Red Mazzucchilli Ceblox Acrylic Nazca Custom Fountain Pen
with Sterling Silver Snake Band.
(Click each photo for larger views)
Scroll down to the bottom to see the specs and other info about this pen.
About the Nazca:
The Nazca is named after the flat-top mountains of the Nazca Valley in Peru. Although Nazca is actually the name of the VALLEY rather than the mountains (the theme I usually use for naming my pens), I thought Nazca was an appropriate name for this "Flat-Top" style pen. Historical buffs and Sci-Fi fans will know of the famous Nazca 'Lines' found scattered across the tops of the flat mountains of Nazca, as well as the many odd shaped skulls found in the region with elongated craniums. So the exceptionally tall finial on this pen is a reference to the famous skulls, while the upgraded rings on the finial pays homage to the Nazca lines.
Nazca Dimensions:
The full size Nazca has an overall length of about 6", but it can be ordered in a smaller size I call the Nazca JR that can be ordered in lengths as short as 5", and fitted with a smaller #5 nib. The most prominent feature of the Nazca is the tall finial. As with most other JEB's PENs, the Nazca can be ordered in any of the materials shown or you can choose your own material to make the pen unique. The pen can be ordered clipless or with your choice of clip finishes (nickel, chrome, 24k gold, or gunmetal). The standard Nazca has a Cartridge/Converter (C/C) inking system, or upgrade it to a button or piston filler. If you prefer eyedroppers, it could be ordered with a special rubber o-ring that would seal the section to the barrel so it can be filled directly with ink. It can be ordered with either a #5 or #6 nib. Nib finishes are 2-tone, polished steel, Black Oxide (#6 only), or Ruthenium (#5 only). Current tip sizes are fine, medium, broad, and italic and 1.1 and 1.4 (#5 only) or 1.5 (#6 only).
Nazca Options and Upgrades:
The Nazca can be ordered with one of two different types of threads. The more typical 3-start threads, or a more coarse looking single start. Both types of threads have their advantages. The advantage of the 3-start threads is that they allow the pen to be capped with less turns, while the single-start threads allow more turns in a shorter length of the threads, so they threads can be much shorter and give the same amount of turns. Upgrades to the pen include metal accent bands at various location. You can add just one to the rear of the section for just a little touch of flash, or add at the end of the barrel (using a threaded blind-cap). The cap posting shown on some pens is also an upgrade, so if you prefer to post your cap, please let me know so this can be added to your pen. The ultimate upgrade is to add a group of three bands to the finial for a pen I call the Nazca LINES.
I also offer a variety of hand-made Pen Props and Pen Buttons. You can order a Pen Prop in a material to match your pen, or any one of the wooden styles made in a variety of stained and dyed colors. The Pen Buttons are available for any of the clipless pens.
About this Pen:
This pen is a standard size Nazca, but instead of a clip (or even being clipless), the cap sports a sterling silver wrap around snake band. And instead of a standard C/C inking system, it's a piston filler, with a piston system incorporated into the barrel. The piston system uses a one piece system that gets pressed into the back end of the barrel, with a plunger the draws ink into the lower end of the barrel as the knob at the end of the barrel is rotated. The sterling silver wrap around snake band is available in a few different finishes: bright silver, antiqued, and blackened. I also have a less expensive version (not sterling silver) in the same silver finishes as well as gold finish version (bright, antiqued, and blackened). I secured the band to the cap using a small flat-head tack mounted under the snake's head. The tack is set unglued into the cap, so that the band can be removed (if ever needed) by carefully lifting up on the snake's head and sliding up the band.
About this Material:
The material used for this pen is a special type of cellulose acetate acrylic sold under the trademark name of Ceblox, developed in the 1930's by an Italian company by the name of Mazzucchilli 1849 (1849 is the year the company was established, but they are commonly just referred to as Mazzucchilli). Although Mazzucchilli is still in business making Ceblox, the blanks used for this pen is some of their older material that was manufactured around 1980.
Cellulose Acetate Physical and Turning Characteristics:
Cellulose acetate is one of the earlier forms acrylics. So although it may just look like another acrylic, it has some unique characteristics compared with modern acrylics. They didn't have the various chemicals back then that we have today, so most forms of acrylic back then were made from natural materials. So cellulose acetate is a 'modified natural polymer' acrylic, with a liquid base derived from COTTON.
Cellulose acetate was one of those acrylics that novices were always told to avoid, or to "use with caution" because of some of the machining characteristics. However, in my opinion after working with it, most of these may be more wife's tale than fact. Or at the least, have just been blown out of proportions through the years. One such tale is that it will catch fire if you turn it too fast! That tale is due to it lower melting point compared with modern acrylics. But from my experience, unless you turn your materials at a crazy high speed, you'd have to be taking some pretty drastic measures to have it spontaneously combust while you're turning it. But you do have to treat it a little differently. For example when cutting with a saw, such as a band saw (to prep the blanks for turning) will cause the cutting edges to melt (see the image bottom right at the top that shows how it melted when I cut it with a small table top band saw). And normally after cutting to length, I'll square the ends on a disc sander, but that too will melt the ends unless you touch it very lightly to the sanding disc. So instead, after cutting to length, I just square the ends at the lathe.
When turning, I normally turn at a fairly low speed (900 to 1100), so I kept my speed at the lower end of the scale, and then took short shallow cuts so the tool didn't get too hot (keeping the tool on the material CAN create a good bit of heat). One thing I realized that isn't a good idea though, is to try to polish it aggressively with a buffer like you would other acrylics. If you try that, you will have problems. Instead you have to make sure to sand through the grits at a low speed, and then polish it with a polishing compound. If you do that properly, you won't have any fine scratches you have to tend to at the buffer. But if you decide to try, then be sure to buff VERY LIGHTLY. If you take you time and don't push your tools, it's not really that hard to turn cellulose acetate. And it's worth the effort when you do-- it polishes up beautifully!
This Pen's Specifications:
Color / Material: Red Mazzucchilli Ceblox Cellulose Acetate.
Length: Capped 6.0" / Uncapped 5.22" / Posted 7.0".
Diameter (max): Barrel .56" / Cap .61".
Weight (gms): Capped 36.6 / Uncapped 21.6.
Nib: Rhodium finish 18k Gold #6 Jowo.
Band: Sterling Silver.
Filling System: Piston-filler.
Can also be ordered as a C/C, ED, Lever or Button filler.
