Has Anyone Heard Of Henry Simpole?

[Miranda]

I'll let the others pick up the God design and carry on with mine, for now. I suspect watching my process will provide inspiration. Once Henry and I settle on something, I'm more than happy to share the design with others if there's interest. I'm not after exclusivity but a masterpiece I can use the rest of my life and would be thrilled to know others loved it as much and wanted one.

 

I view my process as:

1] discover what's possible [where we are now]

2] choose the prayer and/or symbol

3] work with Henry's artistic talent to come up with a final design

4] quote out what it'll take in time and cost/materials

5] acquire the dosh & hand it over

6] turn Henry loose and await the masterpiece

 

Well planned out Ghost - the question wasn't meant for you as I think you know, I am aware of the seeds of your idea. I will show them to Henry tomorrow and start the process off towards fruition at no 1) above.

It was the other idea that has been mooted here - I can suggest it to Henry, but he will need to have something a little bit less airey if he is to say whether or not it is possible.

 

George

 

I don't know if this is less airey. My approach is:

1] get inspired by idea

2] find someone you trust to do the research and design, in this case Ghost Plane

3] commit to purchase

4] wait

5] get extremely excited when pen arrives

 

'Economy of scale' was a main idea. I would have thought the price of each individual pen may be a bit less if a design is used for more than one. That means that Ghost Plane benefits from our jumping on the wagon. That is, if five, six ten or whatever commit to purchase, it becomes a limited series.

 

The most important aspect to me is the sense of community: to have a pen crafted by Henry Simpole himself that is owned internationally by people whom I regard as friends. It doesn't matter if what Ghostplane chooses isn't what i'd chose, it matters that it is meaningful to her, and that the spiritual message is global, or better still, universal. [And i have no desire to chose my own text/words. I'm far too indecisive for that. It would take an eternity!

[GeorgeWP]

I'll let the others pick up the God design and carry on with mine, for now. I suspect watching my process will provide inspiration. Once Henry and I settle on something, I'm more than happy to share the design with others if there's interest. I'm not after exclusivity but a masterpiece I can use the rest of my life and would be thrilled to know others loved it as much and wanted one.

 

I view my process as:

1] discover what's possible [where we are now]

2] choose the prayer and/or symbol

3] work with Henry's artistic talent to come up with a final design

4] quote out what it'll take in time and cost/materials

5] acquire the dosh & hand it over

6] turn Henry loose and await the masterpiece

 

Well planned out Ghost - the question wasn't meant for you as I think you know, I am aware of the seeds of your idea. I will show them to Henry tomorrow and start the process off towards fruition at no 1) above.

It was the other idea that has been mooted here - I can suggest it to Henry, but he will need to have something a little bit less airey if he is to say whether or not it is possible.

 

George

 

I don't know if this is less airey. My approach is:

1] get inspired by idea

2] find someone you trust to do the research and design, in this case Ghost Plane

3] commit to purchase

4] wait

5] get extremely excited when pen arrives

 

'Economy of scale' was a main idea. I would have thought the price of each individual pen may be a bit less if a design is used for more than one. That means that Ghost Plane benefits from our jumping on the wagon. That is, if five, six ten or whatever commit to purchase, it becomes a limited series.

 

The most important aspect to me is the sense of community: to have a pen crafted by Henry Simpole himself that is owned internationally by people whom I regard as friends. It doesn't matter if what Ghostplane chooses isn't what i'd chose, it matters that it is meaningful to her, and that the spiritual message is global, or better still, universal. [And i have no desire to chose my own text/words. I'm far too indecisive for that. It would take an eternity!

 

 

OK

[Ghost Plane]

Miranda, I'm honored. It would be delicious to spread unity between us via our beloved fountain pens.

[Miranda]

Sorry, George, I am being extremely rude here. I was dealing with this in the abstract. I sincerely thank you for taking this idea to Henry, and for your time in general. It may have seemed a bit too pushy, and I apologise. From what Chris Chalmers and Soki have told me about this man, and from seeing his pens, I would be honoured to have a special pen if he were to make it.

[GeorgeWP]

Sorry, George, I am being extremely rude here. I was dealing with this in the abstract. I sincerely thank you for taking this idea to Henry, and for your time in general. It may have seemed a bit too pushy, and I apologise. From what Chris Chalmers and Soki have told me about this man, and from seeing his pens, I would be honoured to have a special pen if he were to make it.

 

No problem Miranda. All I wanted to do was to clarify in my own mind what had been developing here as I wasn't really sure what was being proposed by the various contributors, other than Ghost Plane.

Leaving to see Henry in an hour.

 

Will report back later with pics.

 

George

[Ghost Plane]

Waiting in gleeful anticipation.

[Chris Chalmers]

Me two!!! and too!!! and 222!!!

How did it go George - eh George???

Did you have morning tea and biscuits?

Did you take your camera???

[GeorgeWP]

Sorry to have kept you waiting so long.

Had some other commitments yesterday afternoon after visiting Henry and also having problems with connection through the usb port on my computer meant that I couldn’t download the photographs from my wife’s camera, so had to download to her laptop and transfer from there.

So I am posting up something here before I start work for the day.

We spent 3 hours with Henry, and let me tell you it seemed like about 10 minutes. Chris, I had coffee and biscuits (don’t drink tea) and I gave him your message.

We spoke about so much – seriously, Henry should write an autobiography, he has been into so many interesting things.

Where to start? OK – I think that I will have to split some of the narrative and pictures between a few posts – like a serial – I don’t mean to tease you all, but putting it all in one post will be quite a feat.

On Sunday morning, Henry contacted me and said that if I had anything that needed a bit of repair, I should bring it with me. Some time back I bought my 9 year old daughter a cute little Parker 17 Lady that she used for a while and then dropped, bending the nib and after that had tried to straighten it. I took this along together with a Swan Mabie Todd lever filler that I had got recently that needed to be re-saced. So after the coffee and biscuits and opening pleasantries Henry asked me for the pens and said that he would work on them while we talked. I found out that he went to the same school that my daughter attends – Forest School in Snaresbrook. That probably won’t mean much to you, but it is a private school on the edge of Epping Forest and Henry attended as a boarder. My daughter is currently at the Prep school there. This year is Forest School’s 175th anniversary and Henry has a project going in connection with that - more of which in a later post.

True to character, Henry would not take payment for the work he did on the pens.

In the following pictures you will see Henry at his work desk doing the work on Sarah’s P17 Lady also take note of the converted TV cabinet that Henry has used to mount his grinding and buffing wheels – great bit of re-cycling.

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwEPsHDNVpI/AAAAAAAAAEI/FL59Bv2VTpg/s400/Simpole%20200909.JPG

Henry working on Sarah's P17 Lady

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwEPsHDNVpI/AAAAAAAAAEI/FL59Bv2VTpg/s144/Simpole%20200909.JPG

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwEPvLBacqI/AAAAAAAAACo/FN5HbNdd_Eg/s144/Simpole%20200915.JPG

Henry buffing Sarah's P17 Lady in his cabinet

 

 

Earlier in this thread, Truffle Hunter, who is a close friend of Henry’s, said that Henry had only just got to grips with the technological age – this is quite true, he has only had his first computer for a matter of months. He is aware of this thread and he told me that he had been lurking on it after I had told him that I had started it. I can tell you that he is overawed by the comments.

I have lots more to tell, and I am sure that Henry will not mind me sharing our conversations – so watch this space for more.

[GeorgeWP]

Sorry - having a bit of trouble with tghe pics - first time I have used Picasa to add them and not thinking straight.

These are bigger:

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwEPsHDNVpI/AAAAAAAAAEI/FL59Bv2VTpg/s800/Simpole%20200909.JPG

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwEPrs_AxXI/AAAAAAAAACM/nHcEVUU9OoM/s800/Simpole%20200908.JPG

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwEPvLBacqI/AAAAAAAAACo/FN5HbNdd_Eg/s800/Simpole%20200915.JPG

 

Hope these turned out better.

[GeorgeWP]

Ghost - I spoke with Henry about your project and he thinks that it will work out.

I have a couple of things for you to look at that I will send over to you backchannel.

 

 

Ghost - Chris - Miranda: Henry was also quite happy with the suggestion that others could join in on this project to help offset the production costs. He said that the shortest run, in order to make any appreciable difference in cost, would be six.

 

More pics coming - next instalment this evening.

 

George

[Ghost Plane]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! I suspect once we have a design in hand, it will be easier to have a rummage and see who else might be interested.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

[Chris Chalmers]

Hi George (and Henry - if you are lurking)!

 

Thanks for such wonderful pictures, and great news! Fancy your daughter going to Henry's old school - how serendipidous is that??!!

 

I had no idea what to expect from your visit, but find that I'm not surprised by how he adapts, modifies and converts things to his own use. No pics of the tea tray though........or coffee tray either.

 

Thank you so much, you and Henry - and I look forward to follow-up posts and news of designs etc! I'm sure Soki would also like to be included - but she will speak for herself when she sees this!!

 

How I envy you that three hours..........you have no idea!

Huge hugs!

[Ghost Plane]

Me, too. I'd love to be able to sit down with my laptop [for research] and a sketchpad and Henry and let the ideas flow!

[Flourish]

Now I kind of wish I hadn't heard of Henry Simpole. You are a bad bad man GeorgeP.

 

Absolutely mind altering pens! And, Mr. Simpole sounds like my kind of guy. I'd definitely like to meet him some day.

Edited November 16, 2009 by Flourish

[ethernautrix]

*Watching this thread with growing interest*

[Ghost Plane]

Start saving your money, people. It's gonna get interesting before we're done. <grin>

[Chris Chalmers]

No pressure then??!!!

Now we wait and see what GhostPlane and Henry come up with.........

and it is sure to be wonderful..........:blink:

[GeorgeWP]

Now I kind of wish I hadn't heard of Henry Simpole. You are a bad bad man GeorgeP.

 

Absolutely mind altering pens! And, Mr. Simpole sounds like my kind of guy. I'd definitely like to meet him some day.

 

Now you make me feel a bit like a drug pusher :-)

I am sure that Henry would be happy to meet with you too - he is a very nice man and an interesting conversationist - where are you based?

Keep watching this thread - there are more pictures to come.

 

George

[fuchsiaprincess]

George! You have no idea how envious I am of you. You got to meet my hero! Did you give him a big hug from me???

 

Thank you for the lovely photos!

 

Please put me down for one of GP's pens!

 

Warm regards,

Soki xx

[GeorgeWP]

Sorry that I am a bit late in putting up the next post - bit of work pressure at the moment.

I should mention that the pictures were taken by my wife - no credit to me.

OK - so next instalment:

 

When I was talking with Henry, I mentioned to him that I had not been seriously into FPs for that long. I used to write with them when I was a school and then fell out of the habit. I told him that my interest had been re-ignited because at the prep school my daughter attends they are only allowed to use FPs from year 4. We got a couple cheap ones for her and when I was showing her how to use them the sheer pleasure of using one came back to me. So I got out my old pens and started on the slippery slope - shortly after I got the Parker 17 Lady for her.

During the course of this conversation I told Henry which school she attended and quite to my surprise he told me that he had gone there as a boarder. The conversation then turned to the school's 175th anniversary, which is this year. Henry then told me that the idea had come to him that he should create a pen to commemorate this event. He then showed us the pen blanks that had been made up.

I think you might like the following photographs:

 

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwEPzHH03kI/AAAAAAAAADE/ATUNTbAwutQ/s800/Simpole%20200922.JPG

 

This is the original drawing of the Forest School Insignis -

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwEP2L7luVI/AAAAAAAAADc/aKUaPiUrJHQ/s800/Simpole%20200928.JPG

 

Front of pen blank with overlay attached - Henry pointed out that the overlay has just been attached to the pen blank and it still requires finishing.

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_u__sPUxJM5g/SwEP2vvfUzI/AAAAAAAAADg/HWvxnv1G2qs/s800/Simpole%20200929.JPG

 

Another view of the front.

 

As those of you who have seen, or indeed own, one of Henry's pens you know that they can only really be appreciated in the round.

 

Henry has completed just one of these pens at the moment, and in his true generous fashion, he sent this first pen to the school to be put in a fundraising auction that is to take place in conjunction with a celebratory dinner / dance.

 

Henry has told me - purely in conversation and in no way boastful - that he has donated his pens before to a couple of charities that are dear to his heart.

 

Watch this spece - more pics of drawings and the production sequence to come.

 

George