Pansies!

[Charlie_W]

I recently made this pen for my wife....she loves it!
The pen is an Artisan Venus Rollerball with Rhodium finish from CSUSA. The blanks are real pansy blossoms cast in clear resin over a black background by Marla. These are awesome blanks! Marla does such a great job on these!
One guy at our woodturning club tried to buy off me it for his wife....Not a chance!

(I am posting the pics in separate posts till i find out how to put them all in one post as I could with my old computer)..learning curve!

 

[Charlie_W]

Pansy Pic 2.

 

[Charlie_W]

Pansy Pic 3.

 

[Cwalker935]

That is a beautiful pen. Who is Marla and does she sell her blanks?

 

[Marko50]

Brownie points!

Beautiful pen Charlie! You must have scored major brownie points from the wife, aye? …."He shoots,…He Scores!!":biggrin:

 

[Charlie_W]

Marla Mills. Her blanks are available from The Classic Nib.
You will find her feather, paper, pansies, watch parts blanks there.
She does beautiful work!

 

[D.Oliver]

That is a beautiful pen. Who is Marla and does she sell her blanks?

Marla (aka crickett) is a member here and does sell her work. Very talented that one.

Pen Blanks

Just scroll down until you see titles like "marla's feathers" and "marla's pansies"

 

[D.Oliver]

Whoa. You smoked me Charlie.

 

[D.Oliver]

You can also find here feathers here

William Wood-Write Ltd.

 

[Charlie_W]

Whoa. You smoked me Charlie.

Derek,
The east coast is a little ahead of you there! :biggrin:

 

[Curly]

3 likes and I'll add, gorgeous.

 

[Frank Nemke sr]

ALSO

Whoa. You smoked me Charlie.

Derek,
The east coast is a little ahead of you there! :biggrin:

Your older also.

 

[mikespenturningz]

Wow that really looks good. Marla is such a talented caster. Her feather blanks are also beautiful.

 

[Cwalker935]

Thanks for the info on Marla's casting and thanks to Charlie for sharing your great work

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Charlie, great work on great blanks.

 

[tdsmart]

Well done Charlie, you've been busy.

 

[Jim15]

Awesome pen.

 

[Charlie_W]

Thanks all for the kind words! The pansy blanks are eye catching!
I have been waiting two years to get some of these blanks.
My wife picked the components...we make a great team!

 

[Fay Prozora]

Beautiful pens,,, I have a question.. How do you know how far to turn before the flowers and all start to come off the blanks? I would be afraid to go too far or deep before the flowers come out.... Fay

 

[Charlie_W]

Fay,
The pansy blooms are glued to the painted tube. The resin is then cast over / around the flowers. There is always a risk of getting into the cast objects.
For this pen, I used a Sierra Vista which uses the same tube as a regular Sierra but is a little larger in diameter giving you more resin before getting to the objects.
Woodcraft has the Wall Street II and III Series. PSI and others have their own name for these pens.
Some turners will leave the blanks a little large and then just radius the ends into the hardware.

 

[Curly]

Beautiful pens,,, I have a question.. How do you know how far to turn before the flowers and all start to come off the blanks? I would be afraid to go too far or deep before the flowers come out.... Fay

Fay if you turned a touch to much and cut into a petal edge, you can put a CA finish on to repair it. Works too for a watch part blank where a little gear or cog is exposed. While you don't have to be a master turner to turn this kind of blank they aren't for beginners. When you have the control and confidence to turn and be comfortable with acrylics, imbedded blanks won't cause you difficulties. You will be surprised at where you are in a few more months.

 

[OZturner]

Outstanding Pen, Charlie,
Magnificent Blank, from Marla.
Superb choice of pen to Adequately Honour this Incredible Blank.
Great Fit and Finish,
A Tribute to both Craftpersons.
Brian.