Pen-spiration: The Okapi

I'm a zoo member, and like you do as a zoo member, I decided to visit the zoo on a nice weather day. I specifically wanted to see the Okapi (one of my favorite animals). Have you ever seen an Okapi? They are very cool! Endangered herbivores from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they are only found in the Ituri and Virunga rainforests. They are most closely related to giraffes.

An Okapi at the Miami Metro Zoo. Photo credit: David J. Stang

While watching the Okapi stroll around and eat hay, I was admiring its coat and thinking, "I have a resin powder that is almost that exact brown color . . . I bet I could segment some black and white stripes too . . ."

After getting back to the shop and selecting appropriate pen hardware (bright chrome with a click), I got to work making the blanks for what would be my Okapi pen. I made a shimmery brown resin pen blank and a subtly iridescent white resin pen blank and took them to the pressure pot to cure. After the blanks were cured and able to be removed from the molds, I drilled and segmented the pieces needed for my pen. After assembly, clamping, and curing, the pen was ready to be squared.

I had a pretty clear idea in my head of what this pen was going to look like, but several friends were asking, "You are making an Okapi . . . pen?" Absolutely! After mounting the segmented blank on the lathe and getting the pen body into round, the final design started to become more obvious. A bit relieved that this was actually working out and looking Okapi-like, final shaping was concluded and the pen was wet-sanded and polished. A bit of assembly, and Voila! Okapi pen!

I'm tickled that (at least in my mind), my Okapi pen looks like an Okapi. Even if you are not an Okapi fan, this pen still "turned" out nicely and is quite a sharp-looking click pen. This particular ballpoint pen was gifted to a serious Okapi-lover; one day I will come back and likely make others for the zookeepers in charge of the Okapi at the local zoo.

Pen-spiration can strike at some of the strangest times and places; this day it happened to be at the zoo with the Okapi and its shiny brown coat. I hope you are able to find your inspiration (wherever that may be)!

The Okapi pen with segmented resin stripes