The One Pen (that writes them all)
For my final work or masterpiece as apprentice goldsmith I made ‘The One Pen’.
It is a work combining my love for urushi and silversmithing.
The ebonite pen body was turned by a good friend and it has a #8 Bock nib and housing.
The box is a standard wooden box. All the rest is done by me
The overlays on the cap and pen body are made out of a sterling silver plate of 1mm. This plate is, after sawing out the design, bent to a round tube and solderd.
The overlay on the pen body is fixed with 8 light purple Moissanite stones to prevent that it turns around.
The clip, made of Mokume-gane of silver, gold and copper, keeps the overlay on the cap in place. This clip can be taken out and used as tie clip.
The finials are in fact cufflinks that can be screwed out. The bezel of the cufflinks is made out of woven 14k white and yellow gold. In the bezel is an ebonite disk decorated with urushi and a Chinking dragon filled with 23k gold powder.
From the leftover and recovered material, I made a ring and a pendant.
A good pen needs a pen box.
The basic wooden box is decorated with black urushi on the in- and outside. On the top of the box are some silver decorative elements integrated that refer to the designs on the pen.
In addition I changed the cheap metal hinges and lock with selfmade silver ones.
The whole process and progress is documented in a journal combining handwritten text with pictures.
Not only the techniques are described, but also the problems I countered during the journey.
If you are interested in a digital (not hand written) copy of the book (in Dutch or English) or if you have any questions regarding this masterpiece project, just contact me.
