My First 10 Pens (after an 8yr break)

[sfhipchick]

Hi all! I'm still working out some kinks with my turning but I've got 10 pens to show off!

Please let me know what you think!

Also, if you like putting pens in order of favorite to least, that would be fun too (I love to play that game!)

 

[sfhipchick]

By the way, the resin pen actually looks nicer in the picture. The problem we discovered is that the seeds would pop out and leave voids and the filled voids don't look great. We planned on a non-painted tube, which worked out nicely but in hindsight, we really should have packed the grass in as tight as possible. It's just not dense enough.

 

[McKenzie Penworks]

Nice graphics work! (And great looking pens too)

 

[greenacres2]

All nice, but i'd pick 5-7-9 as my top 3, order would vary by my mood!!

(interesting that as I type that I was reminded of the "5-7-9 Shop" which was a dress store where I grew up in the 1960's. Don't know why I recall that, I never shopped there!!)
earl

 

[sfhipchick]

All nice, but i'd pick 5-7-9 as my top 3, order would vary by my mood!!

(interesting that as I type that I was reminded of the "5-7-9 Shop" which was a dress store where I grew up in the 1960's. Don't know why I recall that, I never shopped there!!)
earl

Thanks for your comment! I will admit that the spalted pen is the show-stopper of the group in my opinion, but the others are very nice in their own ways too. As for preference, I have a lot of fun switching out the "pen of the day" so I get to enjoy them all. It's wonderful to have an artistic pastime which yields something so useful!

5-7-9 was a store I actually shopped at many times as it was my size and offered petite sizes which was perfect! However, they are gone now I believe. Oh well, times change and malls will some day be a thing of the past I imagine!

 

[1080Wayne]

Seeds have a bad habit of popping out . Can sometimes mitigate the damage by applying thin CA before a seed is fully exposed . I do that several times when I do a seeds only blank .

 

[sfhipchick]

Seeds have a bad habit of popping out . Can sometimes mitigate the damage by applying thin CA before a seed is fully exposed . I do that several times when I do a seeds only blank .

Hi Wayne! Thanks for your advice. This was our first attempt at a resin cast, and it was great practice and taught us a thing or two! I will certainly use CA in the future if I have a challenging blank like that to turn. The experience was good though, and I'm happy to get an otherwise nice pen out of this experiment!

 

[mecompco]

Those look great--it's obvious you have the Slim mastered. I like the profiles, and the fit and finish looks spot-on. I think my favorite is the spalted one, but they are all nice.

Regards,
Michael

 

[sfhipchick]

Those look great--it's obvious you have the Slim mastered. I like the profiles, and the fit and finish looks spot-on. I think my favorite is the spalted one, but they are all nice.

Regards,
Michael

Thank you Michael! I'm glad you like them. I'm a stickler for removing scratches so I spend more time that I like on sanding. Also, I am still working on a finish that is durable and fast to complete.

Started with friction polish even though I know it's no good in the long run...it's also really hard on the hands to apply for a glossy finish. (unless I'm doing it wrong, the hotter you can get the friction--the harder you hold it--the better the gloss, and it is going to kill my hands if I do that to too many pens. I did most of these pens with friction polish. The sheen is satin-like for the most part. My husband finished a couple and they are shinier because he can get more friction (stronger hold)

Been trying CA but I don't have my buffing station set up completely so while I'm waiting, I tried CA with a few coats of wipe-on poly, and the plywood pen has a wonderful gloss unlike the other pens. I used the lathe as a rotisserie while drying the finish. I HATE the slow dry time, and my lathe is out of commission the entire time. The other day I was working on a finish and didn't let the current layer dry COMPLETELY before applying the next. It took literally DAYS for it to dry and I had to sit the pen in front of a fan before it finally dried. That just isn't going to work in the long-term, so I'm looking forward to CA + buffing for a fast apply and durable finish.

As for kits, I really love the look of a Slimline, I also love Euros and have a bunch of those kits. I would be interested in trying some of the expensive kits but I want to know that people will actually BUY my pens before I dish out the cash for fancy kits.

Thanks for the comments, it means so much!