This year's BASH was my first and I was honored to finish 2nd in the Creative Mug Contest. That alone was quite a thrill, but one of my prizes was a custom watch parts pen from Mike Hirsch (Indiana_Parrothead) which was beyond anything I could have ever hoped for.
Mike gave me a wide range of options for my prize, including my choice of blanks for any single or double barrel kit and a variety of watch themes & colors. I asked him if it would be possible to make a University of Houston blank and he said, "Sure, if we can find a watch dial". So we both scrounged the Internet & found some UH watches on Amazon & ebay. I ordered one & had it drop shipped to Mike and he worked his magic from there.
I knew that I wanted to use a Triton kit from ExoticBlanks for this project, but I couldn't decide if I wanted a fountain pen or rollerball, so I finally went with a convertible. Since this was my first time to work with an epoxy cast blank, Mike was kind enough to throw in a Sierra-sized carbon fiber blank for me to practice on. I put that on a Smitty's LeRoi Elegant Royale Blk Chr/Chr pen.
This has been a really fun 3-month project including our search for just the right UH watch, many emails & PMs with Mike, selecting the kits and finally turning the blanks & assembling the pens. Mike has been extremely patient with me and I have really learned a lot during this project in addition to having loads of fun & making a new friend. Plus, I now have two really awesome pens in my collection.
Mike really outdid himself on this one - these are undoubtedly high-end watch parts blanks with at least 30 individual watch parts in each of the two Triton blanks. The parts are beautifully arranged and perfectly cast - there's not a single visible air bubble or flaw anywhere in the blanks. My pen photography is still a work in progress, so these photos don't do justice to the beauty of these pens, but I hope you like them -- I sure do.:biggrin:
Edgar
Mike gave me a wide range of options for my prize, including my choice of blanks for any single or double barrel kit and a variety of watch themes & colors. I asked him if it would be possible to make a University of Houston blank and he said, "Sure, if we can find a watch dial". So we both scrounged the Internet & found some UH watches on Amazon & ebay. I ordered one & had it drop shipped to Mike and he worked his magic from there.
I knew that I wanted to use a Triton kit from ExoticBlanks for this project, but I couldn't decide if I wanted a fountain pen or rollerball, so I finally went with a convertible. Since this was my first time to work with an epoxy cast blank, Mike was kind enough to throw in a Sierra-sized carbon fiber blank for me to practice on. I put that on a Smitty's LeRoi Elegant Royale Blk Chr/Chr pen.
This has been a really fun 3-month project including our search for just the right UH watch, many emails & PMs with Mike, selecting the kits and finally turning the blanks & assembling the pens. Mike has been extremely patient with me and I have really learned a lot during this project in addition to having loads of fun & making a new friend. Plus, I now have two really awesome pens in my collection.
Mike really outdid himself on this one - these are undoubtedly high-end watch parts blanks with at least 30 individual watch parts in each of the two Triton blanks. The parts are beautifully arranged and perfectly cast - there's not a single visible air bubble or flaw anywhere in the blanks. My pen photography is still a work in progress, so these photos don't do justice to the beauty of these pens, but I hope you like them -- I sure do.:biggrin:
Edgar
