Has Anyone Heard Of Henry Simpole?

[GeorgeWP]

George! You have no idea how envious I am of you. You got to meet my hero! Did you give him a big hug from me???

 

Thank you for the lovely photos!

 

Please put me down for one of GP's pens!

 

Warm regards,

Soki xx

 

I hugged him metaphorically for you.

[Chris Chalmers]

Thanks George! That pen for the school is outstanding - what a work of art!!!

I'll be back for some more when I catch my breath, I'm just amazed...........and gob-smacked!!

Way to go Henry!!!!

[Ghost Plane]

Right. I'm now at the point of tinkering with designs and waiting to hear back from Henry if there are structural constraints I must keep in mind in addition to size restrictions.

 

Warning, this will be at the point where things slow down until that Eureka! moment occurs and the design comes together.

 

Talk amongst yourselves as you never know when someone will make THE suggestion that will hang it all together...

[GeorgeWP]

Right. I'm now at the point of tinkering with designs and waiting to hear back from Henry if there are structural constraints I must keep in mind in addition to size restrictions.

 

Warning, this will be at the point where things slow down until that Eureka! moment occurs and the design comes together.

 

Talk amongst yourselves as you never know when someone will make THE suggestion that will hang it all together...

 

Great to hear that Ghost, but don't forget to check back on the thread more good stuff coming.

 

George

[Ghost Plane]

Absolutely! Just wanted to warn people it wouldn't be instant inspiration, at least on my part.

[Ghost Plane]

Update, got a lovely email from Henry and we're now at the point I put my head down in the books and work out some actual designs. I probably won't get to them before the Thanksgiving holidays, so feel free to float suggestions.

[Chris Chalmers]

Don't you just love the process.........which will probably take some time..............all great things are all the better for the wait...........and it is during this time when great becomes brilliant with a tweak here and an adjustment there!!

I'll be watching, George! You can count on that!

[GeorgeWP]

Ghost - glad that it is underway for you.

 

Another coincidence in the story of the Forest School pen.

My wife knows the Development Officer at the school, and I have met her a few times, Henry told me that it was her he had sent the pen to. Just to make sure that they knew what they had, I emailed her this morning saying that Henry had told me about the pen. She emailed back saying that she had the pen in her desk, and had spoken with the Warden of the school about it and they both thought that it would be a great idea to contact me and get my input on it - she said she had been meaning to get round to doing that but had been rather busy. The reason that both knew about my interest was that a new Wardebn was appointed at the school earlier this year and she commenced at the start of the current term in September. My wife and I were invited to a dinner at the school a few weeks after the start of term. I was seated next to the new Warden and started by saying how pleasing it was that all the students were exoected to write with fountain pens. Well, that was the start of a slippery slope for her and I bent her ear all evening on the subject of FPs. On the way home I remarked to my wife that the poor woman must have been pleased when it was all over and would try to forget me as soon as possible. So, it was much to my surprise that I found out today that she had really enjoyed our conversation and thought that it was a good idea to get my input on Henry's pen.

The Development Officer asked me if I wanted to see the pen - to which I said YES and I called in this afternoon as I had to go to the school to watch my daughter play in a netball match.

Here are the pictures of the finished pen - needless to say they don't do the real thing justice:

 

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwLgsb213XI/AAAAAAAAAGk/r0mI_kFxUyE/s800/pen%201.JPG

 

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwLgs1K3frI/AAAAAAAAAGs/9czZSlIRXg8/s800/pen%20in%20case.JPG

 

I am putting together some pictures that my wife took last Sunday that show the various stages of making one of Henry's pens - I think that you will enjoy them - will put them up tomorrow.

 

George

Edited November 18, 2009 by GeorgeWP

[Chris Chalmers]

Thanks George! That is a beautiful pen, and so absolutely 'right' for the school - but imagine it being in that lady's desk because she was too busy.........yikes! If it is going to be raffled maybe we should organise buying some tickets!!! I'd love to win that baby!

It sounds like a wonderful school too - so your daughter will have a very fine education - and know her fountain pens into the bargain - lucky girl!

Don't you like the attention to detail that Henry gives all his pens - they come in a beautiful box that he has made especially for him in London.

[Ghost Plane]

Luscious!

[GeorgeWP]

Thanks George! That is a beautiful pen, and so absolutely 'right' for the school - but imagine it being in that lady's desk because she was too busy.........yikes! If it is going to be raffled maybe we should organise buying some tickets!!! I'd love to win that baby!

It sounds like a wonderful school too - so your daughter will have a very fine education - and know her fountain pens into the bargain - lucky girl!

Don't you like the attention to detail that Henry gives all his pens - they come in a beautiful box that he has made especially for him in London.

 

Hi Chris

 

It wasn't quite like that - sorry if you were mislead.

Henry sent the pen to the school for their use in the 175th Anniversary celebrations. There was an Anniversary Ball held last July before the end of term and various items were autioned off. The pen unfortunately arrived too late for the Ball and it is being held at the moment either for auctioning at the Ball next year, or if an earlier opportunity turns up it may be put up for bids. She was actually hadn't been in contact with me to speak about it because she was too busy. Sorry if I confused.

 

Yes, the school is very good - my wife and I are very happy with it. Sarah, my daughter already has quite a collection of FPs - when we were at the WES show in London she came away with 9 pens - only one of which I bought - people were giving them to her!

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I have reserved the next Forest pen from Henry for her - my wife thinks that we should keep it and give it to her as a graduation present - I don't think that I would be able to leave it that long - she is only 9 years old at the moment!

 

Yes. the detail is graet and it is one of the unfortunate things that the photgraphs do not show - there is no substitute for seeing the real thing. I think that you will really enjoy the photographs that I plan to put up tomorrow.

 

George

[Ghost Plane]

Can't wait!

[Wolverine1]

GhostPlane- I would like to be included in the group that would like to get a Simpole pen made to your design. A pen with a Simpole overlay design inspired by Bahai principles would be a great pen to have. BTW, would Henry supply the pen, or can I send him a black Parker Duofold Centennial for him to do the overlay on?

[GeorgeWP]

GhostPlane- I would like to be included in the group that would like to get a Simpole pen made to your design. A pen with a Simpole overlay design inspired by Bahai principles would be a great pen to have. BTW, would Henry supply the pen, or can I send him a black Parker Duofold Centennial for him to do the overlay on?

 

Wolverine - if you do decide to include in the "group" the pen will come complete. The overlay will not fit a Parker Duofold Centenniel as it will be a different size.

 

George

[Ghost Plane]

GhostPlane- I would like to be included in the group that would like to get a Simpole pen made to your design. A pen with a Simpole overlay design inspired by Bahai principles would be a great pen to have. BTW, would Henry supply the pen, or can I send him a black Parker Duofold Centennial for him to do the overlay on?

Yes, Henry asked me to convey that he only does the Conway Stewarts. If you haven't held one yet, you're in for a treat. They're awesome pens! I'm looking forward to an IB nib on mine. I have 3 now and they're really quite special.

 

Henry has his overlays down to a fine art [in every sense of the word] and the design will have to fit in the dimensions he's worked out. That's his area of artistry, so if he says that's it, that's it.

 

We'll run some potential designs [some of you have sent me some awesome links as inspiration] and we'll see what works. Stay tuned and watch this thread.

 

I'm really impressed by how many different people and faiths are represented, both in this thread and my PMs. Don't forget all our PMs go away with the next software change on the 27th, so if you want me to remember something, probably best to email me.

[GeorgeWP]

OK – more pictures as promised.

I have put together the pictures that follow to give some idea of the progress of one of Henry’s creations from start to finish. It would have been nice to take just one design and show how it evolved from paper onto the pen, but unfortunately it wasn’t possible.

First this is the design stage – the design is worked out within the limits of the box interior that conforms to the circumference of the pen barrel and cap. After the design is finalised, it is transferred to graph paper to ensure absolute accuracy of the finished overlay. These are pictures that Henry most kindly allowed my wife to photograph from his design book so that they could be viewed on this thread.

 

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwR8UR0EyjI/AAAAAAAAAIY/apk7T0_gKCg/s800/Simpole%20200918.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwR8U5Wd4zI/AAAAAAAAAIc/zjrqxvEa0og/s800/Simpole%20200917.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwR8TMWVRrI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/JDnvzONEmcw/s800/Simpole%20200926.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwR8VK55V1I/AAAAAAAAAIg/HMDDZ6A6N10/s800/Simpole%20200925.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwR8OjjoXOI/AAAAAAAAAH0/fFKacvh3uT8/s800/Simpole%20200920.JPG

 

 

The design is then transferred to silver or gold sheet and hand engraved.

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwR8QoVEjtI/AAAAAAAAAIA/wDXegZOFi4w/s800/Simpole%20200911.JPG

 

The design is drilled to start the painstaking process of piercing the pattern. As can be imagined, this is quite a time consuming process.

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwR8VYs-pDI/AAAAAAAAAIk/CF70UotiDSs/s800/Simpole%20200910.JPG

 

All the delicate piercing is done by hand – this requires the utmost patience and skill as well as many hours of close work. The more intricate the design then obviously the more time it takes for the piercing to be completed. Where Henry gets the patience to do this is beyond me – I am pretty sure that I would not be able to last at this for much more than half an hour, but he seems to revel in this intricate and precise work and take huge pride in the perfecting the minutiae on each overlay.

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwR8RKTLRTI/AAAAAAAAAIE/TyOcQ44vFTA/s800/Simpole%20200912.JPG

 

The sheets are then trimmed and formed into cylindrical shapes to fit the barrel and cap of the pen.

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwR8R4b46ZI/AAAAAAAAAII/l6OnpkJh1Pg/s800/Simpole%20200913.JPG

 

Finally they are freehand engraved and then finished and buffed to produce the end result.

 

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwR8SbxjzII/AAAAAAAAAIM/MhjD1OhfSUc/s800/Simpole%20200927.JPG

 

Henry has the pen barrels and caps specially made, and the nib, feed, section and “guts” of the pen are made for Henry by Conway Stewart.

Here is a picture of Henry at his work station engraving a silver sheet.

 

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwR8QLz4UnI/AAAAAAAAAH8/4E4NSoY8BIE/s800/Simpole%20200903.JPG

 

I am sorry, but we seemed to have forgotten to photograph any of the nibs. Damn, that means I will have to go back again!

 

Hope that you enjoy the pictures.

 

George

[Ghost Plane]

George, this was absolutely invaluable to me as it gives a much better idea of patterns that will probably be far too intricate. Hmmm.

 

Back to the drawing board...

[Kay]

What are the dimensions of the pens? In comparison to, say, the Pelikan series (M600, M800, M1000 etc)

[Chris Chalmers]

Dear George, thank you for not only explaining all about the school and their lovely pen, but also the intricate details of how Henry makes his pens.........I will hold my three with greater reverence than ever now! I have to say that for pure writing pleasure they are perfect in the hand, but we who have them already know that - and using them will only enhance the beautiful work, as Henry says on his site - they were made to be used...........I didn't do a direct quote there!

I will watch the progress and process of GP's (and our) pen with fascination and pure joy - as it goes through each stage - although I don't for a minute expect Henry to make each stage public entirely - just a word picture will be fine for me.........and the time it takes will be like savouring a good wine or a very long book - nearly hating the end to be in sight!

Do you really have to go back? I hope so............more pics please!!! Now, George, your next challenge is to give Henry a big 'waterbed' hug from me please.........I dare you!!!!

Edited November 19, 2009 by Chris Chalmers

[Ghost Plane]

Oh dear. I'm not about to ask George to pass along a kiss!