The lathe is here!!

Posted on May 14, 2013 by newtonpens

It’s still in the driveway – I have a friend coming over soon to help me roll it inside.

edit: Got it in! Used a bunch of cut schedule 40 PVC and just rolled it in. Was easier than we thought it would be.

Scholarship Applications are in

Posted on May 13, 2013 by newtonpens

I’ve received all the scholarship applications and sorted through them, discarded the incomplete, and now have only three to review. I’ve given out copies of the essays to ten of the teachers I work with and we’re working on narrowing it down to two students, meaning that two lucky kids will each get $1000! I’m so excited!

Newton Pens Scholarship and… flex?

Posted on May 12, 2013 by newtonpens

Well, the scholarship money has been transferred to the school and all the applications have come in. I’m going to spend this week with the other teachers reading through them all and picking the 2 or 4 most deserving. There are only 8-10 applications so hopefully it won’t be TOO challenging. :) I’m so excited and proud to be able to give this money away.

The one thing I’m nervous about though, my hands shake a little thinking about it, is getting up on stage at graduation, in front of 2-3 thousand people. YES. Thousand. Mountain Pine may only have about 40 seniors graduating, but everybody comes to the graduation. My first year at MP I couldn’t believe how many people were in the convention center for graduation. I expect it to be the same this year. Yikes. It’ll be okay as long as I can keep my voice steady. :P My hands may shake off of my arms, but the voice has to be steady. OOohhh…. breathe Newton….

And then there’s a little experiment I performed for a customer of mine. When he asked I told him, I said I might not do a very good job, I won’t charge you for the work, only the nib itself. He said it was worth $100 bucks for the nib to see what I could do. Okay. Awesome. So I started flexing a 14k nib. It’s not as soft as a vintage 14k flexy, like on my old Diamond Point or Swan, but more like a vintage Pelikan. It’s soft when you write with it – but certainly no wet noodle. I may end up shaving some more off the sides. I want him to play with it for a while first before I make any more changes. He may love it.

Cleaning the shop

Posted on May 7, 2013 by newtonpens

So my giant metal lathe will be here Wednesday afternoon, and I just got finished cleaning up in the shop. Sunday afternoon and then a few more hours tonight. It took forever to put all those blanks back up there and in a somewhat organized manner too. Acrylics, ebonite, alumilite, and then by color. Polyresins and wood are off to the side…

: Before – the work area

: before – the door outside

: before – lathe area

: after – ARTIST! A friend gave me this little sign in the 9th or 10th grade. I STILL have it and it’s been up since he gave it to me all those years ago. :)