Shakey Le Tree on display

This morning, I visited Nuance, the store where Shakey Le Tree pens are now on sale. The display looks great - the pens are nicely laid out behind a glass case:



Close-up of the card at the top of the display:



Close-up of one of the pens on display:



I was really happy with the display...if they do not sell, it will not be because of a lack of effort.

I made another nice one tonight - a Cocobolo Classic American pen. I think I will be working with Cocobolo for a while...I have some great pieces that are only really good for pens (and maybe jewelry, if I can figure out how to make it), and it would be a shame not to use them. Cocobolo also always comes out unique.

I also made a mistake on a pen tonight...I was making an Olivewood Broker pen, and I got some tearout and had to start over. I lost the wood, but kept the tube, so I should be able to make another Broker pen with another piece of Olivewood.

I got back my sharpened roughing gouge on Sunday, and used it tonight for the first time. What a difference! I learned a bit about sharpening, too. The angle of the sharpening wheel changes as the tool gets sharpened multiple times, as the sharpener actually shortens the tool. So, even though I had set up the right angle for the sharpening wheel when I first set it up, I needed to change it occasionally, and I had not done that. Also, I was told that I needed to sharpen longer on the sides of the tool than I had been. I will see if I can do that successfully.

Shakey Le Tree goes on consignment!

Today I signed my first-ever consignment agreement, and eight of the Shakey Le Tree pens will be on sale and on display at Nuance on Central Avenue in Dover, NH. It is a great feeling, and even if none of them sell, it is pretty neat that I have reached this point.

My lovely wife contributed much of the artwork on the cards accompanying the pens, and also helped to make a "Shakey Le Tree" card that will stand next to the pens in the store.

Tomorrow, I get my roughing gouge back, freshly sharpened and ready to work on more pens.

Shakey Le Tree...at a store near you?

Big news! I went to a store downtown, a store that sells very cool crafty type items, and spoke with the owner (Evelyn) about possibly selling pens there on consignment. She seemed very much into the idea, and has been thinking of having more stock around that could be aimed towards "gifts for men". She thinks that the Classic American (and maybe Wall Street) pens would fit the bill for that. She also seemed to think that the slimline and broker pens would be good for "gifts for women", which gives me a bit of a reason for making more slimline pens.

She seemed to think that my getting $35+ per pen was not unreasonable (I told her $35-40 and up, based on the price of materials used to make the pen), as it would allow her a markup of 30% and would still keep the price point where she wants it.

One thing she mentioned was that I would need boxes, so I looked up boxes on the net and found some nice metal boxes that should work. I had to order them in a block of 24, so I hope that this whole thing really works!

I am nervous and excited about the prospect of actually selling the pens...it could allow this hobby to start paying for itself in terms of materials. This could allow me to start doing wine stoppers and pepper mills and such without being that much out of pocket. And what is the worst that could happen? They do not sell, and I have that much more stock to sell elsewhere. I am researching what kind of legal agreement I should put together to sign so that both parties know what is expected of them.

In other news...yesterday I received the kit for a pen I am making for my uncle. Along with the kit, I ordered an extra set of tubes, so that I can try to turn a couple of different types of wood and see what looks best. The kit costs $40, so I want to make sure that the turning comes out great before I assemble the pen.

Last night we went to Woodcraft, and I found a neat piece of Maple Burl that I could use for ornaments or winestoppers or...pen blanks. I am going to turn a piece of the maple burl AND a piece of cocobolo for the emperor pen, and see which comes out best.

So...a bit of financial outlay this week:
$70.95 for the Emperor Pen Kit
$17 for the Maple Burl
$11 for a kit to make a pepper mill at some point
$48 for the boxes
Total: $146.95