Pens for sale!

Biz News - I've added one more Morta Classic to the Morta catalog, this one an example of a potential regular new finish. It's a combination of rustication and sandblasting in a shape similar to the last couple since #100.


I wrote in a previous post about our little side project, learning to make pens, and now actually have a small result to show for it. What you see to the left are our first tiny offerings in the realm of pen sales. These are NOT of our own design, they are based on standardized pen parts that we inherited when we took over the business here, so this is not what could be called a genuine "Talbert" pen (much in the same way that we finish and tweak Ligne Bretagnes, but don't make them from scratch). On the plus side, they're a LOT less expensive than what my ultimate vision for a genuine signed, individually handmade Talbert Pen will be. What these pens are, in a nutshell, is practice - Practice at assembling pens, finishing pens, selling pens, and providing after-sales support.

The design is a classic European closed-end quill pen with internal cartridge and removable cap. The wood is turned palissandre violet, a dark red/brown with swirls of black grain striping. The pens are available in either smooth or sandblast finish. I'm doing the sandblasting here in our pipe cabinet, and finishing the pens from there.

I'll be curious to see what the reception is for the sandblasted pens - It seems to be an unusual idea in pens, though I must confess I really like the feel of the pens in hand - They aren't rough and edgy enough to be wearing on the fingers, and they have excellent grip (speaking as someone who used to do a tremendous amount of drawing).

Each pen comes in a dark green padded gift box. Sandblasts and smooth pens are both the same price, 55 € HT (When we moved here, these same pens were being sold in the retail shop for between 80 and 95 € in 2002, so I hope this represents a pretty good deal on a hand-finished pen), or 66 € TTC including the VAT for EU buyers. I've probably got enough parts here to make around twenty or thirty of these at most, and when they are all sold, they're gone, we'll be moving on to another shape. If anyone is interested in buying one, just email me!

Here's a better look at the subtle grain appearance on the smooth pens (Click the pics for enlarged views):



Pipe people, don't despair, this blog isn't getting permanently sidetracked into pens, I just wanted to toss out news of the first ones to be available for sale. As things progress, I'm not entirely sure what I'll do, but I suppose it depends on the demand for the pens, really - A few offers here and there can be posted here without major interruption, but if it becomes a serious ongoing enterprise, I will either make a dedicated page for pens or add them to our main website. My one reluctance there is that I don't want to add a tab for pens until we have our own, 100% original creations on offer at prices that will make everyone shriek. But really, everyone needs a Halloween pen...