Ok, this may go off on tangents as I have forgotten to write my usual bullet point plan this week. Oh well, let’s get one with it, I’ll try to behave.

• Pen making

Well I have achieved more than I did last week, but that wasn’t really hard. I had a talk with my boss and we have come to a better understanding on what times I can do my pen making and when I can’t. This has worked out so far and seems to be relatively amicable. He still wants me to get my own lathe, as I do too.

Pen making, not lathes, pen making, right. I started work on a pen blank which was from Omas that I managed to get my hands on. It’s a beautiful dark blue with a sort of lighter blue which bubbles through the blank. I am doing a simple cigar shape to it with a quite broad dome on the end of the barrel with the material I am using it is going to look great, even the standard blank looks beautiful . I started to turn a black pen with orange swirls going through it too. With this one I have for a pointed end to it, it is quite an extreme point so it might not to be everyone’s taste but I am just trying things out with the blanks I have at the moment.

I have done some new designs for pens that should hopefully look quite good when I have done them. Once more I am pushing the boat out with these ones so don’t be surprised if you see me lamenting the loss of some blanks but you know what I came to the realisation the other day. I am still learning, everyone makes mistakes, it’s not about the mistake that was made it is about how you deal with it and wallowing in self pity is not the way. So I should buck up my ideas, slap myself round the face and just get on with it.

• Workshop and other projects

That brings me neatly onto the next bit. As a lot of you know I have been planning on turning my shed into my workshop, a very small work shop with a workable space of 2000mm (78.74 inches) by 1500mm (59 inches), pretty sure I had already said that in one of these updates. I have been given a door from a client at work but it was too big so I have been working on adapting it in two ways, the first is changing the dimensions of the door leaf and frame, the second is making it an outward opener rather than inward. In my job I destroy a lot of doors this is my first time making one. I finished the frame the joints aren’t great but it is my first attempt at doing this but it is square. So that has been working. I went into the shed today to check it for leaks as we had torrential rain today, luckily there are no leaks however it looks like I will be sharing the shed with a little friend (there is an arachnid warning to that picture).

I have had a few requests to make pens for people who have already got the nibs and sections. This was something I was not prepared for when I started doing this and thus my tap and die collection is wanting. Also searching out specific threads on models of pens has been an absolute nightmare. To combat this I am creating a spreadsheet of different pen brands and the threads they use for different model pens, then matching up any that are compatible. This spreadsheet I am going to make available to anyone who wants it, pen maker or pen enthusiast alike. So if anyone can help me on that please drop me a message or something. Thanks.

• Personal

Kids are on holiday with my mum leaving me and my wife home alone for 10 whole days. We have played board games and we are actually managing to go out on a date without worrying about a babysitter. Woo hoo!

That is all.

Oh one last thing. I suck at names and I need a naming convention for my pen designs, if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Anyways as usual you can follow me on instagram @denscustompens