Mickey Mouse Watch Parts Pen
For years I have been asked to make a video on how I make my watch parts pen. Well now you will see the magic appear before your eyes in less than a minute! Hope you enjoy?
Happy turning – Barry
Watch Parts Pen Video
Category Archives: Export
Great Week at Marc Adams School
Pen Making Class
It was a wonderful week with nothing to do except make pens and have fun! All of us wore masks at all times, we had dividers between lathes and we were aware of our surroundings. Plenty of pens were made, new friendships were formed and best of all we were safe! I want to thank all my friends who came to the classes and I look forward to seeing you next year! Stay safe – wear a mask and Happy Turning – Barry
Marc Adams Bangle Class – Successful!!
Bangles & More!
“Weekend at Marc’s” – With all that is going on in the world with
Bangle Class at Work
COVID-19 and life’s other issues, it was FANTASTIC to get away and not watch television or listen to the radio. All I had to do was to make bangle bracelets with my new friends and boy did we make bangles! We all wore masks and did the responsible things we had to in order to be safe and in spite of wearing a mask we talked and laughed and had FUN! So the take away for me was it was not hard to wear a mask all day and teach in order to be safe and continue to do what I love to do! I am looking forward to this coming week long class with my friends!
Father & Son
Happy Turning- Barry
Teaching At Marc Adams Woodworking School
Supplies For Class
It is a 12 hour drive to get to the school in Franklin, IN. and I am just a short distance from reaching the school to teach two classes. A weekend Bangle Making Class and then a week long Pen Making class. As you can see my car (an expedition) is jammed with bangles, pen kits, stabilization chambers, Cactus Juice (thanks Curtis), pen blanks, CA Glue and supplies to last the the 7 days. This will be the 8th year I will be teaching for this great school. In spite of the COVID-19 issue, the class is 80% full and we are taking all the necessary precautions to ensure everyone’s safety. I am looking forward to FINALLY getting out of my house to have some fun with my friends at the school.
I will keep everyone apprised as the week moves forward. But for now I have another 3 hours to go so I am heading out to have some FUN!! Happy Turning – Barry
Grand Central Wrap Up – Part 1
2019 GCT Booth
Grand Central Holiday Fair 2019 Results
Since Thanksgiving was so late into the month of November in 2019, there were six less selling days than in 2018. Those are days, and revenue, that you cannot make up unless you sell more pens than the previous year. When comparing the actual dates from 2018 to 2019 we did sell more pens for the same number of days in 2018. The average number of pens per day increased to 25 per day versus 22 per day. We sold 900 total pens in 2019, but 945 in 2018. Since we didn’t have those 6 extra days, we came up short. Better per day sales, but less total sales. If we had those extra 6 days we could have anticipated selling about 150 more pens!
What were some of the causes for the “per day” sales increase? I will discuss this in a later post – stay tuned!
Grand Central Holiday Fair Time
Holiday Show Booth Preparation
It is that time of the year again, Grand Central Holiday Fair is coming up in 29 days. The panic and stress is really kicking in now. I have to get ready to take over 1,300 pens to this show and I am not yet there. I have about 700 ready so I will be in high pen making mode for the next 29 days! I am making pens morning and night and going to the warehouse during the day. As you can see I have my booth in our sun room and touching up the paint with special fire retardant paint (NYC fire regulations). Next week, I will start to lay out the new graphics and put the pens in place to make sure it all looks good before we take it to NYC on November 16th.
This weekend I will be demonstrating casting and turning acrylics at the Ohio Valley Woodturning Symposium and during the other demonstrations, you guessed it I will be making pens! So, if you are in the area stop by the symposium in West Harrison Indiana and say hi! Happy Turning – Barry
Anniversary Sale and Pen Class!
Marc Adams Classroom
The Anniversary sale is still going strong!
For this final week we are offering all the items that we had on sale the three previous weeks, plus new additions!
These past few weeks have been very busy getting ready for this week’s SOLD OUT, week-long Fine writing Instrument class at Marc Adams Woodworking School in Indianapolis. This is a top notch woodworking school that everyone should consider attending. This will be my seventh (7) year teaching there with another full class of 16 students. We will create over 10 pens during the week, while learn different skills such as:
segmenting using the Gisi technique, sharpening your tools with CBN wheels, friction and CA glue finishes, tool techniques, and much more.
That means we make up 18 sets of everything, this includes 2 spare sets – just in case. We’re packing notebooks, pen kits, bushings, blanks, sanding materials, instructions, PowerPoint presentations and more. I am preparing everything with the help of my elves here at the warehouse in Pennsylvania. In the class we will be drying and stabilizing wood blanks, clear label casting pen blanks, making exotic pen blanks using material such as shredded credit cards, abalone pieces and strips, watch parts and many other unique items!
Next year in 2020, I am already booked to teach to two (2) different classes. One at Marc Adams again in August, and the other at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts in June. Stay tuned for exact dates in the coming future and if interested, sign up early because they fill up fast.
Happy Turning – Barry
DC Pen Show a Success!
Moon Wood Pens
Just a quick update from the Washington DC Pen Show. This was my sixteenth (16th) year that I have displayed my pens at this show and it was the best show in all those years! My first show was with Rich Kleinheinz in 2004, where we split a booth because we did not know if our “hand made” pens would sell at a Fountain Pen show. We were pleasantly surprised and I have been attending ever since. I believe that the key for successful sales over the years is absolutely having new items for sale each year. I have “regular” customers that come each year to see what new pens I have and each year I pick up another new customer that asks me if this was my first year to display at the show! They looked shocked when I tell them it was my 16th year there.
My new pen for this year was my “Moon Tree” pen which I sold several of them. The pen is made from Sycamore seeds that flew to the moon and back on Apollo 14. I told you about this pen in my last blog. Fountain Pens were of course the most popular but the inlay kits from Kallenshaan still remain a very strong seller! Every year at this show I see more and more younger people asking for fountain pens which is a very exciting trend. Of course you still get the odd person who asks who uses a pen anymore? But then again why are they there at a fountain pen show? Still it was a great show and I hope it carries over to my next high end craft show in September in Tarrytown, NY. Talk to you later – Happy Turning -Barry
Washington DC Fountain Pen Super Show – August 3 & 4, 2019
It is a busy week at Arizona Silhouette !
Our 7th Anniversary is coming up in August (stayed tuned for news), and we’ve been getting ready for the 28th annual Washington DC Fountain Pen Supershow. I will be a presenter at the DC Pen show, giving a seminar showing the equipment, tools, blanks and kits need to make a pen. In addition, I will be unveiling two new limited edition pens that were made from wood that was grown from seeds taken to the moon on Apollo XIV.
Moon Wood Pens
The lower barrel of the fountain pen is comprised from a piece of the Sycamore tree saved by astronaut Scott Phillips, and stabilized by the artisan. The upper barrel is a photo of the Apollo 14 astronauts whose mission to the moon and back lasted seven days, with two of those days spent on the lunar surface. Only 11 fountain pens were made.
The ballpoint pen is the moonscape laser inlay kit with each end of the inlay replaced with slices of Sycamore “Moon Tree” wood. Moonscape is a limited edition series of 15 ballpoint pens. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Hope to see you at the Pen Show this weekend. It is held at the Marriott Fairview Park in Falls Church, Va.
Las Vegas Show Is Over
ICPCR Booth
The ICPCR wholesale Cigar Show is over and I am driving back home. Today Wednesday I drove 13 hours to get a jump on getting home. The store owners liked the way the booth looked and my large overhead sign did attract attention. The pens that got a lot of attention were the Faux Cigar pens followed up by the tobacco leaf pens.
This show was huge! Some of the larger Cigar Manufacturers such as Cohiba, Drew Estate, Perdomo, Oliva, Fuente and others had booths which were at least 2,000 square feet with a minimum of 20 sales reps in each booth! And here we were with 2 people! Speaking of people, I want to thank a good friend of mine Susan Doring-Zook who came out to the show to help me – thanks Susan!
Will I do this how next year is still up in the air, I will have to see how many orders come in to make it worth the time and effort. I have to get some sleep, I have another 1,500 miles to go before I get home – Happy Turning – Barry
