Dear Sir, The Art of Writing is not Dead!

If you have not yet come across  the shop of Designer Pens  before then here is a chance to see not only Randy's beautiful handcrafted pens but to hear a little about where he lives and his love of working with wood and  creating his hand crafted pens. Here are a few questions I asked Randy. And  one lucky person will receive a fabulous handcrafted pen from Designer Pens shop value $30 

 "Lemon Lime European Style Pen" pictured above.

  Rules for this give away are at the end of this posting. Good luck.

Why did you choose to make pens out of wood

I went to a woodworking show a few years back in Denver, and there and then I decided that I wanted to work and create with wood. So I set to work on clearing an area at the back of my garage, set up my workbench, arranged my tools and set to my first project which was a, yes you have guessed a pen!

I have always loved wood and here in Colorado springs we are surrounded by Silver Maples, Green ash, Siberian Elms, blue Spruce and white fir.  I could go on to tell you about wood  from around the world  that I also use but I think it would be a very  long story. I try to put as much detail as I can into my descriptions  when listing  pens in my shop of the particular woods I use, so if you would like to learn more just pop in and have read.

What is your favourite wood to work with

I don't think I really have a favourite wood as I love all types. But if I had to choose one it would be the Pink Ivory wood, which is a rare African wood used to make luxury products and grows predominately in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. Pink Ivory is the royal tree of the Zulus and only the royal family were allowed to possess the wood. It has not only a beautiful colour but the grains creates what to me looks like waves.

How long on average does it take you to make a pen

This varies really depending on whether I am working with wood or acrylic the wooden ones can take approximately 1.5 hours and an acrylic could take 2 hours.  I have never actually timed myself from start to finish as I seem to get totally absorbed in what I am doing and I never like to rush.

Do you think the art of handwriting is dying.

I  believe that younger people write less and would say that the Internet is one off the main reasons for the decline, and email is easy and fast, and and easy option for people nowadays.  But  I believe handwriting  will never  truly die as we all have and need the ability to hand write, can you think of the last time that you cherished an email? To receive a hand written letter is still and always will be a thrill for me and I hopefully for many others, and so by continuing to make  my pens I hope that I can encourage people to enjoy the art of handwriting, especially if they are using one of my pens :)

Randy in action

Rules for giveaway.

1. I would love you to follow my blog, this is not compulsory to do so, but would make me smile:)


2. I would love  you to visit Randy's shop and heart your favourite item from his shop.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/designerpens

3. Leave  your name and contact details on your post.


4. Tell me when was the last time you received a hand written letter. (No Fibbing)


5. Tell me when you last wrote a hand written letter. (Even if it was to the milkman)


6. Finally, good luck and hope the winner will use it often and cherish their hand made pen. Thank you so much Randy for your generosity and helping with keeping the art of writing alive.

7. Giveaway will close on the 14th July

I found this beautiful little embroidery piece in a shop  here on Etsy http://www.etsy.graceymay/ and it fits so well with this giveaway. that I just had to add it.