Hope & Grace Pens
My Shop Policies
Welcome Message: Welcome to Hope & Grace Pens! We offer a wide variety of home and office products sure to be cherished for years. Have a look around and enjoy!
Payments: Paypal is preferred. Checks or money-orders are acceptable, and your product will ship when payment has cleared. All taxes are included in the price. You can cancel your order for a full refund until the day the product ships (be quick, we are!).
Shipping & Order Processing: When we were living and working at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, U.S. Postal service was our only shipping option. Since we've only recently returned, we're still weighing our shipping options.
That being said, I'll ship ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. If you can help me put the right info on the package, I'll send your order. Adjustments to the shipping charge apply.
I will refund shipping cost overages greater than about a dollar. Bear in mind the shipping cost includes postage, packaging and handling. Pens and small items are $2.60 to pack and ship. For larger items, please check the listing.
I try very hard to ship items within 1 to 2 days from receipt of payment.
Refunds and Exchanges: If you are unhappy with the beauty, make or manufacture of your Hope and Grace Pen product, return it within 30 days from the day you received it for a refund minus shipping. Please specify why you returned it to help us make future customers happy. If the item is damaged during delivery, send it back and we will replace it to the best of our ability. If the item is lost in the mail, we will replace it to the best of our ability. As a U.S. Marine, I value integrity and honesty among our highest traits. We practice it ourselves and expect it of others as well.
Additional Information:
Recycling and Eco-friendly
Whenever possible, we use recycled materials both in production and shipping. We use old newspaper as a packing material and oftentimes create shipping boxes from discarded cardboard, particularly with larger, oddly-shaped items. When your package arrives with strange markings and/or newspaper inside, please don't think badly of us! Know that we're doing everything we can to re-use and re-purpose materials.
Why are they so expensive? It's just a pen!
Oh, contraire. Hope and Grace Pen products are painstakingly hand-crafted by an artist investing hours of creativity, imagination, experience and hard work. Unlike art that hangs on a wall or collects dust on a shelf, your Hope and Grace Pen goes with you to show off and share. Compensation is based on a number of factors, including intricacy of the design, number of hours to complete, and the cost of hardware and materials. Hope and Grace Pen products often take three to four times as long to produce than traditional hand-lathed pens. When we look at them less as utensils but more as works of art, we realize they are a bargain.
What materials are my pen made from?
When your Hope and Grace Pen was crafted, the artist used material you specified or from stock available. If not identified or listed as "assorted woods," it may be too late to try to determine because color and grain vary depending on cut, shape and staining. Sometimes the artist uses whatever material the muse provides! But rest assured, this helps ensure your pen will never be duplicated and will always be unique.
In general, Hope and Grace Pens are made from a variety of common and exotic woods and other materials like antler, aluminum or plastic (usually for inlay or accent). A variety of adhesives are used to keep intricate designs together. Most products are finished with a durable high gloss using multiple coats of cyanoacrylate, lacquer, and other products.
What kind of customizations can you do?
If you like something we've done, mention the product and style and we can repeat the process for you (hopeandgracepens@gmail.com). Bear in mind that no two products will ever be identical. No customizations are done by machine or laser engraver; everything is done by hand. Therefore, we tend to shy away from names, text or script printed or burned into the wood. But individual initials, symbols, and simple characters are usually acceptable. Just tell us what you want and we'll let you know if we can do it. Patterns we've used in the past include Celtic knots, checkerboard, circles, polka dots, stripes, calico, waves, and even "dragon skin" (looks sort of like scales – perfect for fishermen or Dungeons & Dragons nerds!). "His & Hers" sets are available, as well as desk sets (pen, letter opener, magnifying glass, etc.). Depending on a number of factors, it could take several weeks until you receive your customized products. Be sure to order well in advance if it's a gift!
I noticed my pen has flaws. Is this normal?
Because your pen was hand-crafted, often with intricate designs, some minor flaws are inevitable. But just as in all of us, flaws help make each a unique individual. If you're unhappy with the beauty, make or manufacture of your Hope and Grace Pens product, simply return it within 30 days of receipt for a refund minus shipping. Please specify why you returned it to help us make future customers happy.
What's your return policy?
If you are unhappy with the beauty, make or manufacture of your Hope and Grace Pen product, return it within 30 days from the day you received it for a refund minus shipping. Please specify why you returned it to help us make future customers happy.
What's that poem in the background of some of your pictures?
It's the first few lines of Sir Edmond Spencer's Sonnet #30
My love is like to ice, and I to fire:
How comes it then that this her cold so great
Is not dissolved through my so hot desire,
But harder grows the more I her entreat?
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
Is not allayed by her heart-frozen cold,
But that I burn much more in boiling sweat,
And feel my flames augmented manifold?
What more miraculous thing may be told,
That fire, which all things melts, should harden ice,
And ice, which is congeal's with senseless cold,
Should kindle fire by wonderful device?
Such is the power of love in gentle mind,
That it can alter all the course of kind.
Refills and replacement parts
Stylus tips
Stylus tips are easily replaceable when they wear out from over use! Stylus tips unscrew (lefty-loosey) from the pen body. Take your stylus with you to the office supply store to ensure your replacement fits. In the slim chance they don't carry your model, write to me at HopeAndGracePens [!at] gmail.com and I'll make sure you get one. Expect to pay a small fee and postage.
Ink
All writing instruments have ink refill cartridges available. Take the old cartridge to your local office supply store to ensure you get the correct refill. In the slim chance they don't carry your model, write to me at HopeAndGracePens [!at] gmail.com and I'll make sure you get one. Expect to pay a small fee and postage.
If you no longer have the instructions to disassemble your pen refer below:
How to change or replace the ink. Hope & Grace Pens uses a number of different pen styles and manufacture types. However, nearly all refill types and colors are available in any stationary or office supply store. Take the old ink cartridge with you to ensure you get the right replacement.
ÿ Unscrew the nib: Fountain, click, capped and even some models of "twist" pens unscrew at the nib (pointy end). Apply gentle pressure (lefty-loosey) to unscrew it. DON'T FORCE IT. Once loose, be careful not to lose springs that may be on or under the ink cartridge.
§ If you have a fountain pen, pop out the old cartridge and be sure the new one "snaps" into place. Or get a bottle of your favorite color ink and use the plunger refill mechanism that shipped with your pen.
ÿ Pull from the middle. If your pen is two-piece and "twists" to extend the ballpoint, it likely pulls apart in the middle ( <-- --> ). Gently pull it apart to reveal the inner mechanics. DON'T FORCE IT. Once apart, you'll see the colored (usually black) end of the ink cartridge. Simply unscrew (lefty-loosey) and replace. To reassemble, simply realign the grain and apply pressure ( --> <-- ).
ÿ Pull off the end cap. If your pen is a single piece that "twists" to extend the ballpoint, the blunt end likely pulls off. Apply gentle pressure to remove the cap ( <---- -> ) to reveal the twist mechanism. Unscrew the mechanism (lefty loosey) and slide out the ink cartridge underneath. Take care not to lose the spring. Drop the new ink cartridge with spring into the pen and replace the mechanism and cap.
If all else fails, write us! HopeAndGracePens [!at] gmail.com
Other parts
Unfortunately it would most likely destroy your pen if you disassembled it to replace the nib, tailstock, pen body, inner brass tubes, turning or click mechanism, or the clip. If these parts are damaged, please e-mail me a photograph of the damage with a description to determine if we can repair or replace it. If the damage was caused by me or in shipping, I'll repair or replace it free of charge. If the damage occurs after you receive it, I must charge an hourly fee plus the cost of parts and shipping with no guarantee of success (sorry!). Each instance will be addressed on a case-by-case basis, so write to me at HopeAndGracePens [!at] gmail.com.