative materials

Exotic materials like alligator jawbone, pheasant feathers, snake skin, the core of a pinecone can all be stabilized in resin and turned into amazing works of art. There are stone products made from 85% pulverized semi-precious stone, natural pigments and stabilized with resins to look and feel like jasper, turquoise, quartz, agate, malachite and lapis. These stone products can be shaped and polished with carbide tools on a lathe. Special metal products can also be hand turned on a lathe. Space age technology allows 95% source metals to be atomized down to a molecular level and combined with special chemical binders to form amazing metals like brass, aluminum, nickel, copper, titanium and damascus steel to name but a few. Pecky woods, burl bits, pasta, coffee beans, Banksia nuts and acorn husk are just a few items that can be combined with a variety of resins to form one-of-a-kind blanks. Retro classics like Casein (French Ivory), antler, horn, Bakelite and Ebonite are still available without having to purchase antique pens.