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The Homestretch at the Grand Central Holiday Show!

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Cigar Pen display with 1 cigar pen left!

There’s only three days to go, and I am running on empty!

Just this week so far, including Thursday (yesterday), we sold over 130 pens, and I am starting to run out of them!  Since we are literally IN Grand Central Station, which is known to be one of the busiest places on Earth, the customers come in waves while they try and catch their trains.  At one point Thursday afternoon, in the 5:00 hour, 20 pens were sold. That works out to someone buying a pen every 3 minutes!  I still have a few high end watch pieces left, but they will not last until Sunday.  All my Cigar pens are gone. I started with 85 of them. Look at the photo to the left, there is only 1 cigar pen in there, before that got sold later in the day. Only a few of my Abalone and Pheasant Feather pens are left, and I know they will not last till Sunday! Looks like I will be bringing home empty pen cases, which is never a bad thing.

After packing everything up, and driving home, I plan on getting some sleep – maybe a lot of sleep. After I get a chance to slow down and look at the whole experience, I’ll post some final thoughts about this marathon craft show.

PS – Since this post has been sitting here for a couple of hours, someone just bought 2 of my high-end coin pens.

Happy Turning,

Barry is in “Pen World” Magazine!

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I was interviewed for an article that appears in the current issue of Pen World Magazine, under the “News” section. They were very interested in hearing about my participation in the Grand Central Holiday Craft Show.
Click the link below, or the picture on the left, to read the complete magazine article in PDF form:
http://www.arizonasilhouette.com/newsletter/pen-world-PW31.1_News-barry.pdf

I’ve been here in NYC for almost a month, and still have about 10 days to go. Customers from Arizona Silhouette have stopped by to say “Hello”, and it’s always nice to meet our customers in person. Lots of  pen collectors, from the various pen shows that I attend, have also come by my booth. I have even signed a few of the Pen World magazines that people brought over to me!

I’m happy to report that sales have increased this past week as we get closer to Christmas.

Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends and customers!

And Happy Turning to us all!

Grand Central Holiday Show Update – Day 17

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Cigar Pens

It is day 17, we are still going strong, and building momentum!  The crowds are getting bigger, and more people are stopping at the booth. At other shows people say they will be back to buy, and in my experience they do not come back, but here they actually do come back! Another observation that I did not expect was all the interest in Fountain Pens!  I made a ton of rollerball pens in the Venetian & Arcadia styles and I am glad I did.  These can easily be changed into fountain pens and I am worried I will run out of nibs – (nice thing to worry about).

Some of you asked what some of the shelves looked like close up so here is a picture of the “Cigar Section.”  Time to get some sleep – these 11 hour days are tough on an ole man!  Happy Turning – Barry

Update from the Grand Central Holiday Show in NYC

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Holiday Decorations

Wreaths at Grand Central

It is after Thanksgiving, and the Holiday decorations are up at Grand Central. The building looks even more festive. The traffic started picking up yesterday, and so did the sales.  Pens from $45 to $900 were sold, in a really wide variety of pen styles and materials.

Only 26 more days until the end of the show.  The hours are long, but the people are great! The police now know who the thief was who stole a $200 pen the first week. (I picked him out of a line up) Good luck, and many thanks, to the detectives who arrest this creep!

Well, I have to leave to get back to the booth. If you are near Grand Central Terminal please come to my little “pop-up” store! I have already enjoyed seeing many friends, students and customers stop by. It’s always a pleasure to see old friends and make new ones.

Also, best of luck to all of you who are doing their own holiday craft shows!

Happy Turning,

 

 

– Barry

Greetings From the Grand Central Holiday Show In NYC!

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I have not seen this many people in my life!
It is a constant, steady stream of people from 10 AM till 8 PM each day. I have over 1,000 pens for this show, and I started making them in June to prepare for this show.
Sales so far are steady and strong. There are over 30 different pen styles in both acrylic and wood, and so far the best selling pens are the watch parts, cigar wrapper with their boxes, and shark vertebrae. Other hot pens are made with theme related inlay kits from Kallenshaan Woods. Below are some photos of my mini store when it is NOT busy. It’s the only time I can get out of my booth!
The customers are enjoying seeing all the diversity of pen kits and styles. I’m looking forward to being here another 30+ days.
On a bad note, there are always people out to steal from you. I lost a $200 pen right off the counter when a person took it right out of the bag and ran as I went to get a total for the sale.
That is all for now – I will keep you posted on the progress of the marathon Holiday Fair Show!


Pen Class – Peters Valley

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There are still a few spots left in my upcoming Fine Writing Instrument -Pen Turning Class next week held at Peters Valley School of Craft.  It is a week long class and we make at least 12 pens including a rollerball and fountain pen.  Stabilization, Clear Casting, Alumilite Casting, Segmentation and much more!  So if you are free call Peters Valley and sign up for the last few spots and we will have fun!

On a bummer note – we have cancelled our trip to the Wildwood boardwalk due to inclement weather. So – we will be open tomorrow Thursday July 6 – the grand kids are disappointed but we will make it up to them!

Artrider Show – Lyndhurst, NY

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Outside Booth Setup

Rained Out!

This is my tent booth setup for outdoor shows. We are inside a large covered tent so it is a tent inside another tent and it is raining like crazy! Even the best of plans can not beat Mother Nature!  Here I am all set up and expecting great crowds at the Artrider show this weekend and today (Friday) the show closed due to torrential rain and very strong winds!

Well, there still is Saturday and Sunday and the weather is expected to improve, we can only hope it does!

DC Pen Show

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DC Pen Show Crowd

DC Pen Show Crowd on Saturday

I want to thank all my friends who visited Lenora & me this past weekend at the Washington DC Fountain Pen Show!  The crowds on Friday and Sunday were just okay but it was wall to wall people on Saturday and thankfully they were in the buying mode!

Pen Display

Pen Display before show opened on Friday

The “Jewel of Thailand” Pen (my jeweled beetle wing pen) sold well at the show and I have even received a few orders over the phone by people who saw the pen in Pen World Magazine!

 

Washington DC Fountain Pen Show

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Jewel of Thialand Tempus II I am packing up and getting ready to leave for the Washington DC Fountain Pen Show held at the Sheraton Hotel, Tysons Corner VA. this weekend, August 5,6 & 7.

This is the introduction of the “Jewel of Thailand”  pen made from jeweled beetle wings.  I will also have all the original watch part pens there as well as many other special casted pens that I make.  If you are around the Washington DC area this weekend stop by and see us!

Happy Turning – Barry

Arrowmont – Here We Come!!

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It is busy around here after a short holiday week but all is ready for the week long class at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts.  This week will be a bit different since I will have Dan Symonds assisting me with the class.  Dan is an accomplished pen designer and maker so it will be fun to have his unique input to the class!

Flames Inlay on Motorcycle Pen Kit

Flames Inlay on Motorcycle Pen Kit

The class will make at least 10 different pens with different finishes plus a kaleidoscope. I will be taking some Motorcycle Inlay and pen kits to the class to demonstrate how to assemble an inlay kits.   Dan will offer his unique perspective on fountain pens and show how to properly align, clean and tune a nib for an optimal fountain pen writing experience!

We will take plenty of pictures of all the pen creations for you to see.  Have a good week – Happy Turning – Barry