My pen photography.

[Ironwood]

I mentioned in another thread that I was a member of a Penturning forum.
A lot of my photography comprises taking photos of the pens I make.
I find the challenge of getting quality product photos almost as difficult ( or more ), as making the pens themselves.

Mackay Cedar Ballpoint.


Eels resin cast ballpoint.


She-oak pods cast in resin on a rollerball.


My Wifes Polymer clay on a ballpoint.


This set was commissioned by a friend. Burl wood, brass, and She-oak pods in resin on stainless steel ballpoint and rollerball.


Stainless steel ballpoint

[sejac]

Wow! These are beautiful pens. Being from the last century,(or maybe even the one before that!), I like to use a fountain pen and have a dozen or so to choose from.

Do you sell these on Ebay or Gumtree? I bet they are snapped up.

Great photographic work too by the way.

[Isac]

Fantastic skills ironwood and the photography does do it justice. Excellent post!!! The nearest I can get to that is a collection of very plain and very odd key rings. (I might post a few one day) but I'll have to wait a fair while after seeing this stunning work.

[Barkly]

What great pens. So much detailed work. Stunning results. I'm with Sejac. I use a LAMY fountain pen.

[Ironwood]

Wow! These are beautiful pens. Being from the last century,(or maybe even the one before that!), I like to use a fountain pen and have a dozen or so to choose from.

Do you sell these on Ebay or Gumtree? I bet they are snapped up.

Great photographic work too by the way.

Thanks Sejac.
I make a fountain pen now and then, I will find some photos.
I usually just make the fountain pens to order, because not many people tend to use them, and they are a personal thing .

I mostly just sell the pens through word of mouth, I have had a few people contact me to buy a pen after seeing them posted on the internet.
Sometimes my Wife will put a photo on her Facebook, sold a few like that.
I started to make a website for them once, but gave up because I just didn't have the time to keep going with it.

[Ironwood]

Fantastic skills ironwood and the photography does do it justice. Excellent post!!! The nearest I can get to that is a collection of very plain and very odd key rings. (I might post a few one day) but I'll have to wait a fair while after seeing this stunning work.

Cheers Isac.
The pen photography has been an ongoing trial and error thing for quite a few years now, I constantly change my lighting setup to try and improve things.
I recently changed over to LED's from tungsten lights, mainly to cut down on the heat ( I have in the past melted the odd diffuser )
The LED's have been another learning curve, I still haven't got it right with the diffusers.
Soon I will get another burst happening and spend some more time experimenting.

I will keep and eye out for those key rings .

[Ironwood]

Here is another one of my Wifes Polymer clay creations turned into a ballpoint.
The lighting setup here was the tungstens , this is about as good as I got those to work, I think this is the last pen photographed with that setup before changing over to leds.





This is after about 4 hours of trial and error with the LED's, I haven't changed the diffusers since I got to this stage , there are still improvements to be made when I get the time and the urge.
This is a naturally shedded Stimpson Python skin cast in clear resin.

[Isac]

They are simply beautiful ironwood. Do you make the pen from scratch or just add the body section? Have you tried a good quality black velvet as the underside? I've heard it really is a great fabric to stop reflections and give omph to things like jewellery and I would imagine, your lovely pens.

[Ironwood]

Isac, these pens you see here , the metal components are bought from different sources, the barrels are the bit that I do.
I also make pens from used bullet casings, these require a bit more work in the metal parts.
This pen has a parker refill and has a twist transmission to retract and extend the refill.



When I get a chance to slow down a bit, I am going to start making more pens from scratch. I have all the gear, I just don't have the time.

[Ironwood]

I also make pens for couples to use at their weddings.

LED lights


Tungsten lights

[Ironwood]

What great pens. So much detailed work. Stunning results. I'm with Sejac. I use a LAMY fountain pen.

Thanks Barkly. Good to hear there are still some fountain pen users about.
Do you use it as a daily writer ?

[Ironwood]

.......... Have you tried a good quality black velvet as the underside? I've heard it really is a great fabric to stop reflections and give omph to things like jewellery and I would imagine, your lovely pens.

I have given the black velvet a go, but it was a serious dust magnet. I do my pen photography in my shed, I know that doesn't help as its prone to having dust about, but the velvet was extra bad. I will see if I can find some examples of my efforts and I will post them.
I also tried using an iPad screen for the background, and also some black glass. If I find examples of that I will post also.

[loose cannon]

Wonderful work Ironwood, thanks for sharing.

Bonus is that you also get to exercise your photography skills.

I'm an ex fountain pen user ...sadly. I used to dabble in the art of calligraphy but my hands are not up to the task these days. Incredibly difficult to do well, but consistency was not my strength, I found it beyond my talents to create a uniform style and despite floundering away for many years I never saw great improvement and finally conceded defeat.

Too late in life now to go back to it though I would dearly love to. Using a good pen was a treat and I owned several.

A lost art now, I think.

[Ironwood]

Thanks Mick.
Yes writing is a dying art I am afraid, thank goodness there are still some people around that appreciate good quality writing instruments.

Check out this Guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvSyQDu49pI

[Alan]

Quite extraordinary craftsmanship! Beautifully photographed too - Congratulations

[Ironwood]

Thanks Caralan.

[Ironwood]

Found some pics of a Fountain pen, this one has Stainless steel components and Mangrove Cedar Barrels, and a medium Schmidt nib.

These photos could do with some more work, I think these could be from when I was experimenting with different lighting setups.