* Pen shows and such

So due to the current situation going on in the world there was no London Pen show. Totally understandable and the right decision, shopping for pens is no way a good enough reason to put peoples lives in danger. Will there be one in March? Who knows, I really hope there is because 1 it will mean that the current situation is dropping to a level where that sort of thing can take place and 2 I really need the sales.

Anyway with the Pen show not happening I set out a table at home with my current pens and posted it all across the social media platforms I frequent. There is an accompanying video which I will quite willingly send to people if requested. I am also going to give the website a bit of a workover as I have taken photos of all the pens I have now. So keep an eye on that. I also redid the table for a few of the newer blanks I have done to see how [that looked](https://i.imgur.com/2ge3GV9.jpg).

* Pen making

I have a client who is wanting me to make a couple of pens using blanks from Jonathan Brooks, I am looking forward to those. They are right [here](https://i.imgur.com/f8wnx1p.jpg), not the sort of thing I can usually get my hands on because of the price of postage but definitely looking forward to using them.

Now… Gold! What was that about Gold? I had a client ask me if I could make a gold leaf pen. I figured ‘why not?’ They wanted me to make a demonstrator, again I thought ‘why not?’ Did I know what I was letting myself in for? A bit, I have done one or two before but nothing like this. I made 2 blanks just in case something went wrong as a plan B but also had enough left over for a 3^rd if that went wrong too.

I made the pen, got the outside polished in the usual way and took a snap of the polished barrel and unpolished cap, this is my Skadi design, the shape is based upon the goddesses skis she used to ski across the snow. Anyway [here](https://i.imgur.com/zA5cnlw.jpg) is the image in question. Polishing the outside is pretty standard really. When it comes to the inside that is the tricky bit.

First of all you need a stick with a split end that you can mount a flag of sand paper on. I went up from 240 grit to 7000 grit wet sanded. Then went back and went from 400 up to 7000 wet sanding a second time. I then used some headlight scratch remove on the inside of the pen. After all that I was left with [this result](https://i.imgur.com/a1vnrU7.jpg) next to it are the other pens I have made this week, but finishing up the polishing of the demonstrator took priority. So it went in the sonic wash and was inspected for internal scratches. I asked a friend who also makes pens Brad from Mythic Pens where to go from there and he pointed me in the direction of Novus plastic polish. I have spent about 3 hours today applying the three stages of this treatment and I am finally done. [Here](https://i.imgur.com/4Ja5nTT.jpg) are the two finished pens and [a closeup](https://i.imgur.com/6yGU53C.jpg) of the gold leaf pen.

As usual feel free to give feedback or suggestions in the comments. Please take care of yourselves and your loved ones and stay safe.