Making A Pen Case

[pen2paper]

Interesting inclusion of tracking device pocket. Don't we wish tiny thread sized units could wrap our favorite pens, so phones could beep us to their hiding spot? I'd carry better pens if so, needing lightweight crossover purse, but this is a fine idea.

 

Visiting your ongoing projects is a joy.

Good news workshop companion Diesel is improving.

[my63]

Pen2paper thanks for your kind words Diesel is doing well although he needs further surgery which is happening next week. Unfortunately it looks like I will be joining him in the near future my hands require more maintainance.

 

I have had lots of distractions lately so I am a little behind with pen cases.

 

This is standard Kydex the blue was on offer so I bought blue here you can see the formed tube with its suede liner with a dowel ready to be inserted into the tube.

 

2019-09-12_06-46-58 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Once the tube was sorted I could start the outer covers forming them around the tube and then applying some dye orange for this case.

 

2019-09-12_06-47-37 by my0771, on Flickr

 

I wrapped the top part in plastic to stop it drying out and formed the lower section gluing it together ready for stitching.

 

2019-09-12_06-47-54 by my0771, on Flickr

 

2019-09-12_06-48-19 by my0771, on Flickr

 

After stitching and trimming I could form the top section.

 

2019-09-12_06-48-35 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Time for more stitching

 

2019-09-12_06-48-48 by my0771, on Flickr

 

2019-09-12_06-49-25 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Just a few little steps and it will be finished.

[AndyLogan]

This is pretty nice Michael, I'm sorry to hear that your hands are acting up, hopefully the upcoming surgery could fix your problems and give you relief. Hoping all goes well.

[AndyLogan]

A side by side comparison between my old pen case and the new one.

I am happy with the new one!

 

Edited September 16, 2019 by AndyLogan

[my63]

Thanks for the pictures Andy the case looks great.

 

Dying leather is not as easy as it looks the orange case above was comming along nicely until it started to dry out when the top and bottom went different ways one clearly darker than the other. I decided to add more dye not really a good idea.

As I was adding more (making a right mess) the owner contacted me to say he had acquired another pen the smaller Namiki Royale and wanted to add another matching case to his order.

As there was no way I could match the colour of the first case I decided to make 2 new cases.

 

2019-09-29_10-44-18 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Normally I dye leather with a dauber a piece of wire with a ball of lambs wool on the end. Light colours are difficult to dye at the best of times trying to match it is even more tricky.

 

2019-09-29_10-44-39 by my0771, on Flickr

 

This is what I ended up with.

 

2019-09-29_10-44-53 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Forming and shaping the pieces when wet veg tanned leather comes into contact with metal it turns black which is not good on light colours so I have cut some pieces of wood to clamp in place.

 

2019-09-29_10-45-08 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Time for some stitching

 

2019-09-29_10-46-34 by my0771, on Flickr

 

To be continued

[my63]

Once the lower section was trimmed to shape I started forming the upper part in place to ensure that it was a good fit.

 

2019-09-29_10-46-57 by my0771, on Flickr

 

After forming I made stitching holes and stitched the upper part to form the lid.

 

2019-09-29_10-47-18 by my0771, on Flickr

 

At this point I usually make the toggles which also act as pen rests.

 

.2019-10-07_02-56-42 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Getting the components ready for assembly.

 

2019-10-07_02-57-01 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Finished pair.

 

2019-10-07_02-57-15 by my0771, on Flickr

[my63]

I bought a little box sometime ago and have been waiting for inspiration as to what I am going to do with it.

 

My first plan was to get as many pens in it as possible. In this case three.

 

2019-10-07_03-08-39 by my0771, on Flickr

 

When I was asked to make a custom pen box for 8 Emperor pens I realised that this box would be an ideal box for two Emperor pens. So I remade the insert to hold only 2 pens.

 

2019-10-07_03-09-07 by my0771, on Flickr

 

This is the new insert I will either cover this or make a kydex mould from this form.

 

2019-10-07_03-09-32 by my0771, on Flickr

[my63]

I would like to thank everyone for their good wishes following Diesel our springer spaniel following his surgery recently.

Sadly Diesle suffered massive organ failure yesterday and despite the best efforts of our vet we had to say farewell to him. Diesel came to us in 2011 from a spaniel rescue. In his previous life he had been a working dog he was very well trained unfortunately I did not know the commands he had been trained to. He walked at my side when on the lead and never let me out of his sight whenever he was off the lead flowing me whenever possible.

I would like to share some pictures of Diesel.

 

20129 by my0771, on Flickr

 

IMG_8214 by my0771, on Flickr

 

IMG_6779 by my0771, on Flickr

 

IMG_6571 by my0771, on Flickr

[kazoolaw]

I am so sorry for Diesel's passing-may you have many smiling memories of your time together.

gary

[pen2paper]

Also once blessed with a loyal spaniel companion I offer sincere condolences.

Thank you for sharing Diesel with us.

[my63]

Thanks for your kind words I appreciate them we started the year with four rescue springer spaniels and now we have just two our house is very quiet now.

 

I have a couple of orders to fill so I must press on.

 

The wooden box does not have an owner as yet but is a test bed for a larger box which I am working towards. I sanded the wooden version of the liner and moulded a kydex version from it

 

2019-10-07_10-34-32 by my0771, on Flickr

 

I wrapped the kydex insert in red suede because it was on my desk.

 

2019-10-07_10-34-45 by my0771, on Flickr

 

As you can see it fits quite well.

 

2019-10-07_10-34-55 by my0771, on Flickr

 

The top was a little plain so I cut a piece of veneer and glued it to the top.

 

2019-10-10_09-32-00 by my0771, on Flickr

 

2019-10-10_09-31-25 by my0771, on Flickr

 

The edge of the original top was not a good edge so I cut some strips of walnut to 3mm x 2mm and glued them in place.

 

2019-10-10_09-30-38 by my0771, on Flickr

 

After some sanding I applied some dark wax to bring out the colour in the veneer as this was an old box I have left some of the wear on the outside and have cleaned and waxed it. The finish on the veneer has a texture which I plan to leave rather than sanding it flat.

 

2019-10-12_09-27-26 by my0771, on Flickr

[my63]

It is nice to get repeat orders but it is even better to get pictures I recently made a tan case as a repeat order for a case I made last year here are both cases.

 

2019-10-10_09-31-00 by my0771, on Flickr

 

I met John from St Johns pens at the Newcastle pen show a couple of weeks ago and he asked me to make him a couple of single pen cases in the cigar style.

 

As usual I started with flat sheet kydex which I rolled into tubes and wrapped in suede one in red and the other in black

 

2019-10-13_04-15-20 by my0771, on Flickr

 

The next step is to cut the leather for the outer covers

 

2019-10-13_04-15-49 by my0771, on Flickr

 

After cutting to size I dyed the pieces and started forming the pieces to the desired shape.

 

2019-10-13_04-16-06 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Here are the two lower sections shaped and stitched together.

 

2019-10-13_04-27-02 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Once the lower section was trimmed to size and had been sanded to shape I could start forming the upper section.

 

2019-10-13_04-16-42 by my0771, on Flickr

 

2019-10-13_04-16-58 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Top section stitched and trimmed to size and shape.

 

2019-10-13_04-17-14 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Final assembly next.

[AndyLogan]

You've made more lovely cases Michael. I'm sad to hear about your loss.

[my63]

Thanks Andy and everyone who took the time to comment about the loss of Diesel I wont bombard you with all of the pictures except this one. This is Diesel his sister Keela who passed earlier this year and a little bit of me.

 

keela and diese 3 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Back to the pen cases finally finished these are for John of St Johns pens a great guy and pen dealer with some fantastic pens and now cases

 

2019-10-30_09-23-28 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Here is a workshop update for those interested with almost our two remaining rescue spaniels running around like loons as all spaniels should do. As you can see the deck is almost done

 

2019-10-25_10-43-46 by my0771, on Flickr

 

The mitre is almost 5 metres across and has taken weeks to get right but I am happy with it now. Unfortunately I managed to dislocate my thumb while fitting the piece on the top left of the picture. It has slowed me down quite a bit.

[my63]

I am not sure if I am allowed to post this here but my good friends at St Johns pens wanted to celebrate Fountain pen day with a Give away so I have made two cases for them to give away on instagram.

I did not want everyone here to miss out on a free case they are exactly the same as my usual cases.

[my63]

Time for something a little different this is a longer project to create a desk storage box for 8 Namiki Emperor fountain pens. I have made boxes before which I posted in various box threads here I plan just to use this thread for this project.

 

I am using mouldings to create the original parts which I may decide to use as moulds for plastic inserts.

 

My first trial is the 18mm moulding with my pen blanks and the second is a 21 mm moulding again with the pen blanks

 

2019-11-02_06-49-45 by my0771, on Flickr

 

2019-11-02_06-41-36 by my0771, on Flickr

 

I expect it to take me a week or so to work everything out before I make the practice box then I will make the real thing.

You will be able to follow every step of the way.

[my63]

I improved on my first attempt well actually I cut them a little short on the curve.

 

This is mk 2 the case has now been expanded to 9 slots

 

2019-11-06_06-51-26 by my0771, on Flickr

 

I think I may need to make a male version of this form to get the desired shape.

[my63]

The next stage of this process is to make a thermo plastic version I only keep A4 size kydex sheets so it does not fill all of the form.

 

2019-11-08_07-28-25 by my0771, on Flickr

 

There is no requirement for this first set of trays to secure the pens as it is a desk box.

Future plans are for dealer boxes which will need to have securing strips to hold pens in place for travel and display purposes.

[my63]

I needed bigger pieces of mouldable material to make the larger trays so I have switched to HIPs (High Impact Polystryene) which when heated will form to the required shape. More importantly it will remain in that shape while remaining inert and once wrapped in fine suede it will look great.

 

2019-11-09_06-01-02 by my0771, on Flickr

 

This is my second attempt I expect by the time I get to number 5 I will have achieved something that I will be happy with.

[my63]

I like many makers have my own way of making boxes I usually make the insert first as I have in this case. I am making some test boxes to make sure I am happy with the process.

 

2019-11-14_02-15-40 by my0771, on Flickr

 

I put the insert on a piece of wood and draw around it I can then cut the sides to the correct size.

 

2019-11-14_02-21-00 by my0771, on Flickr

 

 

One change I have made to my process for this box is to cut the sides for the lid which are taped to the box sides then the pieces are mitred to fit together. I think this might give me a better match for the lid and easier than cutting the box in half once the top and bottom have been fitted.

 

Once all of the pieces have been cut I joined them by taping the outside of the joints and adding glue to the joining surfaces then simply folding the sides up and adding a final piece of tape over the final joint.

 

2019-11-14_02-16-04 by my0771, on Flickr.

Edited November 14, 2019 by my63