* Pen making

So, I made a bunch of Zeus model pens last weekend and finished them off yesterday. Today I have made a bunch of different pens, these are all going to be Baldur pens. I had a few cockups like breaking some [ebonite](https://i.imgur.com/j8pleei.jpg), what I learned from this is don’t try to cut ebonite when it is warm, its soft and will snag then rip rather than shatter. That’s something I didn’t know.

Here are the [Zeus](https://i.imgur.com/xZrFSrP.jpg), so what is pictured are some brooks, a diamond cast and a tq blanks material. The top one is water lilly Koi this one is taken as is the Ghost Koi below is. The pink Derby Girl blank by Diamond Cast, this one is a commission and has been really fun as it will have a bunch of skulls on it when it is done. The one beneath that is a Tqblanks pen. The picture doesn’t do the material justice, it’s actually very sparkly. Then finally is a final brooks blank and is another commission. I have been busy.

So a bit of technique here. I have drilled and threaded a bunch of things, I then measured what I drilled I mark this on the external of the pen. I then measure the final length of the pen with the cap off and mark that. This gives me where I want to cut. You can see the marks I have made [here](https://i.imgur.com/WhGCf1w.jpg). So this is to make sure I have enough material for the cap. Whenever I put a pen up and I give the detail I always give the cap on and cap off lengths, I try to make these as close as possible but some designs like the Zeus require larger caps for the taper Once they are cut they are ready for shaping, this is the state of play at the end of [today](https://i.imgur.com/e4mBfj5.jpg), just shaping and sanding to do now and the addition of clips to those that need them (the top one and the unicorn poop one will have clips).