Order, order!

I'm having a bit of a kick on pens at the moment and in the last two days have produced two of these beautiful gold 'Aquilo' ballpoint pens.

These are really nice pens to make and go together so well, but it seems important to me to use good quality wood to do them justice and make them stand out. In this case, I have used xylia, which is a tree native to south and south-east Asia. Now I know I have previously said that I try not use tropical hardwoods because of issues around sustainability and, now I come to think of it, sea miles, but every rule has its exception. In this case, the xylia tree is not on anyone's list of endangered species and is officially classed as being of least concern. Indeed, in Thailand it is used to replant areas of the country that have been denuded of forest and in areas that have suffered environmental degradation. What's more, the Thai people use the leaves of the xylia to heal wounds on elephants, and in India the tree has medicinal uses. So three cheers for the xylia! And its nuts are edible too.

Meanwhile, if you would like one of these pens, I have listed them on both Numonday - https://www.numonday.com/shop/timberspinner/ and on Etsy, though where on earth Etsy has placed my listing is anyone's guess; even I can't find it. 

As an aside, we had the boiler engineer in yesterday (long story, not for here) and he asked to borrow a pen, so I handed him one of my 'Slimlines' and light-heartedly mentioned that I had made it myself. I now have an order for 100. Better get cracking!

The Aquilo ballpoint pen