Ken Cavers Curvy Pen - Black and White

Ever since I saw this fountain pen review—Ken Cavers Bamboo Pen—I've wanted a pen made by this artist with a lathe.

The pens are custom made to the specification of the purchaser, and done in Ken Cavers' spare time. So, a waiting list. A long waiting list. So long, he'd decided to not take further orders till the backlog was cleared.

I resigned myself to the wait, until I couldn't anymore. So one day I emailed to ask if he might have resumed taking orders.

He asked what I wanted.

And so the emails went back and forth. I'd thought of the bamboo style, but Ken'd made many of those and I didn't want to ask for yet another. And the curvy design he has is elegant in its simplicity.

We discussed the material and he sent me photographs of the Black and White acrylics he had in stock. We settled on plain black for the barrel and this wonderful black and white swirl for the cap. The man, being the artist he is, suggested the black band for the finial and added an inlay at the base of the pen, using the acrylic from the cap.

The result is superb in its form and simplicity. The curve fits the hand beautifully.

Ken custom ground the broad steel nib to cursive italic which takes and lays ink without any fuss.

Given I'm learning calligraphy I find the line variation with this nib excellent for my stumbling steps in this new, for me, art form.

You'll find better photographs of this pen on Ken's site.

Below is a sample of the nib's performance. I cannot say how happy I am with this pen. It holds a special place in my collection.