A couple of new cactus Sierras

[MesquiteMan]

Here are a couple of new prickly pear cactus sierras I recently completed. They are both "prototypes" for new colors that I am experimenting with to possibly add to my available colors. What do you think?

The first is amber resin with the inside of the blank painted black:

(Same pen, different setting!)

This one is purple resin with silver swirl

(same pen, different view)

Thanks for looking!

 

[jjenk02]

I like them Curtis, add a couple of the purple ones to my order..

 

[johncrane]

Curtis your pens are Superb! cant wait too get mine now.[]

 

[reef12]

Both good choices on color[]

excellent

 

[Glenn McCullough]

Curtis,
I love the top pen and the photo...great quality. I am still partial to the clear resin, however.
Glenn

 

[angboy]

I love the purple!!! [][]

 

[kent4Him]

Very nice. I wish I had time to turn the cactus blanks that I got.

 

[Jim in Oakville]

The purple is a winner........


[8D]

 

[Geo in Winnipeg]

You've got 2 more winners there Curtis.

 

[csb333]

They look great! Havent gotten around to making a pen from the blank I bought from you. I have made some from the others I bought, and they looked really nice. That was a great deal!- Chris

 

[JasonF]

Both look great! Purple is fantastic!! Do you have any in that style but in blue?

 

[BigRob777]

Curtis,
Wow, that purple is awesome.
Rob

 

[broitblat]

They both look great! The purple one kind of reminds me of a lightning storm -- dark purple, swirling clouds and dramatic cactus lightning bolts []

 

[airrat]

Curtis nicely done, I like the amber slightly better then the purple. Curious, can the cactus be dyed? I still have a box of it in the garage that I have yet to try and make a blank out of.

 

[dbriski]

Looks great Curtis. I think I like the pictures with the cactus in them. The ones with just the pens seem to blend into the background too much, it doesn't jump out a well as the ones with the cactus.

 

[angboy]

Originally posted by airrat
<br />Curtis nicely done, I like the amber slightly better then the purple. Curious, can the cactus be dyed? I still have a box of it in the garage that I have yet to try and make a blank out of.

That would be a neat idea- dye the cactus a color like purple and then cast it in clear resin- and paint the tubes, what color? (Of course I know it all depends on if the cactus can be dyed...)

 

[MesquiteMan]

Thanks everyone for the comments so far! I apreciate it.

As for dyeing the cactus...I "can" be dyed but not with the results you might expect. Evidently the skeletons are VERY dense and do not allow the dye to penetrate. It primarily stays on the surface and when you turn it, it exposes the cream color of the skeleton. I have tried alcohol based dye, water based dye, and have even mixed dye with acetone to see what would happen! On all of them, I let the skeleton sit submerged overnight. I also tried pressure but that did not help.

Dyeing can still produce a neat effect, just not what you would hope for. Here is my pith pen that I sent to Fritz. It is clear resin with blue painted inside the blank with black dyed skeleton. See how the cream shows up still? It does give it a nice shadow effect, though. This is mostly caused by seeing the sides of the skeleton through the clear resin that was not touched with turning. Make sense? I tried a red dyed skeleton wtih black resin and you could not really tell the skeleton had been dyed. You could see a slight amount of the red near the extreme edges but not enough for the extra hassle.

<br />

 

[jjenk02]

Curtis, I like the shadow effect of this pen..

 

[Ozzy]

They both look great but I really like the purple.

 

[johncrane]

CURTIS.have you ckecked out knifemakers sites lam sure they dye some off the bone handles, there process could help you out if you can find it.

 

[bob393]

You do great work.

 

[Radman]

Outta the park my brother![]

 

[beathard]

WOW!!! Very loud applause! []