I am posting this bunch of used pens from Oakland to point out the dirty little secret in my line of business as the Pen Guy. The truth is that I often receive pencils along side the pens every once in a while and in fact was given a 1 gallon Ziploc bag filled with pencils just the other day. So far I have a small collection of pencils and wondering that if this keeps up I might have to cover another car in pencils. So don’t let me stop you from sending pencils as well, but don’t forget all the old pens, Crayola Markers, and all them dry erase.
Donated Pens from Bangkok Thailand – 8,263 mile record
Just got these used pens all the way from Bangkok Thailand, some 8263 miles away. Alex from the Raintree Village Apartments sent 10 pens and he now holds the record for longest distance traveled for donated pens. Used pens are not very photohenic so I decided to photoshop up the image with a little forest and the photo of the Raintree Village Apartments I found on Google maps. Hope that works for you and thanks Alex for the pens.
Crazy Pen Sculpture at the SF Dump Art Show
This crazy pen sculpture shown at the San Francisco Dump Art Show is one my favorite pen sculptures created by resident artist Casey Logan in 2008.Its called “I Wish I Were Mark Twain”, made from (wood, acrylic paint, tons and tons of pens,..and Mark Twain’s soul???). Anyways a great use of a lot of pens and it hangs nicely. originally uploaded by dumpsterdiversanonymous.
Junkyard Journeys – The Mercedes Pens Story by Cat Cutillo
Sitting inside the Mercedes Pens
Photo by Cat Cutillo
Photo by Cat Cutillo
Video by Cat Cutillo
Cat Cutillo an award winning photographer from San Fransisco recently interviewed me for a video project she was working for a class project. She also took a bunch of great photos that she incorporated into the video. The video is called Junkyard Journeys and in I talk about my inspiration for starting the Mercedes Pens and my ongoing dream to collect a million pens for future art projects. She did a great job shooting and editing this video and I am really pleased with the end result:)Thank you Cat.
Pen Donations from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit
And speaking of pen donations for the million pen project, these used pens just came in from some faithful pen guy fans. Three envelopes with used pens were sent from San Diego, Detroit and the UK. The San Diego one came with two Pilot g2 pens and the one from the UK came in a bag because the envelope burst open and had to be re-wrapped, but it got here OK. The third envelope came over from the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, MI, so thank you and hope things warm up for you guys soon.