[Sold] Ouroboros hand-painted fountain pen

Ouroboros, the snake swallowing its own tail, is a symbol that has featured in mythology since the days of the ancient Egyptians. It appears in mythology from cultures as far distant from one another as Norse, South American, and Vedic; as well as in alchemy, and in more modern chemistry. The ouroboros is also an important archetype in Jungian psychology.

Carla Nel has created two gloriously detailed ourroboroi against a turquoisey-blue background that she has painted on to one of our fountain pens. The snakeskin scales create a dreamlike intertwined pattern that never seems to end. And that was the point of the ouroboros symbol – signifying both birth and death, the start and the end in a continuous circle. Interestingly, the tiny ouroboros symbol she has painted in miniature on the pen’s barrel finial is reminiscent of the ouroboros that was carved on one of the shrines enclosing Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus.

Some people want to run a mile when they see the image of a snake, whereas I find them beautiful and as a child we even had a pet snake (called Twiggy). Last winter we had a boomslang make its home in our attic. It never bothered anyone and kept the attic free of mice and birds, but it must have moved on as I heard a gumboot-wearing mouse stomping about up there last night.

Each of our hand-painted fountain pens is a 1/1 original work of art painted directly on to the fountain pen.

Nib:

Available in Jowo #6 in polished steel. Please select Fine, Medium or Broad at the check-out.