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The team behind Pen Blanks And Moulds

Bucks

Fellow
Joined
Apr 26, 2016
Posts
1,425
Location
North Yorkshire
First Name
Paul
We thought we'd introduce the team behind Pen Blanks And Moulds. I'm Paul, I've been a self employed gardener since the young age of 20, after 30 years of gardening, about 20 of them including a lot of landscape gardening, (yep if you've done the sums correct I'm coming up to the big 50 this year! But I still haven't made my first million yet lol) like any other physical job it taken it's toll on my body. Plus our 14 year old daughter Charlotte has a lot of medical problems including severe and complex epilepsy, so we can get calls from school where we have to drop everything to go and deal with her, often resulting in a trip to hospital. So with all my back and neck problems due to wear and tear on my spine and Charlotte's health needs, the gardening has almost had to become a part time job over the last few years.

6 years ago after working for the NHS for nearly 20 years, Jackie (my wife) had to leave her job due to the pressures of having to deal with all of Charlotte's medical appointments and admissions to hospital. She has started helping me with the gardening over the last few years.

Just over a year ago I got into pen turning with Katie my then, 9 year old daughter. In November 2016 I decided to make the pen turning into a little part time business resulting in turning and selling about 140 pens with the build up to Christmas. Jackie has just started to get into the turning also so its becoming a real family enterprise.

I've always been interested in DIY & woodworking and carried out a few building projects on our house. With this in mind, we have been trying to come up with some other way of boosting our dwindling income centred around my woodworking skills, which can be flexible around the gardening work, Charlotte and not forgetting our 10 year old daughter Katie aswell!

In January this year after struggling to find and purchase quality moulds made out of the correct materials from other manufacters abroad and in the UK, I decided to look into making my own moulds. After making a few moulds for myself and posting them on this forum and receiving some very positive feedback, I realised there was quite a gap in the market for quality pen blank moulds, so began the journey of researching and developing our range of "Less-Resin" and Pen Blank Moulds. I also have quite a few other exciting ideas around pen blanks and moulds hence the name of the website. Jackie has been helping me in this venture with the research, website development and mould manufacturing.

Together we have spent hundreds of hours researching and developing our moulds to ensure we are using the most suitable materials. We haven't just copied other peoples moulds, we've researched and incorporated our own original ideas to produce quality moulds. We manufacture everything in house (literally) ourselves to ensure our end product is of the highest possible standard. I take a lot of pride in my work and won't comprise on quality. I have earned an income from gardening for the past 30 years successfully with these principles and high standards and will continue to maintain these principles going forward with this new venture.

We hope we haven't sent you to sleep with the "shortened" version of our life story lol.

Regards Paul and Jackie
 

fortress

Registered
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Posts
5,178
Location
Astley
First Name
John
I seem to remember now you posting pictures of pens that you and your daughter made.
Everybody on this forum wishes you and your family all the best for the future.
Thanks for sharing Paul. :thumbs::thumbs:
 

Bill Mooney

Blind old git
Grand Master
Joined
Aug 16, 2014
Posts
10,997
Location
County Durham
First Name
Bill
Well done. I hope it all works out for you. I totally agree with you on quality, to me it is also paramount & always has been.
There are others on here with the same aims as yourself & I wish you all the very best of luck in your ventures.:thumbs:
 

Penpal

Grand Master
Joined
May 26, 2013
Posts
25,340
Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
First Name
Peter
I have always been impressed by your standards and output, Just arrived home from hospital having collapsed over our car from the front steps, two broken ribs later ,now 6-8 weeks healing to come.

Congratulations so far and into the future.

Kind regards Peter.
 

Bob Ellis

Graduate Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2014
Posts
450
Location
Wensleydale, North Yorkshire
First Name
Bob
Good luck with the venture, Paul and Jackie. Changing life-style and career is a big step, but can also be rewarding. Eighteen years ago, I had to abandon my career to become a full-time carer for my wife, who suffered a series of strokes when she was only 36. I developed new revenue streams working from home as a writer of history books, teaching people to play the melodeon and, more recently, turning pens. I remember well the uncertainty about whether I could make a living at these things, but it turned out OK and had the bonus of being able to spend much more time with my wife than previously. I hope that your new venture is a success and a rewarding experience and that your health and that of your daughter improve.

I also wish you a speedy recovery, Peter. It sounds as though you might have had one too many tinnies. :rolling:
 
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