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Celtic Knotwork

G

Gregory Hardy

Graduate Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2017
Posts
454
Location
Upper New York State
First Name
Greg
I have had this one in the pipeline for a while. (I work on it between paying jobs!) The barrels are from a custom blank from Tim McKenzie (@mckenziepenworks), and I think it is my very favorite of his work to date. It’s subtle and classy…but the diamond sparkle takes over in natural light. All of the metalwork is nickel silver featuring a Celtic knot at the end of the clip and another on the domed finial. (In this case, both are "triquettas." Most of you would know them as "Trinity Knots.") Featuring a Bock #5 nib and Beaufort converter (from you-know-where), this pen is actually being featured in an exhibit of Modern Celtic Art at the end of the month.

I make a lot of pens for people who "want this or that." It was a joy to work in a style that is part of my own cultural and artistic background for no other reason except, "I want to make this pen." We might be on the "other side of the sea" now, but Celtic art is alive and well in North America.

:wink:
 

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Penpal

Penpal

Grand Master
Joined
May 26, 2013
Posts
25,342
Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
First Name
Peter
Greg in presenting this pen to us today you revive a yearning for hand skills. It has a rural appearance which to me indicates ageless,important since trends go in and out of fashion these do not.It would seem by the previous comment you have stirred the commercial instincts of phil as well.

Congratulations on sourcing well and adding to with I presume is your own making of that splendid clip. A sure winner in any company IMHO.

Peter.
 
G

Gregory Hardy

Graduate Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2017
Posts
454
Location
Upper New York State
First Name
Greg
Thank you, gents, both.

I haven't done Celtic knotwork in metal since I was about fourteen years old. (That was a little more than four decades ago.) It is not entirely like riding a bike, but the lines of the pen in general feel like "bike training wheels" - the overall shape accidentally was right.

The exhibit we are doing will be quite something. I have been blessed to have been surrounded by some pretty brilliant working Celtic artists in a very rural area in Upper New York State amidst little else. I am least among the presenters for that show - I am thrilled to be included.

Thank you again for the praise. Though I am not quick to jump to such things publicly, there was a little "Divine Design Support" this time...but I guess that might be more the case all of the time than we mere mortals ever want to say as we attempt to create and "copy the Creator."

Thanks to both of you.
 
G

Gregory Hardy

Graduate Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2017
Posts
454
Location
Upper New York State
First Name
Greg
yorkshireman said:
Lovely workmanship Greg and I like the pen kit
Click to expand...

Thanks, Keith. This is actually not a kit - it's entirely custom. The threading was done in-house and all of the metal work was fabricated up from 16 or 20 gauge sheet nickel silver by me. (Which, by the way, included no small amount of burned fingers, bad language, and trips to the liquor cabinet!)

:rolling:
 
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