August | 2015 | Scriptorium Pens

Customer Worksheet

Scriptorium Pens has added a new tool to help customers design their perfect pen. I’ve created a Customer Worksheet that is very similar to my own order form that I keep for each customer, with the same basic information. This is a pdf document that you can print out and use to play around with various pen configurations and prices until you come up with your ideal combination. I think this will be a really helpful way to ease the process of deciding on all the various options offered by Scriptorium Pens. It contains all the information I need to put your new pen together.

I’ve also added a page of Configuration Examples with a breakdown of their pricing to help customers see how things add up. These examples are similar to those in the final confirmation email I will send to make sure the order is correct.

Finally, one more item I’ve added is Order Numbers! That’s right! With the orders continuing to come in, I’ve started assigning numbers to each order to help keep track of them. From now on when you place an order, I will give you your order number. For anyone already in my work queue, you can send me an email to find out what your number is and what order I am currently working on.

I want to make the ordering process as easy and as fun as possible for you. These new additions are steps in that direction. If you have any other suggestions, just let me know. I love hearing customer ideas! 🙂

Inkling Clip – Side View

Earlier this year a long-time customer asked me if I could create a pen styled after one of the Carter’s INX pens of the 20’s & 30’s. I was intrigued. I knew of the famous Carter’s inks, and even have a small collection of their vintage ink bottles and advertisements. I knew nothing about their pens, though. The customer provided some pictures to help me get as close as possible to the original style, but he wanted the new one in a much larger, modern size. I fell in love with the slim, elegant, streamlined design, and knew I had to get a custom clip made to finish off the look. Mike Redburn, of Silver Pen Parts, worked wonders with a new clip that is reminiscent of the original but stands on its own as a beautiful creation.

The customer carefully chose a material that would fit the vintage look, Pistachio, an acrylic from Conway Stewart, and asked for a black acrylic band between the two silver cap bands for contrast, along with a black section and finials to top it off. Before the pen was even finished, I had decided to make it a regular model in the Scriptorium lineup.

One the most enjoyable aspects of creating a new model is getting to name it. With the original being one of the Carter’s INX pens, I decided on the name of Inkling, as nod to Carter’s. The moniker also has the advantage of belonging to a famous literary group of Oxford writers of the 1930’s – 1940’s, including two of my all-time favorites, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. All my pen models have literary names or associations, so the Inkling fits right in. Many people have asked for more info on all the different model names, and that will be the topic of another post, eventually. 🙂

Check out the page for the new Inkling here!