It was my brother's 20th birthday recently and I really wanted to make something special for him. As you probably know by now, I like all the things I make to be functional. I wanted to make him a gift that he would be able to use and enjoy. I was pondering the matter for sometime until I finally arrived at the idea of a wooden pen case. He loves to write, and although keyboards are now usually favored over ink, I feel that every great writer should always have a pen by their side. He loves Milton and so I chose to write a quote from Paradise Lost on the front of the case
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the build process, I've been so busy recently I just didn't have enough time! This shall all change very shortly however as I'll be heading to university soon where I'll be devoting every waking minuet to making things!
Anyway, I really love round and organic shapes and so wanted to incorporate this into the design of the case. I decided to use a rolling pin as I really loved the cylindrical shape (It was also something I had laying around in my workshop ;)). I made a jig for my saw so I could cut a straight line all the way through the center of the cylinder (Making the jig took a long time, but was definitely worth it!) Once I'd made the cut I hollowed out a space for the pen to sit in. First I drilled holes into the wood at an equal depth then cleared out the rest of the space with a chisel and finally sandpaper. I rounded off the edges of the cylinder by marking the center point of the wood and also marking how large I'd like the bevel to be then sanding to both points. I added magnets to the inside so the case would snap shut and hinges to the outside. I sanded the whole thing before marking out where I'd like the text to be. I would have liked to have scribed/burnt the text into the wood however I don't have the tools to do this. Instead I first wrote out the text on my computer and printed it off. I measured the distance between each letter and transferred the measurements onto the wood. Once marked I used the measurements to first write out the text in pencil, I then went over it with pen.
Sorry again for the lack of build pictures! Here's some of the final piece:
And here's a little extra gift I made! I carved the top piece from beech wood and inscribed my brother's initials in the center. The holder is made from worbla (I love that stuff!)
