First Label and its a Gift!

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RSidetrack

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
457
Location
Fayetteville, PA
So the story is this - Aquariums are another hobby of mine and I had done quite well for 3 years with no losses. Then my CO2 tank decided to purge one day when I was not around and suffocated all of my fish :befuddled: I had 7 survivors (all of my cory cat fish and one pleco). The rest didn't make it, which included two bala sharks, an angel fish, and a pleco. Anyway - out of nowhere on the forum I use for my aquarium hobby, I had received a private message from someone who I had never had conversations with before who read my post about my loss. He was offered to restock my tank with angelfish and bristle nose for free, just pay shipping! Unfortunately as luck would have it the package got sent on the run around and half of the fish he sent were lost - we both learned not to ship during holiday season. So I have four angel fish that had survived, two zebras and two ddas. He is offering me the same offer for after the holidays so that they can actually make it to my place on time!

I appreciated his generosity so much I had to do something in return. So below is my first label pen! There are slight imperfections, a seam, etc but it came out amazingly well! I used an acrylic sealer spray on the laser label, followed by superglue after label was applied to tube. I did one coat of medium CA, let it dry, then 2 coats of thick letting them dry in between. Then I cast it in the resin with some blue/green pearl ex. The slightest tint just so it would seem like the fish on the sticker were in water. It looks great and the pictures do not do it justice. As for the box - I made it out of red oak and red heart. I sucked at the felt for the pen unfortunately. The letters and images were cut on a friends laser engraver. The box was a design mentioned on another thread on here - and I will probably not be making any more of this style of box - I don't like felting it :wink:

The pen is a chrome magnetic vertex. Unfortunately it was the only kit I had left :-(. My new orders are taking their sweet time coming in and I wanted to get the pen out ASAP. It looks good - I just hope he likes the style of pen. He doesn't know its coming!

Anyway, without further ado:

CaseTop.jpg

CaseBottom.jpg

PenInCase.jpg

Pen1.jpg

Pen2.jpg

Pen3.jpg

PenCloseUp.jpg
 
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DurocShark

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Jul 26, 2008
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3,622
Location
Anaheim, CA
Awesome!

I had an aquarium maintenance biz back in the day... "Don's Wet Dream". :biggrin:

The planted tanks I ran had tank purges way too often. I gave up and started homebrewing with yeast and sugar. More maintenance and less precise, but no fish kill offs. A happy customer is not made when the 400 gal tank in his restaurant is full of dead fish.
 

Turned Around

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
838
Location
Houston, TX
i have a few tanks in the house as well, always sad to see some of my buddies go belly up in the tank. one of them, an albino pleco, had him for 8 years now and he's survived moving 3 times. big 'ol guy.

i like that pen. where'd you get that blank?
 

RSidetrack

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
457
Location
Fayetteville, PA
i have a few tanks in the house as well, always sad to see some of my buddies go belly up in the tank. one of them, an albino pleco, had him for 8 years now and he's survived moving 3 times. big 'ol guy.

i like that pen. where'd you get that blank?

I made the blank. It was a label cast - my first one that was successful. I only did 2 beforehand with tragic results. I was able to complete this one successfully with the help of this forum!

Awesome!

I had an aquarium maintenance biz back in the day... "Don's Wet Dream". :biggrin:

The planted tanks I ran had tank purges way too often. I gave up and started homebrewing with yeast and sugar. More maintenance and less precise, but no fish kill offs. A happy customer is not made when the 400 gal tank in his restaurant is full of dead fish.

lol - great name :wink: The problem is there is a need for a dual stage regulator in order to avoid bleed off and they are even more pricey. I haven't had a problem until this time - I hadn't kept a close enough eye on my tank to see if the needle was dropping below the high PSI (initial sign that it will bleed off soon). I missed it, came down in my office and saw the sharks belly up, the angel not able to swim and the cory's acting drunk. I am just going to make sure to keep a closer eye on the PSI.

He is going to be very happy with that. Aren't internet friend amazing?
Internet friends are awesome! I do wish the postal service would have gotten the fish here in 3 days instead of 5. The heat packs were only good for 3 days :mad:
 

DurocShark

Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2008
Messages
3,622
Location
Anaheim, CA
lol - great name :wink: The problem is there is a need for a dual stage regulator in order to avoid bleed off and they are even more pricey. I haven't had a problem until this time - I hadn't kept a close enough eye on my tank to see if the needle was dropping below the high PSI (initial sign that it will bleed off soon). I missed it, came down in my office and saw the sharks belly up, the angel not able to swim and the cory's acting drunk. I am just going to make sure to keep a closer eye on the PSI.


Sharks (balas I assume?) need LOTS of oxygen. CO2 blocks oxygen from getting into the bloodstream. :frown: I'm surprised the corys survived though.

The one dual I used dumped faster than the single stage regulators I had. Probably a crappy one, but it soured me on the whole thing. I've still got a box of bubble counters in storage somewhere... I switched my personal tanks and my customers tanks to yeast generators and never had a problem after that. No slowed or stunted plant growth, no algae, nothing. Don't screw up the mixture or volume though! Otherwise the whole house smells like a bar.
 

RSidetrack

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
457
Location
Fayetteville, PA
I made the blank. It was a label cast - my first one that was successful. I only did 2 beforehand with tragic results. I was able to complete this one successfully with the help of this forum!

what label is it? looks great, i like the shimmer to it.

Technically it is a custom label :biggrin: I printed out on standard paper and added high quality 3M adhesive to the back. So the process was this:

Print label
Spray with coat of Acrylic Sealer
Let set for 24 hours
Spray with second coat of Acrylic Sealer
Let set for 12 hours
Apply 3M adhesive to back and apply to "painted" tube.
Let set for 12+ hours
Apply Medium CA
Let set for 2 hours
Apply Thick CA
Let set for 1 hour
Apply Thick CA
Let set for 24 hours
Cast.

The shimmer is from the PearlEx that I put into the resin. I put a very very small amount, just to give it a glimmer.
 

RSidetrack

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
457
Location
Fayetteville, PA
lol - great name :wink: The problem is there is a need for a dual stage regulator in order to avoid bleed off and they are even more pricey. I haven't had a problem until this time - I hadn't kept a close enough eye on my tank to see if the needle was dropping below the high PSI (initial sign that it will bleed off soon). I missed it, came down in my office and saw the sharks belly up, the angel not able to swim and the cory's acting drunk. I am just going to make sure to keep a closer eye on the PSI.


Sharks (balas I assume?) need LOTS of oxygen. CO2 blocks oxygen from getting into the bloodstream. :frown: I'm surprised the corys survived though.

The one dual I used dumped faster than the single stage regulators I had. Probably a crappy one, but it soured me on the whole thing. I've still got a box of bubble counters in storage somewhere... I switched my personal tanks and my customers tanks to yeast generators and never had a problem after that. No slowed or stunted plant growth, no algae, nothing. Don't screw up the mixture or volume though! Otherwise the whole house smells like a bar.

I had drunk fish once because it went up through the air hose and into the tank :eek:

The nice thing about the Corys is they go to the surface for O2, so chances are they were getting their oxygen a good while when the others were not. My huge pleco never showed a sign of anything happening, he was just going about his business - this surprised me. Sounds like you know CO2 systems. My standard pH without CO2 is 7.8. I run CO2 to go down to 6.8. When I walked into the room and saw the fish belly up the pH in the tank was 4.1 :eek:

The balas were the first to go. They were in a coma when I found them - not dead but not moving. The angel just couldn't recover from what happened. I had him swimming but he could only swim for a little bit before he just rested on the bottom. The cory's were back in action within 15 minutes of doing a 50% water change and pumping as much O2 in the water as I could. The one pleco that didn't make it seemed fine after the water change but he was gone the next morning :crying:
 

RSidetrack

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
457
Location
Fayetteville, PA
the pearlex was a nice touch. hope to see more with that theme. great job

I really like it - it really did come out way better than I expected. I may have to make a few more! I wish the pictures could do it justice, but I took 50 shots, it just isn't possible to get the real look of it with a camera.
 

Leviblue

Local Chapter Leader
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
646
Location
Holly Springs, NC
I like the look of the pen. The fish do look like they are swimming in water. I'm sure they will like the pen and the thought that went into it.
 

RSidetrack

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
457
Location
Fayetteville, PA
He received the pen today and was very happy - I decided to quote his response :biggrin: It's a very good feeling when you get a message like this:

Richard, Just returned from my mailbox.
haha! Thank you very much my stubborn friend (told ya not to worry about it), the pen and case whether up to your standards or not it is incredible!!! Perfection without flaw is something for mass production and in a handmade item is part of the charm.
I am trying to fill this message with words while I sit here speechless.

Thank you so much!
Michael

My home office/fish room is done in red oak paneling, oak flooring and oak cabinets. My 10 hole test tube holder for checking water parameters is red oak as is most all the furniture I've made. Also something of a motor head with 3 motorcycles, 2 ATV's and 2 boats so the hex kit is perfect too!
I will cherish the case as much as the pen for a very long time. This is right there with the best gift ever received!
 
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