reverse painting

[PeetyInMich]

These are all AA-44 Black Ice Blanks with different color spray paint blown down the hole before gluing in the tubes. I know many of the "veterans" around here are familiar with reverse painting, but occasionally a person who is new to pen turning, or new to acrylics asks a question about it. So FWIW here are some "identical" blanks reverse painted with 6 different colors.

 

[PeetyInMich]

another view of completed pens

assembled after reverse painting

 

[randyrls]

Peety; That is excellent work! I have done that so a limited degree, but your blanks look good and are a way to make a custom color blank.

 

[Chatham PenWorks]

I started a similar thread some time ago. You can do quite a lot with a boatload of paints and just a few different colors of blanks. Great post.

 

[Wood Butcher]

May I ask what paint you used? I have been playing with the idea of airbrushing the blanks inside to see if any unusual thinks show up but that would be with acrylic airbrush paint.
Thanks, good job and good info in your post.
WB

 

[Richard Gibson]

I am curious. How do you keep the tube from scraping off the paint as you insert it in? I paint the blank with a qtip and after it dries, I epoxy the tube in. MANY times it will scrape off some paint as I insert it. Even with adding some color to the epoxy, there are still times the brass shows through because of a small scraped area.

 

[rhall_8]

I am new to acrylics, and I have heard of reverse painting, but had no idea you could get those results. That is great! Good work, and thanks for the demonstration.

 

[Donnie Kennedy]

I am curious. How do you keep the tube from scraping off the paint as you insert it in? I paint the blank with a qtip and after it dries, I epoxy the tube in. MANY times it will scrape off some paint as I insert it. Even with adding some color to the epoxy, there are still times the brass shows through because of a small scraped area.

I shoot the inside of the blank with whatever color spray paint and then give it a spin on the lathe in the pin chuck at about 1500 RPMs for a few minutes... this spreads the paint out evenly (ad thinly) throughout the hole in the blank and gives it a head start drying. Then I'll set it aside for a couple of days to dry and have no issues.

 

[PeetyInMich]

I use Krylon, or rustoleum from a big box store. I had an issue with scraping paint when I used a $1.97 can of paint, but the better name brand paints have worked well. I have chased out the hole with some sandpaper on a stick if the tubes don't slide in smoothly during a dry fit, but use a very light touch. I also have better luck with larger diameter holes. The Elegant Sierra's have a 27/64th hole so the paint build up doesn't reduce the hole diameter as much as it would on a 7mm hole for example. Thanks all for your kind words, and I am indebted to those who have previously posted on this matter, I just had the opportunity to turn a bunch of identical pens on identical blanks with a variety of colors and wanted to share it with you guys. Tomorrow I should have a purple one done. And in my opinion PSI's ruby red silk blank reverse painted with black is a nice maroon color.

 

[Tage]

Here is a link for what those blanks look like before reverse painting, just to emphasize the point. Exotic Blanks :: Pen Blanks :: Berea Acrylic Acetate (AA) :: Black Ice AA-44

PeetyinMich thanks for sharing.

Doh....just noticed you included it in your second pic.

 

[PeetyInMich]

Looks like Exotic is sold out of them right now

last pics for now!

 

[PeetyInMich]

Looks like Exotics is sold out of that blank now.

 

[PeetyInMich]

How do I delete replys?

 

[NewLondon88]

I am curious. How do you keep the tube from scraping off the paint as you insert it in? I paint the blank with a qtip and after it dries, I epoxy the tube in. MANY times it will scrape off some paint as I insert it. Even with adding some color to the epoxy, there are still times the brass shows through because of a small scraped area.

Primer will help. I paint the tubes with a white primer before the color. That way, even if it does scrape, the color is still on the tube. Giving the tube 24 hours helps, too.

 

[ttpenman]

Great post. Looking at the Black Ice blank I never would have thought that the white is so translucent. Great photos too, I'm going to print them out for future reference. Thanks.

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

 

[Dalepenkala]

Very nice looking pens!

 

[theidlemind]

Pretty awesome results.
I like the idea of spinning them on the lathe, I will definitely try that one.