Every year I try to make Jen a special pen for her birthday, usually one I have not made previously, or from a material that I have never used before. This year's birthday pen is a Nouveau Sceptre from Penn State Industries dressed in Charoite TruStone. First a word on the pen hardware: This is an Art Nouveau inspired design from David Broadwell (maker of very high end fountain pen designs) featuring Rhodium (Platinum Group) plated hardware kit with 2-micron 22Kt gold band, Schmidt Ceramic Point Roller Ball, and postable cap. The TruStone material is a pliable pen blank made from approximately 85% natural stone ore that is pigmented and combined with a gem resin. The resin, which is specially formulated for the pen turning industry, allows for higher heat tolerances so the blank is less susceptible to fractures or breakage when using standard woodturning tools. Combined, the pen weighs in at a heavy 69 grams, 34 grams in the cap alone. Those who prefer a lighter pen would not want to post the cap on this one. Being 85% stone ore, it wears down tools quickly. I can normally turn a wood profile in about 10 minutes, and an acrylic in about 20 minutes. This blank took about an hour to turn to profile, stopping to resharpen about every 10 minutes. I finished with sanding from 220 up to 12500 grit micro-mesh. There was no need for any additional polish after that, the TruStone developed a brilliant glow from the gem resin. I turned this pen on Saturday for Jen's birthday at the end of the month, but I could not contain my excitement and gifted it a bit early. The blank was one she pointed out about a year ago in Woodcraft. I picked it up shortly afterwards and tried to find a nice hardware kit to pair it with. I think the combined colors and stylizing make this an elegant writing instrument.